Chapter 3- The Invite

After Christine Dohana got out of the shower, she rushed to open the door. Mariot and Daisy waltz in holding shopping bags from very expensive boutiques. 

"Dohana, you're finally awake," said Mariot excitedly. "Look, we bought you designer dresses, and very expensive shoes."

"Come and see, you will love them," added Daisy.

Dohana's face flushed with excitement as she hurried to see the dresses.

'Wow, what kind of people are these, they just met me yesterday and are already buying me presents?'

Mariot dropped the bag on the couche before she sat down and searched for the dresses. Daisy sat next to her, anxious to see Dohana's reaction when she saw her dress. Mariot found the dress and said, "gotcha!"

When Mariot lifted Dohana's dress up, Dohana was stunned. "What a beautiful dress it is!"

"You like it?" Asked Mariot, her face gleeful and anxious to see a reaction. 

Dohana was exctaticly stunned, her mouth agape. She nodded cheerfully. She had only seen such dresses online because her country sold a different type of fashion.

"It's an elegant evening banquet dress, perfect for a party, you will look like Cinderella."

"A party?" Dohana asked, puzzled.

"Yes girl, we're attending an exquisite boat party tonight," said Mariot grinning, sturdying Dohana's expressionless face. She had thought she'd be elated. "It's a welcome party for you as our roomate."

Daisy had noticed Dohana's indifference. "You don't seem excited Dohana, it's going to be lit tonight."

"I don't know," said Dohana, "we don't attend parties where I'm from. I don't know if it's something I should be doing."

Daisy and Mariot looked at each other in surprise. "Girl, you're an adult now you can attend any party that you want. Since you're coming with us, you'll be safe and you'll definitely have a lot of fun."

"Lots of fun," added Daisy. "The cities most famous and made men will be there."

"Who knows, you could meet your prince charming!" Said Mariot.

Dohana's face lit up. "Prince charming?" She asked, her eyes sparkled and her hands clasped together on her chest.

Mariot and Daisy glanced at each other, before Marriot said, "yes, so you should try out this dress then for your prince…"

Before she could finish, Dohana had shot up to her feet and ran to her room. The girls rushed towards her room and found her ramaging through her luggage.

She took out a long brightly coloured evening dress, flashing it in their eyes, she asked, "What do you think? If I'm to find my prince charming tonight, then I must wear the princess traditional dress."

Mariot flashed daisy a weird look and they both shrugged. 

"It looks great Dohana," said Daisy, thinking, 'anything to make her come to the party tonight.'

"Ladies, it's going to be lit," said Mariot holding both ladies hands as she pulled them back to their living room. They began to excitedly try out all the new dresses.

"Oh my god! My hair," cried Dohana grabbing her messed up hair. It had been messed up since her ride on the bus the previous day, and she had planned to stay indoors for a while before getting someone to work on her hair.

"Excellent, we'll all go down to the salon down the road, let's go now as there might be a queue," said Mariot.

'Salon?' Dohana wondered. 

Daisy rushed the ladies out of the apartment. As they walked down the streets of downtown LA, Dohana couldn't help but feel such an amazing feeling of freedom, the fresh chilly wind on a bright àfternoon was indeed refreshing on the first day of her new life. Every step she took felt amazing. She was truely free. Back at home, she would never be allowed to walk the streets freely like she was today.

Looking at Mariot and Daisy's carefree livelihoods, she couldn't help but feel envy for how they had lived their entire lives.

But now that she was about to live carefree as her friends, she was elated. She began to sing and dance in circles as she walked. Mariot and Daisy were just as open-minded, joining her in her public performance much to the delight of the watching civilians.

At the salon, the ladies took one look at her and knew she was different. "And then, what part of town did you come from?" Asked one of them.

Dohana hesitated, one thing she had learnt as soon as she got into the city, was not to tell people who she really was, as all they did was return a mocking face and attitude towards her.

"I'd like this hairstyle please," said Dohana pointing to one of the pictures on the salons catalogue book.

"Make me look like the most beautiful princess."