‘The door opened behind me. ‘Dad says—’ Charlie started then burst out laughing. ‘What happened to you?’
‘DIY beauty session,’ I wailed.
‘Christ!’
‘Is it really that bad?’
‘Worse. What do you think?’
I burst into tears. ‘What am I going to do? I can’t go into school looking like this.’
‘No. Blimey.’ Charlie stared at me. ‘When you said you wanted to stand out from the crowd, you didn’t have to go this far.’
‘Not funny.’
Dad appeared at the door and his face dropped. ‘Jess! What happened? What have you done to yourself?
I pointed at the can and beauty products that were now on my dressing table. ‘Spray tan and I think I left eyebrow tint on too long.’
Dad’s face began to crack. He glanced at Charlie who was also having a hard time not laughing.
‘Don’t! Either of you. Help me. What am I going to do?’
Dad came over and took a close look at my face. ‘Your eyes are rather swollen but . . . you can see all right, can’t you?’
‘Ish. Yes.’
‘The swelling will go down. Have you splashed cold water?’
I nodded.
‘Have you tried the shower for the . . . the er suntan?’
‘It doesn’t touch it.’
Dad looked at his watch. ‘Heavens. I have to be at my desk and you have to get to school.’
‘No way. I can’t go in like this. I can’t let anyone see me.’
‘Do you feel ill?’ asked Dad.
‘No.’
‘Then you go to school.’
‘But . . .’
‘No buts,’ said Dad. ‘Now get a move on.’
‘That’s so not fair. You don’t understand,’ I groaned but Dad had gone. So much for me thinking being selected for the modelling contest would bring me kudos. I’d be the laughing stock.
Dad reappeared. ‘Wanda Carlsen. Go and see Pia’s mum. Quick.’
At that moment the phone rang. Charlie went to answer. He came back sniggering. ‘It’s Pia. She’s got an oompa lumpa face as well.’
I grabbed the phone. ‘Can your mum help?’ I asked.
‘She says get over here right away. I am so grounded after this but she thinks she can do something.’
I grabbed my coat and a hat which I pulled way down my face and put on the biggest pair of sunglasses I could find, flew out the door and over to Pia’s. She opened the door looking almost as orange as I did. She burst out laughing when she saw me.
‘Not you too, Pia. This is so not funny.’
‘Now I’m as special as you,’ she said with a big grin. She didn’t seem as bothered as I was but then she wasn’t a contestant in a modelling competition.
Mrs Carlsen was hovering behind. ‘Come in, Jess, and get upstairs. Honestly. The pair of you should be shot. What were you thinking? Don’t you realise that spray tan needs to be applied correctly and it takes time to develop.’
‘Someone didn’t read the instructions,’ I said as I took the stairs two by two.
‘I thought you had,’ said Pia.
‘I thought you had and at least you don’t have slits for eyes.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Mrs Carlsen when we reached the bathroom. ‘What you need is exfoliator. I’ve mixed one that’ll take the top layer off. Lemon and baking soda. We haven’t got time to do you all over now so make a start on your faces and you can do the rest of you this evening when you get back from school.’
We stood over the sink and scrubbed away with the lotion she brought us. Thankfully some of the orange did seem to be coming off but not all of it, plus my face and skin were bright red and sore from the scrubbing.
After another scrub, I heard Charlie’s voice shouting through the letterbox. ‘Come on, Jess. Dad says you’ve got to come or we’ll miss our bus.’
There was nothing else for it. I had to go. I dashed home, put on my uniform, slapped on some more pale foundation which, with the black eyebrows, made me look like a kid who’d had their face painted. ‘Arghhhh.’
‘Come on, Jess,’ called Charlie.
‘Have we got a balaclava anywhere?’ I called back as I wiped the foundation off.
‘Nope. And anyway, you wouldn’t be able to wear it all day.’
I raced down the stairs where Pia was waiting with Charlie.
‘We’ll be orange and proud,’ she said as we ran for the gate and out to the bus stop.
‘Yeah right,’ I said. ‘Just as long as we don’t bump into Tom. Oh God. I want to hide under my duvet.’
‘We’ll sort it,’ said Pia. ‘We’ll have another scrub sesh tonight.’
‘Will I look normal for Saturday? It’s round three of the competition.’
‘Mum will think of something,’ she said.
Luckily we caught our bus and I got out my small mirror to see how bad I looked. My eyelids were still swollen and it looked like I’d been crying for a week. Oh God. I so wished I didn’t have to go into school. I was dreading it.
As soon as we got off the bus, I put my head down, collar up and headed inside.
‘Hey, Hall, how’s it going in the model world?’ said a male voice behind me. I knew it was Tom. Blooming Murphy’s law. I go days without seeing him and the one day I don’t want to see him, he’s the first person I bump into.
‘Great, great,’ I said as I hurried on. ‘Can’t stop. Am late, late, go to go.’
‘Too good for me now, eh?’ he asked as he ran to catch me up, pranced in front of me then stopped and whistled. ‘Wow! What happened to you?
‘Captured by aliens last night. Alert the planet that they’ve landed. Try to save yourself. Pia and I are still suffering from the radiation. Don’t come too near.’
Tom cracked up. ‘Seriously. What happened?’
‘I just told you. Aliens. They’ve taken over Pia’s brain already.’
Pia nodded. ‘Beoink a zatta goinosh,’ she said then went into what I guess she imagined was an alien walk but looked more like she’d stuck her hand in an electric socket.
Tom shook his head. ‘I always knew you were different, Hall. That’s why I like you and your strange friend.’
‘Me and a long list of girls,’ I replied. ‘I know what you’re like.’
‘Ah yes. But can I help it if I’m irresistible?’ He smiled his killer-watt smile which, I had to admit, was pretty irresistible.
‘You’re so arrogant,’ I said.
He bowed. ‘Thanks. I try to be. Oh and Hall, I hear that the last round of the modelling show is open to the public. The catwalk show. Any chance you can get me a ticket?’
‘Get your own,’ Pia piped up. ‘You only want to go because you know there’ll be loads of gorgeous girls there.’
‘Oh, so she’s got her brain back for a moment,’ said Tom. ‘And actually no, I thought I’d come along and cheer you all on.’
‘That’s if either of us gets through. Somehow, I don’t think having a face like a boiled tomato is going to be what the judges are looking for.’
‘Maybe they’re vegetarians. You might be just what they want.’
We’d reached the hall. As pupils streamed past us, a few glanced over then did a double take.
‘Aliens have landed,’ said Pia. ‘Beware of radiation. Fight for your life. Don’t look at us. It’s catching. Save yourselves.’
‘Nutters,’ said Josh Tyler as he joined Tom and pulled him into assembly.
I trooped in after them. By now, loads of people were staring and pointing. It was going to be a crap day.
After school, it was straight back to Pia’s for another go with the lemon and baking soda. It took a little more of the colour off and Mrs Carlsen also had some tint remover which brought my eyebrows back to a more normal colour. When I was ready to go, she gave me a bottle of her exfoliator. ‘Twice a day for the next week,’ she said. ‘You should be OK, maybe glowing a little on Saturday but you won�
�t look like you’ve overdone it too much.’
I thanked her and headed for home where I found Charlie at the breakfast bar eating one of his enormous peanut butter sandwiches.
‘Mff,’ he said through a mouthful.
I nodded back. ‘Mff.’
I made myself a jam and peanut sandwich and sat down to join him. I was starving. I’d had no lunch because I didn’t want to go in the dining room and be stared at. Instead, Pia and I had gone to the library and hidden. She’d also got fed up with the attention by midday as even the teachers had been having a laugh at our expense.
‘Sheila had to go early. She’s left some lasagna.’
‘Mff,’ I said.
We continued eating in silence for a while. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation.
‘You look better,’ Charlie said when he’d finished. ‘And the swelling on your eyes has gone down.’
I nodded. Charlie got up, started to go towards the stairs then came back and stood looking at his feet. ‘Er . . .’
‘What?’
He turned to go again. ‘Nothing.’ He turned back.
‘What?’
‘Flo.’
‘What about her?’
‘Er . . . do you think she still likes me?’
‘Like like or like like?’
‘Like like.’
‘Why are you interested all of a sudden?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘Dunno.’
I wasn’t going to tell him that she’d been interested since she was about nine. She had a photo of him by her pillow. She regularly looked at his Facebook, read all his lyrics, listened to any new song he posted on there in the hope that one day he might write a song about her.
‘Well, something must have changed. Up until now, you ran a mile if she as much as looked at you. Is it because she’s got someone else now?’
‘No. Yes. OK. Truth. I was watching her the other day when we were doing your modelling shots and it was like . . . like I saw her for the first time and saw . . .’
‘How lovely she is.’
Charlie hesitated for a few moments. ‘Yes. She is. Sweet too. Is it too late?’
‘Probably. She’s pretty thick with Alexei.’
Charlie sighed heavily. ‘And I guess I could never compete with someone like that.’
‘What do you mean? Someone like that?’
He pointed up at the ceiling. ‘Someone who lives upstairs and is loaded. Even as a bloke, I can see he’s good-looking. He’s got it all, yeah?’
‘I guess, but you’re good-looking and talented. Maybe not rich but you’ve got a lot going for you, I can see that even if you are my brother.’ I knew exactly what he was saying though. It was how I felt about JJ. Was he, and always would be, in a different league to me? All I knew was that I had to be cool with him. He’d sent me texts every other day with bits of news but I’d only replied to one as I was hoping I could keep him interested by not being so available. Charlie looked so dejected, I had to say something. What would Mum say? I asked myself.
‘Go for it, Chaz,’ I said. ‘If you like Flo, tell her. Sometimes you have to fight for what you want. Don’t give in before it’s even started. Only Flo knows what she feels for you and what she feels for Alexei. I know what Mum would say. She’d say that if a person is the right one, then it doesn’t matter what their background is or how rich or poor they are and if it does matter to them, then they’re not worth knowing.’
Charlie smiled sadly. ‘She would have said that, wouldn’t she?’
I nodded. ‘Hey, do you think Dad ever feels like this? You know, us and them? All day he has to run around serving the residents’ every need. We’ve both seen it. Some of them are so polite and lovely but I’ve seen some of them order him around like he’s one of their servants.’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never asked him.’
‘I wonder if he fancies any of the residents and thinks, no way am I in with a chance?’
‘It’s different for him. He’s general manager. He couldn’t get involved with any of the residents because of his position, even if he wanted to.’
‘I thought he and Tanisha would make a nice couple but she’s got a boyfriend.’
Charlie smiled. ‘Matchmaker. Actually, I wondered if he might like Pia’s mum.’
‘Me too! For about a nanosecond. She’s way too bossy for him. She’s already telling him how to the run the place and driving him mad. Pia told me.’
‘I wonder if he’d like a girlfriend.’
‘Probably hasn’t got time.’
After Charlie had gone up to play his music, I had a good think about what we’d talked about. Were Dad, Charlie and I to be cursed with a lack of self-worth just because we lived in Porchester Park and weren’t as rich as the residents? I never felt like this before I moved here, that was for sure. Was it a case of us and them as far as relationships went? And we should stick to people more like us? It didn’t seem to bother Flo or at least she hadn’t talked about it. I made a resolution to ask her about Alexei next time I got her alone. My thoughts drifted back to Tom. He’d been flirty today even when I was looking my worst, and as always, there was a spark between us that I couldn’t deny. Was that because I felt more of an equal with him? I mustn’t think about him, I told myself. Tom’s a player. JJ’s the type who wouldn’t mess me around but then if I did go out with him, would time reveal that he lives in another world to me, a world I could never be a part of?
Go for it. I heard Mum’s voice in my head saying similar words to the ones I’d just spoken to Charlie. Tell him how you feel. Don’t be afraid of being rejected. The right one will like you, love you, just the way you are. Don’t be afraid or give in to self-doubt.
So that I didn’t get into worrying about it all again, I decided to put on a CD to drown out my thoughts. One of Mum’s old favourites was already in the player. Elton John. ‘Don’t go changing, trying to please me, I love you just the way you are.’
Spooky, I thought as I put the lasagna in the microwave to heat up.
15
Round Three
‘I see I wasn’t the only one who’s been beautifying up,’ I said to Flo as we filtered into the building where round three of the modelling competition was to take place.
She looked at the other girls. ‘I guess everyone wants to win,’ she observed.
It felt strange to be there with a smaller number of us plus a couple of parents or elder sisters hanging around. A few girls had had spray tans although it looked like they’d had it done professionally. I was the only one who had gone for the streaky bacon look. Most girls were wearing skintight clothes, jeans and little T-shirts to show off their figures. Flo and I had come bundled up in scarves and jackets because although it was March, the weather still felt wintery. One girl had had her hair cut, another straightened, even Flo’d had eyelashes extensions. I thought they look odd on her, like big spiders stuck on her eyes. Keira arrived just after us. She looked striking, all in black as usual, the only colour was a gash of bright red lipstick. She glanced over, then, as everyone had this last week, did a double take. I took a sharp intake of breath to prepare myself for some nasty comment as she came over.
‘Spray tan disaster?’ she asked.
I nodded.
‘I did the same thing once. Poor you. Bad timing with the competition and all.’
‘Er . . . yeah.’
‘Have you tried exfoliator? Anything with lemon in, it acts as bleach.’
‘Yes and baking soda.’ What was going on? I wondered. Keira offering me advice?
‘So how’s it going?’ she said, cosying in for a friendly chat.
‘Er . . . good, well actually not so good I guess, being orange and all.’
Keira pulled me to one side. ‘It’ll fade. Look, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I’d . . . I’d been feeling depressed, the move back to the UK really got to me and I took it out on you. I’m sorry I dissed you. Can we start again? No hard feelings? Turn the page?
Move on?’
‘I . . . yes of course,’ I said, although I wasn’t sure and a warning bell rang inside. I’d been hurt by what she’d said and how she’d acted but then she had apologised and didn’t everyone deserve a second chance? It would be mean of me to shut her out.
Keira squeezed my arm. ‘Great,’ she said. ‘So. Ready for today?’
‘Ish.’
‘Well, good luck and . . . I mean that.’
‘You too,’ I replied.
The rest of the day was like living out a fantasy. We were each given our own make-up artist to get us ready for our head shots. Mine was a petite blonde girl called Chloe. She didn’t look much older than me.
‘A miracle,’ I said after she’d applied skin colour so perfect that by the time she’d finished, I looked sun-kissed and healthy as opposed to a freak.
‘We can disguise most anything,’ she said. ‘At college, we did film make-up and I can make anyone look like a model or a monster.’
‘Model today, please,’ I said. ‘I’ve done the monster look.’
Suzie passed around the room watching what was happening. ‘Keep it natural, guys,’ she said. ‘Next week we’ll up the glamour for the catwalk, today we want casual so no heavy make-up.’
I closed my eyes and left Chloe to it. It felt like she was putting loads on as she brushed, rubbed and stroked but when I opened my eyes, it was fab. I had my Sunday best look at last.
After make-up, it was time for the shots. Each of us had to wait our turn to be taken into the room where the photographer had set up. Keira was called first. As I sat waiting with Flo, it gave us a good chance to look at the other girls in the competition.
Flo glanced at a tall, willowy girl with Titian red long hair. ‘She’s my favourite to win,’ she said. ‘She looks like a Pre-Raphaelite princess. Who do you think will win?’
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