I stormed in as soon as I reached home.

"Mom!" I called. I was pissed at this whole situation.

"Hey, sweetie. You're home early." She greeted as she came out of the kitchen.

"Mom... Why did you agree to it?" I demanded, trying to keep myself calm and composed.

"About what, sweetie?" She gave me a puzzled look.

"Why did you agree to let Shawn take me to the homecoming dance?" I asked, softening my voice.

"I am not letting my only daughter not enjoy her last homecoming dance in high school by not having a date to the dance!" She objected. "And I knew you would want to go alone and bail from the dance after some time. And since Shawn approached himself asking me if he could take you to the dance, then why not? It's a win-win."

"But mom, I-"

"No buts, sweetie. You have to go. Do it for me, please?" She requested, doing her signature puppy eyes, compelling me to do whatever she asked for.

"Argh, fine! Stop making that face. That's not fair." I retorted.

"That's my Ace card, honey." She said, winking at me.

"Alright. Now go and change. We need to go out." She said, picking up the car keys from the key holder.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see, Hurry! We have to go now. Go and change into something nice."

I withdrew further argument since I knew it would simply go in vain.

I headed upstairs to my room and opened my closet and snatched the first outfit my hands landed on. I donned a light peach sweatshirt with a distressed denim mini skirt and knee-length boots. I tied my hair into a half ponytail, applied some lip gloss, and headed downstairs.

"I'm ready. Now could you tell me where are we going?"

"We're going shopping sweetie." She announced, re-checking if she had everything she needed with her.

"For what?"

"To buy you a homecoming dress," She answered.

"But why? I already have tons of clothes in my closet. I could just wear something in there." I protested.

Mom cocked her eyebrows at me. I knew exactly what she was thinking.

I always kept whining around the house "I don't have anything to wear." every two days or the other and now all of a sudden I had tons of clothes in my wardrobe that I didn't need another dress?

Moronic me.

"I know. And that is exactly why we're going out. You need a nice fancy dress for your homecoming." 

"Fine!" I sighed.

I could never win against her on this. She acted so juvenile sometimes that I feel like she was the daughter here and not the other way around.
                                   ~

We drove past a few streets before arriving at my mom's favorite boutique.

"Hey Vanessa, how have you been?" My mom greeted a seemingly nice lady, who I supposed, was the owner of the boutique.

"Mrs. Matthews! So good to see you! I'm absolutely fine and healthy. How are you?" The lady greeted back.

"I am perfectly fine. I'm here to find my daughter a beautiful dress for her homecoming dance." She explained.

"No problem." She examined me for a few seconds before turning back to my mom "You are lucky, a new exclusive collection just arrived this morning. She would look gorgeous in them. Try them on." She led us to another room where this apparently ‘new collections’ were kept.
                                   ~

"No," Mom's voice fell, shaking her head, "This isn't just your style."

"I agree," I said before stepping back into the dressing room.

We'd been on this for two hours now, but still nothing.

My mom's face fell a little every time I stepped out in a dress that just didn't either fit me or suit me.

I pulled out the last dress from the cloth rack, without bothering to even look at that dress and how it fitted me.

I stepped out of the dressing room and my mom watched me for a few moments, rather awkwardly.

"Turn around," my mom instructed quietly.

I already knew that she hated it but I did it so just she could come to the conclusion and get this over with.

"Oh sweetie, it's absolutely gorgeous."

Wait what?

Is she blind? Or am I?

"Don't you think so sweetie?" she asked, making eye contact with me.

"Um..." I was unsure of what to say.

"Come here." She said and took my hand, leading me over to the mirror outside the dressing room.

"See for yourself." She said, gesturing for me to look in the mirror.

"I hate it," I said, almost immediately.

"Why do you hate it sweetie?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Because it makes me look... ugly. It clings to all the wrong places and it's a bit too revealing for me."

"Oh, sweetie. Do you know what I see when I look at you in that dress?"

I shrugged.

"I see my beautiful daughter who struggles to be confident about herself. She only wears clothing to hide from the world, blocking all the people out there."

I felt my throat closing up, tears started to build in the corner of my eyes. I wasn't expecting to hear this.

"But underneath the tough shield she puts on, there I see this beautiful girl who just wants to be loved and feels confident and comfortable about her own body and herself. And she just wants to look at herself in the mirror and love herself in her perfect dress because she feels like that will solve all her problems." 

I struggled to keep my tears intact, resisting to let any fall out.

"You look absolutely gorgeous in that dress, Maya, and it breaks my heart that you can't see that in the way I am seeing you right now." She added quietly. "And if you want, we can keep searching until you find the perfect dress for you. But before that, just look at yourself in the mirror one last time, ignoring the negative judgment that immediately pops up in your mind, and see for yourself the way I'm seeing you. Can you do that for me?"

I nodded. I obliged.

She was right. Like she always was. She knew me through and through. I had BDD back when I was a child. Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I wouldn't want to get into the details, that was a story for another time. BBD had a severe impact on my life. Though I was able to overcome it by taking therapy for months, I was somehow yet still self-conscious about it. I guess some things never changed.

I looked into the mirror one last time and did as I was told, and for the first time in my life, I didn't hate what I saw in front of me.

The girl in the mirror had hazel eyes that fit her diamond face perfectly. Her wavy hair cascaded down to her shoulders, giving her a mesmerizing look. And the dress complimented her just perfectly.

The dress actually clung in all the right places, hugging the right spots. It had just the perfect amount of sexiness and elegance at the same time. I loved it.

"I'll take this," I said softly, my eyes still fixated on my reflection.

"She'll take this." She repeated, a bright smile stretching across her face.
                                 ~

A few days passed by uneventfully. I was caught up with my studies and dance club while Shawn made it to the football team. Obviously. He was the talk of the high school now. Some girls would throw me odd glances every now and then since I was Shawn's date. Unfortunately.

He would come to my house for an hour or so to catch up with the left assignments and homework before heading back for his practice. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

But tonight was the night of the homecoming dance, for which every single girl had been preparing for weeks or maybe months.

I was actually looking forward to the dance for the first time. I wasn't sure if that was because of the dress or the date…?

Date?

 No! Definitely not the date!

 It's the dress!

I took a long, hot relaxing shower before stepping outside to get ready, wrapped in a bathrobe. I hooked my phone up in the stereo system and started using a blow dryer for my wet hair.

I walked around the corner to unzip the dress bag that revealed my ravishing dress.
It was a silk satin backless long peached-coloured evening gown crisscrossed with silk laces.

I swept my hair into a half-up half-down hairstyle, which complimented the gown perfectly. I put on light makeup, trying not to mess it up. Just for the record, my definition of light makeup was a toner, eyeliner, and matte lipstick. I didn't know a thing about makeup. I stepped into a pair of silver sparkly high heels.

I was so drowned in my thoughts that I didn't hear the bell ring.

"Sweetie, Shawn is here." I heard my mom call me from downstairs.

"I'll be down there in 5," I responded.

I looked in the mirror one last time.

Don't be afraid. You're beautiful. You're looking beautiful. Step out and carry yourself with the same grace and confidence. You've got this. I gave a pep-talk to myself.

I clutched my purse and rechecked if my hair and makeup were still fine before heading downstairs.

As soon as I walked down the stairs, I saw Shawn standing beside the main entrance.

He wore a plain white shirt inside a navy blue tuxedo and a navy blue bow tie with it, holding a huge flower bouquet.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't ogle him for a second. This was the first time I'd ever seen him so well-groomed and boy, was he drool-worthy.

But it seemed like I wasn't the only one checking someone out.

His mouth was half wide opened. His jaw was seemed to have forgotten how to move. He watched me climb down the stairs with his eyes fixated only on me as if nothing else amounted to something.

I walked towards him and stood right in between my mom and him. He kept gazing at me without uttering a single word.

"You look absolutely breathtaking, sweetie!" My mom complimented, breaking the silence, "Isn't she, Shawn?" She asked with her eyes directed towards him.

His body yanked by the address of his name, snapping out of whichever world he flew off to.

"Uh... yeah!" He said, seeming to be at a loss of words, "Y-you look... beautiful. You look absolutely breathtaking." He finally remarked, extending me the bouquet.

He again started to admire me from head to toe and that made me giggle a bit. It oddly felt cute and funny at the same time.

"You don't look too bad yourself either," I remarked alluringly.

I felt a huge force of confidence rushing through me that I was not able to hold myself together. This was going to be an interesting night.

He raised an eyebrow at me, a smug look forming on his face, asking me if I was high, telepathically.

I rolled my eyes at him, a grin forming on my face.

"Have fun, sweetie." My mom squealed.

"We will, mom. Take care. And take your meds in time." I reminded.

"Oh, sweetie, don't worry about me. I will. You enjoy your night, okay?"

"I will. I promise."

"Good." She turned her attention to Shawn, "You too have fun dear."

"I certainly will Mrs. Matthews." He said bowing down in appreciation.

"And remember, bring her back by midnight."

I turned to eye her in surprise. She never allowed me to stay out of the house this late. Not that I ever had a situation like this before. Maybe that explained it.

"Got it." He said, saluting her.

My mom chuckled. "Okay, now off you go! Both of you. Enjoy your dance of life!" 

He extended his hand towards me, asking for my hand and I accepted. Taking my hand, he asked, "Shall we?"

"Yes, let's," I replied giving an ear-to-ear smile.

Hey guys, thank you so much for reading this far. I am loving all of your reviews and support.
Keep voting for the chapters guys.
I know I said that this chapter will be about the homecoming dance but I felt like this was needed to know a little more about Maya to some more extent.

I hope you liked the heart-to-heart conversation between Maya and her Mom.

Stay tuned♡.