Henrietta takes Karen and Ruby to her house for makeovers.
Karen wonders if she's actually pretty, or just the dumb, ugly kid she feels like.
POV - Henrietta
As the last bell rang, Henrietta was already outside. She'd ditched. English was boring. Why did she have to take a class in a language she already spoke? She liked her poetry elective, but that was only because she got to slay her innermost demons in the most beautiful and raw way possible: nakedly vulnerable in front of everyone. It was cathartic. And a little erotic. At least the way she did it.
She took a long drag of her cigarette and shotgunned the wind, watching it drift off and disappear like a beautiful whisper. Henrietta made it a point to recognize everyday poetic beauty, you know, since the world and the people in it were so ugly and fucked.
She took blew a smoky breath and took in the quiet around her. She'd already taken off her platform shoes, and the grass felt nice underneath her toes.
She felt a wool-clad arm wrap around her torso and warm lips smirk against her neck.
"If that's Michael, he should know better than to sneak up on me." Henrietta chided gently.
"Oh, then it's not." Michael chuckled against her skin. Henrietta elbowed him in the ribs (as lightly as possible) and turned around to face him.
"Hey." She smirked.
"Hey." He purred softly, tucking a lock of stray hair behind her ear. He grabbed her face gently and kissed her sweetly. "Come over today?" Of course, he was horny. Damn bastard.
"No," She pushed him away coldly, "I'm busy."
"Ok." He accepted as he took a cigarette out of his pocket. Henrietta held out her lighter and watched the end of his cancer stick spark to life as he inhaled. He sighed smoke towards the sky like this was the first clear breath he'd taken all day.
"Rough day?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "Just tired."
She passed her cigarette holder to him, and he took it without question. His body relaxed against hers as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder. He tipped his head instinctually and she breathed in his scent of smoke and lavender essential oils. He says it keeps him calm, but she thinks he knows it's her favorite flower. She kissed his hairline, grabbed her smoke, and leaned against the wall to face him again.
"Did you ditch English?" He asked her.
She winked at him mid-toke.
"Delinquent." He growled at her.
"Hey, when you guys are done eye-fucking each other I'd like a smoke please, I finished my pack this morning."
"Fuck off, buy your own shit." Michael deadpanned.
"Come on!" Pete demanded, "What's one cigarette, like 25 cents? I'll pay you! Come on!"
Michael flipped him off as he inhaled slowly from his own, rubbing it in Pete's face.
It took them a while to notice that Firkle had wordlessly joined the group and was now standing right behind Pete — who jumped when he finally realized.
"Do you have any smokes, dude?" He asked the little one.
"No, I can get you some later."
"Firkle…" Henrietta warned.
He blinked a few times with his big eyes, "I can buy you some later."
"Proud of you." She called to him.
He rolled his eyes and sat on the grass to get started on his homework.
"Who are you waiting for?" Pete asked the other two, who remained standing.
"Karen." Henrietta stated. Pete nodded his approval. Not that she needed it. She'd hang out with whoever the fuck she wanted.
"Speak of the devil." Michael tipped his head in the direction of the front of the building.
"More like 'angel.'" Firkle piped up from the grass.
"Shut up, Firkle." She muttered as the put her shoes back on.
"It's a compliment!" He defended himself.
"Hey guys!" Karen bounced towards the group.
"Ready to go?" Henrietta asked, taking one last drag her cigarette.
"Yep!" Karen replied excitedly, but fidgeted nervously. She was a sweet girl, but she seemed small. Like she desperately needs a group; someone to protect her at all times. Eh, what's one more to the brood?
Henrietta passed her mostly finished cigarette to Pete, and lovingly smoothed Firkle's hair down.
She grabbed Michael by his shirt collar and caught his mouth in a passionate, tongue-y kiss. The positioning was a little awkward today because she was wearing her giant spiked heels and had to crane her neck down a little to reach him. She was used to always being much shorter than him.
She smacked his ass, and turned to walk towards her car without another word.
Without looking back, "Come on!" She called to Karen, who awkwardly still hadn't moved.
"Bye, guys!" She heard Karen squeak hastily as she ran to catch up with Henrietta.
As they walked towards the parking lot they heard Ruby jogging up behind them.
"Karen! Wait!" Ruby caught up to her friend "I thought you were coming to my house after school?"
"Shit! I'm sorry! I'm supposed to go to Henrietta's house…" Karen apologized sadly.
"Oh ok," Ruby murmured.
Henrietta was bored; she started walking to her car.
"Wait!" Karen called after her, "Can Ruby come?" Karen was pleading with her with wide eyes, clearly not wanting to leave her friend behind.
Henrietta looked the redhead up and down. "Tag along, shorty."
With that, Ruby (who was actually ironically tall) smiled and followed her oldest friend and their new friend to Henrietta's black Jeep.
"There… done!" Henrietta gave Karen one more look-over "hm… maybe the lips are too much." Henrietta grabbed a makeup wipe from her stash on the vanity and carefully wiped purple lipstick from Karen's lips.
"There! Now you look more approachable, but still badass. You seem like you like people, so…". Henrietta joked as she tossed the wipes in the trash. "Plus, as hypocritical as it may seem, I think a young face such as yourself should showcase natural beauty rather than cover it up. I'm the exception… I'm too cool." Henrietta took a drag from her fancy cigarette holder and swiveled the chair around so Karen could look at herself in the mirror.
She didn't do half bad. The kid actually looked pretty cool now. She had a swipe of black eyeliner accenting her top lid, coming to a point at the tip of a sharp wing. Henrietta also filled in her eyebrows more, which no longer looked patchy, and actually made her look grown-up.
On her own bottom lashes, Henrietta preferred the drama of a thick mass of light gray shadow framing her thick cat eyeliner. But on such a small face like Karen's, she opted for a thin line of light brown shadow instead. Her lashes were coated in a thin layer of mascara, and voilà!
Though she'd deny it, and probably punch anyone in the tit who dared call Henrietta a 'makeup guru', she kinda was. She had always loved makeup and was really good at it. She was considering going to beauty school after high school, but that was a secret she'd take to the grave if she never actually went through with it. We'll see.
"What do you think?" Henrietta drawled, accenting her guarded attitude with another puff of her cigarette.
Karen stared at herself scrutinizingly, then admiringly, like she was looking at art. Thanks to Henrietta, she pretty much was.
"Wow." She whispered as she brought a hand up to her face. She gently rested her slender fingers against her cheek and tilted her head, taking in the change from all angles.
"Good, right?" Henrietta smirked. Karen looked like she didn't believe what she was seeing.
"I look… cool."
"Yeah you do, kid. You are cool. Let your face be the window to your soul." Henrietta made a dramatic sweeping motion with her hands as she spoke.
"Wow, Karen! You look totally hot!" Ruby exclaimed from where she was eating chips, sprawled out on Henrietta's black and purpled draped bed behind them.
Karen looked at her face one more time, then looked above her shoulder to Henrietta's reflection. "Thank you. I do look…"
"Badass?"
"Like total 'babe' material?"
Karen didn't answer. She looked at herself sadly.
"What's the matter half-pint? You don't like it?" Henrietta wondered.
"No! No, that's not it at all, I love it! It's just…" Karen grabbed the little handheld mirror from the desk of the vanity and held it up to her face. "Am I pretty? Like honestly, not 'do you think I'm pretty', but… am I pretty?"
Henrietta frowned. "Beauty is a social construct, even the beautiful people will never obtain the media's definition of 'beautiful'. It's just a long-abused scheme to keep women hating themselves until they sleep with men or fasting until they've killed themselves."
"You are beautiful, Karen!" Ruby piped up, clearly missing the point of Henrietta's rant.
"Not without all… this" Karen whispered sadly, gesturing to her makeover-ed face. Henrietta frowned. This made her deeply upset. As someone who has dealt with similar issues her whole life, she hated to see such a sweet girl like Karen McCormick beat herself down so badly.
"Look at your face," Henrietta ordered. "Give me one positive."
Karen looked at her hands before looking back up in the mirror.
"Your eyes are pretty!" Ruby piped up from behind them.
"What do you like about your nose?" Henrietta pushed.
"I don't know, it's a nose."
Henrietta rolled her eyes and cocked her hip, "I can stay here all day until you tell me something positive. Go." Henrietta knew how to be bossy when she needed to be.
Karen took a deep breath. "My nose is cute. I like the freckle I have right next to my ugly scar."
"No, try again."
"My scar isn't that noticeable."
"I'll take it." One step at a time, Henrietta reminded herself.
Karen sighed.
"Honey," Henrietta soothed as she placed a hand on Karen's thin shoulder, "you look gorgeous with or without makeup. This just gives it that extra little 'umph'. Trust me, you'll turn heads if you come to school like this. Besides," Henrietta slung an arm around Karen and stared at her reflection in the mirror with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, "this may help you attract the attention of a specific little raven haired boy we were sitting with at lunch."
"Iiiiiiiiiiiiike!" Ruby sing-songed.
"You guys!" Karen blushed as she hid her face with her hands.
"Relax, 'Baby McCormick', we're just teasing you."
"You really do look pretty, Karen."
Karen tucked a piece of hair behind her ears, pulled some front pieces out and looked at herself scrutinizingly.
Henrietta rolled her eyes, "'In a society that profits from your self doubt, loving yourself is a rebellious act'." Ruby looked at her incredulously. Henrietta took a self-conscious drag of her cigarette. "What?" She snapped.
"That is… SO fucking right! BAD-ASS! I love it! Who said that?"
Henrietta smirked, "some conformist." Really she'd seen the unnamed quote on the Instagram account she'd never admit she has. But it sparked a fire in her, and she knew how much it had helped her on her own journey to love herself. She just wanted to spread the message to a small and broken girl who reminded Henrietta so much of the fragile thing she used to be. But that was a long time ago…
Karen straightened her shoulders and looked at herself bravely. "Ok." She conceded. "Ok."
"If you want to take that eyeliner you can, I've got, like, six of that exact same kind in that exact same color. Firkle went through a shoplifting phase a few years ago, but he's sweet so he'd always only get stuff for other people." Henrietta glanced at Ruby as she took a slow drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out the open window.
"Wow! Seriously? Thank you!" Karen jumped excitedly.
"You're welcome, now get out of my chair." Karen happily jumped up with her new present and practically skipped over to the bed to take over hoarding the bag of chips.
"My turn!" Ruby jumped up.
"What do you want?" Henrietta asked cooly.
"Make me look glamorous. Like a trashy celebrity on a night out."
"Mission accepted." Henrietta nodded and put out her cigarette. She cracked her knuckles and got to work whoring-up Ruby.
Henrietta had never had this much fun with other female classmates before. Usually she automatically put herself in a separate category and that was it. Walls went up, and nobody could get in, even if they wanted to. Even though she was only protecting herself, she couldn't help wonder what it was like to have a real sleepover. Don't get her wrong, she never wished she wasn't friends with Michael, Pete, and Firkle. She would never trade her boys for anything in the world, but it was nice to have some girl time.
It was nice to have friends.
