Just as Bob was making these breakthroughs,
Sally sat in her perfect, Queenly house.
We describe it as a house, but in reality, most people would have regarded it as a palace.
Set on the waterfront on a pristine 250000 square feet of arable, fertile land, replete with multiple helicopter pads and a private runway, this was the secondary residence, a home away from home, of the Sallysons where Sally could commute a little closer to school and be at her Ice Queenly best.
Currently she was in her study, with all her post grad textbooks and knowledge.
Next door was a room filled entirely with designer handbags purses and clutches, Hérmionés, LM Louis Muttón, Salvatari Ferragomo, Yvette Saint Laurel, Guché, Balansiaga, you name it, it was there shining with a golden glow. Each item was perfectly organized for both form and function, allowing one to see and admire each piece and at the same time, allowing for easy access in case she needed it for a girls night out or movie premiere. She had 3 of each item, one for use if she needed it, one for display, and one for safekeeping.
There were originally some unique one-of-a-kind items, but even so, upon encountering Sally's elegance and Ice Queenly glamour, Channél, a notorious Ice Lady herself who would barely even recognize that Exceptional Erics even existed, (they were like ants), had ordered the artisans to make 2 more for Sally's purposes.
Speaking of Channel, she had also gifted Sally some of her signature haute couture, and another room was filled with cute, elegant, queenly, all-in-all slaying designer dresses, Jimmi Chou, Zimmerwoman, Dulce & Gabriana, Donna Kalan, even Feysal Abdulla, a renowned figure at the Mythical Matthew level, had hand stitched her three Nightingale of the Elegant Promenade dresses, each worth over 37 Million, it was a feast for both the body and the eyes.
Sally, with her perfect figure, had designers lining up to showcase their latest lines, which she had mostly not bothered to reply to since she was busy with various projects, including curing cancer, promoting her own fashion label, Sallé, acting in several Hollywood blockbusters as the Female Lead, and her World Tour promoting her latest ALIA-award winning album, ColdnHot,
[cut to MV]
Cos I'm Coldnhot, yeah coldnhot yeah
What we got is what we got,
Which is definitely quite a lot
If I'm fair
as we walk down the stairs
Tossing our hair without a care
Outside the hail goes pitter patter
But it doesn't even matter
Cos I'm coldnhot yeah
Coldnhot hot yeah
Coldnhot…
Running out of time
Running out of hope
Betrayed by my friends
When will it ever end?
After all we've been through
Gave you a chance when I was feelin' blue,
but I guess it was too good to be true
Leaving me with no choice
As I cry in my Rolls Royce
I'm Coldnhot yeah
You're Coldnhot yeah… ]
In the MV, Ice Queen Sally is looking out the window of her Rolls Royce, clad in furs, wearing a tiara on top of her elegantly done up hair, her diamond earrings sparkling, catching the sun's rays. The car is parked on a red carpet that has been rolled out halfway down the mountain, starting from the doors of a Huge palace at the Snowy peak; the red 'fire' of the carpet contrasts with the white snow making for a striking scene as the cameras pan around and zoom out, showing a dramatic sky shot red with steaks of gold orange blue and purple, which also reinforces the 'hot' aspects of the lyrics.
Excellence should be acknowledged where it's due, and so it can't be denied that Sally's single is fire. 🔥 And Ice too ❄️[1]
You see, Sally, who rarely opened up her frosty heart to anyone had initially been hurt from Jill's betrayal, and this was a way for her to express her emotions, causing the rest of the World to admire her even more, for being so strong, so stunning... and so brave.
Yet she had learned.
Realizing that whilst it was true that being brutally honest, few, if any, could measure up to her quality, she realized that her Coldness was hurting her Image and her relations. Being a prodigy blessed by the heavens with beauty and brains, she too had discovered Epigenetics, and knew that she couldn't be complacent. Just like how Jill had turned on her because Sally hadn't realized the demoralising effect she was having on her social circle, Sally knew that she needed to become more Aware, to understand the nature of her Anti-Rizz Index better, to improve its effects and abilities, and to use it in a way that would allow her to maximise and grow. Just like if you were handed a billion dollars, Sally knew that she couldn't just ignore it, she had to study it, master it, and invest what she had been given to create exponential returns. She wanted to have the best of both worlds, to be true to her Ice Queen self and make the most of, indeed create, opportunities, whilst at the same time, actually having an increasing number of friends and people she could trust.
After deep reflection, she began to draw inspiration from various female Queens throughout history, taking all the traits she wanted that seemed beneficial and would enhance her Anti-Rizz Index and at the same time, make her a household darling.
Modelling herself on Figures like Audrey Hepfreeze, Mother Theresita, and Queen Elsa the II, he began to train herself to showcase a dignified, womanly grace that had her subjects in tears at the fact that she would even deign to give them a cursory glance.
As for having friends, she learned to mask her innate indifference and to be more social.
There is an interesting phenomenon in the girls world. It is a common misconception that girls cannot have true girlfriends, but it is not entirely the truth.
You see, internal competition and b****iness only holds true if a girl feels that she has a chance to compete. At some point, once a Queen's glamour, elegance and genetic quality scale tips so far beyond a certain point, they will actually stop seeing her as a rival, and instead…
As a role model and acknowledge her Queenliness!
This is of course an extremely rare phenomenon, but Sally, with her Marie-Curie-Einstein intellect and Cleopatran EQ, had figured this out and accordingly, this was the adjustment she made after the educational experience with Jill.
As a result, Sally developed and now began to artfully use her Anti-Rizz Index to her advantage, becoming the object of admiration for millions, in a league of her own so far above everyone else that the other girls basically became her actual maids and fans, on some occasions even lifting the train of Sally's dress as she walked to avoid it touching the unworthy ground, or fanning her to make sure her mind would operate at her ideal preferred temperature of 19.3 degrees Celsius since she was curing a bunch of previously considered incurable diseases whilst completing her Advanced String Theory assignments and counting their lucky stars that they could even be in the same room and breath the same air as Queen Sally.
And yet, deep down, Sally shivered, still as frozen as ever.
She knew that although she had learned to be gracious, to make people feel like they were the world when they were in her presence, the gaping chasm that separated her from everyone else continued to widen.
*Crack. Crack.*
This was the sound of her Inner Ice expanding.
Try as she might, Sally could not hide the fact that she knew what was happening.
The stat counter ticked over to read -10001000, as another page from the calendar also fell to the ground. Though being 17, there was still time, it marked another day closer to the dreaded doomsday... Sally's 25th birthday...
Her Anti-Rizz Index was increasing. And she was still alone. If only there were someone who understood… if only there were someone worthy…
___
[1] One of the joys of reading a WebNovel versus a traditional book is the expanded options to engage the reader, since you can have a community, real-time comments and access to expanded communication like emojis and gifs to enrich your experience. What do you guys think, would you like to see things like emojis or gifs ✨ in the story at certain moments, or just leave it straight text?)