“I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on. It’s so much fun. Half the class is spent sitting around and gossiping. Sunshine, our instructor, is totally chill. She has this awesome tattoo of a dolphin on her ankle and she tells the coolest stories about when she used to live on an ashram in India.”
“I like playing soccer.”
“Well, you’re going to love your new nose, Allie. Seriously. It’ll change your life.”
“What if I don’t want to change my life?”
Cameron looked at Allie. “I know what this is about.”
“You do?” Allie was so hopeful. If Cameron knew what this was about, then maybe she could explain it, because Allie wasn’t so sure.
“You’re scared, but don’t be,” Cameron told her. “It’s painless. And I know that you’ve heard horror stories. We all have. But it’s a simple surgery. You’re going to be beautiful.”
The commercials were over, and both of them turned back to the TV, where they proceeded to watch a silver-haired, overweight doctor in Arizona cut Krista open, suck out the fat, fix her up, and then sew her back together again—in the image of their own mother.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When Cameron caught her first glimpse of Eve Santora, the Hollywood legend who was once described as the most beautiful woman in the world, she found it hard to hide her disappointment. She’d asked, and Allie had told her that Eve was still gorgeous, yet the woman in front of her was wrinkled, thin, and old. Not graceful, elegant old, either—just plain, ordinary old. Even worse, she was printer-paper pale, with eyes so sunken into her skull that one could hardly make out the blue. It was eerie.
“Ms. Santora, it’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to let me photograph you. It’s a huge honor.” Once Cameron recovered, she reached down to shake Eve’s hand and half-curtsied. She couldn’t help it. Despite what the woman looked like, she was still Hollywood royalty.
“Eve, you’re sure you don’t mind doing this?” Allie asked as she gently rested her hand on the old woman’s shoulder.
Cameron had no idea what her sister was so worried about.
Apparently, neither did Eve. “I said I’d do it,” she replied gruffly. “So let’s get this nonsense over with.”
Cameron was taken aback by Eve’s rudeness, but only briefly. Allie had warned her that the woman might be cranky. And sure, Eve called the photo shoot nonsense, but she was all dressed up, in black slacks and a fancy red top with billowy chiffon sleeves. She wore makeup, but not too much, like a lot of the residents Cameron had noticed on their walk to Eve’s bungalow. She wore just a touch of mauve lipstick and a thin layer of blush—enough to show she was making the effort, to prove that she cared about how she looked. This display of vanity made her more human in Cameron’s eyes.
“I could set up in here,” said Cameron, walking inside and looking around. “Although the walls are a bit too cluttered. You don’t mind if I take down a few of these paintings, do you?”
“Why don’t we go outside? There’s a nice spot by the Japanese garden,” said Eve.
Cameron nodded. “Okay, whatever makes you happy.” She would have preferred to work indoors, where she could control the light, but Allie had made her promise to do whatever Eve wanted.
“And don’t photograph me in this,” said Eve, motioning to the wheelchair.
Cameron readjusted her backpack and put her tripod under one arm. “That’s fine. Is there anything else?”
“No, we can go now,” said Eve.
As Allie wheeled Eve to the garden, Cameron struggled to keep up. “Thank you again for agreeing to this. I’ve seen all your movies, and I’ve been dying to meet you ever since I found out my little sister actually knew you.”
Eve didn’t even acknowledge Cameron, which was annoying. Was the woman that hard of hearing? Cameron was speaking as loudly as she could without actually yelling. But maybe she had to yell…
“What was it like, working with Gary Grant?” Cameron shouted.
Allie shushed her. Whoops. Cameron had promised not to pry into Eve’s past, but how could she not ask, when Eve must have so many amazing stories?
Still, the woman didn’t answer her question.
Once they made it to the garden, Allie helped Eve out of her chair and onto the bench. It was a lengthy procedure. By the time Eve sat down she seemed winded. Cameron hadn’t realized how delicate the woman really was. It was sad.
“How’s this?” asked Eve, raising her chin, ever so slightly.
“Perfect.” Cameron set up her tripod a few feet away. “I’m going to do a bunch of portraits first. You don’t have to pose, or anything. Just act natural.”
“‘Act natural,’” said Eve. “That’s always been one of my favorite oxymorons.”
Allie and the old woman shared a laugh, although Cameron hadn’t meant to be funny. She fiddled with her tripod, raising and lowering it until her lens was at eye level with Eve.
“Aren’t you a bit too close?” asked Eve.
Cameron locked the tripod into place. “I’m going for something dramatic, so the closer I am the better.” She wanted to get each and every one of Eve’s wrinkles but knew better than to say so.
As Cameron started shooting, Allie looked around. “It’s so quiet out here today.”
“Everyone is at tai chi on the other side of the lawn,” said Eve.
“You guys have tai chi? What a cool place,” said Cameron. “You’re so lucky.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you had to live here.”
The straight-on shot wasn’t very interesting, so Cameron took her camera off the tripod and kneeled down in front of Eve.
“Are you trying to shoot up my nose?”
Hoping that the question was rhetorical, Cameron ignored it.
Taking pictures of her friends had been so much easier. They did whatever Cameron told them to and liked it. Eve looked miserable. “This isn’t working,” Cameron said. “It’s overcast, so I’m going to need the flash.”
“That’s too bright,” Eve said a few moments later, holding up her hand and turning away.
Cameron did her best to stifle a groan. She couldn’t win with this woman.
“Are you getting tired?” asked Allie. She turned to Cameron. “Stop it for a minute, okay?”
“Sure, we can take a break.” Cameron placed her camera on the ground and searched through her backpack. When she found the pictures she was looking for, she handed them to Eve. “I found these online and printed them for you.”
“What are they?” asked Eve, reaching for the shots.
“They’re old movie stills from An Oriental Sunrise. Don’t you recognize yourself?” Cameron leaned over Eve’s shoulder and looked. “You were so gorgeous, Eve. I mean, you still are.”
Eve’s hands shook as she handed them back. “I don’t need to see these. I know what I looked like.”
“Okay,” said Cameron, raising her eyebrows at Allie. For some reason, Allie gave her a dirty look. “Let’s get a few more before the light changes again. You’re doing great.”
“I’d like to lie down,” Eve said.
“We’ll take you back in a few minutes. I’m almost done here.” Cameron lifted her camera. Through the lens she saw that Eve was pensive. Shiny tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. Finally she was getting some real emotion. Cameron shot as fast as she could, but Eve wouldn’t sit still.
“Are you all right?” Allie asked, taking a few steps closer.
“Please don’t move. This is such a great shot. Allie, can you back up? You’re in the frame.”
Eve twisted around and placed both of her hands on one arm of the bench. “I’m leaving,” she said. “I’ve had enough of this.”
“Wait,” Cameron cried.
“Careful.” Allie hurried over. “Let me help you.”
“I don’t need your help.” Eve was half standing when she jerked away from Allie and lost her balance. Reaching out to steady herself, her f
ingertips grazed the arm of the bench. Letting out a surprised, “Oh,” she tumbled to the ground.
Allie rushed forward, asking, “Are you okay?”
Eve moaned softly.
“Do you want me to get a nurse?” Cameron crouched down and placed her hand on Eve’s shoulder, which felt surprisingly thin and bony. “I’ll call for help.”
“Please don’t,” said Eve. “I’m just surprised. Allie, if you could help me up.”
Allie put her arm around Eve and helped her stand as Cameron watched helplessly. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.”
“I’m fine.” Eve smoothed out the wrinkles in her pants. “Please stop making a fuss.”
“What’s going on here?” someone shouted from down the hill.
Cameron turned around and saw that a tall, dark-haired woman was rushing toward them. “Who’s that?” she asked.
Allie cringed. “It’s Nancy, the volunteer coordinator.”
When she got closer, Allie tried to explain. “Eve fell off the bench, but she’s okay now.”
Nancy put her arm around Eve, protectively, as if Allie and Cameron would harm her. “No one is allowed to photograph our residents without getting the proper approval, and Allie, you certainly can’t bring strangers here.”
“Um, I’m sorry, Nancy. This is my sister, Cameron. Yesterday I asked Eve if she’d pose for her, and she said yes.”
“There are channels you must go through. Asking Eve isn’t enough. You’re going to have to leave the grounds now.” Nancy pointed toward the exit gates. “Please hurry, or I’ll call security.”
“I’m going,” said Cameron, holding up her hands and backing away. She’d no idea why this woman was so worked up. “I’m really sorry. Allie, I’ll meet you out front at six o’clock, okay?”
Nancy had begun to wheel Eve away, but stopped and turned around. “Allie, you can go now, too.”
“But my shift starts in a half an hour,” Allie said.
“Not today it doesn’t.”
Allie couldn’t believe this was happening. “But I still have another two weeks of volunteer work.”
“I’m not so sure about that. What you’ve done is a blatant violation of our rules. Even worse, it was dangerous and irresponsible. Eve could have been seriously injured.”
“I’m fine,” Eve said, but Nancy was too upset to hear her.
As Nancy whisked Eve away, Allie called after them. “But I didn’t know about the rules. I’m really sorry.”
Nancy didn’t answer, and soon they disappeared around the corner.
“What’s her problem?” asked Cameron as she put her camera way.
“Shut up, Cameron,” Allie replied, pushing past her and heading toward the parking lot.
Cameron didn’t get it. Obviously Eve was okay. She’d said so herself. So why was Allie so upset?
What was it with everyone these days, making a big deal out of such small things?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I heard about this one guy who went to Mexico for a nose job because it’s cheaper there, and after they took off the bandages, his entire nose collapsed. There was nothing left, and his bone was coming out of the skin. Like Michael Jackson, but worse,” Quincy said. She dipped another tortilla chip into the guacamole. “This is so good, Allie. Did you make it?”
“My mom did.”
“No respectable surgeon would ever take out that much bone and cartilage,” Carly replied.
“I never said the doctor was respectable,” said Quincy. “It happened in Mexico.”
“Well, you can’t compare anyone to Michael Jackson. The guy has had so much surgery his face is more plastic than flesh and bone. His existence gives a bad name to the entire profession.”
“Of course you’d say that,” said Quincy. “Your dad’s a plastic surgeon.”
“He’s a cosmetic surgeon, not a plastic surgeon. And he’s the best.” Carly batted her eyes. “I’m living proof.”
Allie’s friends laughed and she tried to join in, but she couldn’t figure out what was so funny. In fact, she had begun to regret inviting them to sleep over in the first place. How could Carly joke about her surgery in front of Allie, who knew there was so much more to the story?
Carly had a Chinese dad and a Norwegian mom. With her shiny dark hair, blue eyes, and narrow nose, Carly looked like both of them. But her almond-shaped, “Asian” eyes had always bothered her. She’d wanted more of a crease, so her dad had double-lidded her eyelids over Christmas vacation.
Before the surgery, Carly had complained that she didn’t fit in with her Norwegian cousins or her Chinese ones. Part of it was because she lived in LA and didn’t speak Norwegian or Chinese, but she was convinced it had more to do with how she looked. Carly said she felt out of place everywhere, and she hoped the surgery would help with the issue. She’d once cried over it to Allie, so it surprised Allie that Carly could talk about it so casually now, treating the surgery as if it had been nothing more significant than a trip to her hairdresser.
Of course, that was old news. Maybe Allie was taking it all too seriously. She had started to realize that at Bel Air Prep, the nose job after freshman year was practically a rite of passage. It was almost as commonplace as the new car at sixteen and the graduation trip to Europe at eighteen.
Other than Carly, Larkin was Allie’s first friend to go under the knife. Her entire family had cancelled their vacation to their Hawaiian time-share so she could fit into Dr. Hsu’s schedule. Even for one of his daughter’s closest friends, he was that busy.
“You’re sure she’s coming?” asked Quincy.
“There’s no reason she shouldn’t.” said Carly. “My dad took the splint off yesterday. He said she looks great.”
“I talked to her this morning,” said Allie. “She’s been in bed for three days straight and will do anything to finally get out of her house.”
“I just can’t wait to see it. I’m gonna freak,” said Quincy.
Allie felt a nervous fluttering in her stomach. Quincy’s interest in plastic surgery bordered on obsessive. Even now, Quincy was glued to her laptop, looking at awfulplasticsurgery.com, a website devoted to celebrity plastic surgery.
“Check out this picture of Jessica Simpson,” said Quincy. “Her lips are all lopsided, like she had a bad reaction to a collagen injection.”
“I saw her at the Ivy last month and she’s not that pretty in real life,” said Carly.
“That’s because those pictures in magazines are totally fake,” Allie said. “The only reason all those models and actors look so perfect is because of the airbrushing and Photoshop. Sometimes they even use other people’s bodies.”
No one even looked up from the computer screen. Allie couldn’t tell if it was because she was stating the obvious, or because her friends didn’t believe her. It was the truth, though. Cameron wouldn’t lie, especially not about something as important to her as photography spreads.
“So did Jessica Simpson go to your dad?” asked Quincy.
Carly shot Quincy a dirty look. “Not for her collagen,” she said.
“What about Paris Hilton?”
“Look, I don’t even know. My dad won’t tell me these things. But I heard she has her work done in New York.”
“Allie, is your mom freaking out about that MTV thing?” asked Quincy. “It must be so weird for her.”
“She’s got a good sense of humor about it,” said Allie. “I think it bothers me more than it does her. It’s just really strange to think about. That woman sold her car and spent her life savings so she could afford to look like my mom. And it’s not like my mom is some supersuccessful actress. She hasn’t worked in years.”
“Those shows give cosmetic surgery a bad name. No self-respecting doctor would allow themselves to be featured on reality television,” said Carly.
“I think I hear a car,” said Allie, relieved that she could finally change the subject.
All three of them jumped
up and ran downstairs.
As Allie opened the front door, she stifled a gasp. Larkin stood on the front step, looking nauseous and unsteady on her feet. Her nose was swollen and red, and her eyes were bloodshot, with purple puffy bags underneath.
“Are you okay?” asked Allie.
“She’s fine. She just bruises easily,” said Larkin’s mom, who stood behind her with two pillows in one hand and a backpack in the other. “Don’t touch her face,” she ordered. “Her head needs to stay elevated, and she should ice her nose in an hour, and then every two hours until you girls go to bed.”
“Mom, I know all this,” said Larkin. “You don’t have to boss around my friends, too.”
“Do you want the swelling to go down, or don’t you?” asked Mrs. West as she placed Larkin’s stuff inside the door. “And don’t make her lift anything heavy above her head.”
“What would they possibly make me lift?” asked Larkin.
“This is a bad idea. I should take you home.”
“I’ll be fine. Please just go.”
“We’ll be careful,” said Carly. “If there’s any problem, I’ll call my dad.”
“Don’t forget to ice it,” said Larkin’s mom.
“Good-bye,” Larkin said.
“And be careful,” her mom added as she headed back to her car. “That nose cost us a fortune.”
Once in the house Larkin rolled her eyes. At least it looked like she rolled her eyes. It was hard to tell because they were so squinty and red. “I get surgery and she thinks that gives her license to be a total bitch.”
“Tell me everything.” Quincy grabbed Larkin’s hand and practically pulled her upstairs. “Did it hurt? Did you hear them breaking the bone? My neighbor Justin said that when they did his nose two years ago, he could hear them sawing.”
“There’s no way,” said Carly. “Unless they used a local anesthetic, and doctors don’t like doing that when they operate on teenagers. There aren’t even saws involved. If anything, he heard them filing down the bone.”
“Ignore her,” said Quincy. “She’s been acting doctory all night.”
Before they made it to the bedroom, Allie’s sister walked by.
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