The New Girl

Chapter Twenty Three

Lovina put on her wig and sunglass back and took us to the nearest beauty salon to that alley. The main purpose of hitting the parlor was to make Arvon and me as smooth looking as any girl. Lovina introduced us to the beauticians as private detectives to avoid inquiries. Then on her bill, we had our eyelashes enhanced, nails manicured and polished them in red, did facial treatment and, although we didn't have much beard, had our faces shaved. Just in case, you know.

In about two hours, we had total makeover: we weren't Arvon and Casper anymore, but Britney and Candy - the names Lovina had given us to use for our new avatar. The dresses that we were forced to wear to hide our bulge and make us look pretty were tight around our body that we had to work hard to keep breathing.

"No one will ever talk about this in future, alright?" Arvon said, stuffing a pair of apples in each cup of the bra he was wearing. "This is really embarrassing."

"Try to sound like a girl, will you?" Lovina reminded Arvon.

He cleared his throat and attempted a fake tone. "Yeah, okay."

The staffs at the parlor laughed.

"Was that bad?"

"No," one of them said. "It was okay."

For next half an hour, we rehearsed to talk, walk and act like lasses with huge support from those present in the room (we were lucky that there weren't customers other than us). It was really tough job. I suspected we must be looking like two ugly sisters of Cinderella.

Lovina seemed little worried that we might give up in the middle and took off everything we had worn and run far from her. So she kept inspiring us with words of encouragement.

"Forget everything else," she told us. "Just stick to your character. You two are getting better... yes, that's it... nice.... "

In the end, everybody was impressed with us. They clapped, cheered and walked us to the door. It was already night outside. As we were heading back to the car, I stepped on the banana peel unknowingly and slipped. My body leaned back in the air, hands flying upward automatically for support. In a hearbeat, Lovina seized my one hand in a steel grip and saved me. Her blue eyes looked fierce upon me.

"That was cool," Arvon said, surveying us with admiring eyes. A passer by gave him a funny look. He shook his head and repeated the line in fake girly tone. "Ahem. That was cool."

"Be careful, okay?" Lovina breathed.

I nodded in an awkward fashion, clutching the top of my head with another hand. "Thank you."

She pulled me straight back on my high heels and continued walking.

"Can't we have flat shoes? These are aching my feet."

"No," she answered me. "High heels are attractive. The more chic you look, more people would believe people in your appearance. Forget about the pain and you would be fine."

We got into the car, and parked it last in the line of vehicles at one side of the road outside the Gilbert property.

"Alright," Lovina said. "You two go through the main gate while I make my way unnoticed through the back of the house. Before that I need to call Doctor John. Keep your phones on. See you soon guys."

Arvon and me stepped outside with snake skinned handbag swinging from our arm. The bags contained everything we would need. After bidding Lovina bye, we dragged ourselves through the gate and up the pebbled driveway toward the house. Somebody whistled us from behind. But we acted like VIPs and didn't bother to check.

Loud bass greeted us at the door. The hall we got in was more crowded than the last party. Everybody in there was too busy in their own world to notice our arrival. This was exactly what we wanted. Less attention.