Disclaimer: I do not own, claim to own, or pretend to own the characters involved in this work of fiction. Too bad, huh?

Enjoy, su!

Chapter 7

The next day marked the launching of Claire's plan: Mission Make-Over. She'd been writing to her friends back home for weeks with pleas that they send her any make-up they had lying around and sending money to buy adorable outfits in sizes that were clearly not her own (or style) and had gotten the last care package just days ago. Just in time too, she thought as she went about setting everything up for her friends.

So Karen thought she was the shit just because she had the opportunity to make herself up, huh? Well it was time she was put in her place.

Claire grinned when there was a rap at her door promptly at 7:00 am and opened with a flourished WHOOSH!

"Willkomen!" she greeted the four girls outside pleased that all of them had made it. "Bienvenue, welcome! Come on in before Morph gets in; he's been pouting all morning since I kicked his little furry butt out."

The girls stepped over the threshold one at a time, Popuri practically launching herself at the table laden with accessories and make-up. She held up a container of powdered blush the color of a pretty burgundy with wide ruby eyes. Elli and Ann joined her and picked at the laden table curiously while Mary remained by the door shyly as she shuffled her feet.

"Claire, where did you get all of this stuff?" the nurse asked as she held up a summer dress in her color. Ann was less than thrilled, her plan now clear as she poked sullenly at some mascara. "You didn't buy all this did you?"

Their host snorted. "Please, I didn't even wear make-up back in the city if I could help it. I asked a bunch of friends to send that stuff."

"And the clothes?" Popuri asked this time.

"Those I bought," she replied guiltily. Her expression changed swiftly and she grabbed Mary by the arm to drag her over to the table; it didn't escape her notice how the girl's dark eyes stared longingly at a navy dress that would also be perfect for her. She smiled. "I thought we could give ourselves a make-over to celebrate my first Summer here with y'all, and you know how I never do anything in halves, so…"

No one noticed her trailing off except Mary, who'd been listening with rapt attention while everyone else simply heard 'make-over' and either squealed or groaned. Popuri immediately grabbed Ann and threw her into one of the chairs before shifting products from side to side. "Ann's first!" she cried gleefully.

The red-head looked scandalized. "Hold it, why do I have to go first? Heck, why do I have to go at all?" she demanded of her blonde friend.

Claire merely shrugged and joined the excited pink-haired girl at the table. "May as well. You'll need the most work," she grinned. Her friend bristled before Popuri grabbed her by the chin and yanked her burning blue gaze towards her; she ignored the heat of her glare in favor of dabbing her cheeks, chin, and forehead with a foul smelling liquid.

The smell made her eyes burn and she crinkled her nose at it. "What the hell is that? It smells like crap."

"Estringent," came Popuri's simple reply. "I'm trying to get the dirt and oil out of your pores so that you won't break out when we put foundation on you."

"You certainly know a lot about make-up," Elli commented while Claire and Mary watched in fascination.

Popuri blushed. "I've always wanted to be a make-up artist," she told them honestly.

Making up Ann had indeed taken some doing, and Claire had had to get involved before they pushed her into a newly added room to change into that day's chosen outfit. Elli went next upon request, and both girls worked on her until the blonde told her to meet her in the bathroom. Mary was last.

"It's not necessary," she argued. "There's no way you can fix me."

Popuri huffed irritably and pushed her down. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is Mary. Ann's complaints I could take because she hates this thing as a general rule, but I can tell you like make-up and cute clothes. Just forget what Karen said for one moment and let me make you beautiful."

The librarian blushed as Claire nodded. "Poppy will take good care of you. Much better then I ever could. Just give it a try, okay? I gotta go work on Elli's hair."

She must have nodded, because the blonde smiled in satisfaction before flouncing after the nurse. Before the door had even closed, Popuri's long pink curls filled her vision and blocked the farmer from view.

The beach was filled with people as they waited anxiously for the contest to start. As a general rule the village was always excited for a festival, but the dog show was something that anyone could enter provided they had a canine old enough to participate. But that day seemed to just buzz with possibility as the time to start drew closer and closer. Stu was particularly anxious, but not for the same reason that everyone else was.

"Where's Elli?" he asked Trent as he yanked on his jacket sleeve.

It was a very good question, and soon everyone was asking where she as well as Popuri and Ann were; they never missed the first day of Summer. Popuri especially, seeing as how Kai was officially opening the Snack Shack up to the public. The subject of Mary's whereabouts never crossed anyone's mind. Festivals weren't really her thing anyways.

"Claire's not here either," Rick observed as he glanced toward the entrance.

Karen bristled at the name of her arch-enemy, but was glad that she wasn't there. The heiress was dressed in her summery best in a dark purple tank top and denim short-shorts that exposed the best parts of her: her ample chest and long tan legs. She relished the fact that she could still catch the male population of the town staring at her in envy while their wives and girlfriends watched with a mixture of both that and hate. Hate the game, not the player, she would think at them.

Still, Claire threw a wrench in her plans to win Rick back if he was more concerned about her absence then the obscene amount of skin she was showing. The girl ran around in dirty overalls and with twigs in her hair, for Goddess' sake! Why worry about her when Karen was practically naked year round?

Maybe Karen was going about this all wrong…maybe she ought to try going after one of the other boys seeing as how Rick wasn't coming back anytime soon. Cliff was a resounding no, but Gray and Trent were hot stuff—not that Kai wasn't anything to laugh at. She'd seen him without a shirt last Summer, and boy howdy—

"The girl's are here," someone's relieved voice burst through her thoughts. She glared murderously at Gotz, who returned it with some minor confusion. The gasps from those around her drew her attention back to the beach entrance.

Her jaw very nearly fell off.

Ann was the first to make her way down the stairs, looking extremely uncomfortable and irritated to be wearing a pleated denim skirt and short sleeved, pale yellow peasant top. It was a far cry from her overalls and bright yellow undershirt, which would explain the miserable look on her face, but someone had apparently compromised if the black leggings she wore under the skirt was any indication. The Flop! Flop! Of yellow flipflops heralded her arrival as her red hair swung in a messy ponytail and was tied off with a white ribbon.

"Wait for me," Popuri's voice called, making the girl pause.

The other girl came running down the stairs next, clad in a pair of red khaki shorts and black spaghetti tank; her own black flip flops were clutched in both hands so that she could run. "Ann, you're so mean for leaving without us," she huffed and blew her newly trimmed bangs out of her face while her usual headband kept the rest of her long pink hair out of her face.

Ann merely stuck her tongue out at her friend in response as they made their way over to the crowd. Her father's and brother's eyes widened.

"Is that make-up you're wearing?" Doug exclaimed disbelievingly.

Ann colored and tried to hide her face, but Popuri yanked her hands down so everyone could see. Karen was just as shocked as the Innkeeper to see the light blush highlighting pretty cheekbones that were invisible otherwise and the mascara and pink eye shadow. The finishing touch had to be the tastefully clear lip gloss that the blonde suspected tasted of mint and was only there to draw notice to rosebud lips. Safe, but cute; someone knew their stuff.

Popuri grinned proudly (and Karen guessed it was her ex's sister who had done the red-head up) while Doug gushed over how very lady-like his tomboy daughter was and Gray just stood there and caught flies with his mouth. Somewhere between the mustachioed man's cries about there being hope yet and Gray snapping out of his stupor, Elli put in her own appearance looking rather flustered over the whole situation.

Trent's eyes widened while Stu wrinkled his nose at his sister. "Sorry I took so long," she called to the other girls. She drew her pale blue short-sleeved sweater tighter around her as if to hide her body before thinking better of it and letting it fly free, exposing a white knee-length sundress. Strappy cork sandals finished off her classy look while loose brown curls fell around her face. "Claire was having trouble getting Mary to come out with her."

Ruby eyes rolled at her, accented by a liberal amount of mascara and pink and white eye shadow while her dark pink painted lips pouted cutely. "I told you we should have waited," she told Ann archly and puffed out rouged cheeks childishly. "But no~, you had to run off and try to get this over with as soon as possible!"

Elli laughed at the glaring match the two younger girls were having, trying to smother it behind freshly manicured nails. The brunette's red lipsticked lips pulled back into an innocent smile while he batted mascaraed eyelashes at them when they turned them on her; Popuri had attacked her with pink blush and shimmery eye shadow.

Someone cleared their throat to get their attention and the three girls looked down at Mayor Thomas, who was tapping his foot in the sand impatiently. "Are we ready to start now or what?" he asked irately.

"Claire and Mary aren't here yet," Popuri stalled, her argument with Ann forgotten. "Give them another minute—"

"You can start, we're hear!"

There was a sigh of relief when the blonde and librarian finally appeared at the entrance to the beach, the former waving wildly at the crowd. Many of the crowd turned to head in and find their seats, figuring that the blonde was dressed as stylishly as the other while Mary was still her frumpy self, when Anna let out a gasp of her own and ran over to her daughter. Basil was just as shocked to see his daughter as Gray was to see his sister.

Claire grinned at Anna as she left mother and daughter alone to join the group of made-over girls waiting close to the ring. "Not bad Poppy," she greeted.

"Mary, look at you!" her mother cried as she first held up a hank of straightened black hair before taking in the girl's light make-up and dark blue sun dress. Mary looked away in shame, expecting her normally harsh mother to point out all her flaws when the woman hugged her. "You look beautiful!"

Her words shocked her almost as much as the physical contact; had she really called her beautiful?

Basil came up next and ran a hand over his daughter's head, equally amazed. There were tears in his eyes as he looked at her and she couldn't remember the last time he'd ever looked so proud. Was a little make-up and a cute dress all it took?

Her companion seemed to read her dark thoughts and quickly coughed to end the moment. "So now that we're here, let's get this dog show going!" she exclaimed cheerily.

"It's a contest Claire," Mary corrected quietly even as the blonde began to pull her along towards the big red tent.

"Yeah that."

Oh, she thought she was so smart didn't she? Just because she was afraid of being beaten out by Karen's natural good looks, she thought she could eclipse her by giving the rest of the girls in town make-over's. The Supermarket heiress couldn't remember a time in her life when she had been completely ignored! Actually, she didn't think it had EVER happened!

So this was Claire's official declaration of war.

Okay, fine, she could dig it; she just needed to figure out a way to properly humiliate the dumb blonde before someone thought she'd been beaten.

Manna's voice floated over the din as she muttered to a rather disinterested Sasha about how scandalous this all was. Usually Karen didn't much care for the crap the woman spouted (most of it was either about her or untrue), but when Claire's name came up…Her ears pricked.

"—And did you see the way Kai was looking at her?" she whispered excitedly to her blonde friend as they passed the heiress. "It was making me blush!"

Sasha gave her a noncommittal hum, patting the woman's hand that was linked through her arm as she all but dragged her towards the tent. "That's nice Manna," she enthused distractedly.

Karen wondered briefly what Kai had to do with Claire when he was clearly dating Popuri when the town gossip spoke up again.

"No, no!" she protested, waving her free hand in front of them, "At Claire! The way he was looking at Claire!"

The other woman rolled her eyes and ignored her, deciding that now was not the time to be yakking her head off about things that probably weren't even true. Their husbands had already gone on ahead (at Duke's behest because he knew that gleam in his wife's eye) and Jeff had promised to save them a seat close to the front.

Manna went on as if her friend was still listening. "I heard from Won that Claire used to date Kai's older brother. Can you believe that? How scandalous! He's been dating Popuri for a year, probably so he can forget her, and all of a sudden the girl he had jealously been coveting from his brother shows up in the last place he expected—friends with his current girlfriend no less! The animosity he must feel over his missed opportunity is making me shiver!"

"I'm sure that's not the case—"

Their voices were cut off by the swish of the door flap of the tent, leaving Karen by herself outside with a malicious smile on her face.

End

I'm not proud of this chapter; I'll say that right now. It started out okay, got maybe a little epic, then spiraled down the drain and exploded. It was a very messy explosion, as you can tell. But yeah, so we have the much anticipated make over's goin' on here and I hope I portrayed the girls correctly in clothes they might actually wear. Honestly though? Ann and Popuri were the most fun to dress up in my head. Ann is horribly tomboyish and Popuri girly, so it was fun to see them go in kinda opposite directions.

And I'm so glad that you are enjoying this fic and Take a Bow; I honestly didn't expect so many people to read and review the later, so it does this poor author good to know she accomplished her job. Anyways, next chapter will be better than this-I promise.

Reviews save lives. And help the author get her muse back.