Herpale skin was sprinkled with freckles just visible under the layers offoundation, face powder and rouge. Her eyes were pale blue framed by herdark ...ascara and eyeliner and her bright red lipsticked lips quivered infear.The Predator cast his eyes along her body. She wore a red satin eveninggown; now slit open from her breasts to the hem at the bottom of thedress. The gown had been pulled open exposing the black nylon full slipthat she wore underneath; this garment too had been slit from top. I looked like a dork in most of them. Then I saw a Batman costume. It came with the head mask so no one would know me. It actually had elevated shoes, which made me look taller.There was padding that went in the chest, arms and thigh areas. It wasn't bulky but made me look a lot bigger. It even came with a Batman walking stick. It cost a hundred dollars to rent for two days but seeing he had three of them he would sell it to me for two hundred fifty dollars.I purchased it and thought how stupid. ’ ‘What sorts of challenges?’ He breathed deeply before answering, and paused to take a sip of the sparkling water that was making a faint bubbly noise. I imagined the sound of the bubbles I’d hear later when listening to the recording, as I also took a sip from my glass. ‘I guess mostly the same kinds of challenges involved with winning a really big lottery jackpot. Or having a massive, runaway hit in the Billboard charts.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘Well, more like winning the lottery,’ he. Ben was waiting for me in the living room when I finally made it downthe stairs. He pinned my corsage onto my dress, and Mom insisted ontaking some pictures of us before we escaped. Maddy and her date werewaiting for us in his car. I think they must have been going at it,because the windows were all steamed up.Except for when we went to the girls' room, I didn't have much chanceto talk to Maddy. She was hanging all over her date, and Ben kept meoccupied on the dance floor. I don't know how I.