[echo into void]

“You’re coming to the party tonight, right?” diana overhead while walking through the hallways of kalon high. Diana was normally the very shy person at school; nobody ever wanted to talk to her, no teacher ever called on her, and she even ate lunch alone. Yet somehow, some way, she got invited to the end of the year party that all of the cool kalons go to.

She wasn’t exactly sure how she got invited, either. She believes it was by pure mistake because she was sitting in the cafeteria, eating alone, when a piece of paper flew by and dropped on the table near her. When she picked it up and turned it over, it was all the information needed for the party. Someone saw her looking at it, and purely out of pity (she believes) they exclaimed, “hey! You’re coming to that, right?!”

“Uh… i-i guess,” diana stammered.

“See you there!” they replied as they rushed away to eat with their friends. Diana continued to look at that piece of paper for the rest of lunch. It made her happy to think that somebody wanted her there (presumably). The party was only three days away then. Now, it was only three hours away, and she hadn’t even decided what she’s going to wear.

She rushed home from school and told her mother that she’s home while bouncing up the stairs like a happy dog. Part of her was so excited for this night, while the other part was just full of extreme terror and anxiety. When she got to her room, she opened her closet as wide as it could go and looked at her options (which wasn’t much).

2 hours 41 minutes.

She didn’t realize that she had close to no nice clothing options for parties, but she had to find something. She pulled out a few dresses and a black suit. She tried on the first dress which was a classic red skin-tight dress with a lot of sequins and sparkles. It had a v-neckline and it went down to the floor. She shifted so that she could see herself in the mirror and was immediately disgusted. She didn’t want to wear anything skin-tight to this party, or she might be made fun of completely. She took that dress off and tried on the next one. This one was yellow and very flowy; it fit her very nicely and showed off all the right things. When she looked in the mirror, she wasn’t disgusted at all, yet kind of surprised by how good she thought she looked. When she removed that dress, she laid it on her bed as a ‘maybe’.

2 hours 12 minutes.

As she tried on the third and final dress, her mother walked in.

“How is m--?” she started to ask before realizing that her daughter was wearing a blue dress that was very revealing.

“What are you doing? I didn’t even know you owned something so risque!” her mother exclaimed while walking into the room further and coming towards diana.

“Mom, i’m trying to find something to wear for the party tonight. Can you please just leave me alone?” diana asked very politely. Her mother didn’t like that diana was going to a party and she especially didn’t like the clothing options she was looking at. But nonetheless, she respected her daughter’s privacy and left the room with a big sigh.

2 hours 7 minutes.

Diana looked at herself in the mirror with a blue dress on that revealed a little too much of her fur. She understood why her mother didn’t like it, she didn’t like it either. She ripped the dress off as if it were trash and went for the black suit.

She was very skeptical of this suit looking remotely good on her, but she had to try. She had always felt more comfortable when she presented herself as more masculine than feminine, but she enjoys wearing dresses as well.

She put on the suit and looked in the mirror. Her breathe was immediately taken away. She looked amazing and she knew it. She felt amazing, too. Even though part of her was scared that she would get made fun of for wearing ‘boy clothes’, she decided to wear the suit because that’s what she felt the most comfortable in.

She stood there and stared at her reflection in the mirror for way too long; she lost track of time.

1 hour 27 minutes.

Even though she looked amazing, she wanted to add something. She went back in her closet and shuffled through her necklaces, rings, and hats.

“This is perfect!” she nearly screamed.

She emerged from the closet holding a black mesh scarf with little yellow bugs on it. She had nearly forgotten about this scarf, but it was just perfect for tonight.

She threw it on and looked at herself in the mirror one last time--yep, still gorgeous.

She bounded out of the room full of happiness, excitement, and terror all at the same time.

1 hour 3 minutes.

She told her mom that she was heading out and going to the party. Her mother asked if she wanted a ride to which diana replied with a stern “no.” she headed out the door and down the street. She was ready.

She started rounding the last corner when she heard the music blaring. She didn’t know if she was ready anymore.

0 hours 2 minutes.

She stood at that last corner for what seemed like eternity. She was debating with herself whether or not she should just turn around. I mean, she wasn’t really invited right? They only said that out of pity, right? these things kept running through her head.

She finally mustered up the courage to continue walking forward. Once she finally reached her destination, she was shaking. She saw all the kalons dancing and running around and just generally having a good time.

She walked up to the door and finally stepped foot inside her first party...