A Girl Between by Marjorie Weismantel Page B

thought.
 Mrs. Prescott’s pointy index fingernail was stabbing at it.  I studied the
picture.  Actually, the model looked a bit like me.  It was a scruffy, punky
look, but definitely with some style.  The hair fell to her mid neck, but it
wasn’t cut even.  It was cut to look a little choppy.  It was parted at the
side and the hair fell slightly over her right eye.  And it didn’t hang flat.  It
was scrunched up.  I have to admit, I liked it. 
    “OK.  You can go ahead and do it.” I said it quickly before
I changed my mind.  I knew my hair was kind of a mess but it did take me a
while to grow it this long.  Once it’s gone, that’s it.
    “I would also suggest a rinse to bring out your blond
highlights, like in the picture”, Mrs. Prescott added.
    “Tess, you should go for the works.  Grandma said that she
wanted to treat you for your upcoming birthday.”  Eve was grinning at me while
she said it.
    Rainy added, “Hey, the make-up girl is showing up soon to
talk to someone about a bridal party session.  I’m sure she would LOVE to give
you a few tips!  She loves working on a virgin face; it’s like a blank canvas!”
    “We’ll see,” I muttered.
    After the haircut and rinse, I let the make-up person work
on me.  I told her that I was only willing to go for some eye make-up.  I
wasn’t into the face paint look.  The entire time the girls were watching “the
transformation” I couldn’t really tell what they were thinking.  They were deliberately
poker-faced to freak me out I’m sure.  After the make-up lady was done, she sat
me in front of the mirror and handed me another small mirror to check out the
back.  Mrs. Prescott came over to view my reaction.
    Wow!  I was totally shocked.  It looked way better than I
expected.  I couldn’t act too happy about it because I didn’t want to give
Rainy and my cousins too much to crow about.  “Humph.  Yeah, I guess it came
out pretty good.  Thanks all for your efforts.”
    Rainy looked indignant.  “Good?  You say it was just ‘good’?
 What’s wrong with you?  It looks great if I say so myself!  I told you that my
mom knows what she’s doing.”
    “Tessie! I can’t believe you’re so hot now.  Who knew under
all that, uh. . . messiness, what you could really look like,” crowed Annie.  “There’s
one more problem though.”
    I glowered over at Annie, “What’s that?”
    “If you don’t mind me saying, your clothes suck.  If you
don’t want to look like a freak show you’re going to have to take our advice
and upgrade things,” Annie answered with an evil grin.
    Eve added gleefully, “Fortunately, your birthday’s coming
up.  You can borrow some of our stuff until then.  After that, I think we’ll
have to take you for a little shopping spree.”
    I couldn’t take it anymore.  “OK, this is ENOUGH for today!  If
you don’t stop, I’m going to go home and dunk my head in a bucket of water.  Anyway,
it’s time to get out of here and head home.  Isn’t tonight the pep rally bon
fire?  We’re supposed to do some chores before we go.”

19.  Sparks
    As soon as we got home, Grandma told me that someone called.
 She said his name was something like “Willis or Will” and she left the phone
number on the table in the foyer.  It must be Will from robotics.  Wonder what
he wanted.
    After talking to him, I set the phone down with a self-satisfied
smiIe.  He wanted to go to the bon fire with me tonight.  I told him yes. 
Except for being a stubborn pain at times, I really liked being with Will.  He’s
smart and funny and cute.  He’s not like Ian, but still cute.  A couple of his
friends will be there for us to hang out with.  To be honest, I preferred a
group thing because I’m not sure how I felt about Will and I couldn’t quite
tell what he thought about me.  Right now, friendship was the way to go,
especially since I was still trying to think of a way to bump into Ian.
    My aunt and