AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Graduation Ball
The air is burning with anticipation and the graduates are hungry. It’s all come down to this moment. So much is riding on this event and despite the excitement, there’s a nervous energy that could make or break futures.
Graduation gowns have been replaced with silk and lace and mortar boards with tiaras. The scrubbed faces of childhood have been painted into adulthood as the rest of our lives beckon.
Nobody here underestimates the importance of this night, as life’s tapestry has yet to be woven. Yesterday we bid goodbye to our childhood and today we welcome the future.
“You look beautiful, Cassie.”
My mother’s admiration settles my nerves a little as I look at myself critically in the mirror. As dresses go, nothing has been left to chance with this one and as I smooth down the glorious silk that stands stiff with pride over a gigantic hoop, I admire the deep red color she insisted on. Royal red, it’s called, which is exactly the purpose my mother has in mind.
She has no other desire than to see me marry and her sights are set on the king.
My sight is set slightly differently, but she doesn’t need to know that.
As she fixes the family tiara in place, the pride in her eyes takes me back a little. “I’m so happy for you, darling. You will make a beautiful bride.”
“Hold on, mom, I’ve only just graduated. I’m not ready for marriage yet.”
“Cassie!” Her lips thin in disapproval and the magic has gone in a puff of displeasure as she hisses, “Not this again, you must know your place.”
“My place is at the Grosvenor School of Medicine. I thought we spoke about this.”
“We did, and we agreed it’s an honorable dream, but that’s all it is. You will fulfill your destiny and marry. It was always going to be this way for you and no amount of dreaming will change your path.”
I frown and she smoothes out the lines in my eyes with her fingers.
“Don’t frown my darling, it makes you look ugly.”
Looking at my mother’s perfectly made-up face, crease free courtesy of her resident plastic surgeon, I feel the walls closing in on me. Cressida Brookes-Stanley is the model wife, model mom and model airhead and thank God I got my father’s brains and not hers.
Loud footsteps approach and my mother licks her lips nervously, “It’s time.”
The door opens and my smile is genuine, as the only man I have ever loved steps through the door. “Pa!”
I smile and my mother frowns as he sweeps me into his arms and dips me to the floor. “My princess, how beautiful you look.”
“William, don’t mess up the goods. It’s taken two hours to get her looking so perfect.”
My heart sinks. The goods. That’s all I am to my mother. A commodity to buy and sell and she shakes her head as she dusts an imaginary crease from my over-inflated skirt.
“We should go, the carriage awaits.”
I roll my eyes. Carriage. What century does this island live in?
As we make our way down the stone-clad corridor, I think about Andromeda. A world of its own, set apart from society, hidden from civilization to anybody who doesn’t know of its existence. I’ve always wondered why they send their kids to school in places like England and America, when all they want is for their daughters to marry well and their sons to end up as guardians of everything we hold dear.
I have never understood the importance of Andromeda as a society and always thought it a little backward really in its traditions. Take this ball as an example. They dress it up as a graduation ball, but we all know it’s just a cattle market as the new adults shop for a husband or wife.
The carriage is waiting with the uniformed driver and my heart sinks. This is it. Destiny beckons and I wonder if my parents know I have another one in mind?
I’ve been well educated and excelled at that. Boarding school in England followed by Harvard University to study medicine. Secretly, I’ve applied for a place at a well-respected hospital as an intern to work alongside my placement in the school of medicine and the letter arrived via email to a personal account I set up years ago. I can almost touch my freedom and tonight is just to humor my parents because I have a plan and it doesn’t involve being married off anytime soon.
“You know this is your last chance to impress the king, Cassie, and I’m counting on you to deliver. Everyone knows you are the most beautiful girl in Andromeda and expectations are high.”
My mother drones on and my father checks his phone as usual because quite frankly this woman could bore a baby.
I remain silent because the last thing I want is to fight with her because this is her night, not mine. The moment when she can parade me around like a pet peacock and bask in the admiring glances of her friends as she proves to them that she won the lottery with me.
