My family has never been rich, but we’ve always gotten by. We never had the fanciest things, we were happy. My younger sister, Annie, and I often shared clothes when we were kids, but we soon became more protective of our own things.
Which is why I was so amazed to see her in my prom dress. I’m 25, and back in 2017, my prom was something out of a fairytale, mainly because of the dress I wore. It wasn’t just any dress; it was the dress.
Saving up for over a year on a tight budget, I managed to scrape together $300 — a fortune by my family’s standards — to buy this dreamy, flowy summer dress that made me feel like a million bucks. It wasn’t just a piece of fabric, it gave me confidence after feeling self-conscious about my body throughout high school. I had a lovely time at prom.
I felt fantastic and I had a great time with my date and my friends, and although I know it isn’t all due to the dress, I formed a special attachment to it. I still wear it to fancy occasions to this day. Now, my 18-year-old sister Annie is gearing up for her own prom.
She’s always had a soft spot for my dress as well. Recently, Annie came to me, asking whether she could wear my dress to her prom, since she loved it so much. Considering how much the dress means to me and the fact that I still wear it at times, I gently declined but offered to help her find another one and even chip in financially.
She seemed cool with it, even grateful. After spending the weekend at my parents’ house, I went back to my dorm. I’m a full-time student, and I work part-time.
But even though I don’t have a full-time job, I make quite a bit of money. That’s how I’m able to help my sister pay for a prom dress. And considering my dorm room is included in my scholarship, so rent isn’t a big thing for me at the moment.
I could only take the bare essentials with me to my dorm, so I left the dress at my parents’ house. Two weeks later, during a rare visit back for my twin nephews’ baptism, I walked through the front door of the house I was raised in, to find my mother and grandmother putting Annie into my prom dress. The two older women were eagerly standing around her, measuring her and obviously planning to cut up my dress to fit my sister.
The explosion of emotions that followed wasn’t my proudest moment. I screamed, I cried, and yes, I even demanded she take it off. In my blind rage, I just assumed that Annie had decided to use my dress despite the fact that I had asked her not to.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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