"Nothing sends a message better than a statement piece. An eyecatching statement or something to that effect, whether a snide comment, a toast at a gala, a whisper campaign, or even better. Silence.
They tell you when you are in school, especially if you had a strict teacher, silence is golden. And then they also tell you that silence is weak and therefore you should speak up more. And then you end up confused. Well let me tell you now, silence is neither golden nor is it weak. Silence is powerful. It is a statement. It shows restraint, tolerance, so much more than talking loud but not saying much. So here's to the socialites, the ones who once ran me out of town, let me show you exactly what you did to me and who I've become."
After the long silence, Selena awkwardly turned herself around, spinning slowly with one arm wrapped tightly around her chest, holding up the bundle of cloth that she didn't quite know how to assemble without assistance, and the other hand pulling as much of the skirt as she could above her ankles in order to not step on the slinky fabric and trip herself up. Her dress had looked gorgeous on the mannequin and had made Selena gasp audible when she first saw it.
She had been coming to Madame Griege for years for her custom clothing pieces both casual and formal and had never been more impressed. Madame Griege, an elderly French woman who loosely resembled a stick, truly had the talent that would have had people vying to put her on the runways of Paris and Milan, with a keen eye for design and fashion-forward mind, Selena couldn't remember a time when she wore something that came from her and didn't look fabulous.
From the very broad and rather vague description of what Selena needed for her first ball of the season, as a networking businesswoman instead of a young socialite, Madame Griege had once again outdone herself. Her custom dress was an ivory satin and chiffon blended A-line with deep forest green and gold ivy and foliage detailing that looked positively whimsical and fitted the woodland theme that the hosts had specified. The top was an elegant but complicated web of gossamer and silk strips that would serve as a wrap-around style bodice with a halterneck, or it would have if Selena knew how to assemble it. The ombre skirt was of the gown was too long for her without the proper heels and pooled at her feet and proved to be a trip hazard and the zipper running from the top of her butt to the small of her back was too far down for her to reach.
"Oh hey, Adrian, firstly, you're late, secondly Madame Griege says that she has a tie and a pair of cufflinks for you that would match the dress and thirdly, can you do up the zipper please?" Selena called over her shoulder as she manoeuvred herself carefully to face Adrian. She groaned as she realised that there was no way Adrian could come around to do the zipper and so with a huff, she began to spin again, careful to clamp the bodice straps close to her so as not to reveal anything that Adrian shouldn't have seen.
For someone who had done plenty of zipping up of dresses in the past, Adrian was uncharacteristically nervous. His hands started shaking of their own accord as he reached them forward to pull the fabric together. his knuckles brushed against the small of her back and as Adrian felt something akin to a small jolt of electricity, he noticed that Selena's shoulders also shook a little against his touch. Adrian stepped back and tried to get his brain and mouth to cooperate and form something coherent and slightly intelligent when he felt himself being pulled back by his suit jacket and stumbled.
He whipped his head around to be confronted by the short form of Madame Griege, "Vat are you doing 'ere? Out, now," the old woman stated in a thick accent that offered no opportunity for questioning or backtalk accompanied by a threatening bony finger that pointed towards the entrance of the messy shop floor. Adrian threw his hands up in surrender and backed away from the changing cubicle and Selena.
Madame Griege offered no more words while she pinned the gossamer and silk strap bodice into place with pins. "Eez 'e ze one putting ze dress on you and 'elping you get ready?" the older woman tapped Selena's shoulder and motioned for her to turn around.
"I don't believe so, it should be my PA Elise, or possibly just myself putting it on. I planned on meeting Adrian after and taking a town car over there."
"Ah non, you cannot put zis one on by yourzelf, you vill need another pair of 'ands," Madame Griege shook her head fiercely and her hair, coiled into a neat bun, bounced around comically around on her head. "Sir, come 'ere, I must show you how to attach the bodice.
As Adrian made his way back and stood behind Selena to learn how to attach said bodice; so began what could possibly have been the longest twenty minutes of her life. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her, fingers interlocking tightly. While she felt sharp jolts of pain every time either one of the two people behind her (99% of the time being Adrian) stabbed one of the pins into her skin, she fidgeted with her hands. Clasping and unclasping them; balling them into fists and unclenching them; picking out the fingering patterns she had learned from her violin lessons as a child on her palm to steady her nerves.
At long last, Adrian announced that he had figure out the proper method to twist and tie the straps in order to secure them in place and Madame Griege shooed him out of the cubicle. She loosened the back and nodded for Selena to turn around and face her. "Ze apple, my girl, you are ze apple of 'ees eye," she smiled mysteriously and drew the curtain behind her to allow Selena some privacy to change.
Once the dress had been package copious amounts of brown paper and a hard cardboard box and Adrian had paid for his cufflinks and tie; Madame Griege bundled the two out of her store and promptly slammed the door so hard that they could hear the bell jangle violently. Metal rollers soon followed and it was made very clear to Selena, Adrian and everyone else on the second floor of the Fosse Shwartz Shopping Emporium.
"So, umm, did I do something wrong?" Adrian asked, a little affronted by their rather rude departure.
"Nah, she closes early, she's always been like that. Her fashion taste though," Selena paused for a moment, "immaculate."
"So umm, do you want to go out for a bite to eat? While we're here I mean."
"Are you kidding me?" Selena all but laughed before she composed herself, "the meals in here are positively extortionate, why would we eat here? It's daylight robbery! Come on, I'll take you somewhere I used to go when I was away at uni, you'll love it. My treat, to apologise for shouting at you in front of your old man the other night."
"You're not going to kill me, are you?" Adrian asked in a joking tone although he was well aware that she could be planning any number of ways to take him out.
"Nah, if I did, I'd have to find someone else to go to the ball with, plus then I'd have made an enemy for life out of your father and I'm not too sure that that would be a good idea." Selena paused a little, "also, that." She pointed behind them and Adrian turned around.
A flock of girls had gathered behind the pair, and Selena could recognise several of the women although the crowd was largely made of this season and last season's new debutantes that could have been spotted from a mile away from the huge bags of blinged out ballgowns that were a staple of the new, young girls that hung from their slender arms. She could see one of the Starks sisters, Penelope and Ivy Wang, two of the lackeys that followed her former best friend Falicity around and she smiled graciously and waved politely.
"Oh my god, is that Selena Yingyue Zhao?" One awestruck girl gasped in slight shock.
"Who?" The redhead next to her asked.
"You know, the one who fell from grace like three years ago, the Legend of Black Swan, the Icarus story?"
"Oh you mean the b*tch queen?" Another girl chimed in.
"Yeah, but not so loud, she might do something?"
"Do what exactly," came the distinctive voice of Penelope Starks, the American twang causing Selena to wince a little. "What could she possibly do to any of us, I mean look at her. She's just come out of a store with a dressbox, wrapped in brown paper. What are you? A commoner? You know, I used to look up to you, thinking you could be something."
Clearly the most 'senior' of any of the girls there, it seemed that Penelope had found herself her own little posse of wide-eyed new girls that looked at her as if she were the sun and moon combined.
"Besides, that store you just walked out of, no name front, no boards, hell they even kicked you out and shut the rollers. I'm ashamed to even admit that I know you," she continued, pushing to the front of the crowd to stand off against Selena herself. She got awfully close and Adrian stepped in, placing his arm between the two women so that Penelope couldn't force her way any closer.
"Call your dog off you b*tch, wh*ring yourself out to any and every man that even looks your way. I mean just look at that pathetic excuse of a boyfriend you were photographed with in the elevator. And I thought you had standards." Penelope coughed and drew in a long breath after her rant.
Adrian made a move, possibly to smack Penelope Starks right in the face at which Selena grabbed his wrist and pushed it down, giving him a look that said, 'I'll handle this one'.
"Well thank you for digging up ancient history, we all do love to reminisce. Just to clarify for any of you new ladies to the scene, please inform your relatives that they are still in with a chance, I am very much single. Also, that photo in the elevator was one of the hardworking maintenance staff and I shaking hands, so please, no rumours. Finally, this one here," she pointed st Penelope distainfully, "still thinks that wearing faux fur and knockoff sunglasses are a character trait. Please take from that what you will."
Selena walked ahead with her head up, heels clacking against the marble floor, with Adrian beside her, barely containing his smirk. "You're just going to let her call you those names? What about me?" Adrian asked slightly outraged.
"We're going to make a little pitstop before dinner. They've just reminded me, I have a little business to take care of, you're welcome to come with me."
______________________
There was a flurry of activity that was uncharacteristic of Qing-Starks Enterprise Headquarters at 9am in the morning. Coffee mugs, glasses and assorted stationary had been hurled and mercilessly smashed against wooden and glass surfaces and Mr Qing, father to the Starks sisters, Euginia and Penelope, had impressively maintained an unsavory shade of magenta for the past half an hour. His business accounts had been hacked and drained; his stock market price had plummeted by 30% and his own shares had failed miserably, landing him in serious hot water.
A terrified young man walked in, the clipboard clutched in his hands shaking violently. "Sir, we have just received a message from PR and Legal, we are currently being sued under class action for negligence and there has been an affidavit submitted into court for a case against you for tax fraud."
______________
"Hi Society, good evening ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I'm a b*tch and yes, I'm back. This time, for good."