The Seventh Grade Wars

CHAPTER 18: Hayley

On Sunday, Chelsea texted me and asked if I wanted to do the makeover today. That's what we'd been calling it—the "makeover."

I called her instantly and asked her where. 

"My house," she said. "Savannah's free until two, because that's when she's going to cheerleading practice."

"Your sister is a cheerleader?"

"Yep. Pretty cool, huh? She's always doing flips and stuff, so my parents got her a gymnastics mat in the basement so she wouldn't break her neck."

"Oh."

"Point is, Savannah's the makeup expert in our family. Every time she goes to cheer competitions, she wears a bunch of makeup and puts glitter all over her face," said Chelsea. 

"No glitter for me," I said. 

"Of course! But that would be better than going to the mall and getting your makeup done, too, I think. We can hang out at my place, too."

"Oh, okay. That's perfect."

"So d'you want to come over now?"

I agreed. "I'll be there in a couple minutes."

I rang the doorbell to Chelsea's house, and a tall, brown-haired, button-nosed girl opened the door. She looked maybe about eighteen, and was really pretty. 

"Hi," said the girl. "Can I help you?"

"Uh—"

"Hey! Hayley!" Chelsea burst through the doorway just then. "Kaelyn, this is my friend. She's here to hang out."

"Oh. Hello," said Kaelyn. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you," I said. 

"Come on, Hayley," said Chelsea. "Let's go upstairs."

Savannah, her sister, was waiting in Chelsea's room, arranging a bunch of makeup cosmetics on the desk. 

"Savannah, this is who I was telling you about. Hayley," said Chelsea. 

Savannah's perfect eyebrows puckered. "Well, she does need a lot of work."

I could feel myself turning red. 

"Savannah! You're being awful," complained Chelsea. 

"Okay, fine. Let's get started though. I have to leave in an hour."

She made me take a seat in Chelsea's big swivel chair and surveyed me. I could tell she was looking for flaws, and that she'd found a lot of them. 

"Did you bring concealer?" she asked me at last. 

"No," I said. "I don't really own any."

"Okay, fine," Savannah said again. "But you'll need to get some later."

She set to work, busily applying things to my face. She drew on my eyes with a thin black pen. She used a brush to paint rosy red onto my cheeks. She put thick, sticky gloss onto my lips. Then she unbraided my hair, brushed it out, and used a hot curling iron on it. Chelsea smiled at me, telling me it all looked great. 

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Savannah leaned back and nodded. 

"Good," she said. Then to Chelsea, "Do you have a mirror?"

Chelsea handed me a silver hand mirror and I peered into it. What I saw was a shock. 

I looked perfect. It seemed like every problem I'd had with my face, Savannah had fixed it. My lips were full and brightly colored. My eyelashes were curled lavishly. My hair tumbled down across my shoulders, no longer dead weight on my head but thick and wavy. She'd even managed to make my skin look less translucent. 

I smiled a little, and the girl in the mirror smiled too. 

"This is amazing," I said. 

Savannah turned to Chelsea. "Payment?"

Chelsea rolled her eyes and slapped a couple sticks of gum into her hand.

"Just get your friend something new to wear," she said, and left the room.

Chelsea came over to me. "Wow. You look so great, Hayley."

"Thank you," I muttered, then put the mirror down. "So what about some clothes?"

"I've got just the thing." She went to her closet and yanked out a pair of denim shorts and a short-sleeved top. 

"It's summer," she said. "I don't know how you can stand to wear jeans all the time, but you must be cooking in them."

I shrugged. I'd always thought I was too scrawny to wear shorts. 

Chelsea forced me to try them on, and I did. 

"You look great in that," she said happily, and I could tell she meant it. "Jordan won't be able to resist you! If he didn't already, I mean."

Monday morning, I woke up an hour earlier so I'd have time to do my hair and makeup for school. Chelsea had let me borrow the makeup supplies she and her sister shared, and I just had to get something called concealer. I borrowed this from my mother's bathroom, because we pretty much have the same skin tone, and Googled how to apply it. That took a while, but after that I curled my hair with her curling iron. This I couldn't borrow from my mom because she didn't have one. My parents were kind of plain, and the last thing my mother would do is curl her hair. I then popped in my contact lenses, which I wore at Savannah's recommendation. I didn't usually wear contact lenses because they made my eyes dry, but today would have to be an exception. 

At last I put on the shorts and sleeveless top from Chelsea's wardrobe. Then I examined myself closely in the mirror. I looked good, if not strange. I'd never looked that way before. 

Suddenly my dad called up to me from downstairs. 

"Hayley!" he said. "Hurry up! you're going to be late!"

"Okay," I said. I took a deep breath and turned away from the mirror. 

I went downstairs, where my family was engaging in their typical morning activities. My mom was at the kitchen counter, fixing breakfast for Jace.  My dad sat at the counter, reading the newspaper. Jace sat at the counter as well, drawing in a coloring book of his. He loves coloring. Once he finishes carefully filling in every picture in the book, he'll go back to the beginning and start coloring outside of the lines so not a hint of white shows through. Once he's done, he'll discard the book and move on to a new one. 

I said good morning to my family and immediately went to the refrigerator and got an apple. 

As I bit into it, my mother said:

"Hayley Grace George, what on earth happened to you?"

I swallowed the bite in my mouth and shrugged. "I decided it was time for a change, Mom, that's all."

"But your hair...and are you wearing makeup? Richard, tell Hayley she can't go to school like that."

My dad peered over the top of his newspaper. "Wow, honey, you look fantastic."

My mother groaned. 

"Mom, stop worrying," I said. "I kind of like this new look."

"Well, if you do, I'm glad," interjected my dad. "You could do with a little more self-confidence, Hayley."

"I guess so," said my mom grudgingly. She knew she couldn't win two against one. "And you really do look nice, Hayley. Just if you don't think it's too much for a simple day at school."

School is far from simple, I thought, but nodded anyway. 

"I think you look very beautiful," said Jace shyly. 

"Thank you, Jace," I said. My brother is so adorable sometimes. 

"Hayley. You better start getting your lunch ready or you won't have time," my mom warned. 

"No, it's okay. I want to buy lunch today." That was what all the "cool" kids did, including Diane and Jackie Reynold.

"Do you have money?" asked my father. 

I told him yes. "Okay, well, I'll be going."

He smiled a little. "Have a good day today!"