Evan and Grif are already out in the side yard playing. We grab a few of my siblings, and after ten minutes, my mind is no longer fixated on Megan or the internship. It isn’t until I see her crossing the street and going back to her house that I begin to stew again. She’s just launched the first canon in our current battle. Game on, Megan. Prepare for war.
Chapter Five
Megan
“You’re having Mr. Moore give you a recommendation?” Connie asks as I pack up my car to head back down to my apartment. She’s stopped by to pick up something and she’s now staring at me like I have two heads.
“Uh, yeah. He works there.”
“But you and Clark are like…mortal enemies.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not mortal enemies with all of the Moores. Just Clark.”
“OK. Whatever. Good luck with that,” she says as she gets in her car. I sigh and finish stuffing a bag of things I’d forgotten into my trunk.
I spend the entire drive back to the sorority house contemplating how I’ll gloat when I get an internship and Clark doesn’t. I know it’s not right to think like that, but I so want to win at this.
I’m loading my things into my room when Stella pokes her head inside my door. “Hey, you made it back. Want to go out tonight?”
“I…” I look around because I need an excuse, any excuse. I glance at my computer. I could work ahead in a few of my classes.
Stella pushes the door farther open and walks to my bed, sitting down and looking around. “Meg, come on. It’s your last semester. We’ve been over this. Don’t you want to be able to say you had a well-rounded college experience? One party per semester is…well, your social life is seriously lacking. I don’t want to sound mean, but you did join a sorority. We are literally a ‘social club.’”
I hate when Stella makes sense, which happens way more than I expect. “Fine,” I mutter. “I’ll go out. But don’t expect this to be a thing. I really do need to study hard, especially if I get that internship. I’m gonna need my weekends to catch up on reading.”
Stella grins like she always does when she talks me into doing something outside my comfort zone. “Can I give you a makeover?” she asks, clapping her hands with excitement.
I bury my head in my hands. Stella’s a good friend, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m a shitty friend to her. I peek out from between my fingers and nod.
She squeals in delight. “Hold on, I’ll go grab my things.” She runs out of the room like if she doesn’t hurry, I might change my mind.
Sighing, I resign myself to an evening of primping. It’s already eight, which means this is gonna be one of those late nights, which is so not my thing. But I should try to hang out with Stella someplace other than our favorite coffee shop or the sorority house.
Stella’s back within seconds and she’s carrying what looks like a suitcase of makeup and hair products.
“Sit,” she instructs, motioning to my desk chair. I sit down as Stella begins slathering makeup on my face and doing God knows what to my hair.
“You’re so beautiful, Megan. I just don’t get why you don’t wear a little makeup and do your hair in anything other than a ponytail. And if you just wore a cute dress once in a while, you’d have guys flocking to sit by you.”
I roll my eyes because I don’t have the heart to say the words in my head out loud. After the kissing incident in junior high, I tried to reinvent myself in high school. I did wear makeup and do my hair and all of that. Then, sophomore year, I was at an after-party for the musical. Parties were never my thing, but as the lead, I felt obligated to go. This cute senior who everyone liked started flirting with me. He also happened to be Jimmy’s older brother. I was hesitant but he was so popular. I tried to steer our conversation away from his unwanted advances. At some point that night, he cornered me and started trying to get into my underwear which was made easy by the dress. I kept saying that I wasn’t ready to take it that far, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I managed to knee him in the nuts and hurried out of the house as fast as I could. A nice girl who I had science with saw me and asked if I was alright. I lied and said I was coming down with a stomach virus and had to leave and to let the hostess know I was sorry. I ran all the way home and vowed never to conform to society’s standards of beauty again. After that, I only wore shorts and pants and on the rare occasion a long skirt. I also stopped doing my hair, opting for a ponytail instead. And my makeup was only lip gloss. I’ve never told anyone about it ever. People just thought I stopped caring about my looks. Boys stopped paying attention to me and I was alright with that. I threw myself into studying and graduated at the top of my class. And now, I want to do it again.
Stella’s rattling on about some guy she hopes is at the bar tonight. Mac’s is the local hangout. They have a dance floor and decent food. At the very least, I’ll get a burger out of it.
“OK, all done,” she finally says as she gives my hair one last fluff.
I spin around and stand to see in the mirror over my dresser. I blink because I’m pretty sure whoever that is cannot be me. I take three steps across my room and lean my hands on the dresser as I examine myself.
“What do you think?” she asks.
“I think you’re a goddamn miracle worker,” I state as I examine her work.
Stella giggles and steps up next to me. “You’re beautiful, Megan. Truly, you are. And no matter if you wear your hair in a ponytail and never put on makeup or if you look like this, you can’t hide your true beauty. I don’t know what happened to make you shut out the fun and the boys, but I’m here if you ever want to talk about it.”
I feel my eyes glaze over and I turn so she won’t see it. “Thanks, Stella. I know I can be…challenging, but…you’re a good friend.” Blinking away my momentary sadness, I spin back around and grin at her. “You’re right. I should enjoy myself more than I do, but I also need to keep my eyes on the prize.”
Stella puts her hands on her hips. “What’s the prize? That internship that you’ve been talking about?”
I nod.
“I mean, I know you want to work at NASA and all, but you do realize there are other ways to get a job there.”
Sighing I run a finger over the pink dress she’s laid out on my bed. “I know. This is going to sound stupid, but ever since I heard about that internship, I’ve been fixated on getting it. Maybe because I want to show everyone that I’m the best of the best. Or maybe I’m proving something to myself. Shit, I don’t know.” I look up at her and she’s staring intently at me. “Enough of this sappy crap. Let’s get dressed before I second-guess the whole thing.”
Stella points a finger at me. “You better not. Give me thirty minutes.” She runs out of the room with a handful of her makeup and hair supplies.
I change into the dress and shoes she’s left for me. I’m almost afraid to look at the final result. Glancing in the mirror again, I gasp. Connie would never believe it was me. Flashes of the young woman I was becoming before I decided to change come back to me. For long seconds I stare at myself, wondering if I’ve been wrong this whole time. Have I wasted my college experience on study sessions and office hours?