"Thank you, girls, for being my bridesmaids," said Madeline's aunt, Cherise.
"It's not like you have any real friends," Madeline's cousin, Veronique, muttered loud enough for the girls to hear. Madeline nudged her on the arm, causing Veronique to glare at her.
"I can't believe how nervous I am," said Cherise. She was wearing a white, lacy, French ball gown, something that a princess would wear for her wedding. Her face was caked with makeup and she was holding a bouquet of blue flowers.
"Don't be nervous," assured Madeline. "You look great... sorta. And you're gonna be fine. You're getting married."
"I know."
"Then keep knowing."
"What are you? Gandhi?" asked Jeanne, Madeline's other cousin.
Veronique snickered. "I know, right?" she said.
Madeline squinted her eyes at her cousins. Suddenly, they all heard music playing. It was a violin-influenced version of "Here Comes the Bride".
"Oh, that's your cue," whispered Cherise. She put her long veil over her face. "Go, go."
The bridesmaids assembled in a line. Veronique was first, Jeanne was second and Madeline was third. They looked like sisters in their matching blue gowns. And they were all holding little bouquets of white roses. Out of nowhere, the handsome groomsmen came out and picked a partner. Steadily, Veronique entered the chapel, arm-in-arm with her groomsman.
"How you doin'?" she whispered to him, smirking.
The young groomsman smirked back at her. Veronique moved her head around so her long, red locks could bounce all over the place. Walking down the aisle, she continued to seduce her partner, only with her little emeralds for eyes.
Jeanne walked steadily down the aisle with her groomsmen, avoiding eye contact with each other. She was too young for him anyway. The groomsman had to be in his thirties, making her at least ten years younger than him. Jeanne just moved her blue eyes to the kaleidoscopic windows of Jesus Christ. She used her free hand to fix her lustrous, brown hair.
Then it was Madeline's turn. Interlocked with her groomsman, she walked down the aisle, yards away from Jeanne. She held her head high and simpered at everybody in the wooden pews. Nothing pestered her until the groomsman she was with accidentally stepped on her foot.
"Ow!" she yelled, leaping. "Watch where you're going," she whispered to the groomsman.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"You should be."
Madeline tried to continue to walk with confidence. But her foot hurt so much that she was practically limping. She continued to smile, hoping her big, white grin would distract the attendants from her weird bunny-like hopping. Madeline's partner did his best to be careful walking with her. But just when they were feet away from the minister, Madeline stepped on the foot of her partner.
"Ow!" he yelled.
Madeline gasped. "Sorry," she said.
"You should be."
"Don't get snippy!" Madeline pushed herself away from the groomsman, tripping and tumbling onto the floor.
Almost everyone in the pews gasped when they saw Madeline fall. She lifted herself up and regained her balance.
"I'm okay, people," she announced, throwing her hands up. "I'm okay." She giggled awkwardly before pulling the groomsman to her side. "Get over here," she muttered.
After the ceremony, everybody headed to the reception. It took place at a hotel that was ten minutes from the church. The reception was held in the biggest ballroom in the world. Newlyweds Cherise and Simon, who had to be twenty years older than her, were the first ones to be there. Everyone else who entered were astonished by the white curtains and tablecloths with silver dishes and chandeliers. However, what caught Madeline's attention was the ten-foot stand clothed in white with a long table on top right across from her.
She approached her aunt. "Auntie, what is that?" Madeline asked, pointing at the shocker.
"Oh, you know how in England, people have high tea?" Cherise asked. "Well, I like to call this 'high reception'."
"That's not a thing."
"Well, I made it a thing."
"Please don't tell me we have to sit on that."
"Fine, I won't tell you... but we are."
Madeline scoffed. "All of us?"
"No, just me, Simon, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, my parents and my siblings."
"Can I sit somewhere in these tables? These are nice tables. They're low, they're regular tables."
"No, Madeline. Why don't you want to sit with me? Are you afraid of heights?"
"Yes! I'm afraid of heights and if I get up there, I'll die. Or have a nose bleed."
Cherise giggled. "Oh, Madeline, the stand is a hundred percent safe. It's sturdy enough to hold fifty Sumo wrestlers."
"Are you making that up?"
"Yes. Now stop being a Grinch." Cherise walked off to be with her new husband.
Before Madeline knew it, everybody assigned to sit at the high table was making their way towards it. From afar, she can see them climbing up a ladder on the side of the stand. Seeing that ladder chilled Madeline to the bone. Her eyes were popping out of her head and she gulped so loud that she heard it echo. With hesitation, she began walking towards the stand.
"Come on, Madeline!" shouted Cherise from the top.
Everyone sat in their seats with some of them watching Madeline from the bottom. She examined the ladder like it was an X-ray of a broken bone. She could hear her heart thumping as she grabbed onto the cold, steel bars. Little by little, Madeline climbed up the ladder, staring hard at the bars.
"Hurry up, Madeline!" ordered Veronique. "We're all waiting for you."
"Shut it, Ronnie!" Madeline shouted.
It took her two minutes to get to the middle. When she looked at the top of the stand, it looked like it was taller than she expected. She tried to be as careful as she could, though. Then, as five minutes approached, she was at the top. She was crouched over on the edge like a monkey. She took a deep breath and looked at her befuddled relatives.
"I made it," she said, standing up. "I made it!"
Before she could make her way to her seat, she felt a tug. The bottom of her dress was caught on a snag on the railing, which was guarding the table. As she attempted to look behind herself, she felt as if the snag was pulling her back and she tripped on the edge. When the people on the stand witnessed Madeline descend, they all stood up.
"Madeline!" yelled Cherise.
Madeline didn't hit the ground as her dress was still attached to the railing. Half of the dress tore on Madeline's way down, though, ripping at the backside. Therefore, Madeline hung a foot from the floor, twirling around, involuntarily showing the ground-level attendants the rainbow pattern on her underwear.
"Huh, so this is what it's like to be Spiderman," said Madeline, staring at the floor upside down.
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