The Girls Read Free

women could stand that feeling. But looking down at the long black hair falling all the way to my lap, I figured it was worth the discomfort to suddenly be someone new.
    Brianna pulled a red mass of curls over her own dark blond hair.
    â€œThere’s a kid in our homeroom with hair that color,” Candace said. “Darcy, what’s that girl’s name who sits next to me? Is it Nicole?”
    Darcy shrugged.
    â€œBut she wears it in a fabulous, thick braid. Not a poodle-do,” Candace said.
    â€œMaybe I should wear this mop to the audition,” Brianna said. “It’s a comedy, after all.”
    â€œAudition?” Candace whipped her wigged head around.
    â€œYeah,” Brianna said. “That group at the college that did that play last year? Tryouts are coming up again.”
    â€œWow!” I said. “I hope you get a part. We all loved it last year.”
    â€œI suppose it’s possible that lightning can strike the same place twice,” Candace said. I wondered what she meant by that. I looked over at her. She was pulling on a platinum blond wig. That’s my hair color! It was so weird seeing Candace in disguise, and weirder still to see her disguised as me ! Her dark eyebrows and long black lashes looked strange with my nearly white hair. The whole thing was like a bizarre dream.
    All the girls were themselves, but not—they looked so different in the wigs. Me too. I kept peeking in the mirror, wondering how my life would be if I really looked like that. I tossed my head, feeling the waves ripple down my back—longer, thicker, and even blacker than Candace’s.
    Darcy took off the blond corkscrew curls and was herself for a minute while she hunted through the wig pile. I didn’t want to try on a different one. Mine felt perfect.
    I watched Candace posing in front of the mirror like a fashion model, shoving her hips way forward the way they do in magazines. She put on a sulky pout, then a beauty queen grin, then that totally bored expression some models wear.
    Suddenly she gasped and in a squeaky bimbo voice said, “I never should have eaten that grape yesterday! Now I’m completely obese!” She started fake weeping.
    â€œI heard some models have their lower ribs removed,” Brianna said, “so their waists will look smaller.”
    â€œI thought they just made themselves throw up all the time,” Darcy said, pulling on a wig with short brown, wavy hair. She took one look in the mirror, then shrieked, “Hey, guys! Who do I look like?”
    â€œMAYA!” Candace called out, dissolving into hoots of laughter. Darcy pulled the wig off as if it were on fire and flung it across the room.
    Then Candace said, “Maya called me this morning,” casual as can be.
    â€œYou’re kidding!” Darcy gasped, eyes big and excited. “Did you tell her about my party?”
    Candace nodded. “I did. I said, ‘Well, Maya dear, honeycakes, sweetie pie, I’d just love to go to Magic Mountain with just about anyone else in the world besides YOU!’ Then I told her we were all celebrating her absence here today.”
    Brianna’s mouth fell open. Darcy snickered. You never know with Candace. Maybe she really did say that! But even if she didn’t say that, she probably said something. I winced. Now Maya knew why I didn’t go with her today.
    I did not tell them that Maya had called me too. I let my long black hair fall across my face to hide my squirm. What else could I do? I wanted to ask why they suddenly hated Maya, but wouldn’t that make me look stupid? Wouldn’t that make me look like I was on Maya’s side? Well, I thought, I am on her side. After all, she’s my friend.
    Candace put on the Maya wig and started nibbling on her fingers exactly the way Maya did. I felt like a traitor, watching her. She really did do a perfect imitation of Maya, even the expression on her face and her