Yasmin pulled a face. “Please! You’d end up looking after him. He can’t even microwave popcorn without smoking out the kitchen. He’s seriously annoying. And my parents let him get away with murder.”
Daphne looked thoughtful. “How long are your parents away?” she asked.
“Pretty much all of the Christmas holiday. They go every year. Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” asked Noor. “You’re meant to be the clever one,” she said, squeezing Yasmin playfully.
“Yas! Your parents will be in another continent on the biggest party night of the year. You should have a house party,” Daphne said.
Yasmin’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “Are you mad, bruv?! If Dad found out, he’d put me under house arrest until uni.”
I dreaded to think what would happen if I broke any of Dad’s rules. I wouldn’t see my phone for weeks. Maybe this thunderbolt temper I’d heard so much about would make an appearance, too.
“If he found out. And they won’t, if you get their golden boy Isaac to help cover it up,” Noor said.
“Plus, if Isaac and his mates are there then the party won’t get out of hand,” Daphne chipped in. “It would be so much fun! I’d much rather spend New Year’s Eve with my besties than here at home. Mum and her friends will just drink too much, sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and ask me if I’m ‘courting’.”
“I don’t know…” Yasmin said. “There are so many risks to factor in.”
“You know what, babe? We could invite Jayden Taylor, get you both some one-on-one time,” Noor said, scrunching her lips into a smooch. Just in case anyone wasn’t clear by what “one-on-one time” meant.
“You reckon he’d come?” Yasmin asked.
“He’d be mad to miss it,” Daphne said.
“Fine. I’ll speak to Isaac tomorrow and see what he says. But I’m not making any promises!” Yasmin added with a smile.
Noor and Daphne squealed.
“Helen, you’ve been quiet. Are you in?” Yasmin asked.
There was no way I could miss out on this party. Especially if they’ve all already had their first kiss and I hadn’t. From the sounds of it, I had some serious catching up to do.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“You should invite your sister!” Noor said. “I’d seriously love to meet her.”
“Half-sister,” I corrected her. “And I’ll ask, but she might be too busy. She’s always out partying or on a date.”
No way was I inviting Aphrodite to Yasmin’s house party. If my lips were going to get any action, then I had to keep potential boyfriends away from Aphrodite. Next to the goddess of beauty, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
FIVE
I came home from the sleepover to find Aphrodite in the kitchen. She was hunched over half a dozen packages, unwrapping layers of bubble wrap. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw she was wearing a dressing gown. This time.
Aphrodite turned around when she heard me come in. “Helen! Just the girl I need.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. A piece of ivory paper clung to her skin like a mask, with slits cut out for eyes and mouth. It looked like she’d papier-mâché’d her face.
“You do realize Halloween was six weeks ago?” I said.
Even through the mask, I could tell Aphrodite was giving me a dirty look. “This is not a costume. It’s the miracle ingredient of the year. My placenta extract sheet masks finally arrived! It’s quite extraordinary how far mortal cosmetics have come in the last fifty years.”
Gross! I suppressed the urge to gag.
“I’ll take your word for it. What’s all this?” I asked, looking at the packages on the kitchen table.
“My latest online purchases. The other MUA at work – that stands for ‘make-up artist’ – raved about this underground cosmetics brand. Said I had to try it, apparently. This reminds me, Helen. Can I ask a favour?”
One thing I learned soon after moving in with my family: it’s good to know what the favour is before you agree to it. I still wasn’t over having to help Dad prep his latest batch of sauerkraut. I could still smell the vinegary cabbage.
I narrowed my eyes. “Depends. What do you want?”
“Are you free tonight? I need to test my new make-up out before I use it at work.”
“A makeover?” I pulled a this-is-so-tiring face.
“Come on, what else are you going to do on a Saturday night? Unless you’ve got a hot date I don’t know about,” she said, cackling a little too hard at her own unfunny joke. Was my single status so hilarious? “I’ll buy you whatever takeaway you want.”
Then I had a brilliant idea.
“You can use me as a guinea pig whenever you want. If you’ll do me a favour,” I said.
“Well?”
“My friend Noor wants to be a make-up artist when she’s older. Is there anything you can do to help her out?”
“Is that it?”
I thought for a few seconds longer. “And I want a delivery of salt and pepper chicken wings.”
Aphrodite smirked. “Aren’t you going to ask me for a real favour? Something that befits my status.”
“Like?”
“Oh, the possibilities are endless. I could grant you everlasting clear skin or make sure you never have a bad hair day for the rest of your little life.”
A life without split ends and spots (especially the whoppers lurking under the skin, right at the tip of your nose) did sound tempting. And if anyone could do it, it’s Aphrodite. But I didn’t trust her sly smile. Or the fact that she was probably only being nice to me because she needed something.
“If you could help out Noor, I know she’d appreciate it.”
“Suit yourself. I have a stack of old kit taking up space in my attic. I’ll leave them in your room, and she can have what she likes,” Aphrodite said.
Yes! I couldn’t wait to surprise Noor on Monday.
“I’ll take off my mask and be back down in five minutes,” Aphrodite said.
Once Aphrodite peeled off her sheet mask (revealing radiant skin – nothing new there), I sat down at the kitchen table while she did her thing. She was so quick and light with her hands. I barely noticed her apply a metric tonne of her foundation, which she mixed to the perfect shade of light brown for me. It turns out she took her job seriously and wanted to be good at it. She could have left out the commentary, though.
“An organic kelp smoothie every morning would clear up those spots in no time.”
“You’re not using wipes to clean your face at night, are you?”
“It’s never too early to think about an anti-wrinkle regime.”
Finally, she finished.
“That’ll do, I suppose,” Aphrodite said.
I hopped over to the mirror to see what she’d done to my face. The reflection of a girl with my big, curly hair stared back. But the similarity ended there. My face was now an expanse of smooth skin that appeared to glow from within. Cheekbones I’d never seen before were carved out of my round face, my eyebrows extended dramatically, and my eyes took on Disney princess dimensions.