Page 68 of Absorbed

Stacey looked around for her own place to sit. The desk chair was covered in discarded clothes. The bed was king-sized, expertly decorated with a pink, ruffly comforter and throw pillows, straight out of a fairytale, made for a real-life princess. She was afraid she would mess the bed up by sitting on it.

She sat cross-legged on the carpet, then picked up a bag of barbecue potato chips, munching on them while trying to make sense of the removed pages. Someone had used scissors to cut out certain parts of the people pictured, so a Cover Girl ad had Nikki Taylor’s mouth removed, and a girl’s body was cut from a Calvin Klein ad of a group in their underwear.

Covering the wall between the large TV and full-length mirror, pictures had been taped together and tacked up: Shannon Doherty's eyes and Cindy Crawford’s lips and iconic mole met in the middle with an unidentifiable, elfin nose. A black-and-white image of a wispy girl’s long legs and body paired with Soleil Moon Fry’s head.

The collage reminded Stacey of Ms. Moreno’s collection. There were at least a dozen pairs of perfectly appointed eyes plastered on Desiree’s wall. But it seemed like she had isolated all her ideal female features, then scrambled them together into various mismatched, Frankenstein-like characters.

“What are you wearing tonight, Tif?” Desiree called out from her closet.

“This.” She shrugged. She’d changed out of her swimsuit at The Plunge, but put on the same cut-off shorts and loose Cal State tee she’d worn all day with a pair of chunky Airwalks. “It’s gonna be dark. Everyone’s drinking. No one will be paying attention.”

“Ugh… yeah, I know!” Desiree came out in a lacy tank and cutoffs. She stood in front of her mirror and clipped her hair up, turning right and left. “But that doesn’t really solve my problem.”

Stacey leaned back against the bed and ate more chips, wondering what the problem was.Desiree looks adorable in everything. Super sexy, actually.

Melissa set down her magazine and joined Desiree at the mirror. Melissa had on a tight cropped tube top. Her miniscule Abercrombie shorts were cut very low on the waist and left nothing to the imagination. If it wasn’t for the zipper and belt loops they might as well have been swimsuit bottoms. Her abs and thighs looked professionally sculpted.

“This one’s cute, Dez,” Melissa said. “But I still think the pink ribbed tank looked awesome on you.”

“No way. My bra straps are too big,” she said. “I’m tired of waiting for my surgery. Then I can finally go braless and wear tops from Wet Seal.”

Stacey looked up.Surgery?

“Are you going to the same place Dawn went?” Tiffany asked, picking up a newCosmopolitanmagazine and sitting on the end of the bed, her feet dangling beside Stacey.

Dawn Chavez was a year older than they were, two years older than Stacey. She had always been beautiful, athletic, and popular. But when she was the returning Homecoming Queen in the parade the year before, she looked tiny, like she had lost a lot of weight. Stacey overheard guys in chemistry complaining that Dawn had “cut off her boobs.”

“Yeah, in September. I don’t move into the dorms until the end of the month.”

Desiree is getting breast reduction surgery? But she’s gorgeous!

“What’d Chad say?” Tiffany asked.

“Ever since that first fight at the beginning of summer, I don’t want to talk to him about it. He thinks he can change my mind.” She turned sideways and tried tucking in her tank, then untucking it. Pulling it up above her cleavage, then tugging it down again.

“You’ll feel like a whole new person when you start college,” Melissa said. “I’ve begged my parents for a nose job, but they keep telling me no way.”

“Oh my god, Missy! Yousodon’t need a nose job!” Desiree said, looking at Melissa’s reflection. “I need my nose fixed way more than you. My mom is a Spanish goddess, but because my dad’s Jewish I ended up short, pale, and everything about me is too big and round.” She looked back at herself, slumping her shoulders. “I need to marry a plastic surgeon to afford everything I need fixed.”

“I wish I had pale skin!” Melissa pulled her cheeks back. “No matter what sunscreen I wear, I toast like a coconut.”

“Ugh. Shut up. You look like a Hawaiian Tropic bikini model.”

Tiffany barely looked up while Stacey gawked at them. She never would have thought either Melissa or Desiree seriously wanted surgeries.How can they not see how perfect they are?

Melissa started applying white eyeliner while Desiree covered her shoulders with sparkle bronzing lotion. Then they each perfectly lined their lips into pouty bows. Tiffany stood next to them, twirling her soft blonde curls with her fingers until they bounced back into place. Melissa’s long dark hair hung smoothand straight down her back and Desiree’s shoulder length auburn waves floated over her collar bones.

Staring at them from behind, Stacey admired their petite bodies and perfectly primped make-up and hair. If she stood behind them, she’d be a head taller, and her shoulders and hips would be double the width of any of theirs. Their waists were small, and each girl’s tiny shorts fit just right, showing off tan thighs without any jiggles or dimples.

Stacey grabbed her duffle bag and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She looked at herself, wondering how she could possibly walk into Travis’s party with that flawless trio and not look like a total ogre. And, if anyone asked her about Jessie, she needed to appear believable when she announced he didn’t “measure up to her expectations.”

Stacey dug through her bag for her mascara and eyeliner, thickly applying both to make her eyes moodier. More mysterious. Instead of the cropped KROQ shirt she had planned to wear, she grabbed the white tank she brought to sleep in, and pulled it over her black bra. It was see-through enough to be obviously intentional. With her Converse, cutoffs and pack of Marlboros in her back pocket, she might pass as edgy. Opening the cabinets, she found hairspray, mousse, and gel, and used all three to transform her choppy bob into a sexy mess.

Stacey came out of the bathroom and the girls stepped back from the mirror to take her in.

“Wow, Stace! You look…dangerous!” Tiffany said, her eyes wide. “In a good way.”

“Wait, you need dark red lips!” Desiree said, digging through her makeup bag. She handed the tube to Stacey. “It’s a burgundy lip stain, so it won’t smear.”

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