Vicious Little Darlings by Katherine Easer

something I want to talk to you about,” she says with her back to me.
    â€œNo more jokes, please.”
    With the flick of a spoon, Agnes opens a tin of hot chocolate and turns to face me. “It’s a business proposal.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI’ll explain in a minute.” She washes her hands.
    What kind of business proposal could she possibly have for me? I search her face for clues but her small, sharp eyes betray nothing. I stare at her nose: thin, straight, patrician. I count three freckles under her left eye. Small, elfin ears that stick out in the most endearing way. She’s not bad looking. You might even say she looks kind of exotic, like a pale, blue-eyed Eskimo. But most of the time she looks so severe. I guess it all depends on the angle. Like a hologram, she’s pretty one minute and ugly the next. Like that French term: jolie laide . Pretty ugly. Not pretty gorgeous, but pretty in an odd, interesting way. She’s the antithesis of Maddy’s classic, universal beauty.
    Agnes sets a cup of hot tea in front of me, then goes down to the basement.
    She returns with the portrait I drew of Maddy.
    â€œWhere’d you get that?” I ask.
    â€œFrom your room. I noticed it on your dresser when I was vacuuming the dust under your bed.” She sighs. “It’s exquisite. You really do have talent, Sarah. You captured a side of Maddy that I rarely get to see.” Agnes pulls out a chair and sits down. “I want to buy this from you.”
    I rub my brow. “Are you kidding?”
    â€œHow much do you want for it?”
    â€œIt’s homework, Agnes. It’s not for sale.”
    â€œEverything’s for sale. You should’ve learned that by now.”
    â€œWell, this isn’t, so give it back. I have to turn it in tomorrow.”
    â€œI thought you were supposed to do a self-portrait.”
    â€œI was, but Maddy came in and asked me to draw her instead.”
    â€œSo, technically, this isn’t your assignment.”
    â€œNo, but it’s all I’ve got so I’m turning it in.”
    â€œI’ll give you five hundred dollars for it.”
    What? She’s out of her mind. Five hundred dollars for a stupid sketch? I shake my head.
    â€œWhy not? You can draw yourself another one before class. You still have time.”
    â€œBut I don’t want to draw another one,” I say, irritated.
    â€œHow about a thousand?”
    â€œYou’re crazy.”
    â€œIs that a yes?”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œLook, I know a thousand dollars isn’t a big deal, but it’s extra cash and you might need it this weekend when we go up to Cornell.” She exhales. “Take it.”
    I think of the forty-two dollars I have left in my account. I’m tempted, but I can’t take Agnes’s money. I’m already living in her house for free and there is such a thing as pride.
    â€œWhy do you want the drawing so much?” I ask her.
    She doesn’t answer. A second later, I hear a sizzling sound.
    â€œShoot,” Agnes says, jumping out of her seat. The milk she was heating is now bubbling over the edge of the saucepan. Agnes puts the saucepan in the sink and begins a vigorous cleaning of the stove top.
    I look at the portrait. It’s actually pretty good. There’s something about it that makes me want to keep looking at it. I’m surprised I was even able to finish it, what with the I-think-Sebastian-is-cheating-on-me bomb Maddy dropped on me. I was trying to capture Maddy’s essence, as corny as that sounds. Looking at her, I saw big eyes—almost too big for her delicate, heart-shaped face—and a perfect button nose, and pouty, pink lips. Her beauty was overwhelming, but strangely, I couldn’t connect with it. It was like looking at a beautiful mask; I felt nothing. But I started drawing anyway. I drew her head and her eyebrows and her eyes. And that’s when I saw