Previously on "The Otherworlders": After dinner at the Hidalgo estate, Fiona, feeling isolated as the only Vampyr in the group, steps out onto the patio. Ava follows with a tray of snacks as a gesture of apology for the onggoing tensions between them because of Farid. Frustrated, Fiona lashes out, taking Ava by surprise, and they part under a veil of tension.

Later that night, Fiona finds Ava out on the patio and she apologizes for her previous behavior. She tells Ava more about her long and complicated relationship with Farid and encourages Ava to pursue him if that's what she wants to do.

Now that they've cleared the air, they promise that if they can't find a way to be friends, at least they won't let their feelings for Farid affect their mission.

P.S. - Play the video before reading the chapter to get the full experience. 😉

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The girls are in Inez's bedroom, preparing for the Enchanted Chancellor's Ball. Fresh from their showers, they're wrapped snug in large, cozy robes.

Ava stands before the full-length mirror, examining her tasteful but modest navy blue cocktail dress. Fiona, sitting on the bed, scrutinizes the even more modest and somewhat plain, black cocktail dress she's brought for the evening.

Ava muses, "I wish I had some elegant jewelry to enhance this dress."

"You're welcome to anything you can find in my jewelry box," Inez offers. "Just not the pearls! I plan on wearing those tonight. They were my mother's," she finishes softly. Then shaking off her sadness, Inez looks over at Fiona. "You too, Fiona," she says. "Feel free to anything that's in there!"

Fiona, holding up her cocktail dress, grimaces, "Thanks. But no amount of jewelry can salvage this dress. I loathe it!"

"Did you like it when you first bought it?" Ava asks.

"No, not really." Fiona sighs, "I needed something for graduation, and it was the only one with sleeves."

Inez looks puzzled, "You had to wear a dress with sleeves for graduation? Is that a Vampyr thing?"

Fiona shakes her head, "No! No! Nothing like that. It's just that..." She drops the dress in her lap and pouts. "...I have man-arms."

"Oh, my gosh! Not even!" Inez protests.

"You soooo don't!" Ava assures her.

"Seriously, guys, you're totally sweet but... ugh!" Fiona responds. "I've always hated them. They're bulky in weird places. I mean, Serena Williams can pull it off, but me?" She shakes her head woefully.

"You're arms aren't bulky, Fiona. You've got beautifully lean, muscular arms," Inez says with true admiration.

"Yeah. My arms look thin..." Ava holds her left arm up perpendicular to her shoulder. "But as much as I work out," she continues, "there's always this." She frowns as she flicks at the slightly drooping skin underneath her forearm.

Inez purses her lips. "Okay, girls!" she says adamantly. "We're not going to sit around all night and pick at our flaws. Instead, we need to find ways to accentuate our strengths!"

Inez walks over and sits down next to Fiona on the bed. She holds Fiona's dress up before her, inspecting it closely. "Oh, I see the problem!" she exclaims. "It's not your arms, silly, it's the way this dress is cut!" She turns the dress from front to back. "Cap sleeves..." She shakes her head in disapproval. "They look terrible on women with sexy, muscular arms like yours."

Fiona shoots Inez a skeptical glance. But instead of scowling, she gives Inez a small smile, because despite her cynicism, she still finds the gesture endearing.

Ava turns around to face the mirror again and scrutinizes her dress even more closely. "Okay, now I'm thinking my dress makes me look really frumpy."

"Oh, my gosh! C'mon, guys. Stop it!" Inez insists. "You're being ridiculous!" She shakes her head and then, suddenly, a thought occurs to her. "But if you really hate your dresses so much, I have an idea!"

Inez pops off her bed. "Marisol has a closet full of party dresses she's been meaning to donate. There are seriously, like, years' worth of dresses in there! I'll bet we can find something for both of you!"

***

Back in her bedroom, Inez dumps the last of the dresses she's managed to snag from her sister's closet onto her bed. Fiona and Ava crowd around her. There are dresses EVERYWHERE! The girls stand, side by side, at the foot of the bed, and take it all in.

"Holy cow, Inez!" Fiona exclaims. "This is, like, wall-to-wall girly." She frowns, "Yeah, this isn't going to work. I don't do girly."

"Please!" Inez insists. "We all do 'girly' at least once in our lives. You just have to find something you like."

She and Ava start pulling up dresses that might be good candidates and hold them up in front of Fiona.

Fiona frowns and nixes every last one of them, convinced nothing in Marisol's glamorous closet could possibly look good on her.

After Fiona nixes the tenth option, she plops down onto a tiny patch of available space on the bed, and lets out a defeated sigh. "Really, guys, it's no use. I just don't look good all gussied up." She shrugs, apathetically. "I'm just not that pretty."

Inez snaps, "Don't!" She points at Fiona like a chastising school teacher. "I will not let you get all sulky about this, and I will not let you put yourself down!" She harrumphs indignantly. "I think it's time we do something radical about this attitude of yours, missy!"

Inez marches over to her dresser and grabs her phone. She turns on the paired speaker sitting next to the jewelry box. With her back to the girls, she hunches over her phone searching for something in particular. After a moment... "Aha!"

She sets her phone down and picks up a hair brush.

Fiona's eyes narrow in suspicion. "Inez... what are you doing?"

Inez just ignores her, and instead, presses the play button on her phone.

One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" spills out of the speakers.

Inez swirls around, and with the brush held up to her mouth like a microphone, begins to dance around the room, lip-sync serenading Fiona:

🎵🎵🎵

INEZ:

You're insecure

Don't know what for

You're turning heads when you walk through the dooor...

Don't need make-up, to cover up

Being the way that you are is enooough...

Holding up a curling iron, Ava joins in.

INEZ & AVA

Everyone else in the room can see it

Everyone else but you...

They jump up on the bed and sandwich Fiona on either side.

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell...

You don't know, oh, oh...

Fiona's horrified.

You don't know you're beautiful,

Oh, oh, oh

That's what makes you beautiful

But she knows she's beat, so she gives up and joins in, taking Zayn's solo.

FIONA

So, co... co... come on, you got it wrong

To prove I'm right, I put it in a sooong...

I don't know why, you're being shy

And turn away when I look into your eye, eye, eyes...

ALL THREE OF THEM GO NUTS NOW:

Everyone else in the room can see it

Everyone else but you...

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell

You don't know, oh, oh--

🔊  🎵🎵🎵  ✋🚨

Abruptly, the song stops.

The girls, mid-jump, tumble off the bed. 

Ooomph!

And from the floor, their heads pop up over the bed to see Sr. Hidalgo standing in the doorway, his finger pressing down the volume on Inez's phone.

Inez jumps up and straightens her hair and her robe, "Hello, Papi!"

Suppressing a smile, Señor Hidalgo clears his throat. "And may I ask, perchance, what you girls were doing just now?"

"Oh!" Inez replies. "Um... we were... um..." she looks around and the dozens of gowns scattered on her bed and on the floor. "We were picking out dresses!"

Sr. Hidalgo arches a brow. "Mmm... hmmm. Well, may I remind you that this hairdresser, makeup person Marisol hired for you will be here any minute now. So, perhaps you could pick out those dresses a little faster, no?"

"Of course, Papi!" Inez agrees.

"Good. Good." And with that, Señor Hidalgo turns around, and with an amused smile, heads back downstairs to join Marisol.

Once he's far enough down the hall, Fiona sighs and collapses back on the bed, surrounded by a chaotic mess of very beautiful and very expensive gowns. "Okay, now THAT was embarrassing!"

Both Inez and Ava climb up on the bed and join her.

Giggling, Inez cuddles up to Fiona. "Yeah, but don't you feel better now?"

Fiona smiles. "Yeah... Maybe... But, seriously Inez. You're killin' me with the girly. We've got to find a way to dial that back a bit."

"Oh, please!" Inez exclaims. She smushes her nose up against Fiona's face. "Deep down inside, you know you're loving every, minute of it!"

Inez rubs her nose in Fiona's ear, and then kisses her on the cheek.

Laughing, Fiona playfully pushes her away. "Stop it!" she complains half-heartedly.

Ava jumps off the bed and grabs her phone. Then laying back on the bed with the girls, she holds the phone high above them so they can all crowd together for the requisite selfie.

She turns her head towards Fiona's. "All-in-all, though, it's been a pretty good day, huh?"

Fiona turns to smile back at her. "Yeah, it has," she says.

"Okay, girls!" Ava announces. "Let's do this! 1... 2... 3... Cheeeese!!!"

Click.

"What should we tag it?" Inez asks.

Ava types furiously into her phone as she posts the photo to her Instagram.

The tag reads: #1DRocks_ThatsDirectionNotDemonsBTW

"Worst... tag... ever!" Ava smiles.

***********

A/N - I love these girls! And play the 1D video in the header to get a sense of just how much fun the girls had in that moment and just how much fun I had writing the scene. 😊

Also, I have to say: remember this moment and the fact that this is one of Inez's favorites songs (she's a sucker for boy bands.) It may take awhile, but this fact will become VERY  relevant to a crucial moment involving Inez, later in the series. 😁

See you next week!

~ Paula ❤️