Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter 12

During study period I realize that the Fall Formal is this Saturday. I had forgotten all about it! I pull out my phone and send Lori a text;

Did you get a dress for the dance on Saturday?

As I wait for her response, I ponder how two weeks could fly by so quickly.

Lori writes back with a No!

And then another text pops up right after; Lori: Shopping?

Me: Tomorrow after school?

I send the question and then quickly stuff my phone into my bookbag just before the teacher passes by. The last thing I need to do is get into trouble for ‘playing’ on my phone. I hear my phone as it buzzes twice in my bag.

^^^

As soon as school lets out, I head straight to Lori’s red Honda Civic. We had decided to ride together that morning so we wouldn’t have to drive two separate cars to the store. Lori comes bouncing up to me as I wait by her car for her. “Why do you look so happy, Lori?”

“Guess who just told me they are going to the dance on Saturday.” Her grin is edging on annoying as I look at her.

“Uh, I have no idea...”

She giggles before saying; “ASH!” and squeals with excitement. She jumps up and down as she takes hold of my hand, nearly causing me to jump with her.

My heartbeat goes into triple time at hearing Lori’s claim. “Oh, that’s awesome. It will definitely be a fun night, huh.” Surprisingly I manage to say the sentence without a hint of sarcasm in it, though my head is spinning at the thought of seeing Ash all dressed up but also knowing I won’t be getting to hang out with him because as soon as Blake spots me, he will be by my side the entire night. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Blake. We have a lot of fun when we are together. However, I really don’t see whatever this is between us going any further than where it is now.

Lori drives us to the dress shop and throws her car in park. We hop out of the Civic singing at the top of our lungs the popular song that was on while she drove us here.

After we enter the store, we split up as we normally do. She goes off to the left and I go right, and we will eventually meet up in the middle of the store with an arm load of dresses in hand. I feel like I’ve wandered around the store for an hour but when I look at my phone, I see that only twenty minutes have passed. I spot Lori and begin to walk towards her feeling frustrated that I haven’t found anything that I would wear to the dance.

Sighing, I tap Lori on the shoulder. She doesn’t say anything to me, just holds up the dress I’m going to wear! “Oh my gosh! It’s beautiful,” I squeal in excitement.

She smiles, “I saw it and just knew, ‘this is Sofia’s dress’!” And she is totally right. The dress is spaghetti strapped and falls mid-thigh. I take it into the dressing room to try it on and hear Lori; “I found two for myself as well. So, let me know which one is ‘mine’.” I slip the dress over my head and then shimmy it down where it falls against my body, hugging all the right curves. Spinning once in front of the mirror, I am totally loving how the yellow, gold, and orange shimmer causing me to look like I am a sparkling fire of glitter. This thought makes me laugh out loud. “Uh, why are you laughing,” I hear Lori shout from the dressing room next to me.

“Are you ready?” She and I always try to time it so that we step out at the exact same moment and can see each other’s reaction. I hear her shout a yeah and then together we count; “one, two, THREE!” From the way her eyes enlarge, I know she approves, and I gush over the dress she has on but tell her to go try the other one on so I can decide. As she goes back into her dressing room, I go back into mine and change back into my street clothes.

I walk back out the dressing room with dress in hand and take a seat on the bench across from the one Lori is in. A few seconds later I hear her shout out ‘hear I come’ and then watch as she flings the door open and sashays out to stand in front of me.

The first dress she had on was a simple black dress with sequins around the neck and arms. The second one is amazing and amazing on her! It is a beautiful flowing fabric of sky-blue and just wow! Lori grins at me and simply says, “yeah?”. I nod my head vigorously yes and then she goes to change back into her street clothes.

Once she is out, we head up to the cashier and pay for our items and then we head home.

“Okay,” I shout back as I hear Lori say; “see you tomorrow!” She disappears into her house, and I am nearly to my driveway. Stopping by my car, I grab a book from the backseat. Just as I’m shutting the door, I turn to head into the house when I can hear very loud voices coming from next door, Ash’s house.

I peek my head around the corner of the house to see what in the world is going on. “But you don’t understand, this changes everything. She is the one we have been trying to replace. And I can feel it to the very core of my being; she is my twin flame too...” He trails off as he continues to stare at the tiny lady in front of him. His grandmother, maybe?

Taking a step back, I hear myself as a sob type of sound escapes my lips. Why in the world did I just make that sound? I shouldn’t care if he has a twin flame, granted I’m not sure what that is exactly but still... I mean, I already know he isn’t interested in me and I’m dating Blake... but why do I feel like my heart just exploded inside my chest?