Confessions of a High School Supermodel

Chapter 15

15

“Here sweetie, see if these fit,” the stylist said as she passed over a pair of jeweled high-heeled sandals.

Maddie sat on the couch in her short yellow dress and grudgingly stuffed her feet into the shoes.  “Yeah, these are fine,” she stated dismissively.  She hadn’t known that it was possible to get sick of trying on beautiful designer clothes, but after several hours of going through the eleven racks the stylist had prepared, she was ready to just pick something and be done with it.  She didn’t care if she went to the launch party wearing a garbage bag at this point.

Beside her, Sundance twirled in front of a full-length mirror, admiring herself from every angle as her tangerine cocktail dress fluttered around her like a bell.  Technically, Sundance wasn’t supposed to borrow an outfit, but she’d coaxed the stylist into relenting. 

“As Maddie’s best friend, I need to look good too!  I wouldn’t want to embarrass her!” she’d explained, batting her long eyelashes and pouting her bottom lip.

Sundance had cajoled her way into not only a tangerine cocktail dress, but also a pair of gold silk Jimmy Choo pumps (“They would go perfectly with my dress!”), and a Swarovski crystal Judith Leiber clutch exactly like the one Nicole Kidman had worn on the red carpet a few weeks earlier (“Maddie, your stylist has such amazing taste!”)

Bree should be here right now, Maddie thought to herself, a twinge of guilt stabbing at her soul.  She should be the one trying on all these beautiful clothes and getting her hair and makeup done with me.

Maddie hadn’t spoken to Bree since their huge meltdown a few days earlier.  Maddie wanted to apologize, but she was afraid that anything she said might make an already rocky situation even worse.  She’d seen Bree glancing at her in class a couple times, always rather sadly, but she hadn’t attempted any communication either.  As far as Maddie was concerned, the friendship seemed to have dissolved almost as quickly as it had begun.  Maddie found it a little ironic that although she was a “famous” model now, in some ways her life was even worse than it had been before.  At least before, she had Bree. 

The funny thing though, was that Sundance hadn’t made any effort to hang out with her either.  That conversation at Maddie’s locker where Sundance had invited herself to the party was pretty much the only time she had paid any attention to Maddie at all.  She still didn’t talk to her in class, and she still didn’t invite Maddie to sit with her and her friends at lunch.

But now that the girls were getting primped and styled for the Pinkette launch party, Sundance was suddenly acting like they had been best friends all along.  It annoyed Maddie, but mostly she was just glad that somebody was finally speaking to her.

Maddie and the stylist had finally chosen a strapless canary yellow number with a beaded bodice and a floaty skirt that ended a few inches above her knees.  The entire effect was simple, feminine, and glamorous.  Yellow was a cheerful color and after the fight with Bree, Maddie felt like she needed to infuse some joy into her spirit. The stylist had sensed that Maddie was a little down, so her motto became, “The worse you feel, the better you have to look!”

She had to stop feeling sorry for herself.  They were going to make their way to the party any minute!  Pull it together Madison Fox! she scolded herself harshly.  You are the luckiest girl in the world!   A million girls would kill to be in your shoes right now!  No matter how pointy and uncomfortable they may be!  You are getting everything you wanted, so put a smile on your face and act grateful!