Dance With A Vampire for Chapter 28

A seasoned sales manager, wearing a name tag that read MADGE and exuding the confidence of a sea captain effortlessly managing a vessel on the high seas, approached my mom. "Here, let me take those, " she said. This obviously wasn't her first prom season and it wasn't going to be her last. "I'll start a dressing room for you. " We followed the woman into the dressing room already flooded with prom babes strutting their gowns like they were on a Paris catwalk. I disrobed, taking off my wide-bottom black jeans and Hello Batty T-shirt, and stepped into a pink satin number. I stared into the full-length mirror. I didn't even recognize my own reflection. "Let me see!" I heard my mother say. Reluctantly, I opened the dressing-room door. "Take off those boots!" she scolded. "This isn't a heavy metal concert. " As I untied my laces, Madge appeared and within moments she was back with pink rhinestone stilettos, size seven. I stepped before the three-way dressing-room mirror. I felt like a bridesmaid, but to my mother, I must have looked like the bride. "You are beautiful!" she gushed. Even Madge agreed. "You look like a model, " she declared, and waited for my reaction. I could see myself reflected in my mother's eyes, slowly transforming into the daughter she had always wanted. The prom babes sized me up. A few smiled; a few giggled. I must have looked quite the sight, pretty in pink with my multiple ear piercings, temporary bat tattoos, and black lipstick and fingernail polish. I imagined how much better I'd look if this prom dress had a few holes, black seams, or was dyed bloodred. "Before you decide, " Madge declared briskly. She returned to the counter to replace my black rubber bracelets with rhinestone ones. Just then Jack Patterson stepped into view. "Raven, it's Jack, " my mother said, and excitedly exited the dressing room.