Beauty (17 page)

“New hairstyle, Hayl?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah!” Hayley gave her hair a little toss, the braids flapping against her shoulder. “I’m bringing braids back. What do you think?”

Honestly, I thought it looked like she belonged in an eighties movie, but I decided to keep that opinion to myself. “It’s … unique.”

Hayley flushed with pride. “I know. Now come on! Ashley’s waiting for you. You too, Kemp,” she added, though it sounded a little like an afterthought.

“Um …” I looked from Kemper to Karen to Hayley.

“Come on,” Hayley repeated. She tugged on my hand. “Let’s go meet Ash.”

I glanced over Hayley’s head, to where Ashley was waving me over. “All right,” I said. I looked back at Kemper and Karen. “Come with us, you guys.”

Karen hurried forward, close on my heels. “Okay!” she chirped. But Kemper waved for me to go without her.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” she said. Her eyes flickered over to the counter, where Josh was hopping onto a stool.

I gave her a knowing smile. “Go for it.”

“About time, Molly,” Ashley said as Hayley, Karen, and I reached Ashley’s table. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Hayley threaded her arm through mine. “I told you I’d bring her to you guys!” she said proudly. I gave Hayley a weird look. She hadn’t exactly
brought
me. I dropped down in the empty spot next to Ashley, which she’d clearly been saving for me. Hayley pushed her way in across from us, next to Blair.

“I didn’t realize I was late,” I said. I squeezed over to make room for Karen. “You guys know Karen, right?”

Ashley studied Karen, like she was trying to place her. “You’re a freshman, right?”

“No, I’m a sophomore too.” Karen’s hand flew to her hair, automatically pushing it out of her face. “We have English together?”

“Oh. If you say so. So, Mol, you’ve got to try this yogurt Blair got.” She grabbed Blair’s cup, pushing it over to me. “It’s seriously delish and only a hundred calories. I’m totally regretting my cone right now.”

I stared at Ashley. She was watching me expectantly, her hand still on the yogurt cup as she waited for me to taste it. It was like she’d completely forgotten Karen was there. “Karen’s the president of the Mathaholics,” I went on, ignoring the yogurt. “Did you know they won nationals last year?”

“Really?” Ashley nodded thoughtfully. “So that makes her what? Officially the dorkiest person in the nation?” Blair and Hayley burst out laughing as Karen’s face turned beet red.

“I, uh, have to go to the, uh, bathroom,” Karen stammered, jumping up.

“Karen, wait!” I grabbed her arm before she could bolt. “Ashley’s just kidding. Right, Ashley?” I gave Ashley a pointed look, and she sighed, plastering a smile across her face.

“Of course,” she said, her voice oozing with over-sincerity. “I was just kidding, Karen. Here, try the yogurt.” She held the cup in the air like a peace offering.

Karen hesitated, then took the cup, swallowing down a spoonful. “Yum,” she said. “It is good.”

“You know what?” Blair said. “You should probably get some of your own before they run out. I heard it was almost gone.”

Karen furrowed her brow, her eyes darting from Blair to Ashley to me. “Okay,” she said. “I guess I’ll get some before it’s gone. See you later, Molly?”

“Definitely,” I said, giving her a friendly smile.

“Ew,” Blair whined the second Karen was gone. “I can’t believe you let her try my yogurt, Ash. I can’t eat it with
her
germs on it. I mean, look at her.” She glanced over at Karen, who was making her way toward where her friends were huddled in the back corner of Scoop. Her hair was wild and frizzy, her skin was a little ruddy, and her shirt kept bunching up in the back as she walked. “Who
knows
who might kiss that girl? Just imagine the germs.” She grimaced, chucking her yogurt into a nearby trash can. “No thank you.”

“Poor baby.” Ashley laughed.

“Here, have mine!” Hayley shoved her own cup of yogurt at Blair. “I’m full anyway.” Blair stared at it dubiously for a second, then shrugged, scooping up a spoonful.

“You should probably go get some yogurt too, Molly,” Hayley said to me. “Before they run out.”

Ashley snickered. “They’re not actually going to run out, Hayley. Blair was just trying to get rid of president dork-o over there. Poor Molly. She was totally clinging to her.”

I opened my mouth to explain that I actually liked Karen, when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Hudson at the counter. He was by himself ordering an ice cream. “I’m going to go order,” I said hastily, standing up.

“I’ll come with you,” Hayley said eagerly.

“You don’t have to, Hayl. I can go alon—” But Hayley had already pushed her way out of the booth after me.

I tried to find a spot at the counter near Hudson, but the only place I could squeeze in was all the way at the opposite end. “Hey, Molly,” several people called out, squishing over so I could have more room. Hayley pushed in next to me, so close her hip was pressed against mine.

There was only one person working the counter—Lewis Trevain, a scrawny junior whose parents owned Scoop. “Just a warning, this is gonna take
forever
,” Hayley murmured next to me. “It took me like twenty minutes to get my yogurt.”

“Hi, Molly!” Lewis exclaimed barely two seconds later. Several people waved their hands through the air to get his attention, but he ignored them, leaning over the counter and focusing all his energy on me. “What can I get you?”

I didn’t bother to look at the menu. I’d gotten the very same thing at Scoop since the first time my dad took me there, when I was so small he had to lift me up so I could see over the counter. “I’ll have a small coffee ice cream in a cup with chocolate sprinkles and gummy bears.”

Lewis smiled brightly at me. “Back in a minute,” he said, rushing off to fill my order.

As I waited for my ice cream, I stood on my tiptoes, trying to catch a glimpse of Hudson at the other end of the counter. But the spot where he’d been standing was now empty. I sighed, turning back to Hayley. “Uh, Molly,” she said, leaning in close to whisper in my ear. “Do you get the feeling that, like, every single person here is watching us?” She flicked several braids over her shoulder. “I think it might be my hair.”

I laughed. “No one’s watching us, Hayley.” But as I let my eyes scan the room, I started to see what she meant. All around the room, people did seem to be looking over at us. But it clearly wasn’t Hayley’s hair they were looking at; it was me. It was like people were soaking me up, like they couldn’t take their eyes off me. The second I caught someone’s eye, they would start drifting toward me, as if pulled by some invisible string. I lowered my eyes to the counter, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. “It’s just crowded is all,” I said weakly.

“Here you go!” Lewis pushed an extra-large ice cream sundae across the counter at me. It was smothered in chocolate sprinkles, gummy bears, chocolate chips, cookie dough balls, and a tall swirl of whipped cream. “On the house!”

My face reddened a little as several people looked over at me, admiring Lewis’s concoction. “You don’t have to do that,” I protested.

“I want to.” Lewis winked at me. “And here.” He dropped a big fat cherry on the top of the sundae. Somehow I got the feeling that he’d searched through the whole jar to find the very best one. “With a cherry on top.”

“Thanks, Lewis.” I smiled at him, and he glowed at me from across the counter.

“Anytime, Molly. Seriously. Come back anytime.”

“
Someone
has a crush,” Hayley murmured as we pushed our way back through the crowd. “So, back to the table?”

I glanced over at Ashley and Blair’s table. Hudson was standing next to it now, talking to Brandon. He caught my eye and broke into a smile, gesturing me over. “Yeah,” I said quickly. “Let’s go.”

But before we could take even two more steps, I felt a hand on my arm. “Molly! It’s so good to see you!” I spun around to see Marissa Turton smiling at me. We’d both worked at the same camp last summer, but she’d been a junior at the time and had no interest in me or any of the other freshmen. In fact, I was pretty sure the only time she’d ever even acknowledged me was when she and her friends had TP’d my cabin.

“Uh, hi,” I said hesitantly.

“Hey, Sarah, Mel, look who’s here!” Marissa waved over two other seniors from camp. Within seconds, Hayley was nudged out of the way, leaving me cornered by three seniors. Hayley signaled that she’d meet me back at the table, and I nodded helplessly.

“I’m in love with your shirt,” Sarah cooed.

“Thanks,” I said faintly. “It’s from Haute.” I looked around for a way out, but with the crowd jammed in around me, and Marissa and her friends circling me, there was just no polite way.

“Your shoes are adorable too,” Mel chimed in. “I definitely need a pair.”

“Oh you know who I saw in the hall the other day, Molly?” Marissa gave my arm an excited squeeze. “Anthony Herman. You know that loser from camp? The one who used to walk around playing air trombone all the time?”

“Hmm,” I said vaguely looking around for an escape. I’d actually liked Anthony Herman. When my canoe tipped over in the middle of the lake, he’d been the only person to help instead of point and laugh. But he’d gotten teased so much about his trombone air concerts that he’d ended up leaving camp early.

“And you won’t believe this,” Marissa went on. “Apparently he’s moved on from air tromboning to air drumming!” She let out a loud guffaw and her friends all joined in. I gave a fake laugh, eying a break in the crowd to my right. If I could push my way through there, I could make my way to Hudson… .

“And, oh!” Marissa squealed in my ear, making me jump a little. “You know he’s totally gone goth, right? Like black trench coat and all. Next step, air
gun
.”

“I don’t think Anthony would—” I began, but Stacey Learning interrupted me.

“Hey, Molly!” she said as she and her friend Ariel pushed their way toward me, closing up the gap in the crowd I’d been eying. “I had an awesome idea for the set!”

“There you are, Molly!” Karen Baker waved at me from a few groups over, a cup of yogurt in her other hand. “Are you coming to hang out with us now?”

Next to me, Marissa squeezed my arm, seemingly oblivious to everyone calling my name. “
And
I saw Tricia Turner,” she went on. “Remember the counselor who got kicked out for sneaking a flask to the campfire?”

Meanwhile, Stacey pushed her way closer, and Karen started to weave her way toward me as well. People were closing in on every side of me and everywhere I looked, it felt like someone was calling my name or waving at me. My chest started to tighten, like there was suddenly less air in the room. And then over by the bathrooms, something caught my eye. A woman wearing a fringed leather vest over a colorful patchwork dress, a long red braid dangling down her back. I sucked in a breath. There was no way I was imagining it this time. I could only see her back, but that
had
to be Dharma, the portrait artist from the fair. Her outfit was exactly the same! But what would she be doing at Scoop? “I’ll be right back,” I said, wrangling my arm out of Marissa’s grip. Ignoring the people calling out to me from every corner of the room, I shoved my way through the crowd. “Dharma!” I yelled. “Dharma!”

“You look like you need some more ice cream.” Sammy Guss, the tallest guy on the basketball team, stopped in front of me, blocking my view. “What do you say, Molly? A sundae, on me?”

“Not now!” I said, pushing him out of the way. I was being rude, but I didn’t care. I had to see if that was Dharma. But by the time I wriggled past him—and then his runner-up for tallest on the team, who apparently felt the need to try
his
luck with me—Dharma, or whoever it had been, was gone. I scanned the room, but the patchwork dress was nowhere in sight. Where had she gone? The door was all the way on the other side of the room, blocked by a thick wall of high schoolers. There was no way she could have reached it so fast.

“Molly!” Marissa made her way over to me, her friends in tow. “Where did you go?”

“Mol!” Zach Martin called me over from a spot at the counter. I felt my chest tightening again. Up ahead of me, I noticed the bathrooms. Fighting my way through the crowd, I flung myself inside the first one, locking the door behind me. Taking a deep breath, I leaned back against the wall. It felt good to have a break, and I rested my chin on my knees, soaking in the quiet.

I’d never felt this wanted before in my entire life. It was like there was this energy pulsing through Scoop, and somehow it all seemed to be radiating toward me. Maybe it was just that I wasn’t used to having so many friends. But it felt like more than that somehow. And what about Dharma? Had that really been her? What would she have been doing in Scoop on high school night? Every adult in town knew to steer clear of Scoop on Wednesdays. My wish to her filled my mind.
I wish I was the most beautiful girl in Miracle
. Could she have been here to … look for me?

No. I cleared my throat, standing up. I’d probably just imagined her in the first place. Just like I had at the coffee shop. There had been so many people around me, surrounding me, my eyes darting from one person to the next. That patchwork dress had probably been nothing more than several girls, huddled together, their clothes all blending into one. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the mirror and shook out my hair, watching as it fell in perfect waves over my shoulders. I still couldn’t fully get used to the fact that this face was mine now, that I was this glowing perfect girl. But I was. And this girl didn’t spend her night hiding out in a bathroom. Taking another deep breath, I threw open the door and stomped back out—right into Hudson.

“Someone’s on a mission.” He laughed.

I felt my face burn red. “Sorry.”

“I’m not.” Hudson leaned against the hallway wall, gesturing for me to join him. “I came back here looking for you. It’s kind of crazy out there, right?”

“Seriously.” I leaned against the wall, looking over at him. It was quiet in the hallway, like we were a world away from everyone.