have an idea.” She rubbed her hands together, then dove in, pulling gray skirt. The fabric of the shell was softer than anything I had ever clothes out and hooking the hangers over her fingers. Once she’d touched.
 
 gathered half a dozen items, she walked over to her bed and started
 
 “Okay. Be right back,” I said, turning toward the bathroom.
 
 laying them out.
 
 “Aw, she’s shy,” Kiran teased.
 
 “She thinks I’m a genius; wait till you see her at work,” Taylor
 
 “What?” I said.
 
 said quietly. “I always wished I was good with colors, but it’s very
 
 “Just change,” Noelle said, impatiently. “You don’t have any-
 
 rare to have both academic and artistic genius. Of course, there was thing we haven’t seen before. At least I hope you don’t.”
 
 Leonardo DaVinci, Benjamin Franklin—”
 
 I glanced at Taylor, who smiled encouragingly. Ariana simply
 
 “Taylor,” Noelle snapped.
 
 stared with those eerie blue eyes. Feeling beyond self-conscious, I Taylor reddened and pressed her lips together.
 
 laid the clothes over Taylor’s desk chair, then unhooked my jeans
 
 “What’s going on?” I asked.
 
 and stepped out of them. The Billings Girls watched my every move.
 
 “We are giving your wardrobe a makeover,” Noelle said.
 
 It wasn’t as if I had never changed in front of girls before, but I’d
 
 “You have gorgeous features, you know,” Kiran said. “You need
 
 never had four people staring blatantly at me while I did it. I turned to learn to play them up.”
 
 my back to them as I pulled off my T-shirt and quickly yanked on I flushed as I watched her pull items from her closet. Suddenly the shell. Even in my tense state I couldn’t help but notice how this felt a lot like charity. “I’ve never been big on fashion.”
 
 amazing the buttery softness felt against my skin. Then I stepped
 
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 into the skirt, the satin lining swishing coolly up my legs. I fastened
 
 “Thus the reason you’re here,” Noelle said, rolling her eyes.
 
 it quickly around my waist, covering up my cotton underpants as