Becoming the Luna

"Definitely." Shana nods importantly. "I locked the door on my way in."

I peek once more at the silk pants that were definitely high-waisted, a lacy white dress shirt that shouldn't be found in the male outfits part of the store, and a corset.

"What is that doing there?" I point at the corset, making a face.

"It's the perfect thing to complete your look." She says excitedly, gathering the clothes to place in my arms. "Go wear this first and when you come out, Renee and I will help you put the corset on."

I eye my mom who's sharing equal amounts of excitement with Shana. "I'm not wearing a corset." I deadpan. "It's bad enough that you ordered clothes for a twelve-year-old girl for me but if you think I'm getting into that stuff of nightmares, you're greatly mistaken." I say calmly, knowing that if I didn't sound reasonable enough they wouldn't take me seriously.

"You lost your power of choice when you agreed to let me handle your outfit plus I followed the laid down rules so I am not the one infringement on the contract right now." Shana says seriously.

I make a dying sound, this was exactly what I was scared of, Shana might complain about English a lot but when it benefited her she was ready to spin it around to her favor.

Frustrated, I make my way to the bathroom, after stopping by my dresser to get underwear first.

As I step into the bathroom, I eye the windows and made slight calculations, escaping was high on my list at the moment but the windows are too small and high up for me to make any safe escape.

Resigning to my fate, I take off my bathrobe and start getting dressed, the clothes I had thought would look a little too small were a perfect fit and I'm seriously considering getting fat just for the fun of it and so that Shana wouldn't easily find life-ending clothes like this.

I try to drag out the moment I'll have to go back and get into the corset but there are only so many times one can do and undo buttons.

"You better not be planning to jump out the window." Shana's voice floats to me. "Because I will find you and put you in a dress." She threatens with barely suppressed glee.

I dash out, not doubting her one big not to make her threat real. "I'm coming, I'm coming." I say quickly, rushing back to my room on bare feet.

You look fabulous." My mom compliments extravagantly.

I make a face at her. "You'd think I look fabulous in a rice sack."

"Oh dear!" Shana exclaims, placing a hand over her mouth in a shocked expression that looks forced. "I almost forgot."

I give her a skeptical look, "Almost forgot what?" I ask, glaring at her.

She just gives me another of her happy smiles and dips her hand into the endless clothes bag. "This!" She exclaims, dramatically pulling out a piece of clothing that I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

"What's that?" I ask in fear, having a feeling that whatever that was would be as bad as the corset or possibly worse.

"Shirt garters!" She exclaims waving it in my face like an enthusiastic clothes dealer. "We can't have your shirt slipping out or gathering at your sides." She continues to advertise, blatantly ignoring my look of exasperation.

"I don't know how to put that on." I tell her plainly. 

"That's why you have Renee and me." She says cheerily then her expression darkens. "Now get out of those pants."

I gulp, covertly eyeing the door. "Fine." I agree, shimmying out of the fitted silk plants.

She hands the garters to me and I frown when I get a closer look at them. "I don't think shirt garters are supposed to look like this." 

"Have you ever worn one?" She asks reasonably.

I pout at her underhanded way of winning this argument. "No."

"Then you should listen to the clothes expert here."  She harrumphs importantly.

The garters had lacy knee-high socks attached to leather straps, it wasn't much different from the pair in my wardrobe, just that the socks were lower, and other than the strap going around my thighs, there were still more buckles.

I gingerly wear the stockings part with an expression of mortification.

"Don't have that look on your face like we're making you slice off your legs." My mom tuts, coming over to help me do the straps around my thighs.

"You might as well be making me do that."  I mutter darkly, eyeing the cutesy black strap around my left thigh that has a silver heart in the middle.

"There." She pats the straps. "That wasn't so hard was it?" 

"Actually it was." I mumble darkly, placing my hands on my face so it wouldn't get it the way of them cinching another strap high on my waist, more buckles are attached from the belt around my waist to the one on my thighs and I feel claustrophobic.

I look down when they are done and wince, I would have to make sure I didn't need to use the restroom when I got dressed because there was no way I plan to take off my pants in public, not with what I wore underneath.

"I can stand this because it'll be under my pants but I'm not getting anywhere near that cage." I pointed disgustedly at the corset still lying harmlessly on the bed.

Shana makes puppy eyes but I just ignore her, going into the bathroom to get back into the bathrobe, it was too early to get dressed.

I come back to meet her right in the same position I left her, puppy eyes in place.

I make a face, going to sit at the dresser. "Don't you have to get ready too?" I point out sassily. "So run along and take your cage with you."

I can literally hear her pout. "It's a corset Hayden and it would be perfect…"

"Hard pass, thank you for the clothes, Shana." I say grudgingly. "I have suspenders, those would be perfect too."

She pouts all the way out the door but I don't crack. 

"Virgil is coming to pick you up by five o'clock." She adds when she has one leg out the door.

I tuck my head into my shoulders to hide my blush. "Fine, fine, now go away." I shoo her. "You have to look good for your date." I throw to her, smiling with satisfaction at the sound of horror she makes before dashing out of the house.

My mom just laughs at this before coming over to resume the havoc she is about to wreak on my face and hair.

"Are you sure I can't sleep before you get started on whatever it is that you want to do?" I whine with pleading eyes.

"Fine." She agrees huffily. "But that's only because the next step involves waiting for the cream I'll apply on your face to seep in…"

I groan at this. "Not more of that."

"I'm sorry, I know it can be tiring." My mom Pat's my back. "I made fruit salad for you, how about you eat that before I apply it, then you take a nap."

This idea sounds lovely to me so I don't hesitate to agree.

The meal is over too soon and  I'm back again at the dresser. I'm starting to dislike the wooden and glass ensemble.

"Aaaaargh! Why is it so cold?" I squeal as my mom starts to apply a thick lather of some cream that I didn't care to know the name or use on my face and wait for it…

It smelled like vanilla.

"Sorry baby." She apologizes, increasing the amount of the ridiculously cold cream. "You know you have to sleep facing upright?" She informs me. "Or you're going to smear the cream all over your sheets."

I gulp at this, staring at my horrific expression in the mirror. "I'll just lay a towel over." I say absently, already getting up.

"I'll come to wake you up in a couple of hours." She says sweetly, going out the door.

"Okay." I accept, squirming a bit in the vampire style position I had to sleep in so I wouldn't get cream everywhere.

I have a sigh of relief when silence envelops the room, finally alone for the first time all day.

Now that I'm alone, the realization that I'm going to the Spring Dance with Virgil as my date hits me hard and I have a mini existential crisis.

Oh my God!

I'm going to the Spring Dance with Virgil!

I'm going to die.

I gasp, try hard not to hyperventilate. Sleeping was out of the option because there was no way I could sleep with so many thoughts running around in my head, so many scenarios of how tonight could possibly go wrong.

I must have underestimated my ability to fall asleep in the middle of chaos because no more than five minutes later, I'm falling asleep.