A Beautiful, Terrible Love - Lucky 97 (electronic reader txt) 📗

popular group, and I wasn't willing to step within five miles of that table.
Strangely, no guys ever talked to me. I never thought myself to be ugly, but they never spoke a single word. However, I could feel their glances, and it made me wonder; what's holding them back? What repelled guys from me like mosquitoes and bug spray?
"Hey, Sadie?" I asked.
"Huh?" she mumbled, mouth full of poptart.
"Why don't guys like me?" I asked. She was sure to know, maybe a rumor was being passed around about me or something.
Sadie laughed. "Eve, you're the most wanted girl at school."
"What?" That can't be true. That makes absolutely no sense.
"They're just afraid of Peter, that's all." she added.
"What do you mean, AFRAID of Peter?" I asked suspiciously.
"He's so lovesick that he's called dibs on you. You should SEE Peter when you occasionally go to the lunchroom to eat with Delilah. He starts to drool, I'm telling you." she smiled at the memory.
"I've never noticed," I said.
"Eve, you are the most out-of-it person I know. You wouldn't realize a guy liked you until he asked for your hand in marriage."
"True," I agreed. Sadie smiled.
"When this is over and done with, I am going to give you a complete closet makeover, and lessons on how to be normal. You're going to say yes when I persuade Peter to ask you out, and you're going to be the most popular girl in school. Got it?"
I nodded. I would do almost anything to get Peter back, and if going out with him was the only way, I guess I would have to do it. But Peter…. staring at me? Calling dibs? That didn't sound at all like the Peter I knew.
"Has Peter... changed since 7th grade?"
"Sure," Sadie said, "Everyone does."
"He has no right to call dibs though," I gazed off into the clear blue sky.
"Eve, if you knew how lovesick he was, then you'd understand,"
I watched the birds fly over the horizon, wishing my life was that simple.

I entered the studio, knees shaking in my shoes. Sadie laughed.
"Don't show them that you're scared!" Sadie whispered, "Those knees are a dead giveaway."
"Lay off!" I snapped. She sprang back.
"Someone's angry..." she tut-tutted.
"Whatever," I muttered. I didn't want to be doing this. I didn't want to have to shed my shell and sing in front of a ton of people. Then why am I doing it? Ugh, this is so complicated...
"Hello?" Sadie pulled me to the lady standing impatiently in front of us. "This is Eve. She is one of the ten contestants."
The lady said nothing for a few seconds, evaluating me. Then she nodded, not totally disgusted with me.
"Come this way." I clutched Sadie's arm as I walked, the only sound I could hear was the deafening noise of the woman's five-inch heels clicking on the cold, hard floor.
"Here," she led me to a small room, throwing open the door magnificently. Light dwelled from within, entrancing Sadie and I.
We entered, ushered in by a slightly overweight lady. Her eyes were a huge magnificent green, and she had a round baby face. She had a truly wonderful smile, with cute dimples. A grandmother type, I told myself.
"Hello! My name is Jenni, and I will be your makeup artist. Who are you?"
"I'm Eve," I answered. Sadie looked at me in surprise. Until now, I had always let her do the talking. However, I really felt comfortable with this lady. "This is Sadie, my twin."
"You both certainly look like twins!" she smiled, "But not identical."
"We're paternal twins," I told her.
"Okay," she brought me over to the middle of the room, I stared at it in awe. It was a gorgeous room, with pale peach walls and a light yellow ceiling. It reminded me of a light summer day. The furniture was a glossy oak, a delightful change from the granite trend. As soon as I walked in, I realized this was my favorite room in the whole world.
On the tables was an incredible number of hair accessories, ranging from rubber bands to big, giant clips. A few girls were lounging casually by the wall, and another woman was standing in front of the huge mirror doing a girl's hair. Jenni led us to her.
She was a skinny pencil, with twig like arms and long, long legs. Her face could only be described as cute, with adorable brown eyes and sweet little lips. She smiled at us, measuring us, than quickly turned back to her "client".
"Wendy, this is Eve and Sadie."
"Hello, Eve and Sadie. I'm guessing..." she stole another quick glance at us, "You're the one singing?" she nodded at Sadie.
"No ma'am," I informed her, "That would be me."
"I see. Well, you don't really look like the outgoing type, with your hair dangling in front of your face. Usually shy girls adopt that hairstyle. We will change that,"
The girl in the chair turned to look at me. She was absolutely beautiful, with straight brown hair and milky brown skin. She was slender, and had very big eyes.
"My name is Serena. I'm one of the top ten also." She got up quickly from the chair to go to the girls by the wall. She beckoned to me. "Come."
Serena seemed to be judging me, looking me over, almost... trying to find fault with me. Her eyes narrowed as she took in my drab appearance, dull in comparison to the other girls', their shimmering dresses catching the light and shining it across the room. Under her criticizing scrutiny, I began to feel inferior, shrinking before her eyes. I hated girls like her. Why couldn't I measure up to their standards?
"Hello." I shook off my annoyance and greeted them when I walked closer. None of the girls were as gorgeous as Serena, but they were all pretty.
"Hey," a girl with light creamy skin and blonde hair said. "I'm Lexi,"
"I'm GiGi." GiGi was a very tall girl, model-like, with long brown hair that flowed to her waist. Her hair was absolutely magnificent.
"I'm Donna." A girl with red hair and chocolate brown eyes nodded at me.
I started to hear a flurry of names.
"I'm Felicia."
"I'm Ginny."
"I'm Jane."
"I'm Deanna."
"I'm Zelda." I stared at the last girl, taking in her beauty. I hadn't noticed her before because she was hiding behind Donna, but now, I saw her pimple-free tanned skin and her dark, enchanting eyes. She was very curvy, not skinny, but definitely not fat. She really reminded me of Delilah.
"I'm Eve." I introduced myself, "This is my twin, Sadie." They crowded around me, barely giving me room to breathe, asking about where I lived and what school I went to. Their piercing questions were not much unlike Serena's glare, inquisitive and nosy to the maximum. I was about to die from their bombardment of inquiries when Wendy pulled me out of their group.
"Time to do your hair, sweetie!" she smiled and winked. Then she leaned down and whispered. "Those girls are a bunch of piranhas. There were trying to find out anything about you they could make fun of. I've seen it before. Remember, show them you're not a pushover and they'll leave you pretty much alone."
"Thank you for telling me this." I said, smiling at her. She emanated a friendly feel that wasn't present among the other contestants.
"You're very welcome, dear." she surveyed my hair, feeling it. "You have wonderful hair. A bit mousier than I would like, but it has great volume and, shall I say, curling potential. We're going to start here..."
I listened to Wendy's melodic voice as she went over the steps to curling my hair and then pulling it up. It was actually very easy, and it looked gorgeous when completed, a spectacular display of simple twists and designs.
"You think you can do that at home?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," I assured her quickly. Hair was one of my specialties... it was just that I never had the time for that sort of stuff at home.
"Call me Wendy, honey," she laughed. "You make me sound real old." Wendy waved as I got up from her chair and started walking towards Jenni as she beckoned for me.
"Hello, Eve," she pulled me real close to her so she could study my face. Her bright green eyes narrowed in concentration, she examined every aspect of my face. It didn't feel strange and uncomfortable, like Serena's scrutiny, but kind and helpful. Inspecting every inch, she soon let me go.
"Wow," she said in utter amazement, a beautiful smile stretched across her face.
"What is it?"
"I actually feel you'd look worse with makeup on than you would without. I can't believe it!" she told Wendy who was walking towards us. "She doesn't need a makeover."
"I thought so too," they both stared at me, wonderingly. At that moment, under their generous adoration, I truly felt beautiful.
"You are very blessed." Jenni smiled at me.
"Come on, let's take you to the changing room." Wendy placed a hand on my back and guided me out the door. Before I left, I managed a look at the girls' mouths dropped in surprise and laughed softly. Serena most of all, her jaw hitting the floor almost. Her expression was of surprise, but her eyes held carefully veiled fury. I guess she didn't like having to listen to someone besides herself be called beautiful.
The changing room was huge, and about twice the size of the makeup and hair room. It was stacked from the top to bottom with clothes. Was I in heaven? I gasped in wonder, Wendy dragging me in my daze over to a tall, gawky man with a goatee and earrings.
"I'm Jacques," he smiled and winked at me.
"Hey," I said, "I'm Eve."
"Wonderful, wonderful," he clapped his hands. "I have the perfect rack of clothes for you." He brought me to a huge rack, and grabbed tons of clothes to put on it. "This is YOUR rack. I have one for each of the ten girls," I nodded quickly. This was going to be fun!
"Today, you'll wear this," he handed me a petal pink dress. I walked into the changing room and slipped it on, almost moaning with delight. It melted like butter onto my soft skin, lacing down the front, petal soft straps laying carefully upon me. A thin bow snaked around the waist of the dress, tying in the side, the hemline ending at mid thigh. I looked in the mirror quickly, and winced at how it clung to my body. I liked T-shirts because they were big and bulky, and no one would stare at me when I wore them. I guess I'll have to wear this dress though if I want to look pretty, I told myself.
Walking out of the changing room, Jacques smiled at me. "You look smokin', Eve,"
"Thanks," I smiled, although, inside, I felt queasy. What was everyone going to do when they saw my body hugging dress?
Wendy and Jenni's eyes widened at my entrance.
"Eve!" Jenni ran to me. "Wow! I didn't know you had such curves." She smiled wistfully, "You remind me of me when I was younger."
Sadie came up to me next.
"I've been your sister for close to two decades, and I just now realized that I've never seen you in a dress until now. Why is that?" she tapped her foot angrily.
"Well... I just don't like dresses."
Serena walked up.
"What kind of girl doesn't like dresses?" she asked. Her eyes were aflame with... jealousy? Serena