PENNY

Penny was actually pretty excited to go to the masquerade. Every year she had heard the seniors gossip about it and now that she was a senior, she couldn't wait. Everyone would be anonymous, but she thought it would be easy to recognize her friends. After all, they would just have a mask over their eyes. Their hair color and voice wouldn't really change.

The ball would begin at 7 and it was 5 pm now, and she still hadn't figured out what dress she should wear. She texted Emma some pictures. After a long conversation with Emma on the phone, she decided to wear a salmon pink gown with beautiful red embroidery. She put it on, looked in the mirror, and smiled. It was perfect! She just had to finish her make up in a hour. She knew it was a challenge, but she had faith in herself. She would succeed.

But even after the pep talk she gave herself, she finished her make up by half-past 7 and then rushed out oh her house, tripping on the stairs during the process. But she did not really get hurt. Just a small scratch. She breathed a sigh of relief and got into her car and drove to the venue.

EMMA

Emma stood outside the venue of the ball, her mask on her face. She had thought that it would not be that hard to recognise people, but it turned out that it was impossible to recognise the people.

She felt a small shudder. Why had she agreed to come to this ball? She had to admit, Matt's persuasion skills were good. At least she would be able to recognise Penny in the crowd. She knew what dress Penny was wearing. And at that thought, another girl came to stand next to her in a salmon pink dress.

"You ready to do this Emma?", she asked.

Emma was startled," Penny, is that you?"

"Yes", said Penny and squeezed her hand.

"How did you recognise me?", Emma asked.

"Emma, I can recognise you anywhere. Besides, who else do you think would be standing stiffly and nervously in front of the ballroom opening and closing her fists except you?"

"I must say Penny, you know me too well", said Emma smiling, as they both entered the ballroom, hand in hand.

MATT

It had been five minutes since Matt had entered the ball, and three girls and weirdly, two boys had asked him to dance. All these people were so desperate for a partner to dance with. Matt felt really uncomfortable. He could not recognise anybody. Everybody looked almost the same, with the same masks and ball gowns and tuxes and all. He was the only one wearing a blazer on top of a white t-shirt and jeans. That was his kind of formal.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around. A blonde girl wearing a red dress was standing behind him, smiling. He suspected that even she would ask him to dance. So, to save her from embarrassment, he began," Hey, I'm sorry, but I don't feel like dancing right now..", but the other cut him off.

"That is rich Matt. Turning down your girlfriend."

Matt was startled for a moment. His girlfriend? Oh, it was Emma.

"Hey, Emma. How did you recognise me?", he asked, confused.

"Only you would throw a blazer on top of a t-shirt instead of wearing a tux", said Emma, grinning.

"So, would you like a dance, madame", he said, bowing as Emma laughed and they walked to the dance floor, holding hands.

Matt was a very clumsy dancer, and he kept stepping on Emma's feet. He knew Emma was doing a great effort to not show that she was not very uncomfortable, and he was almost relieved when another guy came over to them.

"I think I'll take it from here", he said and took Emma's hand.

Matt looked at the guy suspiciously for a moment. He did look familiar. He had brown hair, and Matt couldn't really see the colour of the guy's eyes in the lighting. But the guy did look decent, and Emma did not seem to mind.

But before he walked away, Emma whispered to him," She is in a pink dress with red embroidery..."

WILL

Will was on the dance floor dancing with this blonde girl in a red dress, and for the second time in his life, he did not feel uncomfortable dancing (The first time was with Emma in the theatre).

He had been at the side of the dance floor looking around, and when he looked at her dancing with this tall blonde dude, he felt this weird urge to ask her to dance with him. She wouldn't meet his eyes, but he did see the intense blue color in her eyes. They seemed bright even though the lights around them were dim. They looked like they concealed a thousand secrets.

He twirled her and held her hand back. He had to start a conversation. Otherwise it would get awkward and she would leave him and go find someone else. He did not want that. He wanted her to stay.

"So, can you tell me anything about yourself, without revealing your identity", he began.

"Well, this is my first ball", she said and smiled.

"I guess this is everybody's first ball", he said," wow, it feels like I'm a character from Cinderella."

The girl laughed. It sounded strangely familiar. Nonetheless he liked it. It felt so sincere, so nice, that it made him happy as well. He felt that strange sort of warmth in his chest again, the non-painful kind.

"Okay, so since we can't say our original names, let's just take made up ones. Like, you can call me....", he began, but couldn't really think of some good name.

"Okay, I'll call you Vulture, and you call me Falcon", the girl said, smiling.

"Why the birds, all of a sudden?", he asked.

"Well, I don't really like cute, fuzzy nicknames. And call me weird all you want, but I kinda like birds of prey..."