Alex already knew that whatever appeared on the screen would mean another humiliating job. He had been a servant, a waitress, even a hairdresser. This time the screen showed: Face Makeover. His stomach dropped. He knew instantly what it meant, another shift in the beauty salon, only this time he would have to do makeup.
Neither he nor Ember said much. Alex mumbled under his breath that he should've hit those boys harder when he had the chance, but he kept it mostly to himself, not wanting to scare her. After his bath, he got dressed and, instead of going to his room, he was led away by Jade.
Once again, he found himself in that familiar salon chair. Jade greeted him with her usual cheer. "Hi Alex, ready?" "How could I be ready for this?" he muttered, his voice low and defeated. "I don't want this, Jade." "Oh, poor you," she said with mock sympathy. "Well, the faster we do this, the faster it's over. Right?" She smiled like it was the easiest thing in the world. "Yeah..." Alex sighed, shoulders sinking.
Jade wasted no time. She moved with practiced ease, giving him a full skincare routine before starting the makeup. Normally, she worked talking about light things, but today she explained every step as if teaching a class. Alex barely listened, too busy staring at his reflection in growing dread. She layered primer, foundation, then began contouring and highlighting. She brushed pink blush across his cheeks until his face looked soft, glowing—unrecognizable. His features no longer looked like his own; they had been reshaped into something closer to a girl's.
Eyeshadow. Eyeliner. Mascara. Each step pushed him deeper into humiliation. Finally came the lipstick—thankfully not as bold as Ember's choices, though Jade wore a mischievous smile the entire time.
"And done! Have a good look at yourself, Alex," Jade said proudly. "Don't you think you look like the prettiest girl?" "I look... uh..." Alex stammered, his throat tight. He didn't want to say it. But last time he didnt he upset one of the girls, the punishment had been brutal. "I... I guess..." "Don't worry," Jade laughed, waving it off. "You don't have to say it today."
Alex exhaled in relief.
"Well," Jade continued, "I hope you paid close attention. Tomorrow, it's all up to you. Let me remove the makeup now."
"Uhm, yeah... I hope the people in the salon won't mind me being an amateur," he mumbled nervously.
"Salon?" Jade blinked, confused.
"Uh... yeah?" Alex answered, just as confused. A small spark of hope flickered, was she about to say he didn't have to work at all?
"You're not working in a salon tomorrow, Alex. Not on other people at least."
"What do you mean?" he asked, his chest tightening.
"Your job tomorrow," Jade said, her face lighting up, "is to be a beauty influencer! You're going to give a live makeup tutorial on my channel!" She clasped her hands near her chest and even gave a little jump of excitement.
"You're joking, right?!" Alex blurted out, panic rushing over him.
"Nope!" she beamed. "It's going to be so fun, trust me. I'm nervous at first too, but once you start, it's easy!"
Her excitement only made Alex feel worse. Live. For people. Doing makeup. His stomach turned.
That night, he returned to Ember in shock. He explained everything, Ember doing her best to comfort him, but nothing helped. The dread wouldn't leave him.
The next afternoon, Jade picked him up. His heart sank when he saw the salon chair again—only this time, a camera was fixed to the mirror. Beside him sat a laptop showing his face and an empty chat window waiting to fill with viewers.
"Don't worry, we're not live yet," Jade said cheerfully. "When you press this button, you will be. And just in case you forgot anything, I wrote you a list." She stuck a note to the mirror with step-by-step instructions, even adding fun facts. "This can't go wrong, Alex. So stop worrying and enjoy!"
Enjoy. The word made him want to laugh bitterly.
Alex stared at the clock. One minute left. His hands shook.
"I can't do this, Jade." "Oh, Alex, you can! Just follow the steps." "Will this... will this be online forever?" he asked in a small voice. "No, it's just live. I won't upload it if you don't do anything crazy," she reassured.
But reassurance did nothing. His heart hammered as he pressed the button. The stream intro played on the laptop. And then—his own face filled the screen, live to the world.
He froze. He glanced at the note. Introduce yourself. "Uh... welcome, everyone," he said stiffly. "I'm Alex, and I'll be taking over Jade's usual stream today." His voice cracked with nerves.
He read further: say what the tutorial is. "I'll... uh... show you how to do a makeover that can turn even a boy into a pretty girl." The words felt like knives in his mouth.
Trying to stick to the script, he picked up the first product. "Let's start with some skincare... uh... contour eye patches. They make the skin look, um, fresh and nice." His hands trembled as he applied them. "Normally these need more time, but since these are from the Pearl brand, they can be removed in five minutes. So... uh... we have time for some Q&A."
The chat exploded. Questions poured in. Alex answered clumsily: "How do you know Jade?" "Oh, uh, me and Jade are friends," he mumbled. "What brought you into makeup?" "Uh... I... I guess it makes me feel pretty?" he said, voice barely above a whisper. But then came worse: "Are you a femboy? Drag queen?" Alex swallowed hard. "No... I'm not... I'm just... not anything like that." He said to strangers, sitting there in girly clothes, pink hair glowing under the lights.
He removed the patches, went through creams against tired looking eyes and serums for hydration and to give a glow to the skin, Alex explained. Then picked up the foundation brush. Wrong one. Jade pointed silently off-camera, and he corrected himself. He smeared foundation on his face with such visible disgust that the chat exploded in laughter.
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Step by step, he stumbled along—contour, highlight, blush, eyeshadow. His eyeliner was a disaster, and the chat flooded with jokes. The worse he did, the redder his ears burned. Every laugh made his chest tighten more.
Finally, the lips. His worst nightmare. With shaky hands, he painted them lilac to match his eyeshadow. Messages flooded in: "You look pretty for your first try." "Alex would make a cute girl if he practiced more." "Does he even like doing this?"
His cheeks burned with humiliation. He thanked everyone quickly and slammed the stream closed. "That was awful," he groaned. "Can I please take this off now?" "It wasn't that bad, right?" Jade teased. "It was," Alex muttered. "I don't think so. And no, you can't take it off yet—not until after tonight's game. Consider it a fun reminder!" She grinned mischievously.
Alex's heart sank. With the embarrassing makeup still on his face, he dragged himself back to his room.
