Queen of the Wood ✅

3 - That Night

I looked at Maeve, watching as she studied the YouTube video. Then, she paused it and perfectly mimicked the girl on the screen as she applied her eye makeup. She stood back from the mirror, a pleased smile on her face.

"I don't know how you do that."

Looking at myself, I almost gulped as I glanced between my eyes and the eyeliner pen in my hand. Maeve had done wonders with my makeup so far. I worried that I'd ruin it, but she insisted that I had to do it myself.

I practiced all week but only managed smudges that made me look like a raccoon.

"It's not that hard, Ash," Maeve replied with a roll of her eyes. She looked at the cosmetics spread across the wide counter in my bathroom. "Don't know why your mother wastes all this makeup on you... you barely use it."

"Keeps hopin' I'll pick it up."

Heat filled my cheeks as I looked at the embarrassingly numerous makeup palettes and brushes from every brand under the sun—well, every high-end one. Mom only bought the best. Grams huffed about it all the time, saying she was wasting our money, but it wasn't like she didn't drop a decent amount on hers. She just stuck with Chanel.

Maeve's eyes lit up when she picked up a palette from Urban Decay that I'd never used.

"I've been dying for this one."

I saw the way her eyes sparkled as they turned to me. It was a familiar look. Mom yelled at me every time that look came out, and I gave Maeve something else. But my best friend was right. It wasn't like I used any of it. At least if she took it, it wouldn't sit and rot in a drawer.

"Take it. More your color anyway."

Maeve squealed and jumped before throwing her arms around my neck. She then dropped the palette into her makeup bag. I smiled, happy to see her grin. Things had been weird the last couple of weeks, and tonight... right now, it felt like nothing was wrong at all or had ever been wrong in the first place.

"Here, let me... I don't want you ruining my masterpiece." Maeve gently took the eyeliner from my hand and turned me to face her. "Close."

My eyes slid shut as I worked hard to stay still. Eyeliner tickled, and it was hard to keep my lids from twitching. But Maeve was in a good mood, and I didn't want to ruin it.

"So... you nervous about getting homecoming queen?"

Maeve snorted softly, and I could almost picture the glint of triumph in her eyes.

"Nope. That crown is mine," she said. "Stephanie thinks she can buy all the votes, but she's got somethin' else comin'."

"Right."

I felt giddy. So much so that it was hard to stay still as Maeve painted the black liner on my eyes. I normally didn't get excited about dances. Usually, I would stand on the edges of whatever crowd was around Maeve, trying to blend in as best I could. No one ever asked me to dance, but I considered it a success if Stephanie and her crew left me alone.

Tonight felt different.

I wanted to stand out. Just a little bit. Maybe Maeve was finally rubbing off on me.

"There. Done."

I opened my eyes and turned to the mirror. My eyes widened. I almost didn't recognize myself. Sure, it wasn't as much makeup as Maeve was currently wearing, but considering I never really wore it, it certainly changed my face.

"Thank you! It looks awesome!"

I turned to hug Maeve, but she had already turned and started towards the bathroom door.

"Come on. We need to get dressed, or we'll be late..."

Author's Note: If you've read the previous version, you probably noticed this bit is new. I decided that we needed more insight as to how things were for Aisling back in high school surrounding the events that night. Also, I thought a better way to differentiate between dreams and memories was to pull them out into their own chapters. Most of these chapters are brand new, though some were in the previous version.

Anywho, hope you're enjoying the changes so far!