by S. K Munt
‘Thanks mum,’ Finn murmured, nostrils twitching happily as her mother poured the tea over her hair and into a little bucket she’d placed beneath it to catch the excess run-off, so she could repeat the process right after. ‘I really miss this!’ All of this… she added silently, longing for the days when the school year had been peppered with excuses to dress up, like for discos, or class performances.
‘It’s like aromatherapy,’ her mother agreed, before squeezing the excess tea out of her hair and then draping a threadbare towel over her head. ‘But you don’t have time to waste, so go get dry and get to Gladdy. Hopefully, by the time she and Maya are done with you, and we’ve all eaten, your dress will be dry.’
Finn did as she was told, and went to sit at the table that Gladdy had already covered with products outside, and spent well over an hour in a chair getting her hair clamped and her face fixed, while Maya painted her toes with a clear gold glitter varnish, and Sair cooked them all dinner. Finn was too worked up by then to eat anything for herself (terrified as to why Gladdy had used so MUCH gel in her hair) and she wasn’t comfortable with the way everyone was waiting on her hand and foot, so she whispered to Maya to finish her rissoles as she whipped out some pink varnish and indicated for the younger girl to sit on the table with her feet in Finn’s lap so that she could return one of their many favours. Finn had expected the shy girl to decline both offers, but Maya took both the rissoles and the pedicure eagerly, proving that at least one of their mothers had a ‘growing’ girl!
‘Wow!’ Sair said, stepping closer to watch as a wave of hair fell loose from Finn’s temple and bounced against her collarbone as Gladdy unclamped it at four-thirty. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’
‘I used to style my hair like this a lot,’ Gladdy said as she removed another clamp from Finn’s crown. ‘It took me forever to learn, but once you do, Finger Waves are like riding a bike.’
‘Finger waves?’ Finn repeated, going to touch her hair, but then stopping when Gladdy playfully smacked it away. ‘What’s that?’
‘It’s an old twenties hair style,’ her mum said, picking up the handheld mirror that Finn had been coveting for the better part of two hours. ‘A way of curling hair without using heat-’ She lifted the mirror to show Finn her reflection, but all Finn saw was her belted waist before Gladdy batted it away.
‘Let me finish first!’ she complained as she misted Finn’s hair with hairspray, before very gently combing her fingers through the roots of Finn’s hair while Sair apologised and put the mirror back as it had been before: face down on the tabletop. ‘Now... you actually are finished Finn, but can you please go put on the dress before you look at yourself? I want us to see the whole effect at once!’
Finn was happy to oblige, so after Maya had softly cried: ‘I’m gonna help her!’ the two of them practically raced to the clothesline together before they hurried inside with Finn’s prize. The dress was dry, which was great, but it was still old, stiff and brittle, so Finn needed the taller girl to help get it over her head.
‘You look perfect,’ Maya whispered as she laced up the back. ‘I hope you’re ready to meet your prince charming tonight!’
‘Doubtful,’ Finn hissed back. ‘And... why are you whispering?’
‘Because this is a special moment,’ Maya said softly. ‘And when people encounter special moments, they either whisper, or yell.’
Finn snorted. ‘Well, I really don’t see myself wanting a prince charming, even if I was to meet one…’ Gladdy had loaned Finn a pair of cork wedges with a modest platform and soft gold straps, so as Finn slipped her mother’s pear earrings into her ears then, Maya bowed down to guide her feet into the shoes. They were a bit too big for Finn, but they were complimentary to the gown and comfy, which would make the hour-long walk to the castle more manageable. ‘And that’s okay. I mean, Cinderella needs to lose a shoe for her fairy-tale to happen, and I don’t want your mother to kill me for losing one of her shoes so…. best I head home at ten alone, don’t you think?’
‘We’ll see,’ Maya finished with Finn’s shoes then and as she rose, Finn lifted her chin and started nervously adjusting herself. She was thrilled that the dress fit perfectly, but her heart didn’t start hammering wildly until Maya straightened and then, with a sly grin, stepped to the side so that Finn could see herself reflected back at her in her closet door, which Maya had been blocking until then. ‘But personally, I’m pretty sure that you’re gonna steal more than just one heart tonight!’
Oh my gosh! Finn thought, mouth popping open in tandem with her golden reflection’s own. Then, she smoothed the skirts with trembling fingers, needing to touch them to know they were real. That’s not just a makeover- that’s witchcraft!
Finn didn’t say anything trite out loud to express her surprise like: ‘Is that really me?’ because what she liked most about the way she looked was the fact that she still looked very much like herself, only much more polished. Still, a massive grin stretched her face, and that must have been what Maya had been waiting for, because she giggled and called out: ‘Finn loves it guys! So much that she’s speechless!’
And Finn truly was. Gladdy’s expertly applied make-up had softened Finn’s face rather than sharpening it, evening out her complexion and giving it a subtle peachy glow, which made Finn look less… hungry… than she usually did, but also almost like she wasn’t wearing any make up at all. Her blue eyes were standing out a lot more than they typically did too, and her fine hair that always looked dull and unkempt was rippling in a sleek, curtain on one side where it had been parted deeply to flop over the outer corner of her brow. Then the other side had been waved back away from her jaw in a gentle coil, giving her a glamorous, old-Hollywood look. Her hair had never been one shade of blonde but four or five, and every highlight seemed to sparkle distinctly now, like she’d gone to a salon or something!
It probably won’t last half the journey into Laidlaw, Finn thought… as she tentatively touched one of the finger waves near the top of her head, testing to see how malleable it was. But even if it doesn’t, at least I’ll have this moment, right? The memory of that one time that I had perfect hair?
As for the rest of it… well- that was what had truly rendered Finn speechless! The simple heart-shaped neckline made her tiny chest seem perkier, giving her just the slightest hint of cleavage, but the tightly fitted bodice made her waist look pinched, so her silhouette was less like a seven-year-old’s, and more like a ballerina’s. The skirt, which was full but soft, gave her the appearance of being shapelier than she actually was in the hip area, while the light, uneven hemline swished flirtily just below her knees, elongating her.
It was the little touches that made the dress a knock-out though, like the way the colour was more golden in the deepest parts of the underskirts, but gradually faded until the bodice was the palest, lemony yellow, which gleamed moonlight against her sun-kissed skin. And the string of fake pearls that her mother had stitched to drape across her bust mirrored the way the richer, golden yellow taffeta had been draped in the area where the base of the bodice met the overskirt, creating a tiny bustle.
The other dress hid everything I thought was wrong with me… Finn thought, remembering the way she’d looked in the mirror at Suave in the white dress. But this dress shows off my best features, which is even better!
‘Will you get out here already?’ Finn’s mother cried then. ‘I want to see you! And also… your chariot awaits!’
‘My what?’ Finn turned away from her reflection and made a beeline for the door. ‘What chariot-’ and then she halted in the door of the van and gasped for the second time that day. Her mother was standing just a few metres back from the doorstep holding their old waterproof camera up to her eyes (they didn’t know if the film inside was still good, but it had had about six shots left on it that her mum had saved for special moments), but it was difficult for Finn to smile pretty and pose, while there were actual horses standing on her driveway, being held by people i
n formal wear! And certainly not while there were a bunch of kids from their park with their refugee friends gathered around them but now gawking up at Finn.
‘Oh!’ one of the younger, grubbier-looking Fugee girls whispered to Stella, her neighbour. ‘She looks like a princess!’ And that made Finn tear up immediately, because it reminded her so much of the way she looked at Lady Miriam.
‘Okay so there’s no actual chariot…’ Gladdy amended, grinning up at Finn proudly as she spritzed her with perfume then handed her a golden purse. ‘But we got one of the things that used to pull chariots here for you so… surprise!’
‘Mr Van De Merwe?’ Finn asked in surprised, when she realised that one groom was her former primary school principal, and that atop the second horse sat his son Lutie and his wife Beth. ‘What are-’
‘I’m going too Finn, so don’t worry: your mum hasn’t promised me a months’ worth of rations in order to give you a lift.’ Principal Van De Merwe been in Australia for longer than Finn had been alive, and yet his South African accent was as strong as if he’d moved there yesterday. ‘I did get her to take my suit jacket in a bit last week though so…’ he winked and gestured to the kids gathered around him and his horse. ‘We cannot have the Pen’s only Potential girl arriving at the ball in anything less than the highest style, can we?’
Finn looked at her mother. ‘Last week?’
Her mother shrugged. ‘I wasn’t anticipating having to make a dress in the eleventh hour, but rest assured- I had been trying to think of an elegant way to get you to a ball in a dress for weeks.’ She lifted her camera again: ‘Now: Say cheese!’
In the movies, when girls got their Cinderella moment, the director had always indulged the audience in a very traditional shot: one of the girl walking coyly down an elegant staircase in slow motion. Finn had always hoped that one day, she’d have an elegant moment like that of her own, but now that it was upon her, there was nothing she could do to stop herself from thundering down the three, squat metal steps that connected their Outlander to the ground, before hurling herself in her mother in an ungraceful but utterly grateful hug.
‘I love you, and I owe you and Gladdy so much!’ she whispered fervently to her mother. ‘Only you could make me feel relieved that Georgia Janks stole my original dress!’
‘I love you too honey!’ her mum responded softly, before pulling back and wiping a tear out from under Finn’s eye. ‘Now: go and have an amazing time- because that’s what you truly owe Gladdy and I!’
Finn grinned as she felt that excited flutter in her heart again, knowing that she did and so… she would.
PART TWO
CHAPTER NINE
Saturday November 2nd, Two Years After The World Ended.
Finn had found the first part of the journey into Laidlaw to be incredibly awkward at first, because there was something just wrong about having your arms and legs wrapped around your former principal. Luckily for her though, he was much taller than she was and facing away from her, which made making small-talk hard.
A lot of people came out to see them off as they wound their way out of the park, and Finn felt her cheeks flushing again with embarrassment to know that so many eyes were on her at once. Don’t stare at me like that! She wanted to cry to a gobsmacked looking girl with knotty, white blonde-hair as she trotted by. I’m nothing special, okay? This dress was in a bag of rags yesterday and the pearls are fake- I swear it! And when Georgia Janks and Cara Wiley see me, those will probably be the first things they say!
But it was a lovely spring day, and the bay was full of boats that were coming in from the Shards for the Gala, so Finn was relieved when people stopped staring at her, and started exclaiming about the massive catamaran that was sailing towards Laidlaw instead. That is huge! Finn thought, craning her neck to get one last look at the boat as they rounded the corner that led into the mountains. They must be very rich, to be able to put fuel in it!
Finn did her best to savour the trip to Laidlaw, knowing that this was probably the only time where she’d ever be able to ride to a ball in a gown on horseback. But she felt her cheeks heat again when, instead of dismounting at the castle gates, Principal Van Der Merwe trotted straight up and through them, while one of the Tutelas motioned for all of the people on foot to get out of his way.
‘We’re riding the horse into the kingdom?’ Finn hissed, trying not to gawk back at the people that were gawking up at her.
‘Of course!’ Principal Van Der Merwe stage-whispered back. ‘What did you think I was going to do: padlock her to the fence?’
Finn flushed, because that was exactly what she’d expected him to do- but that was only because traveling by bike was all she knew.
‘Well, this is all kind of um, new to me…’
‘Of course it is. Well, we’re taking our horses to the stables near the barracks with all the others,’ he said, then pointed ahead on the promenade where sure enough, Finn could see two or three other horses trotting along, headed in the general direction of the barracks on the other side of the kingdom. Finn had no idea where they’d come from, because she certainly hadn’t seen anyone else riding out of the Pen on horseback besides them (as far as she knew, Dr Banik and Principal Van Der Merwe were the only horse-owners on the entire Peninsula), but she supposed that they might have come from one of the neighbourhoods in North or South Broadsound, which some people had been attempting to re-settle all year, with the king’s help.
‘So, where do I meet you after the Gala?’ Finn asked then, feeling her face growing hotter as more people turned to stare up at them. ‘Or do you need me to find my own way home?’
‘Let you walk home dressed like that in the dark of night by yourself?’ Her former principal turned and shot her a baleful glare. ‘I think not, Miss Monroe. I’ll be dropping you off at the fountain now, and I expect you to meet me there at ten, all-righty? No exceptions.’
Finn exhaled a quick, relieved breath, then inhaled another that smelled pleasantly of horse, leather and mock orange. She liked to think of herself as being independent, but even she knew that trying to walk to the Pen in the dark would have been dangerous, especially on a night like that while there were so many strangers about. ‘I’ll be there,’ she said, feeling her heart skip a few more beats as they reached the massive water feature in front of the steps that led up to the castle, which had been crafted to look like a partially submerged sun setting in a bay, complete with spiky metal-rays, which were the spouts that the water shot out of. There were more people gathered there than there were anywhere else, and once again, they all turned to stare as they approached. ‘I promise.’
‘Thank you,’ he said gruffly as he slid off the horse and then offered a hand to her in a manner that was extremely gallant. ‘I’d hate to think what would happen to me, if I were to return without you.’
Finn tried to chuckle in response to his statement, but by then she was so overcome with anxiety that she was surprised that sparks of white-hot electricity weren’t shooting out of her hands and eyes and zapping her groom, because she could already hear her name being whispered in a way that seemed to ripple across the gathered crowd as he helped her to the ground.
‘Is that Finn Monroe? For real?’
‘Who’s Finn Monroe?’
‘One of the SPECIAL ones!’
‘Oh… I dunno…’
‘I heard she wasn’t coming!’
‘She looks amazing!’
‘Bet she hasn’t eaten for two weeks to pay for that dress…’
Oh my god! Finn thought, only believing that her feet were on the ground now because she could see them. I think this is my staircase moment, for real! But why is it scarier than it is satisfying?
Finn said a quick thank you and farewell to her escort, (at least, she was pretty sure that those were the words that had tumbled from out between her bumbling lips) before she slung the delicate strap of Gladdy’s golden bag over her shoulder and then tried to muster up the courage to actually lift her
head and meet some of those stares head on, the way a ballsy heroine in a book would. But before she had to, she heard her name called out almost joyously, and that sound was soothing enough to make her straighten and turn directly.
‘Finn!’ Jade Cobbler-Ray was teetering in her direction in high wedges that were almost exactly like hers, her blue eyes wide and bright with excitement as her short, baby doll, beachy white dress fluttered in the wind. It wasn’t anywhere near as fancy as Finn’s was, or even as fancy as Finn’s original dress had been, but it showed off all of her sexy surfer angles just so, and looked as good as if it had been bought from the trendy boutique in the old mall that day. Plus, she’d paired it with a white flower crown, which made her look like she had more volume in her usually limp waves, giving her a sexy festival look that was just extra enough to make Finn feel less obvious. ‘You look AMAZING!’ Jade immediately fisted Finn’s skirt, looking like she was about to yank it clear off Finn’s body. ‘Where’d you get this? I want one! Can you sell it to me after tonight?’
Finn couldn’t remember the last time anyone had greeted her with that much enthusiasm, and she was more delighted by it than she was rattled, so she responded in kind: ‘You look stunning too! Where’d you get your dress from? It looks brand new!’
‘It is- I cut the tags off it this afternoon.’ Jade winced, then pivoted a little, showing Finn her butt. ‘You don’t think it’s too short though? I was worried. I bought it to wear to a Christmas Party two years ago, but that never happened so this is its maiden voyage.’
‘It looks awesome,’ Finn said, then gently motioned her head to the side, indicating that they should walk. ‘I love the crown too-’
‘Oh! And your hair...’ Jade went on, walking almost sideways as she attempted to size Finn up further. ‘It’s so pretty! You just look… ugh! I’m so jealous- oh! There’s my mate Chris, come say hi!’ And then Jade had Finn’s hand in hers and was yanking her away, in the direction of a group of senior kids that Finn had never said two words to before- kids who immediately turned and began to make exclamations about how pretty Finn looked. Being the sole focus of that much attention was overwhelming at first, but after a few minutes, Finn actually found herself making effortless conversation with the usually intimidating strangers.
