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Chapter 10: Getting Ready
The day of the dance was finally here, thought Sam happily as she slowly woke up on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful morning, and the ground was covered in a new white blanket of fresh snow that had fallen during the night. The view from Sam's bedroom window was indescribable. As Sam looked out her window it reminded her of a Christmas card she saw once. The barn looked cozy with a layer of new snow atop of its' roof. The horses were running around in the fresh snow in the ten acre pasture.
Sam continued looking out of the window for a few more minutes before she finally pulled herself away. She had many things to get done today and it was best if she got an early start on it. She pulled on her work clothes quickly and headed outside to get her chores done.
Sam got through her chores as fast as she could and then came in and ate breakfast. After that she continued working until noon. Her dad had given her the afternoon off so she could ready for the dance tonight.
She took a long hot shower and by the time she got out it was already 1:30. She had half an hour to waste before Jen came over to start getting ready for the dance. She sat on her bed and waited for her hair to dry. She picked up one of her mystery books to read and turned on the radio.
Soon enough, Sam's hair was dry. Sam took the towel off of her head and stared at herself in the mirror in the bathroom. Sam was trying to envision herself with her hair up in a fancy style and the green gown that Jen was bringing her. Sam hadn't decided on a hair style yet. Her friend Callie had agreed to come over and do her and Jen's hair for the dance. She had mentioned that she would bring books and magazines over of hairstyles that she and Jen could chose from.
Sam walked back into her bedroom. The radio was still on and they were playing Taylor Swift's new hit You Belong with Me. Sam listened to the song and thought once again how these songs by Taylor Swift seemed to fit her life perfectly. Sam remembered seeing the music video a few days ago and couldn't help but hope that tonight ended up exactly like the music video had, with the two friends finally admitting they were in love and kissing. The song ended and another song came on that Sam didn't recognize.
It was almost 2:00 and Sam went downstairs to wait for Jen. Sam didn't have long to wait. As soon as Sam walked to the kitchen Jen was walking through the door into the house.
Jen entered the house laden down with two dresses, and a couple of bags of other things that Jen believed that they would need to transform them into girls ready for their first high school dance with dates.
Sam took one of the bags from Jen and the green dress. They went up to Sam's bedroom and dumped all of the bags onto the bed.
"So," said Jen in a voice that could barely contain her excitement. "Are you ready for the best night of your life?"
"I'm definitely ready," said Sam smiling. "If it's the best night of my life is yet to be determined"
"I can't believe this is the first dance we're going to with actual dates," said Jen excitedly.
"I know, right?" Said Sam. "So, who is your mysterious date? You still haven't told me."
Jen all of a sudden got quiet. She hadn't told Sam that she had changed the plan for tonight since finding out that Jake had broken up Kate. If she told her best friend that she was going with the guy she was setting Sam up with, that would be a little awkward and Jake would kill her for sure. So Jen kept the confusing details from Sam and played her date up as some mystery guy that Sam would meet at the dance and only at the dance.
"I told you I'm not telling you until we get to the dance." Said Jen.
"Not even a little clue?"
Jen sighed and looked at her best friend. She knew Sam would keep hounding her until she got at one clue. "Fine. You get one clue. You know him and he goes to our school."
Sam thought about whom hat could be and couldn't narrow it down to anybody. "That narrows it down to pretty much all the boys who go to our school."
"Pretty much," agreed Jen.
Sam walked around her bedroom trying to figure out who Jen's mysterious date was. It was bugging her that she didn't have a slight clue to who it could be. She knew she wouldn't find out any time soon or at least until the dance. But the fact that Jen wasn't telling her who it was bothered Sam a little bit. It had been bothering her since she found out that Jen had a date. Sam knew her best friend had a reason for not telling her and she would have to live with the anticipation until tonight.
Sam walked over to her bed to where the green sparkly dress laid. She ran a hand over the fabric and couldn't help but smile. She hoped that the dress would fit her; otherwise she would be forced to wear her 'horrible' polka dotted dress. She knew she should have tried on the dress before today to make it had fit, but time had allowed her that opportunity. She was hopping that the dress would fit her perfectly, like in the books that she was always reading.
Sam picked up the dress and carefully took out of the dress bad that was protecting it. She slid it off of the hanger and held the dress in her hands for a few seconds. Was this dress truly going to make Jake notice her tonight? Sam hoped so, but couldn't be sure for certain. Was a simple dress going to make some boy suddenly fall in love with a girl who had considered his little sister for so many years? Sam didn't know the answer but, she hoped that tonight would be her special night.
"I'm going to go try the dress on," said Sam.
Jen was rummaging through one of her many bags for something and nodded her head to indicate that she had heard Sam. "Let me know how it fits and show me," said Jen.
Sam padded down the hallway to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and slipped into the gown. Sam pulled the zipper up in back and then looked at herself in the mirror. The dress fit her perfectly! It was truly a magical dress for a fairytale type dance, thought Sam to herself. As Sam twirled in front of the bathroom mirror, she felt beautiful for the first time in her life. She felt like a princess in the dress and all she needed now was her Prince Charming.
Sam picked up the bottom of the gown and walked back into her bedroom to show Jen
the dress. Jen was reading one of Sam's many horse magazines that had been scattered on the bedroom floor. Sam twirled in front of Jen and was mildly surprised to see the look on Jen's face. Jen's eyes were opened wide and her mouth hung open a little bit. Sam stopped twirling around and started to wonder if the dress didn't look well on her all of a sudden.
"What?" asked Sam in a panicked voice. "Does the dress look that bad on me or something?"
Jen finally found her voice. "No. You look like a princess in that dress. It's perfect!"
"Thanks," said Sam grinning happily. "For a moment I thought you were going to say it looked horrible."
"No. It looks like it was made just for you and only you," said Jen.
"Do you think Jake will notice me tonight in it?" Asked Sam chewing her bottom lip a little bit.
"Oh, he'll notice you tonight, all right," said Jen grinning wickedly. "Him and every other guy at the dance. Sam, that dress will makes you look stunning."
Sam didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Shortly after that Gram came into her room with a plate full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of milk.
"So, how are the dance preparations coming?" Asked Gram as she placed the plate of cookies on Sam's messy desk.
"Good," replied Jen. "Sam looks like a fairytale princess in her green dress."
Gram looked to where Sam was standing and couldn't believe that was actually her granddaughter. She looked so beautiful and grown up.
"You look so pretty, Sam." Gram said in a soft voice. "You look so much like your mother. She would've been so proud of you."
"Really?" asked Sam quietly with tears in her eyes now.
Gram nodded her head. Gram quickly regained her composure and left the room.
"I'll be right back," Gram said as she left.
Sam and Jen looked at each other for a second, but then continued getting ready.
About fifteen minutes later Gram entered Sam's bedroom again holding a box. Sam wasn't sure what was inside the box, but it made her curious. Gram sat down on the bed and Sam sat down next to her.
"Sam, I want you to have these for the dance tonight" Gram said quietly.
"What's in the box, Gram?" Sam asked her voice full of curiosity.
"These were your mother's shoes. She wore these on the day she married your father."
"I thought that Dad had gotten rid of all of mom's things after she died."
"No, Sam. He kept a few of her things and I also put away some of her things for when you were old enough to use them."
Sam reached her the box and pulled the cover off the shoe box. Inside was a pair of strapped high heeled shoes that were silver. Sam wasn't sure if she would be able to walk in them, but she loved all the same. These were her mother's shoes that she had worn on her wedding day. Without realizing it a tear slid out her eye and down her face.
"Thanks, Gram. This means so much to me." Sam said her voice full of emotion.
"Your mother would be so proud of you tonight, Sam. She would've wanted you to wear her shoes to the dance."
Sam at a lost for words couldn't think of a thing to say so she wrapped her arms around Gram and gave a hug. The hug conveyed all of the emotions that Sam couldn't put into words, but Gram understood her.
Sam dried her eyes with the back of her hand and was thankful that she hadn't put on her mascara yet for tonight.
Gram gently got up from Sam's bed and said "You have to finish getting yourselves ready before Quinn comes to pick you guys up."
Sam nodded and was wondering what time it was when she heard somebody knocking on the door downstairs. Realizing that it must be around 4:30 because the person at the door had to be her friend Callie who had agreed to do her and Jen's hair for the dance.
Gram went downstairs to let Callie in, while Sam helped Jen get into her dress. Once Jen was in her dress, the girls went downstairs to get their hair done.
Sam and Jen walked into the kitchen to see Callie setting up everything that she would need to transform their hair into some amazing style. She had a curling iron plugged into the outlet warming it up, and tons of bobby pins, hair ties, brushes, combs and many other things lying on the table.
"Hey, Sam! It's nice to see you again." Callie said happily. Callie had been so busy lately she hadn't had a chance to talk to Sam in awhile.
"It's nice to see you too!" exclaimed Sam happily.
"I brought some books and magazines full of different hairstyles for you guys to look through, or if you have a style in mind already I can probably do that too." Callie said in her professional voice.
"I think we should look through the books," said Sam. "I haven't found a style yet."
Sam and Jen sat down at the kitchen table on the side that wasn't covered in beauty supplies and picked up the magazines and books looking for the style that they wanted.
The styles in the magazines were much better than the styles she and Jen had experimented with the other day. The styles varied from elegant, to wild, to crazy, and then some styles Sam didn't know what they were supposed to be.
Sam was looking through a wedding hairstyle magazine and found a style where the hair was up in a bun, but instead of a boring bun the hair was curled into little ringlets and pinned. Sam knew this was the style that she wanted for her hair tonight. She was flipping through the rest of the magazine though to be sure that this was her favorite. All of a sudden she heard Jen exclaim from her side.
"Sam, look at these hairstyles."
Sam put down her magazine and looked over Jen's shoulder to see what Jen was talking about. Jen had a magazine on famous sci-fi hairstyles. There were several different hairstyles from movies like Star Trek and Star Wars. Sam and Jen both loved Star Wars and everything about it, but Sam would never wear her hair like that for a school dance. She thought the magazine was more geared for a Halloween costume than an important school dance. Jen was looking at different Princess Leia hairstyles and Sam couldn't help but feel that Jen would choose one of those for the dance.
Typical that Jen would find her hairstyle in a sci-fi magazine, Sam thought to herself. Sam loved some of the hairstyles that she saw, but knew she would never have the courage to wear one of them to a high school dance, afraid of what all the other students would think of her. Lucky for Jen, she didn't care what others thought of her or the clothes she wore or the hairstyles she put her hair into.
Jen walked into the living room, still looking at her magazine. Sam pointed out the style that she wanted to Callie.
"Do you think you could do this style?" asked Sam eagerly to Callie.
Callie looked over the page that Sam had indicated. She studied it for a moment and then smiled. "Sure I can. This one's easy."
Sam sat down in the chair across the table next to the curling iron and other hair supplies. Callie started by brushing her hair out to get rid of all the knots and snarls.
"So, who are you going to the dance with?" asked Callie as she worked on Sam's hair.
"Quinn Ely," said Sam quietly.
Callie started twisting and twirling Sam's hair. "I thought for sure it would be Jake Ely who was taking you to the dance." Callie said as she worked another knot out of Sam's hair.
So did I thought Sam darkly to herself. But Jake had made it clear to her that he was going with Kate. Sam really hoped for her miracle tonight, that Jake would realize that Kate was all wrong for him and find out that Sam was the girl for him.
To Callie Sam said, "No. Jake and I are just friends. He's taking his girlfriend Kate to the dance."
"Oh," was the only thing that Callie could think to say. "Can you put your head down?"
Sam did as she was told and that ended their conversation since Callie needed to concentrate on the more difficult aspects of the hairstyle. Half an hour later Callie was putting the finishing touches to Sam's hair and spraying her hair with what felt like half a bottle of hairspray.
Sam got up from the chair and let Jen know that it was her turn to get her hair done. Sam padded up the stairs to the bathroom to see how her hair looked.
Sam stared at the reflection that was staring back at her. She could hardly believe that was herself she was looking at in the mirror. She looked much more grown up with her hair up the way it was. Sam stared at herself for a few more seconds then went to her room to get her makeup.
It only took Sam a few minutes to put her makeup on. Since Jen wasn't done with her hair yet, Sam had time to paint her nails. It wasn't a fancy manicure like most of the girls would have, but Sam thought her nails looked good enough for one night.
Sam went upstairs to her bedroom once she had finished her nails. Once there, Sam stood in her room and wondered why she had come in here in the first place. She had all of her jewelry on, hair done, dress one and her mother's magical wedding shoes were on her feet. The shoes had fit Sam perfectly and it made her happy that she got to wear something that had once been her mother's.
Sam realized than that she had come to grab a purse out of her messy closet. While Sam was looking for a purse to use that was appreciate for a school dance, Jen came into the room having her hair finally done.
"You haven't seen my black fancy purse, have you?" Sam asked Jen.
"It's on your nigh table, behind your lamp," replied Jen. Sam was crawling out of her closet, while Jen grabbed the purse for Sam.
Sam took her purse from her best friend and just stared at Jen with her mouth slightly opened. Sam had thought that Jen had been joking with her earlier about putting her up into some weird, crazy sci-fi hairdo. Sam couldn't believe that Jen had actually had Callie put her hair into one of those weird styles.
"Do you like?" asked Jen as she slowly turned around so Sam could see the entire style.
"Umm," said Sam uncertainly. "You do realize we're going to a Valentine's dance, not a Halloween dance, right?"
"Of course, I know," said Jen a little defensively. "My date for the dance is going to love my hair like this. He's into that sort of thing"
"Well, he definitely will be able to find you with your hair that way, since you're the only one at the dance who will look like Princess Leia."
Jen had Callie style her hair into Princess Leia's iconic buns from the original movie. Sam knew that Jen didn't care what other people thought of her and was known to wear the weirdest combinations together. Still in the back of Sam's mind she couldn't believe her best friends had actually done her hair that way for a Valentine's dance and was a little envious of Jen that she could do that and didn't care or worry what others would say about her.
"Callie did a great job with your hair," Sam said approximately trying to sound eager for Jen. "It looks almost identical to the style except that your hair is blonde instead of brown."
"I can't wait to see the look on my date's face when he sees me," Jen said excitedly.
"He won't be able to take his eyes of you the entire night," Sam said smiling to herself.
"I'm counting on that," replied Jen.
The girls were just finishing up when the doorbell rang downstairs. They heard Gram open the door and then heard Gram yelling up the stairs that Quinn was there to pick them up.
Sam was halfway down the stairs behind Jen when Sam almost lost her balance. Standing next to Quinn at the end of the stairs was Jake. What is Jake doing here? Sam thought to herself. Didn't he have to go pick up his spoiled girlfriend in some expensive limo? But Sam wasn't mistaking or losing her mind. Jake was at the end of the stairs and staring up at her and Jen.
Sam kept to the plan though. She completely ignored Jake and walked over to Quinn, who was waiting for her with a bouquet of daisies. She hugged Quinn, trying to make Jake jealous of the attention she was giving to his brother. Sam even gave Quinn a delicate kiss on the cheek. Sam knew she shouldn't be trying to make Jake jealous, but she couldn't help it.
All of a sudden Gram, her father, and her step mom entered the room. Sam saw what was in her step mother's hands and felt like she had to get out of the house within in the next three seconds. Sam wasn't fast enough though. Brynna was already snapping away a million pictures of the four of them. Sam loved taking pictures, but she hated when she was the one being photographed.
Brynna insisted on having a million pictures taken of them. First she and Sam and Quinn pose for a few pictures. Then there a group picture of the four of them. The last picture Brynna made Sam and Jake pose for a picture. Jake actually put his arm around Sam's waist and surprised her. Finally a few more shots later they were free to leave the house for the dance.
Once outside Jake caught up to Sam who was hurrying for the truck. "You look nice tonight, brat." He said softly in Sam's ear.
Sam was thankful that it was dark outside; otherwise Jake might have noticed that she was blushing a most unbecoming shade of red. Sam nodded her head and thanked Jake for his compliment.
Jake held the door open for Sam and helped her into the truck. Then just as quietly as before Jake asked "What did Jen do to her hair?"
"Apparently her date is into sci-fi stuff, so she styled her hair as Princess Leia."
"Poor guy," replied Jake sounding a little miffed.
Sam shook her head at Jake's comment and soon enough all four of them were piled into the truck and on their way to a dance that would change their lives forever.