Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [55]
“You look beautiful, Tori.” Sukie was staring at her in the mirror, smiling like a proud mama sending her baby out to prom.
Tori’d been riding the circuit for more than a year by the time she would have had her senior prom. She’d never felt the loss much. Until now. Now she had to wonder what else she’d missed out on, never even realizing she was missing a thing.
“Thanks, Sukie. And thanks for being so nice about this. I thought Teresa and Tiffany were going to rip my hair out when they found out.”
“Pfft on them,” Sukie said with a toothy grin as she cracked her ever-present bubblegum. No matter what the teachers had tried, Sukie wasn’t giving up that habit. “They’re just jealous because they know they don’t have a chance at getting the professor. But you do.”
Chance? She’d had more than a chance at bedding him, that was for sure. But as for him falling in love with her? Well, Tori still found that part debatable. Not to mention disturbing, in light of this whole contest thing.
Because even if by some miracle of miracles Drew did fall in love with her, how long would he stay in love with her if he found out she’d been lying to him about this stupid competition since day one?
“You do look quite lovely,” said Miss Evelyn, who’d supervised every minute of Tori’s transformation like a Nazi general. Tori had been half-afraid the woman was going to come into the shower with her to make sure she shaved her legs right. “Thank heaven we tamed those wild brows of yours.”
Tori winced just at the memory of the plucking she’d endured earlier.
“But I do wish you’d let me go a bit heavier around the eyes,” Evelyn added with a frown.
“No, thank you,” Tori said, hiding a grimace. Goodness, if Miss Evelyn thought she needed more eye makeup, she could only imagine what Robin would have to say.
“No, she doesn’t need anything else,” Sukie said. “Tori, that gold shadow glitters just perfectly, like your dress. You don’t need any more color than the bright blue of your eyes.”
Tori gave her a grateful smile.
One of the other instructors, Suzanne, who wrote some kind of etiquette column for a northern paper, entered the room, which might as well have had a revolving door for all the privacy it held. “Very nice,” she said to Tori with an approving nod. “You do remember everything we discussed? Waiting for the valet to open the door, letting him help you out….”
“If he helps me out, he might smear up my cheat notes,” Tori said with a naughty wink at Sukie. That was pretty much how Tori had made it through geometry in tenth grade, with all those silly theorems and whatnot.
Suzanne’s eyes widened and she grabbed Tori’s hands, lifting them for inspection to ensure nothing was written on her palms.
“Just joshing,” Tori admitted, looking at her own spick-and-span clean hands.
Behind her, she heard a laugh. She’d almost forgotten Jacey was in the room, her camera stuck to her face like always. Turning around, she gave a little mock-curtsy for the TV audience. “Think I’ll do?” she asked.
“America says yes,” Jacey replied.
Her comment would most likely be edited out, but Tori appreciated the vote of confidence. Then, still feeling very saucy, she retorted, “America can kiss my fanny tonight. I’m out to have a good time.”
Jacey gave her a thumbs-up, even as Miss Evelyn and Suzanne groaned.
“There better not be any fairy princesses at this shindig. My elbows might go flying if we start doing some line dancing.”
This time, they didn’t just groan, they actually fell into one another, grimacing in horror. Meanwhile, Jacey’s eyes danced with humor and Sukie snorted with laughter.
“Wish I could be there to see it,” Jacey said.
“I’m surprised you won’t be,” Tori said, still wondering why Jacey, as lead camera operator, wasn’t the one going to the club with Drew and Tori.
Jacey shrugged. “It’s better this way.”
Then Tori realized the truth. Jacey had intentionally backed out, probably because she, Tori and Drew all realized Jacey had lost some of her objectivity toward them. Jacey probably