by Nick Rossi
Claire, seemingly surprised and taken aback by her genuine compliment, immediately blushed at her former friends comment.
“You look pretty good yourself,” she replied, and then suddenly Claire’s eyes were moist and a tear fell down her cheek.
She grabbed a tissue and dabbed the tear from the other girls' cheek which threatened to ruin her make-up.
“I’m sorry,” Claire replied, waving her hands at her eyes to stop the crying.
“It’s ok,” she replied, throwing the tissue in the trash can that sat below the sink.
“No, I mean, I’m really sorry,” Claire continued, touching her exposed shoulder and pulling her closer. “I’m sorry for being such a mean bitch to you all of these months and for spreading those awful rumors about you. I’ve been a really, really bad person and I’m truly remorseful for having caused you so much pain and anguish.”
She was speechless for a few reasons. She had never heard Claire apologize for anything so honestly and emotionally. She also had never heard Claire used words to describe how she was feeling that didn’t include the words ‘like, so, and super’.
“We always used to talk about how awesome our prom was going to be,” Claire continued. “I remember all of the sleepovers and midnight talks where we would talk about what we would wear, and who we would bring, and what we would do after. And now, here we are, practically acquaintances, and nothing could be more different than what we had talked about for all of those years.”
Now she was the one who got emotional and teary eyed. While she couldn’t remember those specific memories for obvious reasons (the switch and all), she knew that Claire was being real and honest. She dabbed her own eye.
“Claire – I think this is part of growing up. We were best friends, the best there could ever really be, but sometimes people drift apart. I don’t hate you, I realize now that I don’t think I ever could. And while we do things that even puzzle ourselves, it's part of who we are and makes us stronger people. I don’t think it matters if you’re 13 or 37. Emotions are emotions and people are people. There will always be difficult decisions to be made where someone is bound to get their feelings hurt. And we’re always going to find ourselves doing things that seem inexplicable. But we’ll get through it, and we’ll grow from it, and we’ll also learn.”
Claire looked at her straight in the eyes as though in surprise and shock. She didn’t know where the words that had just left her mouth came from, but they couldn’t be truer. At that moment she realized that no matter what happened with Marina and the switch and her friendships and romantic rendezvous in both lives she’s lived, she was going to be ok. It wasn’t a matter of having a story book life where everything is black and white. Nothing could ever be black and white, she knew that know - fictional or non fictional worlds alike. She felt calm and settled, and warm, as Claire reached forward and gave her a tight hug.
“You always were different, Darcy Platt,” she laughed as she pulled herself away. “I just never let you assert it because I was always telling you what to do and what to say. But you’re a good person, a true spirit, and I love you.”
They hugged once more and Claire made her way out the door, mask on. She looked in the mirror once more and put her own mask on, and decided to go and enjoy the Prom and all that it was bound to offer.
Chapter 35
The meal had been edible, and that was all that the students seemed to care about as they drank freely from their flasks and disappeared into the bathroom frequently to do only God knows what else. Truth be told, the Prom committee itself didn’t spend too much time on procuring a caterer that was going to provide a class A meal only because that was not where the emphasis on what would make a classic, memorable evening. In fact, when the caterers had invited the Prom Committee for a tasting of the proposed meal, they hadn’t even gone. She had intended to go, but unsurprisingly, she had been completely absorbed by her Claire drama that she had honestly forgotten all about it.
The dinner had ended around 8:30 pm, and with a burst of frenetic energy, the students all decided to immediately descend upon the dance floor as soon as a popular song came on, a song that she had never ever even heard before. It was an interesting site to behold, considering that dancing was difficult pretty much for everyone as all the corsets and gowns that adorned the female segment of the crowds weren’t exactly known to be loose fitting.
“Come on, let’s dance!” Bennett enthusiastically said as soon as the initial flood of dancers joined the dance floor. Her red hair that had been up in a bun but with some loose tendrils that framed her face bounced along to the music.
“I need to digest a bit before I get a cramp while busting a move”, she replied, a smile upon her lips. Charlie looked at her and she thought she saw some minor disappointment come over his usual smiling face.
“Charlie – you should go dance with Bennett. I just need a few minutes to settle. Plus my stomach is pressing so hard against my corset that I don’t think I should be getting out of breath just yet,” she said.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting it out with you, Charlie asked, though there was no mistaking the excitement he was harboring to break it down on the dance floor. And truth be told, she was interested to see how her date moved to the music, unrecognizable as it was.
“Oh, come on, Charlie,” Bennett said, sitting up and taking Charlie’s hand. “Let the old lady digest while we show her how it's done!”
Bennett pulled on Charlie’s arm to join her on her path to the dance floor. He looked back at her to gauge her reaction to his going to dance, but she just smiled and encouraged him. Plus, she reflected to herself, Bennett wasn’t that far off from the truth in calling her an old woman.
Once Bennett and Charlie were lost within the swarm of overly energetic, and slightly drunken, teenage dancers, she glanced over at the table beside her where Claire sat with Rena. Luke was nowhere in sight, and since she and Claire weren’t exactly friends any longer, she wouldn’t have had any way of knowing if she and Luke were truly no longer an item. It did seem strange that there was no pretty boy sitting to Claire’s side, but he may have also been dancing or in the bathroom.
Upon glancing over in Claire's direction, she made eye contact with her former friend, who promptly smiled back at her. It was gentle moment between friends that she felt deep within her, almost as though tugging at her proverbial heart strings. Rena looked over and noticed the glance and smiled as well.
Before she even realized it, the loud, ornate looking clock that had been set out at the front of the hall, just ahead of the dance floor, chimed 9 times. Within moments, the dance floor cleared out as quickly as it had filled, and Charlie and Bennett were once more sitting beside her. Charlie took Darcy's hand and squeezed in gently. She heard the DJ begin to play the opening notes of “Don’t Dream its Over” by Crowded House and she silently swooned. For a DJ that was apparently known for his preponderance towards top 40 music, he sure was playing the hits that encapsulated the teen flicks that comprised the viewing pleasures of her youth.
They watched as Chrissy climbed slowly atop the makeshift stage at the front of the room that was just beside the large, looming clock. She felt that the clock was teasing her, reminding her that her time was more limited now than ever, and that big changes were coming, whether welcome or not.
Making her way to the microphone that stood nearly as tall as she was, Chrissy adjusted the top of the dress that she wore so as to avoid a major wardrobe malfunction. Much like the corset that enveloped her slight frame, Chrissy’s corset was forcing her cleavage to nearly touch her chin, much to the delight of the hormone driven boys that stared at her, open mouthed, spittle almost visible on their chins.
“Hello Flint Ridgers!” she yelled into the microphone, causing some major feedback that forced much of the attendees to immediately shield their ears in defense.
“Oh, sorry – is this better?” she asked as she motioned bitterly to the A/V person who was m
anically adjusting some controls and pushing buttons at the staging area that held all of the connectors to the speakers and radio and amps for the DJ. Finally, the feedback ended, and she was able to lower her hands from her ears without feeling like they were going to spurt blood all over her dress and on the friends that sat on either side of her.
“Ok, ok – enough of the technical difficulties,” Chrissy said, causing herself to laugh. Clearly, much like the rest of the student body, she had enjoying some refreshments that had not been available at the bar at the rear of the room. “Welcome everyone to Flint Ridge’s Masquerade Prom! Is everyone having a good time?”
The crowd erupted into a cacophony of loud yells and a smattering of applause. Without really noticing, she caught herself whistling loudly and clapping simultaneously. The overall feeling of the room was excitement and an unbridled freedom that was palpable and felt equally amongst everyone, teachers, students, and chaperones alike.
“Awesome! On behalf of the Prom Committee, we want to say that we are so happy that everyone is having a great time and dancing to our amazing DJ!” Chrissy continued, pointing to the DJ which caused another round of loud applause and cheering.
“So tonight is like the most important night of our teenaged lives, as we all know, and it's so important that we are all here together, especially since after graduation, a lot of us are going our separate ways and everything. So before we get all too emotional in reflecting on the trials and tribulations that we’ve all gone through these last four years, let’s keep it positive and announce what you have all been waiting for!”
She found herself silently impressed at Chrissy’s eloquent mini-speech to the enormous crowd before her. All of the students were looking up at Chrissy as she mouthed some silently to another girl that was directly stage left.
The DJ seamlessly transitioned from “Don’t Dream its Over” to her personal favorite, When in Rome’s “The Promise”. As soon as she heard the familiar lyrics of “If you need a friend, don’t look to a stranger. You know in the end, I'll always be there”, she felt tears fill her eyes and she began to cry silently. The tears fell fast and heavy upon her cheeks, the heat of the tears stinging her as they dropped onto her cleavage.
Bennett and Charlie were still focused on Chrissy’s pending reveal and didn’t notice her sudden release of emotion and tears. She grabbed a tissue atop the table and quickly dabbed her eyes but the tears kept flowing. The song had reminded her more than she wanted to of her own uncomfortable experiences in high school where she found herself questioning her own place in life, and where she fit in within the social strata that was collectively known as the high school existence. She was suddenly again the overweight, acne-ridden girl who found herself escaping into the novels of her youth where high school was depicted as a Mecca in California where love was abound and everyone was picture perfect beautiful. The second hand clothes that she had to wear out of necessity because of the financial situation of her parents and the constant teasing that accompanied the often unkempt appearances that plagued her still pained her, and she didn’t know why. It was a long time ago.
She shook herself from her reverie and looked slowly around the room. Shockingly, it seemed like everyone was suddenly frozen in time. Everyone around the room was frozen in mid action, many mouths open in mid-laugh, silent claps in mid air. She shook her head as though to clear her head of the strange vision she was experiencing but the room stayed in the exact same suspended moment in time. She looked at Claire who, too, was frozen in mid stare at Chrissy, the undeniable rim of sadness under her eyes.
The only thing that seemed to keep moving forward in time was the song that blared from the speakers that surrounded the room. The pace of the song did seem to slow down a bit, and she heard the lyrics “I’m just thinking of the right words to say” almost hug her as a bright light suddenly filled the center of the dance floor, almost causing her to scream in fright.
At first she thought that this was part of a surprise plan that Chrissy and the rest of the Prom Committee had thought up, but the inexplicable lack of motion around of the room was still present. The bright light that appeared on the dance floor suddenly began to spark, tiny fragments of lights that illuminated dimness of the room that accompanied Chrissy’s announcement.
She stared intently at the light as it began to dim and smoke suddenly appeared. Not the smoke that typically accompanied a fire, but it was more dry ice in its appearance, which actually sort of fit with the environment of the prom. The smoke then began to dissipate as a figure, dressed entirely in purple, sequence shining in the light of the room, appeared.
She gasped as she saw Marina dramatically materialize before her. The woman looked unbelievably beautiful in her elaborate dress which was so purple that it reminded her of twilight. Marina’s characteristic bun was piled high upon her head and bright red lipstick adorned her lips. The woman looked incredibly magical. A chill rose up her spine because she knew what this apparition brought with it.
“Hello, Darcy,” Marina said as she slowly walked towards her table. The sound of the woman’s high heels echoed in the room almost as thought they were in the middle of the Grand Canyon instead of inside a cramped banquet hall full of teenaged kids. The music still played in the background, and she felt her heartbeat quicken.
“The time has come, my dear child,” Marina seemed to say though her lips did not move. It was more like she felt the words instead of heard them. Suddenly, she was standing before the woman, not sure of when she got up or walked so that she looked into the kind eyes of the woman who gave her the opportunity that she found herself in.
“You look beautiful, Ms. Darcy. Like an angel who has found her wings,” Marina’s voice said. Darcy smiled, not sure on how to proceed. The sheer eeriness of the frozen movements around her caused her to feel almost simultaneously apprehensive and strangely comfortable.
“Thank you, Marina,” was all she could say as the two women just stared at each other intently. She saw the green specks of Marina’s eyes shift subtly.
“You know why I’m here,” Marina finally said directly.
She remained silent. She sort of half expected the room to once again be brought back to life and for Chrissy to make her imminent announcement. Marina reached towards her and touched her shoulder gently. She felt as though as electric bolt entered her body and she was suddenly looking at herself on the very first day that she was thrust into the 17 year old life of one Darcy Platt.
It was like watching a montage of your life, but in color and with the soundtrack of The Promise on a slow loop playing in the background. She had imagined it was what people said they saw in their heads when they knew they were going to die and their life proverbially ‘flashed before their eyes’.
She saw herself waking up confused in the massive bed in her bedroom, taking in the sights around her. She then quickly saw the run in with Mason and then she was with Claire and Rena at school. She smiled as she saw the body language that was exchanged between the two friends, and felt the warmth that existed there.
Before she could get too wrapped up in that scene before her, she was suddenly with Claire at the pharmacy when her friend was buying the home pregnancy test, which was the beginning of their pending separation. The scenes were quick and effective, as though some master designer decided to linger on certain events just long enough to get the major meaning of what had occurred.
She was then with Charlie renting their prom gowns, and then at the Senior Stay over where her and Claire had talked about what had gone down between them. Then the uncomfortable scene of the hospital was before her, where Claire found out she lost the baby and where Mason learned that if not for the accident, he would have been a father at the young age that he was. At once, the red scarf was around her and she remembered the confusion and weirdness of knowing that Mason and Claire had been an undercover item for quite some time, around the time that her and Luke were together, which was before the switch had even b
egan.
“Was this what you were expecting, my dear Darcy?” Marina said, pulling her from the flashbacks and bringing her back to the relative stillness of the frozen scene around her.
She felt the tears flow down her cheeks. How could she answer Marina truthfully and honestly? There weren’t any words she could find, or ever find, that could describe the last few months that she had found herself living. From the inception of being offered to be the teenage girl in the books she read with such fervency, to the current moment where she was made up in a gown fit for a queen on the Italian court - incredulity was all she ever felt. And, as a result, speechlessness was all that came easily to her.
Looking back in hindsight, as things were always clearer in retrospect, she didn’t really know what to expect when she made her decision to take Marina up on her offer to be thrust into the life right out of a Sweet Valley High novel. But Marina’s requirement of her to ‘make things right’ wasn’t as clear as the older woman seemed to have thought it was, which made things really difficult. She had never really let herself completely immerse herself in her new life because she knew there was some sort of the bargain that she had to keep up and to maintain. All of her experiences were tinged with this expectation, no matter how serious or minor they were. Now here, at the prom and presumably the last moment in time that she would be able to make ‘things right’, she felt apprehensive and nervous, not really being able to enjoy the scene around her. All that should have been on her mind was how she looked in her dress and how she couldn't wait to dance with Charlie, but like always, she was plagued with worry on what would happen if she wouldn’t keep up her end of the offer, as unclear and ambiguous as it was.
She never really allowed herself to think and reflect on her actual enjoyment of the new life she was living. While she knew that what she was experiencing on a daily basis couldn’t be more different than the world depicted in the novels she read, often hidden in a corner of Marina’s cozy shop, alone and content, there was indeed a certain thrill in it. She loved having a young and agile body again and friend and maybe boyfriend to have fun times with.
