"The dress is absolutely beautiful Sarah!" Exclaimed Ms. Fredrickson "The purple suits you so well! It matches nicely with your green eyes and red hair…" Sarah looked out the window, completely ignorant to her words.
"He told you that, right?" Max's mom finished
Sarah said "Yup." although she had no idea what she had just agreed to.
She turned to Max and said "What did she say? I wasn't listening."
Max laughed and whispered back 'You are going to have to be announced when we enter the ball together. She said that she wrote you down as Lady Sarah Benson. We have to act like a couple so you will be on my arm."
"Oh ok then." Sarah said, turning back to gaze out the window.
-
The brakes squealed.
"Ok! Sarah was really quick with her dress shopping so we have 20 minutes before we need to leave. Max, help your father put the luggage in the car. Sarah, follow me."
Max left to go help his dad and Sarah followed her into the house. They went up the stairs and around the corner. They entered a bedroom. Sarah glanced around and saw one bed and 2 dressers, meaning that this was Mr. and Ms. Fredrickson's room. She went into the bathroom with his mom and Ms. Fredrickson started pulling out bags of things and setting them on the counter.
Makeup.
There was so much of it.
Bottles upon brushes upon sponges upon powders. Just looking at all the things and trying to figure out their purpose was making Sarah's head spin. Max's mom held up a bottle and said "I think this one would match your skin tone well enough. Sarah peered at her and said "Me? What do I need makeup for?"
"For the ball of course!"
"But, I thought-"
"You thought that you would just go bare faced? No no no no. That would just be an insult to the other gusts. They would think that you believed that the ball and the guest's were not important enough to properly get ready!"
"But I don't know how to do makeup!" Sarah confessed.
"Whoever said you will be doing your makeup? They will have maids do it for us, ok darling?"
"Uh, Ok Ms. Fredrickson."
"Oh honey, please don't call me Ms. Fredrickson anymore! We have known each other for far too long for such formalities. Besides, it makes me feel like an old woman! Just call me Jenny."
"Uhh… Sure, Jenny." Sarah said. Testing how she felt calling her that. She decided she liked it. The name Jenny seems like it would belong to a beautiful and kind woman and that's exactly who Ms. Fredrickson was.
"Well then Sarah, come on down to the car, be a dear and bring this along with you. You can put it down in your suitcase. We have to bring the right colored things if we want it to match your skin tone and dress correctly."
"Ok Jenny." Sarah said as she grabbed the bag she had filled up for Sarah and walked to the car, placing it into her suitcase, next to her new purple dress.
Sarah climbed into the car and sat down next to Max. The car drive to the capitol was 3 hours long but it felt only like a half hour. Max and Sarah had talked the whole time, playing car games and sharing earbuds. When they arrived at the hotel, Sarah was surprised for 2 reasons.
First, how they had gotten there so fast, it felt as if they had left the house minutes ago.
Second, why were they at a luxury hotel? The hotel was so large and the entrance was as wide as her mom's car! Tall enough to be twice the size of Sarah!
It was as if Jenny had been reading her mind when she said "My, isn't that a grand entrance? Anyways, we will only be staying here for a night so let's just get our things necessary for now and leave the rest in the car.
They all climbed out and grabbed their stuff. As Sarah was digging through her suitcase she caught a glance on the price tag, still hanging off of her dress. Her eyes practically popped out of her head. The dress had cost 2,500 dollars! Sarah calmed down and shrugged. Ball gowns must typically be that much. Either that or the Fredrickson's were loaded!
"Sarah!" Max yelled over to her, already 5 cars away. "Are you gonna sleep in the car tonight or what?"
"Coming!" Sarah yelled bak. Quickly grabbing her stuff and closing her suitcase, chasing after Max so she wouldn't be left behind.
They walked up to the front desk that was the size of her living room and Jenny said "Hello, we're here for our room."
"ID." Said a worker
"Here you are." Jenny said, handing the girl at the computer a card.
When she was handed the card and scanned it, her eyes widened. She quickly curtsied and said "Your room has been fully paid for your hi-"
Jenny interrupted. "Thank you young lady, room key please?"
"Of course!" She handed her their key and her ID back "Would you like me to send somebody up to take care of your luggage?"
"No, that's quite alright. I think we can manage it on our own."
"Yes." Said the girl again.
As they walked off she noticed that she was dipped in a low curtsy again. Sarah shrugged. They have odd requirements for the workers here.
The elevator brought them up to the 4thth floor, the top floor. They walked to a room labeled 243 and unlocked it. Sarah had been wondering how there were only 4 floors in such a massive building. There were only 250 rooms too. They should have been able to fit at least 10 floors and hundreds more rooms. It wasn't until Sarah walked in until she realized why there were so few rooms and floors.
The room was the size of her whole house! The ceilings are as tall as 2 stories, a full kitchen, bigger than one in her home. The bathroom the size of her room. The closet the size of her hallway. Now, this was luxury. Sarah thought.
"Sarah! You and Max can have this room over here!" Ms. Fredrickson said, pointing to another door.
"Ok, thanks Ms. Fredrickson!"
"What did I say about calling me that?"
"Oh right! Sorry! Thanks Jenny!"
Jenny just smiled at Sarah and waved, opening another door and walking inside. Sarah turned around and followed Max into their own bedroom. The room was huge! The bedroom seemed to swallow the beds and furniture. She found Max in the closet, hanging up his clots and putting his things away into the dresser so Sarah followed his lead.
When they were done Sarah said "This hotel is huge!"
Max laughed and said "yea it it! Did you see the size of our bathroom?"
"We have our own bathroom?"
"Yea! It's so fancy!"
"Oh wow! I'm gonna go see it." Sarah said excitedly
Sarah left the closet and looked around. She noticed a door on the other side of the room and walked to it, when she opened it she gasped. The tile was marble, the shower was the size of her bathroom at home. The mirror stretched along a whole wall. The room was absolutely stunning. When she was done staring at everything she went back to their room and noticed that Max had already left.