Thanks already to jueka1 and brightyeolie for commenting last chapter!

Enjoy another Lexi chapter after what seems like it has been an eternity...

____

When we walked out of the school grounds at the end of week five, the external exams now finished and behind us, Callie, Sara, Flynn, Ashton, Luke, Zac, Jackson, and I sighed in relief.

"We should celebrate," Ashton announced.

"How?" Sara pressed.

"Movie night at mine?" he asked.

Callie, Sara, and I shared a glance, before I responded with, "When were you thinking?"

"Tonight, duh." He said.

The three of us grinned and nodded our heads.

"Why?" Zac then asked. "Do you have hot dates tomorrow?" He nudged Flynn in the side.

"Opposite actually," Callie grumbled.

"Opposite?" Jackson queried.

Sara and I struggled to stifle our smiles before we said in unison, "We're going dress shopping for the formal."

"I hate it."

"I hate it."

"Oh I definitely hate it."

Dress after dress, Callie disliked them all. Short, long, poofy, silky, cocktail, princess-style, ballgown, definitely mermaid...

"You have to like one," Sara insisted.

"I hate them all," she grumbled while wearing an almost cinderella-styled dress, falling into the nearby chair as a cloud of tulle puffed in the air around her.

"I think you actually hate the event," I pried.

Her watery eyes lifted up meeting mine across the room as I fidgeted with the belt on the silk and chiffon jumpsuit I was currently trying on.

"I don't want to go, Lex," she whimpered.

"You told your boyfriend you would," I said, throwing that word at her because it always seemed to have more emphasis in this familiar debate. The label always brought the light back to her eyes, even for a moment.

"Can't I just... not and say I did? Or get a picture at home then get out—"

"Mum and dad are not buying us dresses and paying for Flynn's tux and ticket just for a phot—"

"Then let's skip the dress and tux altogether!" she exclaimed.

My nostrils flared at my sister while her eyes continued to water in her desperate plea.

In horrible timing, the shop assistant hesitantly approached us, stating, "I have other dresses if these don't suit..."

"That's ok—" Callie started to reply, but I cut her off.

"Do you have anything that will hide her leg but not make it seem like she's trying to hide it?"

"Hide her..." But the lady glanced down at the metal ankle poking out from the end of the ballgown. "Oh..."

Callie started to shrink in on herself at the lady's reaction, evidently starting to feel like she was being judged.

But then the store assistant pulled a warm smile onto her face before saying, "My daughter also had her leg amputated. She was much younger than you when I married my second husband, but I do recall selecting a bridesmaid's dress to be quite the... adventure."

Callie began to perk up at the fact this lady seemed to understand an ounce of what she was going through. "I don't want to hide it. But I don't want it to be so... obvious."

"So no long dresses or short dresses."

"Which means no dresses," she huffed, falling back into the chair.

"Not necessarily... Basically, we have two options. Option one, a short dress that has a long sheer overlay... like from tulle or chiffon. Or... if you want something that can be a little more covering, then a long dress with a slit on the right side. That way you can show off your leg when you're feeling confident and hide it when you're not."

My sister's eyes began to glow in excitement at the potential options, and after giving the shop assistant a hesitant nod, the pair got to work. All sorts of dresses in various styles and colours were thrown at my sister—though these all now had a slit or an overlay. Dress after dress she tried on, and more often we saw an actual considering stare from Callie as she turned this way and that in the mirror.

Until finally...

Finally...

She found the one.

As we rung up our purchases, the total ended up being much cheaper than expected.

"I think you forgot a—" Callie started as she looked at the total.

"I'm waving the cost of yours," she said to Cal.

"Why?" Sara, Callie, and I asked in unison. Because it's not like this was a charity case...

"I was hoping that... maybe after your formal, you could drop back in to hand us a picture. I'd like to put you up on my wall." She waved the her hand behind her as she spoke, indicating an array of pictures of girls adorned in various dresses for differing occasions. And none had— "I want my daughter to come in here and see someone like her on this wall when she visits."

Callie gave the lady a small smile then nodded. "I'll definitely give you a picture then."

Cooped up in the backseat of Aunt Jojo's car with Sara—Callie in the front, of course—we went on and on about out shopping extravaganza to our aunt, sparing her no details.

And when we finally finished telling her about Callie's free dress, my sister turned around in her seat, eyes locking on me.

"I forgot to say, you looked absolutely stunning in your jumpsuit, Lex," she said to me, earnestness oozing from her gaze.

"Thanks, Cal."

"If Jess were here..." she started, her name pulling on my heartstrings in anticipation of what my sister was about to say. "... she'd be so proud of you."

"Proud?" I asked a little bashful, turning my head to the ground. "What of? It's only a—"

"You've just about finished school. You somehow won back your obnoxious, stubborn sister. You aced almost every class despite dealing with grief. And you found love." Callie glanced over at Sara, the best friends sharing a smile before reaching through the car to grasp hands momentarily.

"If you keep being so cheesy, I'll put you in a sandwich," I muttered.

Callie barked a laugh and said, "Oh, don't worry. I don't plan to be nice ever again. That's your quota for your life."

"What?" I spouted. "Callie, you can't just..."

And we continued like that. Bickering like we always did, Jojo and Sara trying to diffuse the tension the whole way home.

So...

I planned out the rest of this book this afternoon. Meaning I now know exactly how many chapters are left... I just have to write them. O:

Hope we will be satisfied with the ending of this book... I'm honestly not too confident in my writing right now, but this is what you get when I upload as I go.

No meme on this chapter. Can't be bothered finding one.