Beautiful Monster by Kate McCaffrey

joins in, though she’s not really sure what Sharla means.
    The beautician attaches false eyelashes and the girls gasp at the immediate transformation.
    â€˜I’m keeping mine forever,’ Julie says, fluttering them madly like butterfly wings.
    â€˜The only part of your body that can never be too fat is your eyelashes,’ Tess says, looking at how wide they’ve made her eyes look. The other girls stare at her.
    â€˜It’s not like you’ve got anything to worry about,’ Julie says. ‘You’re so thin.’
    Tess frowns at her. ‘No, I’m not. You are. You all are.’ She’s the fattest girl in the room.
    â€˜You can’t be serious.’ Julie leans closer. ‘You’re skinny. Too skinny. If you don’t think so, then maybe you’ve got a problem.’
    â€˜You look like you’re getting thinner, too,’ Maddie says.
    â€˜A lot of us think so,’ Chloe finishes.
    Tess suddenly feels threatened, ganged up and picked on. She automatically pulls her hands up into her sleeves. ‘Trust me, if you saw this body without clothes on you wouldn’t think that.’ How can any of them say that to her?
    â€˜Back off, guys,’ Sharla says. ‘This is about fun. Come on.’
    They go to their separate houses to get dressed. Jordan is coming to pick her up and then they are meeting at Julie’s. The Hummer will take the twelve of them to the city from there.
    Tess slips off her clothes and stares at herself in the mirror, not recognising the face that looks back. With the makeup, her eyes look so different. They glitter, a deep green. She smiles but then worries her teeth look too big. The hairdresser has put half her hair up in little jewel clips and curled the rest. It’s long and hangs below her shoulders, and in the bathroom light its deep colour reflects red highlights. She looks at the hair above her temples, concerned again. The hairdresser had casually observed that her hair was slightly thin there and had pinned curls to cover it. Tess worries she might be going bald and peers at the two spots. She’s satisfied she can’t see her scalp but not convinced with the hairdresser’s explanation about hormones and stress-related moulting.
    She pulls her dress on, slips her feet into high heels and assesses herself again. The girls today thought she was fat. Sometimes, when she’s with Ned he’ll whisper in her ear, ‘See, Tess—you’re the thinnest girl in the room.’ It always makes her feel good—superior, even. She can be something she knows everyone else wants to be. But when she’s not—he also points that out. ‘Now, that girl is thinner than you.’ He reminds her of the enchanted mirror from Snow White, and he crushes her so easily. Thinking about him now makes her nervous. She’s worried he might turn up just to spoil her night, to prove to her that he is still around, watching. But her rational self knows he won’t. Ned wouldn’t be caught dead near something like this.
    She tries to remember to breathe. She doesn’t want to let the anxiety get to her.
    A car pulls up in her driveway. Jordan’s dad. She sprays herself with perfume, pulls on the long white coat and gives herself another quick assessment. The coat is great and hides her well. Her diamanté earrings shine. She smiles and flicks off the light. In the lounge room her mother is, as usual, in her reading chair. But she looks up as Tess walks in. ‘Oh baby, you look beautiful,’ she says, getting out of her chair.
    Her dad is opening the front door. Jordan stands there clutching a corsage. He shakes her father’s hand.
    â€˜Come in,’ her dad says.
    Jordan smiles at her. ‘Tess, you look beautiful.’
    And for a moment, she feels it.
    Her heart beats faster. Someone, other than Ned, appreciates her—maybe she isn’t so bad after all.
    Her father makes