Undeserved but Not Unexpected

[Margo Ellis]

Margo couldn't believe it. Her elder sister Cynthia had sent Margo one of her most beautiful dresses to wear at the Yule Ball, and it was everything Margo had ever dreamed of and more. As she turned this way and that in front of the long mirror, admiring the dress from every angle, she actually felt... pretty. As if maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be the ugly duckling at the ball. Of course, it helped that she'd applied so much Sleekeazy to her hair that it probably wouldn't curl again for a week. She hadn't heard of the special hair lotion until she'd come across it while browsing in the village, and naturally she'd bought several tins; but she had waited until today to try it for the first time, thinking that she might make the biggest impact by applying every beauty treatment to her body all in one go. She had a small amount of makeup on her face, though not enough that it was obvious; she'd made that mistake before. There was nothing left to do but go down to the ball.

The Ravenclaw grinned giddily as she lifted her skirt and dashed across the dorm, coming to a sudden halt at the door. If she were really going to be ladylike, she supposed she had best adopt the right posture and walk, too. Drawing herself upright, she walked composedly down the tower steps and descended to the ground floor, growing spontaneously nervous as her foot left the final step. This was it. She didn't know if Odette had arrived, yet, not whether the Slytherin had a partner, but she was eager to find her friend. Biting her lip, she stepped gracefully into the hall, her dress rippling gently at her ankles, and set about looking for her friend.

 

[Odette Madison]

Tonight was Odette's night to shine. Even though she was only a second year, she had a date. And not just that, he was an older boy too. She hadn't even told Margo about this yet, she wanted to completely wow her friends. She was wearing a beautiful long light grey dress, almost silver in the dimmer lights. She had been confident she had made the right choice from her mother's collection. Though, even now she was sure her mother would have something negative to say about Odette's looks. Somehow, she never seemed to run out of those kinds of comments. It had occurred to her occasionally that maybe she was just looking for bad things to say, but she couldn't help feeling like it was because she just wasn't good enough. Not perfect enough.

No. Those thoughts needed to end. Tonight she was shining. She looked over to her side where Hayden stood, giving him a small smile. She wasn't really sure if she liked him, or if he liked her, but at least they were here together and giving off an incredible impression. She touched his arm. "Some of these dresses are absolutely hideous." She said, nodding at a passing girl. "If I ever wear something like that, you have permission to throw me off the Astronomy tower." For some reason, she felt at ease making comments like that with Hayden. It felt refreshing not to cover everything she said in a pretty veneer of niceness. There was still a voice at the back of her head telling her she needed to make him like her, though she wasn't even sure if that was what she wanted yet. She looked him over. "You look good, though. I mean, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't still be standing next to you." She smiled to show it wasn't completely serious.

She looked around for her friends, any of them. She spotted Beaubelle's white-blond head in the distance but didn't want to go to her. Beaubelle was gorgeous, she couldn't let the shy girl steal her spotlight. Another girl wandered closer and Odette's eyes passed over her three times before she was hit with recognition. That was Margo. She looked amazing, truly amazing. Odette stared at her friend in shock, before anger started to push that emotion away. Margo was supposed to be awkward with her frizzy hair and bad posture. This girl looked anything but awkward. Odette tried to turn away before Margo saw her, but then she caught the other girl's eye and knew it was too late. She felt very tense and looked from the corner of her eye to see Hayden's reaction to suddenly-gorgeous-Margo.

 

[Hayden Lavish]

Hayden had never really been all that interested in the Yule ball. Even when he went the previous year, but this time he had a date so things were a little different. From what he knew about Odette she had two personalities. How she acted with her friends, and how she really was, Hayden got the impression he saw the real her, which he was glad about. The Slytherin wasn't interested in hanging out with someone who was presenting a false self to him. Hayden had a slight smirk on his lips as he adjusted his tie in the mirror in his dorm. Once he was ready he made his way out, met Odette and they made their way to the Great hall.

They weren't inside long before Odette turned on her charm, looking around and passing judgement on the girls and their dresses. It was a fun thing to behold. When she turned her attention to him and told him he looked good, he smiled, he knew he did but it never hurt to have someone agree. "Thanks, you look amazing yourself, you put every girl in here to shame," Hayden smirked. Suddenly Odette stopped in her tracks as someone seemed to catch her attention. "Problem?" He asked. Hayden's question was soon answered as the girl who had seemingly stopped Odette began to make her way over to them. Could that be Margo? All he knew about the girl from Odette was that she was a bit of a loser and a little awkward but that didn't describe the girl making her way over, and that could explain the reaction of his date. "Hi there,"
Hayden greeted her once she approached them. "You look beautiful this evening,"

 

[Margo Ellis]

Finally spotting Odette in the crowd, Margo weaved across to meet her, so excited about her hair and dress and makeup that she hardly noticed her friend looked tense to see her. "Hi!" she said, realising only after she'd greeted Odette that there was a boy stood next to her. He was quite cute, and Margo's first instinct was to blush; but today she fought it, gathering her courage and smiling. Then her heart skipped a beat. Beautiful?! She had never, not ever in her life, been called beautiful before - well, only by her mum, but she didn't count that. This was a boy, and he actually thought she was attractive! Grinning from ear to ear, Margo said, "You don't look so bad yourself, Mister Lavish." The Ravenclaw turned her attention back to her friend. "Sorry I'm late. You have noo idea how much Sleekeazy there is in my hair right now. If I go near an open flame, I might catch fire!"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette laughed softly as Hayden told her she looked amazing and put every girl here to shame. It was the least he could say, really, and she was annoyed by how much she enjoyed his compliment. He shouldn't have that much power over her emotions with some simple words, but she still liked hearing it. Hayden noticed when Odette had spotted Margo and asked if she had a problem, but she couldn't answer because Margo was heading their way. The dress looked even more beautiful as it moved, flowing around the girl and making her seem really beautiful. That word wasn't something she wanted to be associated with her nerdy friend. Margo had no business looking this good. Better than you. A voice whispered in her head and she squashed it. Margo was not better than her in any way, she wasn't.

She wasn't sure what to say to Margo but Hayden beat her to it anyway. To her irritation, the boy seemed to agree with Odette's assessment of Margo's looks. He was admiring her, wasn't he? What if he regretted taking Odette? Then he called her beautiful. He hadn't called her beautiful. Did that mean Margo looked better? This was a total humiliation. And Margo was shamelessly enjoying his attention, surely she liked that Odette's date was showing interest in her. Even her last comment seemed mocking to Odette. In her anger she was clutching her drink hard enough to endanger her dress. That gave her an idea.

She mostly ignored what Margo said to her, instead looking away. "Oh it's fine, I have to go to the bathroom. Excuse me." She moved quickly, stepping closer to Margo and pretending to stumble, making her drink tumble from her hand and onto Margo's dress. The red stain it left was incredibly satisfying, and Odette had to force herself not to smile. Instead she gasped. "Oh no, I'm sorry!"

 

[Hayden Lavish]

Hayden smirked as Margo returned his compliment with a little hint of flirtation. It was fun, but his attention was on the Slytherin at his side. He did laugh at Margo's comment about her hair, Hayden never understood the lengths girls went through to look good, but he couldn't argue with the results. What happened next surprised even Hayden, one moment Odette mentioned going to the bathroom, the next Margo has a big red stain on her dress and Hayden wasn't convinced by Odette's reaction. It had been on purpose, but he had no idea why Odette would turn on her friend like that, even if sometimes he wondered if she just put up with the Ravenclaw for appearances, the action was so out of the blue. "Odette what the hell was that?" He asked turning to the girl.

 

[Margo Ellis]

It happened before Margo had time to process it; she was gabbling excitedly about how much Sleekeazy there was in her hair, and then Odette had excused herself, tripped, and accidentally thrown her bright red drink all over Margo's dress. The blonde stood frozen in shock, her arms lifted to her sides and her mouth open. Her dress was... ruined. She could feel the liquid seeping through it already, cold on her stomach. And the skirt... the skirt was splashed nearly all the way down to her ankles. She was vaguely aware of Hayden snapping something at Odette, but the world suddenly seemed a million miles away, the music and the dancing slipping into some far off dimension where everybody existed but her.

Then, all of a sudden, she came crashing back to reality. Tears filled her eyes, and she fled, crying, out of the great hall. Odette had stumbled on purpose. She had. Margo had seen it. She'd heard the insincerity in her apology. And yet somehow, somehow Margo simply couldn't believe it. Why?! Odette was her best friend! She would never do such a mean, horrible thing. She had no reason to. Wiping her face, Margo hurried across the entrance hall, hoping she could make it back up to her dormitory without too many people seeing her dress.

 

[Odette Madison]

The satisfaction that had filled Odette at the sight of the ruined dress and Margo's horrified expression left her almost before she could enjoy the feeling. It drained out of her, leaving her feeling empty and (if she was honest) guilty. Sometimes she actually thought of Margo as a friend, and that part of her felt the odd urge to comfort the girl, even though that was ludicrous. She didn't have time to do anything like that anyway, Margo turned and ran. She was crying, and Odette glanced down at the cup on the floor. Why had it seemed like such a good idea? Such a natural thing to do?

Hayden's reaction was almost a relief, she could latch onto it and get angry at him in return. Anger was far preferable over the guilt that had been creeping up on her. She glared at him. "I should be asking you that." She snapped. "Maybe you should go after poor, beautiful , Margo and comfort her. I'm sure she'll appreciate it and you'll enjoy it more." She turned away from him, smoothing down her skirt. "I'll go look for a boy that doesn't ogle any pathetic dork that throws herself at them." She straightened her shoulders, trying to look cold and distanced from the situation, but her clenched fists betrayed her real feelings. She wanted to punch something.

 

[Hayden Lavish]

Hayden couldn't believe the scene that had unfolded before him. In his haste to react to Odette he had ignored Margo who quickly ran off. He didn't blame her, her friend had turned on her for seemingly no reason. Hayden couldn't understand what had just happened. Then Odette was turning on him, what had he done? As she told him he should go after Margo, she seemed to particularly emphasise the word beautiful. What he had called Margo, but not her, his date. Whoops. As she turned to walk away from him, Hayden was quick to react, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Hang on, you're gonna use my choice of compliment against me? I complimented your friend but it was you I distinctly remember telling put everyone else to shame, well that included your friend Margo, please tell me that wasn't because of jealousy, because believe me you are more beautiful than Margo on your worst day,"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette was ready to storm off dramatically and approach the nearest boy she saw, preferably one from Slytherin in Hayden's year, just to rub it in. But before she could even try to look around Hayden had grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She gave him an irritated look, ready to snatch her hand back. But then he started to talk and she couldn't help but listen to him. He didn't sound angry or disgusted with her, even though a part of her had expected that. Odette still let go of his hand, but stayed to listen. She finally looked at him, her expression neutral but fighting not to smile. His little speech was convincing, and she instantly felt like she overreacted. It wouldn't do anyone any good to show remorse now, however. Especially not if Hayden didn't expect it. She would make it up to Margo later. Maybe.

She sighed, looking away as if to consider his words. "I might have overreacted. A little bit." She admitted grudgingly. "But I hadn't expected her to flirt with my date." She scowled, phrasing it like that made it all worse again. "I'll talk it out with her later, I'll offer to get her a new dress. There's no sense in ruining both our nights, right?" She looked at him again, wondering if she could still turn this into a normal date or if Hayden was ready to give up on her. His words suggested he wouldn't, but she didn't know if she could trust those words. She felt nervous, and hoped it didn't show. Never had she expected to act this badly in front of a boy that was supposed to like her, she had shown him way more about herself than she should have. He could drop her now, easily. But he had already shown that he liked parts of her personality no one else did.