Part 2:

Hair, Makeup, Dancing Lessons and the power of the Underworld.

"Well, I got her." Grim said as he walked into Mandy's living room. Behind him Crabina, the underworlds finest beautician walked in with great poise, which slightly took the concentration away from her tightly stretched face. (Which she occasionally retightened when it began to wrinkle.) Grim crossed his arms as Crabina, looking slightly upset due to the long trip (Which had actually only taken a few minutes, but was quite uncomfortable anyhow.) swept her securely stretched eyes over the room.

Finally her eyes fell on Mandy, who was glaring (Wow…big surprise there.)

"Oh, I'm sorry darling, at first glance you looked like a boy. Well stand up and let's look at what we have to deal with." Mandy stood up in a brooding manner. "Well…I'm sure I can have her ready for the science fair in about a week." Grim cleared his throat.

"Actually it's the school prom." He said darkly.

"And it's this weekend." Mandy added dully.

"Good god, it's worse then I thought! We need to start immediately." She looked Mandy up and down.

"Well, what are we shooting for here? Are you trying to impress a boy? Make someone jealous? Or are you just trying not to scare everyone away when you walk in the doors…I think I can manage the last without too much trouble…"

"I have to be queen…it's for a bet." Mandy said, who was appearing more and more annoyed with each passing moment.

"Queen of the prom?" Crabina looked horrified. She paused for a moment and then shrugged. It was a mortal after all. If she failed, it wouldn't get back to the underworld.

" Well then, come on child, we have a lot of work to do. Take me to your makeup and wardrobe and we'll see what we have to work with. Do you have a gown?" Crabina asked as she grabbed Mandy by the wrist.

"No."

"Well we'll have to go shopping first then." She said, while changing direction and heading towards the door.

"I don't have makeup either." Mandy said, looking as if she would rather gnaw her own arm off then be dragged around…especially to go pick up a prom dress and makeup.

"Well we'll see to that later." Crabina said…then, she stopped.

"I assume you at least have a date." She took a look at Mandy's face and sighed. "No I suppose not."

"I'll take her!" Irwin said as he barged in the room, smiling broadly.

"Good well that's…" Crabina looked at Irwin for a moment, cringed slightly and then shook her head. "Well…we can work on him later. To the mall!" Mandy wasn't given a chance to profess her absolute revulsion at the thought of going anywhere with Irwin, before she was swept out the door.

Irwin, who was now alone with Grim and Billy was looking as though all of his dreams had come true.

"Wow…I'm going to the prom with Mandy. I have to go tell my dad I have a date!" He ran out of the front door, nearly tripping as he did. Grim shook his head.

"She doesn't have a prayer of a chance." He said the last in a bitter sort of voice.

XXX

Mandy was standing near several racks of Prom dresses, glaring at everyone who walked by. (Mostly teen girls, who came in filled with anticipation, and then would inexplicably, leave without purchasing anything.) The section began to look quite empty. This wasn't all due to Mandy's less then inviting demeanor, however. Many of them were also quite nervous when it came to the strange reptilian like woman rummaging about the dresses.

Crabina would occasionally bring a dress up to the gloomy teenage girl and hold it up to her, shake her head, and then go back and look for something a little more flattering. It was amazing how Mandy could make a beautiful flowing gown look like a nightmare. (Not necessarily implying that Mandy was in any way homely. There was just so much bitterness in her façade; it was kind of hard to tell.) After a while, Crabina began to assume that even in an Easter yellow gown, with lilies on the skirt, and lace from top to bottom, Mandy could single-handedly take over the underworld, and have it's king cowering in a corner in fear.

Finally, Crabina dropped her hands in defeat and grabbed a stack of dresses that were simply, slightly horrifying on the girl.

"We'll figure out which one is best after we do your hair and makeup." She said, no longer sounding confident about her task. "You know dear, this was easier when you were only a child." Mandy had stood in the same spot, with the same look on her face the entire time.

"Well, we'll go find a case of makeup…" She examined Mandy's scowling face, slightly dark eyes and furled eyebrows. "A big case…and maybe some hairspray…and then we'll start working on the mess that you call an image."

For a moment Mandy watched the wretched woman as she headed towards the makeup section before she grumbled to herself and followed. She was already regretting the whole thing.

"I should have kept my big mouth closed." She said to herself, in an ominous and nearly monotone voice.

XXX

Grim was becoming increasingly impatient, as he sat at Billy's table, trying desperately to read his book (Tragic Tales Of Misfortune and Woe…because that sort of thing always put him in a positive mood.) despite the loud pounding sound coming from the next room, where Billy and Irwin had moved to after leaving Mandy's house.

Across from him, Harold was reading the newspaper blissfully, as his coffee occasionally shook and dripped on the table. Finally, it tipped over onto the man's lap and he yelled.

He looked confused for a moment then cleared his throat.

"Would you mind seeing what their doing over there, Grim? Thanks." He said, and continued to read the paper. (Apparently not too concerned with the stain on his pants.)

"What? Me? Why can't you do it? He's your son."

"Hehe…good one, Grim." Grim glared at Harold for a moment before swearing under his breath and stalking off into the next room.

"Hey! What are you kids doing in here? Your shaking de whole house!" Grim said loudly.

Music was blaring (If that was indeed what one would call it.) from a nearby stereo, and both boys appeared to be dancing (Or something.) to it. Billy turned it off and looked proudly at Grim.

"I was teaching Irwin how to dance." He lowered his voice "Hyuh, he needs a lot of work." Irwin gave Billy an annoyed look.

"I already told you I know how to dance, Billy!" He started to do a slightly shaky version of something that looked like a cross between break dancing and possibly being on fire. Which was made even less impressive because…well…it was Irwin. As he did, Billy gave Grim a look that was meant to be the look of an intelligent critic, (but just made him look constipated.) and stepped forward.

"Yeah, Irwin…just watch the master." He started to do something, although no one watching him would have called it dancing. Both boys stopped after a while…which was an immense relief and started yelling at each other. Grim was getting a headache. As they screamed at each other (Well Irwin screamed, Billy was putting his fingers in his ears and was singing loudly and horribly.) Grim caught snippets of their argument.

"Shut up. Agh! Your so immature!"

"Merrily merrily merrily!"

"Stop it! I hate you!"

"I can't hear you…Lalala."

"I don't even know why I come over here anymore!"

"Your just jealous cause I gots all the moves! And you are terrible."

"No you the terrible one Billy!"

"SHUT UP!" Grim finally yelled, his eye sockets blazing with livid fire. "Shut up both of you! Your both terrible!" Both boys fell into silence.

"I swear, mortals dese days. You couldn't dance if your feet were on fire." Grim said. He stopped for a moment, as a mental picture of this formed in his skull and he entertained himself for a few brief moments before shaking his head.

"Now be quiet, or the next time I come in here you won't have legs to dance badly on." He said and turned to leave.

"Hey Grim, that's not fair…I don't see you dancing." Billy said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, you can't bum our trip, man." Irwin said. Grim pointed a skeletal finger at the both of them.

"Please, I could dance circles around you idiots."

"Sure Grim." Billy said, in a slightly mocking voice. "Yeah, you just keep dreaming…and maybe someday those dreams'll come true." Grim gave Billy a loathsome look.

"What the hell are you talking about, boy?"

"Oh I think you know. Come on Irwin…let's go see if Mandy's back." Billy said as he headed towards the door.

"Yeah!" Irwin said, following him. Grim grumbled to himself. (Something about mortal fools, his scythe and lots and lots of fire.) He followed after both boys anyways, because the thought of being alone in the house with Harold and Gladys didn't really thrill him. One could only take a severely stupid man and a woman on the edge of her sanity for so long before one began to feel stupid and on the edge as a result. At least Mandy was sensible. (Evil…but sensible.)

XXX

About an hour after they left the mall, Mandy was standing in her bedroom in front of a full-length mirror. She had an abhorrent look on her face as Crabina circled around her, occasionally adjusting things, and more often pausing and shaking her head. She was currently wearing a white dress…(which was a color that Mandy was not well associated with) with a very large billowing skirt. Crabina had also put something in her hair to make it curl and had added a few daisies to it. The result was…in so many words…a disaster.

"Well this isn't working…unless you've managed to fix that small problem you were having last time."

"I think it's best if we don't bring that up again." Mandy said dully as she resisted the urge to rip the fluffy white dress to shreds.

"Alright…well we'll just have to keep looking."

From somewhere below them came the sound of the front door slamming shut and then they both heard the slightly muffled sound of Billy screaming something at the top of his lungs. Mandy sighed. Crabina motioned towards the stack of dresses still lying on Mandy's bed.

"You try the next one on while I go talk to Grim." She said as she left the room.

XXX

Grim entered Mandy's house behind Billy and Irwin at around the same time Crabina was descending the stairs.

"I'm at the edge of my noose, Grim." She said as she reached the bottom step and gave Irwin the tired look of someone surveying a particularly nasty obstacle that they'll soon have to overcome. "That girl is impossible to work with." For a moment Grim looked shocked.

"You're giving up?" He asked.

"Oh no, darling, I never give up. But I need as much help as I can get. Do you still have Rubella's number?"

"I think so. Was dat de girl who sold her soul for dancing lessons with Terpsichore?"

"Yes, damned perhaps, but excellent on her feet. Give her a call, would you?" She looked Irwin over. "I'll work on your image later. For now, how are your dancing skills?" Grim spoke up before Irwin got a chance to.

"Terrible…trust me on this."

"Rubella will start with you first then. I'll be upstairs. Call me when she gets here, would you Grim."

"You got it, Crabina." He said as he cast his skeletal fingers out to summon his scythe.

When Crabina was gone, Irwin turned to Grim who had zapped a strange and morbid phone onto Mandy's coffee table and was currently dialing a number.

"Who's Rubella, yo?"

"Oh…just some mortal girl who gave up her soul to learn how to dance with a muse. A bit odd…but you get used to the horrible growths and the second head pretty quickly." He said. Irwin swallowed, suddenly looking ill.

"Oh…well…that's good…" He said slowly.

"Ah here we go." Grim said pleasantly. "Damn…answering machine. I don't know where she could possibly be…I would have thought the alteration of her skin tone and the flaking would have deterred any sort of social life." He said drearily. For a moment he looked surprised, then embarrassed. "Oh…hello Rubella." Both boys exchanged a side look and then sat down in a bored manner as Grim began the well-known male process of backpedaling on the phone.

XXX

Mandy and Crabina had gone through all of the dresses by the time Rubella arrived and much to Crabina's dismay and Mandy's annoyance, none of them were very flattering. Crabina was just about to suggest going through them again (In case one of them would somehow become alluring the second time around.) when someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Crabina replied as the knocking ceased.

"It's Grim, Rubella's here and she's waitin downstairs for your instructions." Crabina walked over to the door and opened it.

"Alright, take five, honey." She said as she walked by the reaper. "This may take a while."

Grim was holding the door open when Crabina walked through and made her way down the hallway and towards the stairs. As he was standing there he caught sight of Mandy and had to automatically bite down hard to keep from laughing. She glared at him.

"Watch it bonehead, or I'll let Saliva bury you all over the backyard again." She said through gritted teeth. Grim quickly feigned a cough and cleared his throat.

"That dress looks very…yellow…on you." He replied pitifully.

Mandy snarled to herself.

"There's no way I'm wearing this hideous dress. Or any of these. This isn't my style." Grim frowned.

"Well no offense Mandy, but if you want to have any chance of winning this you're going to have to do things a little differently."

Mandy looked sour for a moment as she crossed her arms and thought to herself.

"Maybe this whole thing was a mistake." She said finally. It seemed almost painful to admit that she would ever make a mistake. Grim shrugged.

"Well, if you forfeit now maybe…"

"No…if I forfeit I lose. I NEVER lose." There was an edge to her voice that Grim had learned long ago not to mess with. (Him and many other poor unfortunate souls.) He sighed.

"So you've said." Grim said in a cold voice. He stepped into the room (For up until then he had been keeping his distance in the hallway, for it always made him uncomfortable to venture into Mandy's room.) and headed towards the pile of dresses. He stood for a moment in front of them, thinking, before he took out his scythe.

"Stand up and let's see what we can do wit you." He said.

XXX

Part 2 finished. Thanx for the reviews I really appreciate them.