CHAPTER THREE

"Doroha, you're here! I've been searching for you" Alyssa comes running. "Why?" I ask as I take a bite from my sandwich. "For prom shopping. You're coming with us right?" "Alyssa, I don't even have a proper date." "Oh that should not be problem for you missy hulk." She rolled her eyes. "Now let's go we're already late." "But I'm broke. I didn't know you'll go shopping." I said while eating my sandwich. "She slide into my pocket to fetch my wallet. "And what do you call these? Leaves?" She said getting all my money out. "Well, that's money but that's not to spend. That's just money." "Oh come on Doro we are going shopping and that's it." " Ohkay I give in lets go." Alyssa rushes me to the car and we're off to the mall. We are stuck at traffic as my phone's message notification goes crazy. I open to check if there's any emergency.

'Doroha I really like you will you please be my promdate?',

'Be my prom date', all these text are promposals. "So, who's missing so much?" Alyssa asks teasingly. I hand her my phone. "Oh girl!! Ninety three promposals!!? And you're worried about who you'll be going with? You shouldn't be worried honey just pick one." She says as we both burst into laughing. Me and Alyssa has been friends for four years now. We really know each other. She is like my soul mate. She will always know what I am thinking. She is my mom friend in a bestie form. Doroha don't do this do that and eat it all is what she does. She is also my partner in crime. She is the most introverted person who is crazy extrovert in front of me. And as much of a crazy I am I love some moment of peaceful moment with her. Its crazier how we both somehow summoned each other's inner soul and show it on our outer. When I first met her I could never imagine this quiet shy girl would be my daily necessity in form of a person one day. Well, she kind of did fill the empty space after Felicia left. Alyssa makes me happy. "Doro? Get out of the car." She said being already out. I didn't realize we're already at the parking of mall. "Yah, sorry." I got out of the car. We both get into the mall as Alyssa runs to a shop "Doro look!!" She says pointing at a leather bag. "Lyssa, we are here to get dresses." I said raising of my eye brows, "Yah yah I know." She said in a sad annoyed tone. We walk into the dress shop we came for and everyone's here. "Whoa, looks like they opened another brach of our school here." I said jokingly "Oh shut up. Looks like we're already late. We better get a good dress." She said in a tensed voice. " Right because, looks like the shop is going to be empty today." Even I'm a bit tensed now. We split through the crowd and take the dresses we like to try on. "Okay there's only one trial room empty which we're going to take over. We need to take turns. Me first." She said as if we are in a war field. Well, not going to lie it definitely feels like we are in a war field. As I am waiting for her I am going through my phone and I get a text from Jacob, "Where are you?" "At the mall." I texted back. "Me too. Getting prom dress?" he replied "Yah. What about you? Tuxedo?" I asked. "Well, yah. I am here with Gehu." Alyssa get out of the trial room in a peach colored dress. "Oh gosh Lyssa you look so good." I said as I jumped from the waiting sofa. "Uhh.. you sure?" She looked a bit worried. "Why do you ask?" I asked. as by her face, she clearly likes this dress but doesn't feel right. "Look over there." She point at some girls behind us. They have better dresses and all sparkly and attractive. "It's alright go try on the next one." She tries on the next and the next but she doesn't like any. She came out wearing the last dress. "It's beautiful. What you say?" I said hoping she'd like this one. "I don't know Doro. They look so much better." She said being as upset as anyone can be over a dress. " Listen Lyssa, there will be people better than you in a room but that doesn't make you worthless or ugly. Everyone defines the word beautiful in their very own way." She doesn't say anything. "Okay let me tell you what. Lets go to the food court now and get something to eat. We will be back in an hour or so when they will be gone and then you can choose the dresses again and try them on. You'll see the beauty in you when there's no standards to compare with." I said as she was very upset. "Okay." She says. She goes back to put on her clothes and put back the dresses, as I pick my phone to text Gehu but notice he hasn't replied to my last text yet. So I texted Jacob and told him to meet us at the food court in a couple of minutes. "Let's go." Alyssa comes after putting the clothes back on the hangers. The food court is at the top floor. We got in the elevator to go to the top floor. The elevator is of glass. One can see all the down and up . I don't like it. I feel dizzy. Everything's getting blurry and dark. I can't breath properly. The food court should be at the fourteenth flour. I don't know which floor we've reached but I see nothing in front of me anymore. I almost fall as someone holds me. It's not Alyssa, it's someone with broad chest and big warm hands. I can feel the tensed hands holding me tight. "Doroha!! Can you here me??" I hear a faint voice. I know this voice. It's Gehu. I open my eyes to see Gehu holding me. He looks very worried. "Uhhh I am so sorry." I said as I got up. "Why would you get into the elavator? Didn't you know it was transparent?" He asked me. "Well, no because you never let me in the mall elevator before." He looks away. "Oh calm down Gee. I am fine." He sighs and walks away. "You fine Doro?" Alyssa ask. Jacob hands me a boba drink. "Well I am now." I said with a big smile. Alyssa and Jacob both laughs. "I need to go with Gehu for the shopping." Jacob says as he goes behind Gehu. Me and Alyssa took a seat in the food court. I ordered a crispy chicken burger with extra cheese, and Alyssa ordered a plate of nachos. "So, is Gehu upset with you or something?" Alyssa asked, "I guess yah." I replied hesitantly. "You don't know why he is mad?" Alyssa asked in somewhat shock. "Not really. No." I said. "Maybe he is jealous." Alyssa said while chipping on her nachos. "What for?" I asked confusingly. "Oh Doro, do you really not see it?" She said looking at me with a faint smile. "See what Lyssa?" I asked in an impatient tone. "He likes you dumbo." She replied and again focused on her food as I sat there silent. He likes me?! But he never told me that. I thought he likes Felicia. Well maybe something more than just the feeling of liking which he had with Felicia. "But he never told me that." I finally spoke out of the shock. "Maybe he will ask you out for prom" She replied. Maybe he will. Anyways I would so much rather focus on this crispy cheese dripping burger now. Almost an hour passes and finally me and Alyssa got up to go to the shop again. There's no one at the shop now except the cashier and a few staffs. "Here, now pick your dress princess." I whispered in Alyssa's ear from behind her shoulder. She excited jumped into shop and picked a few dresses. She is at the trial room trying on the dresses as I am wandering among the isles trying to find a dress. She walks out wearing the same peachy pink dress she wore before. "Oh my gosh Lyssa you look so beautiful" I said being mesmerized by the way she looks in that dress. " I know right!! I am in love with this dress Doro." She says excitedly. "Then this is the dress we are taking." She does a little happy dance and goes in to take it off. Meanwhile I can't find a single dress that might suit me. I feel like dresses are not my thing. I might as well show up at the prom wearing a sweatpants and t-shirt. She comes out of the trial room with a sad face. "Now what happened?" I ask her. "It's over my budget" I look at the price tag of the dress, it costs five hundred dollars while her budget is four hundred dollars. I look at her with a smirk on my face. "We are taking it." I said handing the dress to the shop staff so that she can pack it. "But Doro-" "I helped you, now you help me find a dress or I'll show up wearing this." I said pointing at my current outfit which is black cargo pants with a grey baggy t-shirt. She nods with a smile. I sat down at the waiting sofa while she went to fetch a dress for me. It's been almost fifteen minutes as she returned with a deep blue dress. "Here try it on" she said handing me the dress. The dress is big and puffy, it has lace and sparkles all over. It really screams something opposite of me. "You sure?" I asked her raising one of my eye brows. "Gooooo" she said as she pushed me into the trial room. I came out of the trial room wearing that dress as I see her jaw drop. "Oh Doro you must take it. You look so good! just look at yourself!!!" She said excitedly. I turned around to look at myself in the mirror behind me. And oh the fishes of hell I somehow don't look horrible. As a matter of fact I look good. I look like someone I wished to look like as a kid. I look like how the girl in my stories might have looked like before her kingdom fell. I like the way I look in this dress. I turned around. Alyssa is waiting impatiently to hear my reaction. "We are taking it." Said trying my best to have a straight face. I went in the trial room again to take the dress off. I came back to see Jacob and Gehu both were standing in front of the cashier. I handed my dress to the store staff to pack it and walked to them. "So what did you buy Doro? A dress or a tux?" Jacob asked teasingly. While Gehu just stood there straight faced. "Aren't you excited to see me in a tux Jacob?" I said teasing him back as we all laughed. All but Gehu. I paid for the dresses and got out of there with Alyssa. "Don't worry he will be fine. Give him some time." Alyssa said about Gehu. We both vibed in different songs in the car on our way home. She dropped me at my house and drove herself home. I straightly went to my room. I put the dress in my closet and went to the washroom to get freshened up. "You home honey?" Mom came in my room. "Yes mom." I replied from the washroom. "Did you go prom shopping today?" she asked. "Yah I did. I am sorry I didn't tell you. Even I didn't know I will. Lyssa took me with her." I said as I got out of the washroom while wiping my face. "No, it's alright. Let me see your dress." She said. "Oh, it's in the closet." She opens the closet and takes the dress out. "Oh darling this is so gorgeous." She said looking at the dress. "Thanks mom. Lyssa chose it for me." "You will look amazing in it. Anyway come down to have diner." She said putting the dress back to the closet and went downstairs. I put the towel back in the washroom. As I am getting out of the washroom I look at the mirror and Lyssa's voice rings in the back of my mind 'He likes you'. What if Gehu actually likes me? Or does he like me because I somehow remind him of Felicia. Do I fill up the gap or something? Does he really like me for me? Or does he..? Loads of questions running over my head as I hear mom calling for me for diner again. I went downstairs ad sit at the dinner table. Dad is already there. " You know dad, I bought my prom dress today." I said trying to start a conversation. "Okay." He replied ending the conversation there. I looked at mom and she shakes her head as a sign of comfort towards me. I concentrate back on my food. Mom cooked fish today. "The food is delicious mom." I said with loads of fish in my mouth, "Oh thanks honey. Have more." I could see her face instantly light up with happiness. "Don't talk with food in your mouth." Dad said in a heavy voice. As we all shut up and concentrated on our plates. After dinner I went back to my room. I laying on my bed thinking about lots of things. One thing leading to another. Does Gehu really like me? Why would he like me? There's nothing likeable in me. Even my dad doesn't like me. Well, there was a time when he used to. When I was a little kid I was the daddy's princess. But then one day the days turned around to be dark and the nights screamed louder than then sun ever shined. Oh wait I can write this line in my story. I grabbed my diary and a pen and started writing,

"She is going through doubts. She is standing still thinking whether or not she should take a step forward. She somehow doesn't recognize the road she longed to walk on to. Or some maybe the road has now brought back the memories of past. The road might just looked exactly like the road she used to walk on to and she knows exactly how much she used to hate to walk on that road. She doesn't know if she should walk on to this or not she doesn't seem to know this new road at all now. She is standing there still. Or maybe the road is now giver her two choices. One to back to the road she knows, the road she hates but knows the destination of it and she knows the effects and obstacles of that road or she can choose the other one. Which certainly unfamiliar to her. A road which migt just change her whole story. Because she knows our past is what makes us it is what builds and forms us but it is truly our future which writes our story. The road might just change it all. Is she ready to risk the unknown or will she go back to the road and hide from her fears?"

I was writing my story as dad came in my room. "Drink this. It'll help you sleep." He said putting the glass of milk down on my bedside counter. "Thank you." I said in a quiet voice, loud enough for him to hear me but not enough to be my normal voice. He brushed his hand through my hair and left the room. Sometimes I think that he is not really a bad father. If I really have to peek in my childhood, my father was my role model. I always wanted to be like him. He would sneak ice cream for me in midnight and let me have all of it. And soon enough time fly by to the moment him leaving the door open behind him when he walked away. I'd rather not think about those. I pick my phone up just to see an unread messages from Alyssa. "Meet me at the soccer field tomorrow at 4."