by Donna Cooner
“Hey, Beauty Stars! Long time no chitchat, right? But today I have a special treat for you featuring my new friends Blair and Mia.” I swivel the camera around. “Say hello, ladies.”
“Hey.” Blair waves at the camera and smiles.
Mia giggles a little and raises a hand in salute. “Hi,” she sniffs.
I can’t wait for Zoe to see this video. To see my new popular friends here in Texas. I remember Zoe’s sobs on the phone and my stomach tightens. Then I try to push her from my thoughts.
“So tonight we’re doing a haunting, yet joyful look for Day of the Dead.” I narrate from the back side of the camera. “Think of it as sort of high-couture Goth.”
“Perfect for those fall costume parties,” Blair says, and Mia snorts beside her, then giggles nervously.
Great. This is going to take forever.
“Let’s start with Blair,” I say, picking up the jar and putting it directly in front of the camera lens so viewers can see the brand. Because I’m not working on my own face, I can easily describe each step of the process while I actually do it.
The white stage makeup goes on thick and I smooth it out in quick strokes, blending it into Blair’s temples. Then I move on to Mia. I talk while I work, and soon both girls’ faces are covered with the white foundation.
“Contour your cheekbones with some of the dark gray eye shadow,” I continue, leaning over Blair. I’m in the zone. Everything is coming back to me and I feel myself relaxing. “Draw around your eyes with black liner and then color in the circle. Do the same thing on the other side.”
Blair’s and Mia’s faces start to transform into the stuff of my nightmares, with dark black eye sockets and gaunt cheeks. But this time I’m in control of what’s happening. My fingers tingle. “I know this looks pretty gruesome right now, but just wait. All the real fun is just beginning.”
I move back and forth from Mia to Blair, repeating each step a second time and keeping the process the same on each girl. I’ll probably cut some of this, but I know more footage is better than not enough. Mia sneezes a few times — I’ll have to edit those out — but Blair sits perfectly still, like she is afraid any movement might mess me up.
“Now start decorating your face. Draw bright-colored flowers around your eyes and maybe an upside-down heart as a teardrop from one eye.” I fill in the petals on Mia’s cheekbone with red sparkling liner and draw green, leafy vines across her forehead. “Add a deep wine color for your lips and draw in some black lines for the stitching on your mouth.”
I pull away from my creations. They look better than I ever expected. “Voilà. A perfect look to wear to any costume party.”
And that’s it. My vlog. As it always was. As if nothing has happened in the intervening months.
But what about Miranda? Shouldn’t you say something?
But I don’t. Instead we do one final shot of the three of us, me in the middle flanked by Mia and Blair in complete sugar-skull makeup. We all look into the camera and shout, “Happy Halloween!”
I push the STOP button on the camera, and Mia and Blair almost knock me over to get to the full-length mirror on the back of my closet door.
“This is amazing,” Blair keeps saying.
“I wonder how many views we’ll get,” Mia says.
“Let’s watch it now,” Blair says.
“It’s going to take a lot of editing,” I say, storing the camera and tripod away in the corner. “Besides, we don’t have time right now. Raylene’s expecting us across the street.”
Mia’s painted lips dip down into an exaggerated frown. “We’re all dressed up and going to that lame party. We need to go somewhere cool and spooky.”
“Like a cemetery,” Blair says.
“Or a mortuary,” Mia says.
“Ohhhhh. Yeah. That’d be so cool for your background shots,” Blair tells me, her eyes shining. “Way better than some stupid party.”
“Raylene’s party isn’t going to be stupid.” I surprise myself by saying it out loud, but I’m not sorry.
“I’ve never been to a mortuary before,” Mia says. “Did you go there with Luis, Blair?”
I’m tense, waiting for her answer.
Blair picks up my brush off the dresser and combs through her hair, still fascinated by her face in the mirror. “I avoided it like the plague. It wasn’t easy since Luis was over there all the time,” she says, then looks at me. “But you’ve been there, right?”
It’s like a trick question.
“Once. Just to pick up some stuff for my sister’s service.” I don’t know why I lie, but then I have to make it even worse. “I heard there was this secret way to get in after hours. You know, when no one else is there.”
“That would be so cool,” Mia says. “You absolutely have to show us, Torrey.” Suddenly she’s being sweet to me.
“I will. I will,” I promise, with absolutely no intention of ever following through. “But right now, we have a party to go to.”
With all the time it took to finish their faces, there’s no time left for me to do anything to my own face but a quick smoky eye look and some pink lip gloss. I finally get Blair and Mia to stop staring in the mirror, but pulling them away is like pulling teeth. I know it’s only the idea of showing off that finally gets them across the street.
Mom and Dad are at the door when we leave, giving out candy to a ballerina, a ghost, and some kind of dragon-looking thing.
“You should take a jacket,” Mom tells me, after she and Dad ooh and aah over Blair’s and Mia’s makeup. “There’s supposed to be a storm later when the northern blows through.”
I’m surprised she is thinking ahead. It’s a good sign. “I’m just across the street. I’ll come back and get one later if I need it.”
Halfway across the street, I glance back to see my parents standing in the open door. My dad puts his arm around my mom and she leans into him, holding a plastic pumpkin full of tiny bags of Skittles out for the next round of trick-or-treaters. They almost look happy.
Sounds of music and laughter pour out of Raylene’s house. Mia and Blair stand on the porch with their arms around each other’s shoulders, giggling in anticipation of the reaction on the other side of the door. I take a deep breath and ring the bell.
“I’ll get it,” someone inside yells, and the door is thrown open. Ross stands there wearing a baseball hat that reads I’d Rather Be Bowhunting. Evidently this is his costume. His thick log of an arm is thrown casually over Raylene’s shoulders and the top of her cat ears only comes to his chest. Interesting couple. If they are, in fact, a couple.
“Welcome,” Ross says in his heavy Texas drawl. He makes a grand gesture with one sweeping arm to usher us into the living room. “Nice face paint,” he says to Blair and Mia.
“Thanks!” they giggle, preening.
Raylene squeals appreciatively over the makeup. I can tell Blair is pleased. She moves past me and the crowd parts in awe. It’s quite the entrance. Everyone is watching us, and it feels good. Like it used to feel when I had tons of page views and “likes” on one post.
In the corner, I spot Luis laughing with Denise Patton, a Goth from our English class who is ironically dressed like a princess. He doesn’t seem to see me yet. A fresh wave of confusion rolls through me. He looks so handsome. He’s not in a costume, he’s just wearing a crisp white cotton shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and tucked into his jeans. All I can think of is that kiss we shared, and I’m instantly nervous. I can’t avoid him forever.
“Photo op!” Blair squeals, and she pulls Mia in for a hug while she snaps pictures of the two of them with her phone at arm’s length. I feel a twinge of jealousy, even though they are my own creation.
Blair has to stop taking pictures, though, because Mia starts sneezing. Her eyes are watery and red. I warn her not to rub them, since that will smudge the makeup. Then I hide my smile, wondering where Stu is lurking.
I dodge a couple of plastic spiders hanging from the ceiling a
nd scan the room. There must be more than thirty kids crowded into Raylene’s small living room. It’s a weird mix — probably because of Raylene’s frantic invitation system. There are some band geeks in one corner and a small huddle of nervous-looking freshmen hanging out over by the food. Some kids went all out on the costumes. Others, not so much. I recognize a couple of vampires and a zombie nurse, but I have no idea about the identity of the Incredible Hulk.
Next to Ross, Raylene is the highest in social rank at this party, and that’s not saying much. It doesn’t look like Blair Cunningham’s kind of party.
Blair must reach the same conclusion because she turns to me and announces, “We’re only going to stay for a few minutes. Then we’re going to some other party across town that actually starts at a normal time.” She looks around the room while she’s talking. This is the first I’ve heard of another party.
“Hey,” I hear Ross say to Raylene. “I think it’s a great party.” He gives her a fist bump, then ambles over to the food table.
Raylene is beaming.
I turn to her, lowering my voice. “Are you …?” I ask, nodding my head toward Ross.
Raylene shrugs.
“I guess stranger things have happened,” I say.
She grins and hands me a cupcake with a black plastic spider on top. “Can you get some more ice from the kitchen? There’s a pitcher on the top of the fridge.”
“Sure,” I say, and then she’s halfway across the room and headed back toward Ross.
“God. I think they are actually together.” Blair is suddenly by my side, watching Ross and Raylene. The sneer on her face just makes me mad.
These are the people I want as friends? What does that say about me?
“I think they make a cute couple,” I say, and don’t care that she huffs back at me in response. It feels good to disagree with Blair. For once. “I have to get some ice.”
I put the uneaten cupcake on the table and head down the hall toward the kitchen, leaving Blair staring after me in shock. I hear Mia sneezing and sneezing behind me.
Stu sits in the middle of the hallway, completely unfazed by all the noise.
“Hey, buddy,” I say to him. He just blinks up at me. “You’re doing a great job with all that fur. For your prize, I promise to keep you supplied with Mr. Purrfect and take your blingy purple harness off every time I can.” I lean down to scratch him under his chin and he raises his head, eyes closing to happy slits. “I even promise that, every once in a blue moon, you can come over on Saturday mornings and cuddle.”
In the kitchen, I have to stand on my tiptoes to get the plastic pitcher off the top of the fridge. The bag of ice is completely frozen into one huge chunk, so I lug it over to the sink and open a drawer to look for something to break it up into smaller pieces.
“Good job on the skull makeup. I can tell you’ve been doing some Día de los Muertos research. Very impressive,” Luis says, coming into the kitchen behind me. I turn to look at him and blood rushes into my cheeks.
“I didn’t think you saw us come in,” I say, feeling awkward.
“I saw you,” Luis says, watching me steadily.
I say something. He says something back. I have no idea what.
“You seem nervous,” Luis says, stepping closer to me. “And you’ve been avoiding me all week.”
I don’t deny it. I can’t. I swallow the pulse back down into my throat. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” he says, his dark eyes softening. “I didn’t mean to upset you the other day.”
“You’re not upsetting me.” I lean in toward him like he’s a magnet. Then I say way more than I intend to. “I’m just confused.”
Luis smiles. “You know what the cure for that is?”
I shake my head.
“Dancing.” With one smooth move, he takes my hand and lifts my arm high above my head. Before I can say a word, he twirls me around right there in the middle of the kitchen.
“This may be hard for you to believe — as big as I am — but I’m an excellent dancer,” he says, looking down at me with a mischievous smile. Suddenly, he spins me out across the kitchen and then rolls me back up tight against his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on to keep from landing in a heap on the floor. The kitchen isn’t the best place for dancing, but I can’t help but laugh.
“I believe you,” I say, looking up into his smiling face. Suddenly I realize I’m not jittery anymore and that I really, really like Luis Rivera.
“If you guys want to dance, you should move into the living room. Lots more room out there.” Ross stands in the kitchen doorway with a big grin on his face, Raylene by his side. I feel the heat rise into my face again, but Luis doesn’t pull his arms away.
“We’re coming. Just give us a second,” Luis says, still looking at me, not at Ross. I should care that we’ve been seen together, but at this moment I don’t.
“Come on,” Raylene says, laughing and pulling Ross back toward the rest of the crowd. “Leave them alone.”
We’re by ourselves in the kitchen again, but I know someone else could come in at any moment. I hear Mia’s high-pitched laughter from the other room and someone turns up the music even louder. I look up at Luis, and see he is watching my reaction closely. He runs his fingers lightly through my hair. Then he kisses me. And I melt into mush.
When he finally pulls away, I feel breathless. His eyes look darker than ever. He slides his hands down my arms until his fingers find mine, intertwining. I want to stay here like this, leaning into him, for the whole night or, better yet, walk into the living room holding his hand proudly for everyone to see. But I can’t do that.
“Don’t you want people to like you?” I ask, because I realize it’s really important to me that people do. Especially Blair and her group.
Luis gives half a laugh, pulling away and looking down at me. “Why does it matter?”
Because I don’t want to have to choose.
I know I’m being silly, but it does matter. If they were all friends once, they could be again. “Couldn’t you just talk to them? Try to make things better?”
“Some people thought it wasn’t the right decision to leave the team without a quarterback, but it was my decision to make.” He shrugs. “Why do you care so much?”
He won’t even try to fix things? How am I supposed to be with him? I look away. When I look back, his eyes seem colder. Changed.
“You don’t have to be so different from everyone else,” I tell him, trying to make him understand. “It’s like you don’t even care what people think.”
“I care what some people think.” Luis takes a step back from me, dropping my hands. “Just not everyone.”
He looks a little sad now, but I don’t stop. “You act like you’re so deep and important,” I say, because I’m angry. Not because it’s true.
“I am someone important.” His voice is low. I squeeze by him, but he reaches out for my elbow and then leans in close to add softly, “And so are you. Even without the cameras and the makeup.”
I shake his hand off my arm and walk out of the kitchen.
The party is even more crowded. I hurry over toward the food table and self-consciously pour a cup of punch. It is some kind of tropical Kool-Aid concoction that tastes horrible. I sit it down on the table after only one sip.
“So you and Luis, huh?” Raylene is suddenly beside me. She smushes her two index fingers together and makes kissy noises. “I knew it!”
“It’s nothing,” I say, still upset from what just happened in the kitchen. I wonder where Luis is now, but I don’t want to look behind me.
“So …” As usual, she’s not easy to get rid of. “Does Blair know about this?”
“There’s nothing to know about.”
She makes a huffy-puffy sound. “Honestly, Torrey, you don’t have to be so mean.”
I feel a twinge of guilt. I hear Miranda’s voice in my head. Queen of mean. “I’m sorry,” I tell Raylene. “Oh God,
and I forgot the ice.”
But before I can brave the kitchen and the possibility of seeing Luis again, Blair and Mia appear.
“Let’s go,” Blair says, rolling her eyes. “We’re done with this party.”
“Want to come with?” Mia asks. I can’t believe I actually heard her right.
“Remember how you said you knew how to get into the funeral home?” Blair says.
I nod, worried for what is going to come next.
“You’re going to let us in. That’s where we need to film the background shots.”
My hands suddenly feel clammy. I can’t do that to Luis.
“What about that other party?” I ask Blair. “Aren’t you going?”
“I just made that up to get out of here,” she whispers with a wicked grin. “Let’s go to the funeral home!”
“Whooooooo!” Mia makes an exaggerated ghost noise, her hands waving wildly in the air, and sneezes. She looks around suspiciously, but still misses Stu sitting calmly under the coffee table.
“Maybe we shouldn’t …” I start to say, but I don’t have a chance to continue because Luis is now walking up to me. My whole body freezes. I’m more afraid he’s going to put his arm around my waist or something in front of Blair than I am about breaking into the funeral home.
But Luis doesn’t touch me. He only nods at me and says, “Hey.”
I don’t answer.
“You coming, Torrey?” Blair asks, ignoring Luis.
I take a step away from him and cross my arms. He looks puzzled for a second, then gives a slight frown of understanding. That tiny change of expression cuts into my heart.
I have a choice to make. Leave with Blair or stay with Luis.
It’s like a line drawn in the sand.
“I love making friends all over the world.” —Torrey Grey, Beautystarz15
The Rivera Funeral Home is dark and only the hearse is parked outside in the circle drive. It must be a slow night for death. Maybe the spirits are all getting ready for el Día de los Muertos celebrations around the world.
I pick up the mat and slide the key out into the porch light. It turns easily in the lock and I open the door wide. The dimly lit staircase going up into the mortuary is empty. There’s no sign of anyone, dead or alive. I guess the Rivera family is all next door — there are a few lights on in upstairs windows — or out celebrating. The thought of getting caught is scaring me almost as much as what’s inside.