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[indent]Homecoming week had gone by a lot faster than Marisol Castillo would have liked. In between homework, tests and her job at The Surfer's Hut, the clock and the days seemed to have sped away. But it hadn’t always been all work and no play. During her breaks, she’d spent her free time getting to know Salem Rivera. He’d seemed like an alright dude upon first impressions, and had proven himself to be a pretty damn awesome guy. Sal was always joking around, and his smile was so infectious it was impossible to be in any sort of bad mood around him. The more time they spent together, the happier Marisol felt about being paired up with him. This had not gone unnoticed, of course. Family, friends and therapists were thrilled with the progress Marisol was making, and encouraged for her to keep developing this bond that was doing her so much good. With how much fun she and Sal had together, there were absolutely no intentions to screw up a good thing.

The subject of this being Marisol’s last Homecoming dance - and the fact that she would actually be [i]attending[/i] it - spread like wildfire through the Castillo-Zima-Brady family. Her aunt Marcela jumped at the chance of getting her dress, so she sent out for her favorite designer to take Mari’s measurements and make her the most breathtaking creation he could come up with. The young woman’s only conditions were that the dress could not be poofy, frilly, in pastel or bright colors, and the designer had promised he would make her something stunning and fitting her personality. Her grandmother Marlena had taken charge of the jewelry department, lending her first granddaughter with a matching diamond and gold earring and necklace set and a few golden rings. With the dress and jewels now taken care of, her aunt Callie had volunteered to provide Marisol with hair and makeup prep. Callie’s excitement at having the opportunity to glow up her oldest niece had been so much so that she’d flown all the way from LA to do the honors. All in all, it did take the better part of four hours to achieve the final result. But when the masterpiece was unraveled, there were nothing but smiles - and even a few tears - in the room.

Of course, then came the mandatory photo session. Marisol posed with every present family member at the house: her parents, her brothers, her aunt, her cousin Nicolás (who had surprised them all by showing up in their doorstep earlier that day), one with each parent separately, one with each brother, a family portrait, solo photos, video calls with both sets of grandparents… By the time she was done, it had been a while since Salem had been patiently waiting for her downstairs, and a long enough time for the both of them to have developed the little nervous butterflies in the stomach.

Smiling brightly, the brunette skipped out the door of her room and slid down the wooden railing of the stairs. A loud cry of laughter and excitement was heard before there was a loud thud when the girl made the clean landing of a person with years of experience at it.

[color=brown]“Ready to go, partner?”[/color] Marisol brightly asked Salem, offering up her arm to him with a grin.

Upon first impressions, Mari was completely unrecognizable. The long, dark hair that was usually under a beanie was styled in soft waves in a half-up, half-down hairdo, with a few stray strands as decoration. Her face, normally without a single drop of makeup on, was now sporting a bronze glitter half cut-crease smokey eye, combined with the whole nine yards of defined contour, blinding highlighter and a dusty rose matte liquid lipstick. A pair of diamond studs decorated her ears, while a thin gold chain with a single diamond pendant hung from the girl’s slender neck, and gold rings called attention to her delicate fingers. The long fingernails that were painted black or sported chipped nail polish were manicured to perfection, in a gorgeous selection of metallic bronze.

But the [i]real[/i] pièce de résistance was her dress.

The family’s designer had indeed made good on his promise to make a showstopper that was completely fitting of Marisol’s personality. His creation had been a short, long-sleeved, deep V-necked [url=https://www.wsdear.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/9/6/9679.jpg]dress[/url], with a black fabric base but covered in gold and bronze sequins from top to bottom. Even when paired with her trusty white Vans sneakers, there was no doubt that all eyes would be on Mari when she arrived. The way the dress shone when the sequins caught the light was truly stunning.[/indent]