Dresses, Dresses, Dresses

[Charlie Madison]

If there was one school event Charlie was dreading beyond all others, it was unequivocally the Yule Ball. Mum tried not to push her own interests on Charlie and Emily, and usually she did a good job, but the closer the Yule Ball got, the more unbearable mum got. She went on and on about her own schooldays, the beautiful dresses she wore, and how special and precious the experience had been. Charlie was just about gagging at the thought of it. Emily loved it, sure, but pretty dresses had never, ever been something Charlie was interested in, and it had taken a lot of flat out refusal to avoid the dress shopping trip mum so desperately wanted to take her on.

All that refusal turned out to be for naught though, when mum turned up one day with a dress. One of her own old dresses, from when she was at school. She had made such a fuss about how much fun Charlie was going to have, how pretty she was going to be. When she realised mum was on the verge of crying, Charlie begrudgingly accepted the dress, but when the time came to actually wear the thing, Charlie felt like a fool. It was too long and dangled uncomfortably off her shoulders. She looked gangly and like a clown, like she was wearing something she shouldn't. But it was too late, she had nothing else to wear, and there was only one option.

Charlie knew she still looked ridiculous, but with a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers under the awkward scrap of fabric at least she felt somewhat clothed. Cheeks hot with annoyance and embarrassment, Charlie gave up on avoiding the inevitable, dragging herself down to the Great Hall to join her classmates, hoping to avoid mum for the rest of the night.

 

[Maria Madison]

The Yule Ball reminded Maria of her own schooldays more than any other Hogwarts event. It nearly brought a tear to her eye, thinking back. Most of Maria's school memories weren't pleasant ones, tainted by the unpleasant person she had been in her youth, and the torment she had suffered at her brother's hands, but the Yule Ball had been the one day a year she felt like a princess, and so did everyone else at the school. A chance to be beautiful and glamorous, and live in a shiny fantasy world. Maria had been excited ever since adopting them to see her own children have their turn at that magical experience, and Charlie's first Yule Ball had come.

She would never admit it to anyone but herself, but Charlie was the child Maria often struggled to connect with the most when it came to things like this. She loved her tomboy daughter dearly, but didn't quite know how to talk to her about things like a Yule Ball dress. Charlie hadn't shown any real interest in dress shopping, and in a last ditch effort to at least make sure she had ANY clothes to wear, Maria offered her a hand-me-down dress of her own, relieved when Charlie actually took the offer. It wasn't ideal, but this way she had something other than t-shirt and sneakers to show up in.

Maria didn't intend to hover around her daughter at the ball, she wanted her to go out and do things on her own, she really did, she just wanted to check in quickly first, make sure she was alright and having fun. No living vicariously through Charlie, just making sure she didn't need anything. Her jaw dropped a little when she spotted her daughter, dress dangling uncomfortably over one of Charlie's favourite t-shirts, like a child playing dressup. Oh no. Immediately Maria realised her mistake. Why had she thought Charlie would want to wear a dress?! Seeing her surrounded by her classmates, Maria immediately realised she should have taken Charlie suit shopping, anything else. Not this. She rushed over worriedly, resting a hand on Charlie's shoulder, cursing her own shortsightedness. "Oh no, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." She said softly. "We should have found you something better to wear, I should have realised dresses weren't for you. I'm so sorry Charlie."

 

[Corrine Lagos]

Corrine had been stressed out about finding something suitable for the Yule Ball. The other girls were going on and on about ballgowns, but Corrine couldn't imagine herself wearing something so fancy. Dresses were one thing, but ballgowns seemed like another world, one she wasn't sure she'd ever understand. Still, she'd tried her best. She'd simply watched her roommates get ready, too embarrassed with what she'd finally ended up with, knowing it paled in comparison to what they'd chosen for themselves. She had liked her outfit when she'd first chosen it, but as she stood outside of the Great Hall, second, third, and fourth thoughts filled her mind. It seemed a tad too late to do anything about it, so Corrine took a moment to gather herself and then walked forward as if she'd planned this all along. It was all she could do.

Corrine spotted the older woman first, but when her eyes drifted to the young girl by her side, her smile widened. Her outfit was not like anything else that anyone was wearing to the Yule Ball, but that's what was so great about it. "I like your outfit" she said quietly, mostly because the older lady was around and she was supposed to be on her best behavior around adults. She added a smile and was ready to head further into the ball to grab some food.

 

[Charlie Madison]

Mum seemed to come out of nowhere with how quickly she popped up in Charlie's field of vision. Charlie tensed at once, bracing herself for mum to start fussing her hair or picking at her clothes, embarrassing her again, but when she spoke, her tone surprised Charlie. She sounded disappointed in herself, and as she spoke Charlie realised quickly that mum had actually figured out that this wasn't Charlie's type of thing at all. It had been years since Charlie had lived in foster care, but it still shocked her being around adults who actually wanted to make the effort to understand her. She shrugged awkwardly, not sure what to say.

Before she could figure out how to respond to mum though, another girl addressed Charlie and she looked over, blushing a little more. Charlie's first instinct was that the older girl had been mocking her, but when she saw the girl's expression it felt a little more like she had been sincere. "Uh, thanks..." She said awkwardly, looking down, not used to compliments like this from strangers. "I, uh... I like yours too." It was true, the older girl looked nice, put together and pretty like the kind of girl Charlie very much wasn't.