Jia fixed her hair and checkd out her appearance one last time before turning to Rose who was going over the formula again in her phone. The girls had a made a lot of new changes to Rose`s performance given the new circumstances but they were manageable. Zoey was quick to write a new description for all the new outfits and new talent performance for Rose before giving it to the Master of Ceremony while Clary searched for two new songs to match the new outfits that they had.
For the evening gown, Jia had sent a quick call to Gillian who was able to get a dress from her ship. Apparently it paid to have an older friend who had connections to every dress making outlet and carried a spare wardrobe in her personal ship.
As for the talent category, Kyra had the crazy idea of Rose doing a sort of mad scientist sash sorceress performance.
The girls all got into the lab coats that had paint stains on them and styled their hair so it looked like they had spent hours in a potion lab where the fumes had made their hair go wild and muti colored. Jia`s own white locks had shocks of red and green in them. Zoey had put in black, silver and blue in her hair while Kyra styled her hair to a shocking red and violet. The each had goggles on their heads and were putting on safety gloves.
Rose, as the head potion maker, had trances of pink and blue in her red locks.
Fiona put in black streaks with little trances of glitter on her hair. Finally, when it was time to set her props up. The girls rushed on stage with Zoey levitating everything using her gravity powers while Kyra and Zoey set up the reactions for the potions. It would be two simple reactions that they were pulling off. A butterfly illusion potion and a chemical volcano that was easily washable and full of colors.
The girls set up a three tables full of potions that were starting to bubble and they asked that a fog machine be set up to make the floor look even more mysterious. Finally, when the Master of Ceremony announced that it was Rose`s turn. The curtains pulled back to reveal the girls who were pretending to be potion makers who were testing potions and taking notes.
Rose walked out and approached Zoey who looked quiet puzzled at a particular potion. She then demonstrated the proper way to create the potion before a huge cloud rose up from the bottle and created a huge red butterfly that dazzled the crowd before it disappeared in a burst of red glitter. She then went over to Jia who was pouting at her non-reactive potion bottle.
Rose pretended to scan the potion before she snapped her finger and got to work looking for the right activators. Once they were poured in, a huge toothpaste-like chemical shot out of the bottle in a bright green color before it turned blue.
The crowd went wild and stood to clapping as the girls bowed before going off stage. Rose then explained why being a potion master was and something to encourage young women and girls to go into.
Jia and the others waited until she was done and walked off stage before they rushed her back to the dressing room to get changed.
"That was amazing!" Zoey gushed happily as they entered their tent.
Kyra nodded, "The judges really loved that performance!"
"Are you sure? You don`t think it was a bit less?" Rose asked as she took off her goggles and bit her lower lip.
"It was more than amazing, you brought something different and exciting to the table and everyone enjoyed seeing the experiments we pulled off," Clary added with a grin.
Fiona then clapped her hands before pushing Rose towards the changing screen, "Okay, enough, chatter. Time to get you ready for your evening Category before Question time. Have you memorized all the notes we sent you?"
Rose nodded as she took off her coat and was ushered behind the changing curtain. Fiona had taken charge of getting Rose prepared for the Question portion of the Pageant. She had complied a list of topics from previous pageants and a few popular topics from last year. Rose had spent as much time as she could spare memorizing them and coming up with her own responses.
"By the way, it looks like your body guard spell worked," Jia said to Kyra who smiled happily," No one came in to mess with our things."
"Never underestimate the power of the Sorceress of Shadows," Kyra simpered with a pleased grin.
A few minutes later, after the Talent category was done, it was time for the evening gown category. Rose went out in a beautiful golden dress that fit her perfectly and outlined her curves. Clary took a quick picture of her and sent it over to Jia, who smirked and sent it to Chase.
"Something to inspire him," Jia whispered to herself with snicker.
After all the other girls were done, the Question Time was on and their friend did wonderfully on stage when she answered her question. Finally, a small break was given for the judges to make their decision. Rose was asked to put on another dress for that so Clary suggested that she wear another green dress to make her hair stand out. She chose the emerald green evening dress that was sleeveless but clung to her around her waist before billowing down towards the floor. If she stood under a light, the geometric designs on the skirt would show. Her hair was left down in waves and she wore a simple jewelry emerald set.
When it was time to announce the winners, Rose hugged her friends one by one before leaving for the stage. The girls all huddle up back stage as the Master of Ceremony announced the winner for each of the categories. Rose won both the bikini and talent categories while another girl won the evening gown and best answered Question. Finally, it was time for the winner to be announced.
Everyone held their breath for as the envelope containing the winner`s name was given to the Master of Ceremony. He then opened the envelope while announcing, "And the winner is…"
The girls crossed their fingers and closed their eyes praying to the Goddess as the drum roll began. When a loud clash was heard, the Master of Ceremony smiled.
"Miss Rose Van Helen!"
The girls all screamed and Kyra turned to hug Zoey with scream. Jia and Clary burst out laughing and crying as they watched their red haired friend on stage do the same as the former queen crowned their friend. Together all four girls pounced on Fiona who was just clapping and they went tumbling on the floor with laughter and tears in their eyes.
Fiona bowed and took her first walk with everyone clapping, cheering and congratulating her. All in all, the entire pageant was a success, despite their initial bad start. Rose had to stay behind and meet with a couple of sponsors and important guests so the girls packed up whatever belonged to them before having Zoey levitate everything to Jia`s ship. They all then went back to get their friend so they could all escort her back to the ship.
Gillian stayed for a while and the girls thanked her for her help to which she just told them to count it as a small favor. She left soon after on her ship saying that she would see them back at Viola.
Once they saw that Rose was stepping out of the City Hall Door with her flowers, sashes and prize check, they all rushed over to help her. Clary was more than happy to hold the huge check while Kyra and Zoey carried the flowers with smiles. Fiona joked and said that they were all escorting Rose to her wedding to which the techno sorceress rolled her eyes and playfully pushed the lava sorceress away. Jia walked behind Rose and Fiona as she was trying to order their food online and have it delivered to the school so Rose could rest and celebrate in the safety of their dorm room. However, because she was so caught up in her phone, she didn`t see Juliet marching towards her with murder in her eyes before it was too late.
"This is all your fault!" Juliet yelled as she came out of nowhere and pulled Jia`s hair back. Fiona acted instantly and turned the floor beneath the witch's feet into lave which burned her shoes and forced her to jump away from the sorceress.
"The heck!" Jia was pulled away by Fiona as Clary and Kyra closed ranks in front of their friend. Clary even held the huge check in front of them as a block aid while Kyra threatened to throw the flowers in the witches face. Zoey and Rose hung back beside as Juliet and three other girls confronted them. Fiona undid her spell but she eyes glowed orange as she waited for the witch to do something.
"Why`d you have to come into our lives! We were all perfectly happy before you came here!" Juliet yelled as her friends tried to pull her away. It seemed like they were trying to pull her away and tell her something.
"Leave her alone, she didn`t do anything!" Clary yelled at the witch. Everyone around stopping to watch the scene the unfold and Jia was seriously angry.
Juliet pointed at her, "She`s with my boyfriend!"
"What?!" Rose and Zoey turned to Jia.
"You`re with him?" Kyra asked.
"You`re with Tristan already?!" Clary asked with a dropped jaw.
Jia held up her hands to stop them, "Slow down, I am not with anyone! I haven`t even spoken to him because the boys are still away for War Games!"
"They all got back yesterday!" Juliet yelled at her. Making the girls shift their attention back to the witch. That was news to them, none of the boys had told them that they were already back. Not even Roy.
"What?!" Rose asked, her voice calm and deadly.
"And now my friends are telling me that he just asked a Viola sorceress to be his girlfriend."
Jia flinched and put a hand to her heart, "I..."
"Well that`s not Jia! She`s been with me all of yesterday at the hotel getting our things ready for the Pageant!" Rose insisted," And even if he did ask her, she would have told us!"
Juliet blinked and took a step back. She glanced at her friends who nodded before she turned back to Jia, "You mean?"
"He`s not with me," Jia said softly," He`s with another girl."
Juliet by then must have realized that she was picking on the wrong girl as she took in Jia`s crushed expression. The girl looked like her whole world was crumbling and it didn`t make sense to her. She was about to say something when Fiona grabbed Jia`s hand and marched away with the other girls struggling to catch up.
Juliet then turned to her friends," Well if he`s not with her then who is he with?!"
Jia and the girls all got back to the dorm in time with the food delivery. While Fiona dealt with the delivery boy, the lightning sorceress let the others celebrate and instead chose to retire to her room. The girl all exchanged concerned glances as their friend closed the door to her room.
Rose took off her tiara and sat on the couch with a pout," I was hoping to celebrate and now this news reaches us? Unbelievable!"
"Man, this sucks," Clary said glumly from her spot at the kitchen counter. She had just gone to leave the check inside Rose and Fiona`s room before coming out to lean against the counter.
"Totally," Kyra agreed.
Zoey was about to say something when her phone rang, she answered it and Cole`s face appeared," Hi, honey."
"Hey, is...uh…is Jia there?" Cole asked.
"She`s in her room," Clary answered from her perch. Zoey nodded in confirmation," We just came back from the pageant, Rose won."
Cole grinned," That`s great," he then yelled," Congrats Rose!"
"Thank you!" Rose yelled back with a grin.
"Is something wrong with Roy?" Zoey asked, reminding the Knight of why he called his girlfriend in the first place.
Cole sighed wearily as he turned to someone beside him and nodded before turning back to his girlfriend," It`s Tristan."
Once her door was closed, Jia bit her lip and threw herself onto her bed. Lately, her feelings and emotions were acting up whenever she was near Tristan, when she thought of him or even when others called his name. So why did he do this?
Tristan. They had kissed, slept next to each other in the same bed but that didn`t make them a couple. Rose explained that to her when Zoey`s situation came up. What did that make them then? Just a bed warmer, a test or an experiment? Why do all those things and yet ask someone else to be his girlfriend and worse, it was someone from her own school. Someone she would have to see every day. Someone whom Tristan could hold freely and kiss because he liked her.
Jia closed her eyes and reached for her spare pillow to hug tightly.
"But I thought he liked me," Jia whispered to herself brokenly.
A few minutes had passed before she heard a knock on her door. The sorceress took deep breath to compose herself and called out for whoever it was to enter. She frowned when she saw that it was Zoey, who seemed to be hesitant and upset about something.
"Hey," she said softly.
Jia sat up in bed, "What`s up?"
"I... uh…I just got off the phone with Cole," Zoey informed her.
Jia titled her head to the side, "And this concerns me because?"
"Apparently, Tristan got together with Jasmine."
"Oh."