Chapter 34

"Maaaaax!" Jaz yelled, knocking on the door. "It's time to go to the sleepover!"

My eyes widened. I'd forgotten all about that dumb sleepover. Glancing at Fang, I whispered, "Tell her I'm not here!"

Fang rolled his eyes at me, but unfortunately, Nudge was the first to reach the door. "Hi Jaz! Max is really excited about the sleepover!" I heard her say.

"No I'm noooot!" I shouted, running to the door and slamming it right in Jaz's face.

Nudge made a face at me. "What was that all about?"

"Shhh, I'm not here!" I told Nudge, then looked around for a place to hide.

"Max, I know you're in there!" Jaz called, banging on the door and ringing the doorbell about fifty times.

"I….have to get ready!" I shouted, then ran upstairs to my room and slammed the door and shoved my dresser in front of the door. I sat down on my floor, relieved. There was no way Jaz could force me into going now.

A tap at my window made me look up. Then there was another tap, and another. I ran to the window – I mean, it was on the second floor! Jaz couldn't get up here.

A rock hit the window right before I pulled it open. Oh. That was what had made the tapping.

"Hi, Max!" Jaz called, waving.

I groaned, slamming my palm into my forehead. "Jaz, I'm not going!"

"Yes, you are!" she insisted.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Nope. There's no way you can possibly make me go."

"Max, dinner is ready," Jeb's voice called from downstairs. I glared at Jaz one last time, shut the window, and made my way downstairs.

The problem here, though, was that Jeb wasn't even around. And there wasn't even any food to be seen anywhere.

I frowned, then noticed Gazzy, who was covering his mouth with his hands, stifling his laughter. I grimaced. Leave it to Gazzy to play one of his annoying mimicry jokes on me-

"Oh good, Max is ready to go!" Nudge cheered, grabbing my arm.

"Huh? I'm not going anywhere!" I protested. Jaz burst in through the door and grabbed my other arm.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed as they pulled me out to her mom's car –with some difficulty, as I kept struggling to get away from them.

"I doubt it," I muttered.

~~::~~

"Makeover time!" Daisy shrieked, holding up a pink plastic box filled with all sorts of makeup junk.

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. Okay, so Plan A – escape from Jaz and avoid the sleepover – had failed. Now I needed a way to escape the actual sleepover.

Jaz pried my hands away from my face. "I bet Max wants a makeover!"

My expression turned from annoyance to horror. "No, I don't!"

"Max, you would look so pretty with eyeliner!" Daisy told me, and a couple of the other girls nodded.

"No!" I protested, backing away, but Jaz grabbed my arm. "Come on, Max! It's fun to do makeup!"

I made a face at her. "No, it's not." Before I could get another word in, Daisy was practically lunging at me with a bright red lipstick in her hand.

I backed up right into the corner. There was no escape route except for the window, and I considered the problem of Which is worse: Getting a makeover or letting every girl in the fifth grade see my wings?

I didn't have time to ponder that problem because Jaz was already starting to apply blush to my cheeks while Daisy was pulling a pencil out of her makeup box.

My eyes widened. "What's that pencil for?" I asked as I shoved Jaz's hand out of my face.

"It's eyeliner!" Daisy informed me. "Now open your eyes wide."

I shook my head. "No! There's no way you're sticking a pencil in my eye-"

Too late. Daisy was already applying the eyeliner. "Don't blink!" she told me. "Don't even move."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. There was no way I was getting some dumb pencil stuck in my eye.

After Daisy finished one eye, I tried to escape, but all the girls were surrounding us now, blocking my escape route. Maybe they enjoyed watching someone get tortured.

"Mascara!" Daisy announced, applying some. I blinked about twenty times while she tried to apply it, so eventually she gave up halfway through applying it.

"One last thing- eye shadow!" Daisy said as she brushed something onto my eyelids. By now, I'd decided that I'd just run to the bathroom as soon as I could and wipe all the junk off my face.

"There!" she proclaimed, "All done!" She held up a mirror to my face as all the other girls oohed and aahed.

I peered into the mirror. The person I saw in the mirror was almost unrecognizable.

All of the makeup made me look much older – like an eighth grader, at least.

I stared in shock at my reflection for a moment. For once in my life, I looked like….a girl.

"AAAAAH!" I yelled, leaping up and running down the hall to the bathroom.