A Fantasy Ball

Maddie Miller
Jun 26
3 min read

This week, Mari—the protagonist of my fantasy novel—is going to a ball. I hope you enjoy this silly sneak-peak!

She looked good. Or goooodddddd, as Cresida had put it. Either way, that was not a sentiment that Mari often had. But even she couldn’t deny it.

The dress looked like it was made for her, tailored to fit her perfectly. For all she knew, that was some magical property it had. Because, really, it was perfect. Complete with the little white blossoms and shells that Cresida put in her hair, Mari felt like she’d been transported to a fairytale.

Except she had high-tops instead of heels. Much more practical.

But she felt pretty, which was a rarity, to say the least. She almost didn’t recognize herself when she looked in the scratched-up little mirror on her wall.

Cresida came up behind her, doing a final check as well. Cresida had dressed to impress too, elevating her iconic lavender slip with bangles, jewels—that she got… somewhere?—and colorful feathers.

Realizing that they were quickly moving from fashionably late to full-on tardy, the girls rushed down to the village center. Well, one rushed, the other was dragged behind. Bet you can guess who was who…

Cresida halted in front of the double doors, with Mari at her side. Despite her earlier dread, Mari was curious about this ordeal. After all, it wasn’t too often she got to dress up like some woodland princess.

But Cresida wasn’t going in.

Mari warily turned to her friend and watched as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and did some jazz hands before, all at once, exhaling, putting her hands on her hips, and cracking open her eyes while smiling dramatically.

About 10% lunatic, 90% excitement. The scientist in Mari was okay with that. Lunatic could just mean passionate, right?

With a jolt, Cresida pushed open the door on her side, but not the other.

Panic raced up Mari’s spine as she quickly fumbled with the other door, opening it with too much of an awkward delay. She wasn’t surprised to see all eyes on them.

Mari could feel the heat racing to her cheeks, but she willed herself not to look down like she had before. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Cresida’s hair, trailing behind as she embraced the spotlight.

“Helloooo party people!” Cresida cheered with a raise of her arms, strutting into the crowd like a proud peacock… who was quickly engulfed by the ugly ducklings surrounding her. That wasn’t really a fair comparison though, Mari thought to herself, because everyone was nowhere close to ugly. But they were like commoners compared to Cresida.

And Mari relished it. The lack of attention, the somewhat anonymity, as she melted into the group. The background, where she was used to being.

Mari made her way through the room, pausing here and there for a quick chat or smile, but didn’t linger anywhere too long. And the people seemed to get that—that lots of socializing wasn’t her strength.

But people-watching was, and she planned on doing just that from the table in the corner. Which she did, for a grand total of twenty-two and a half minutes.

Then her hiding place was discovered.

“Dude! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” A hand thumped her back and she turned around with half a pear hanging out of her mouth.