Lovestruck Summer by Melissa Walker (best management books of all time txt) 📕

this?”I ask. “Is this why you wanted to stop here?”“No,”she says. I see her staring at Chrissy. “Oh, Chrissy and Penny, this is Jade,”I say. “She’s a big roller derby fan.”I look at Chrissy pointedly. “We saw you play last weekend,”says Jade as Chrissy runs over to barrel her down with her signature-squeeze greeting. Jade smiles as she hugs Chrissy right back. “You were awesome.”“Quinn!”shouts Chrissy as she pulls away from Jade. “You didn’t tell me you were at my match!”She looks over at Penny, who shrugs. “I didn’t know Quinn liked all that bruiser stuff,”she says. I’m semi-relieved. I have feared that my cousin was going to reveal that her nickname was Penny the Punisher and I was going to have to reevaluate my impressions of all the Tri-Pis. But so far, only Chrissy has truly surprised me. Jade still looks starstruck. “The way you nailed Tess the Terminator

165 was incredible,”she says. “I broke a nail on that one,”Chrissy whines. She holds up her Tri-Pi purple manicure. “Anyway,”I say, looking at Jade. “What are we doing here?”“I actually planned to get your cousin to help me pick out some hot clothes for you and do your hair for tonight.”“What?”I ask. “Sorry, Quinn,”Jade says. “But you are screaming for a makeover.”Penny drops the cleaning spray and paper towels so she can clap her hands together with glee. “Party makeover!”she screams. Chrissy joins in. I glare at Jade, feeling betrayed by someone who I thought understood me and my dislike of superfi cial fashion-and-beauty crap. “Look,”she says. “If you want to seal the deal with Sebastian, and really make him your summer fl ing, you’ve got to work it a little bit harder.”I think back to her purple jumpsuit from Monday, and actually, all of Jade’s looks. She’s not pink-glossed and fake-lashed like Penny

166 is when she goes out, but she’s certainly got a style that I suppose is a notch up from my band tees and jeans. I look around the room at their faces. Jade has one eyebrow raised, probably worrying that she’s offending me. Penny and Chrissy share identical looks of hope, wide-eyed and ready to grab the curling iron. I stare down at my Converse. “Okay,”I say. “But no high heels.”Upstairs in the bathroom, I am subjected to all kinds of torture. First, they make me strip down to my bra and underwear. “We start from the bottom up,”says Penny as if this “party makeover”is a reality show that she’s hosting. They turn on the crazy light globes that frame Penny’s bathroom, and Chrissy pulls out a magnifying mirror that retracts from the wall—something I’d never noticed. “It’s for really look- ing at your pores,”she says. “And plucking.”Penny’s perfectly groomed eyebrows are inches from my face as she pulls stray hairs from my natural arches.

167 “Please,”I say. “Not Marlene Dietrich pencil brows.”Jade laughs and I catch her eye in the mirror. She mouths a sorry and I have to forgive her. She couldn’t have known the excitement that a makeover would cause in this condo. After a sudsy scrubbing that leaves my face a little raw, Chrissy gets out cotton balls and tones my cheeks while Penny waits in the wings with moisturizing cream. Then they start in on the makeup. “Here’s where I take over,”says Jade, tap- ping Penny on the shoulder. My cousin looks momentarily crushed as she hands over the foundation puff, but I’m so glad I won’t be made up to look like a Tri-Pi pledge. Jade grabs eyeliner and a dark lip stain, which she uses on my cheeks. “Uh, that’s for her lips,”says Penny. “Oh,”says Jade, shrugging innocently. “Well, it doesn’t know it’s for her lips. It looks good on her cheeks—Quinn isn’t really a Princess Pink girl.”I look up at Chrissy, but she’s just nodding

168 at Jade’s work. A few minutes later, after some close encounters with the mascara brush and one lipstick do-over (I turned my head at just the wrong moment), Jade steps back. “You look super pretty, Quinn,”says Penny, smiling in approval. “Totally,”says Chrissy. But they won’t let me turn around to see until they do my hair. Over the past few weeks, it has faded to a cool-but-weird aqua-blond color, and it’s growing out, so it’s a little messy. They mussed it with a bunch of mousse earlier, and Jade blew it dry while Penny and Chrissy were working on my eyebrows and skin care. I have no idea what it looks like right now. “Pin it back with clips?”asks Penny, grab- bing her basket of hair accessories, which is overfl owing with purple Tri-Pi bows. Jade shakes her head no. Since the makeup wonder she’s worked, Penny and Chrissy seem to be deferring to her expertise. “Headband?”asks Penny. “Close,”says Jade. Then she tugs a thin, stretchy band out of her back pocket. It’s a double-elastic and it’s black. So

169 it’s like an accessory, but it’s simple and not girly. She pulls it over my head and pushes it back, pulling out a few strands in the front. “Nice touch,”says Penny. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her give so much style credit to someone who’s not a Tri-Pi. “Gorge,”agrees Chrissy. Then they let me turn around and face the Hollywood-lit mirror. My eyelids are lined in black liquid liner. It’s pretty thick, but not in a creepy-looking way. And the soft auburn eye shadow almost makes my brown eyes look golden. My lips are a soft red, which I wasn’t sure I could pull off, ever, but somehow I do. My hair is unbelievable. It’s the perfect mix of done and undone—loose and a little bit wild around the edges, but tucked back with the black double-band, which con- trasts with my pale hair really well. I look like me, but hot. “The Alpha-Alpha guys are going to die when they see you,”says Chrissy. “I cannot wait for this party,”Penny chimes in. I look up at Jade anxiously.

170 “We’re actually going to Dirty’s tonight,”she says.