It was the end of the day, and the girls were feeling beautiful as ever.
Patricia walked out of the common room holding Eddies hand. They reluctantly said goodbye and Patricia walked towards the stairs, but Eddie sneaked back into the dinning room.
Fabian soon followed after say goodnight to Nina. Then Alfie and finally Jerome.
The girls were standing in the main hall and they began talking about their day.
"Ok, we're all smiling. I take it everyone else's day went better than they thought too." Joy said with a smile.
They all nodded with smiles of their own.
"Fabian was being the sweetest thing!" Nina cooed.
"So was Jerome! He was being so sweet." Joy said.
"Alfie was being really amazing too." Amber joined.
Patricia just stood there awkwardly watching them fawn.
Suddenly they all stopped and looked at Patricia.
"So how was your day Patricia?" Joy questioned.
"Actually a lot better then i thought it would be." She said with a smile.
"Jerome kept telling me I was gorgeous. I feel so pretty." Joy said.
"So did Eddie. He kept saying i was beautiful. I feel oddly pretty right now too." Patricia agreed.
Nina and Amber agreed too.
Amber picked up "Critique" and stared at he cover.
Maybe it's wrong. Maybe we don't need makeup to be pretty." Nina said.
"Maybe we don't." Patricia agreed.
Joy and Amber agreed.
The boys looked at each other and silently cheered. They did it!
Joy, Nina, and Amber started fawning again, but not Patricia. Patricia was putting pieces together.
"Wait a minute." Patricia said, interrupting their fawn.
"What?" Joy asked.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Patricia said.
"No, what?" Nina asked, still very confused.
"Think about it. The boys dared us to go a whole day without what we thought made us pretty, right?" Patricia began to explain.
"Yeah so?" Amber said.
"Then, they use the day to make us feel beautiful without it." Patricia continued to explain.
The boys could tell she was on to them.
"You had to date the clever one." Jerome mouthed over to Eddie as Patricia explained some more.
"I still don't see your point." Nina said, still bewildered.
"What if that was their plan the whole time?" Patricia went on. "They used the dare to-"
"Convince we're beautiful even without makeup." Joy said, completing her sentence.
"Exactly!" Patricia said, happy someone was following her.
"Would they really do that?" Nina asked.
"Alright, show of hands: Who fell for it, who did they convince?" Joy said, raising her hand.
Then Nina raised her hand. Amber followed and lastly Patricia reluctantly raised her hand.
The boys were happy they convinced them. But were they mad? Then, almost as if to answer their question, the girls went on...
"Should we be mad?" Patricia asked.
They all stared at each other for a moment before saying "No" in unison.
This was extremely good news for the boys. Not only did the girls know they were beautiful, but they knew they cared enough to do something like this for them.
"Should we tell them we know?" Amber asked
"No way!" Nina said.
"Why not?" Joy asked.
"What if we got it wrong!" Nina said.
"You didn't" the boys said appearing behind them.
The girls turned to face their boyfriends.
"So that was your plan?" Nina clarified.
"Yeah," the boys confirmed. "but that doesn't mean we didn't mean what we said."
"So why did you?" Amber asked what they were all wondering.
And so they told them the whole story of how they found the magazine, made the plan, and dared them.
"So, you found my magazine?" Patricia asked.
"Yeah, and we knew it was something you all read." Jerome answered.
"Why would you guys read that stuff?" Fabian said.
"Yeah. I why would you believe it?" Eddie added.
"Well we didn't use to..." Joy began
"But when you hear something enough..." Nina continued.
"It kinda starts sounding..." Amber added.
"True..." Patricia concluded.
"Well it's not. For any of you." Alfie said.
The smiles on their faces returned.
"So you aren't mad?" Jerome asked.
The girls looked at each other and nodded. They all took a step towards their boyfriends kissed them.
"I'll take that as a "no" then." Alfie said once they had pulled apart.
They all laughed and left the hall, leaving the "Critique" magazine in tatters on the floor.
