Page 321 of A University of Betrayal

Nice of her to just go over Alice’s and my head like that.

“Now, come on.”

Desperately, I sent up a prayer to the heavens that Alice’s ghost would spare me and promised myself that I would look for a better dress tomorrow. Maybe Julian would accompany me to DressinGlamour again.

The Winter Ball

Chapter 54

Bayla

Night

Christopher Tyng

I looked at myself in the mirror, fascinated by what the dress was doing to my body. The lace-covered corset fitted tightly around my waist, and I had even managed to lace the thing up at my backon my own.At the shoulders, the thin sleeves hung down slightly so that my shoulders were basically exposed; and from my hips to the floor, the shiny fabric, which felt like the finest silk, hung – multilayered - down over the hoop skirt.

I wondered what Alice must have looked like in this dress. She must have had fuller hair than mine, a little shorter too. Dark brown. Her skin, pale. If she had worn it, why shouldn’t I be able to wear it?

Yep,I was wearing the teal dress I had vowed yesterday to bring back as soon as possible.

To be precise, it was Friday evening andno,unfortunately I hadn’t made it to DressinGlamour again. Larissa had even told Julie and Julian about the dress, and they had both agreed with Larissa, although I had expected them to be more sensible.

And now here I was, in a beautiful dress that had once belonged to someone who was now dead.

I should be ashamed of myself. And so, I was.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror one last time, adjusted my necklace, and checked my hair, which Larissa had cut two centimeters shorter an hour ago and then curled. And the fact that I looked even more like Alice with my haircut, even though we were so different, weighed on me a little, despite the fact that I thought I was beautiful.

My mother would be there tonight, and I wasn’t ready for the drama. Maybe I was too paranoid and she wouldn’t even notice. In the end, Alice had never worn this dress... I was probably worrying too much.

I stepped away from the mirror and tried to walk on the high heels I had borrowed from Larissa. Or rather, she had simply brought them for me because she thought my idea of walking in sneakers was a bad idea.

I hated high heels, even if they looked good, they didn’t feel good at allonce you had them on.

With great difficulty, I made it into the hallway and looked down the stairs.

Oh, no.This was going to be a challenge.

I could hear Julie and Larissa talking to each other from downstairs and hoped they hadn’t waited too long for me.

Luckily, Vivienna and the other three girls had left for the ball an hour ago, so we’d had our peace and quiet.

The ball must have just started, but everyone always came when they wanted anyway. Alarik had told us that during the last lesson.

I took one step after another down the stairs.

“I don’t know. I don’t feel like it, somehow.”

“Are you serious? You can’t miss out on the Winter Ball.”

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the two of them stopped arguing and turned to me.

Larissa’s eyes brightened as she looked at me, and even Julie stared at me as if paralyzed.

“This dress was made for you,” she whispered, and I had to smile.

“Thank you.”

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