Page 14 of Witch You Would
“No way, too expensive. I don’t go to the beach unless I have to.”
“You don’t like the ocean?” Amy asked. Her voice was high and sweet.
“It’s okay to look at,” I said. “The sand, though, yuck. Gets all up in everywhere.”
Felicia made a disgusted noise. Quentin laughed nervously, his cheeks turning pink, and I realized what I’d just implied.Ah! Subject change, go.
“Do you know who you’re partnered with?” I asked.
“Nope,” Quentin said.
“Isn’t it a secret?” Amy added.
Dylan hmmed, then said, “I bet we don’t find out until we’re on camera.” His voice sounded like it should come out of a subwoofer.
“I hope I get Jaya Kamath,” Amy said, fiddling with a charm hanging from her necklace. “I love her show.”
Before I could do a magical girl transformation into a Charlotte Sharp fangirl, Little Manny reappeared. “Penelope, hair and makeup time.”
I shoved my suitcase and backpack against the wall, then followed him to another one of the offices. Hair and makeup consistedof folding tables, folding chairs, and floor-length mirrors propped against the wall. More mirrors sat on the tables, thekind that magnified your face so you could count your pores. Two people, mid-chisme, stopped and stared at me with identical,unreadable expressions.
“This is Fina and Bruno,” Little Manny said.
Fina reminded me of my tía Maria: soft and curvy, with a cheek-pinching vibe. Her magenta hair was pulled back so tight itmade my scalp hurt. Bruno was a young reincarnation of Walter Mercado, down to the blond hair and arched eyebrows.
“Mija, that shirt,” Bruno said. “It’s like a rubber duck.”
“Increíble,” Fina agreed.
I winced. “I have other shirts in my suitcase—”
“No, we can work with this,” Fina said, tapping her bright red lips with one long acrylic fingernail. “If wardrobe hates it,they’ll fix you.”
“It will pop on camera,” Bruno added.
It would also be partly hidden by one of my work aprons, thankfully.
“What is it you do, mija?” Fina asked.
“I work in a store. Like, a botánica? As a spell technician.”
“Sounds nerdy.” Bruno waved his hand in a circle at me. “Turn around and take down your hair.”
I obeyed, shoving the hair tie in my pocket. Bruno and Fina sucked their teeth.
“When was the last time you cut it?” Bruno asked.
I had no idea. They muttered about split ends and hair products while I avoided looking at my reflection.
“Do the sloppy albóndigas,” Fina said. “We’ll go, cómo se dice, hipster.”
Hipster? Oh no. And what did meatballs have to do with hair?
They combed, yanked, pinned, and sprayed my curls into submission. Makeup followed, airbrushed foundation and eyeliner andmascara and blush, plus eyeshadow and lipstick in colors way more exciting than I would have picked. The meatballs turnedout to be a pair of messy buns perched near the top of my head.
“What do you think?” Fina asked.
“Awesome!” Not. I looked like an anime character, which wouldn’t be a huge deal except that Charlotte Sharp would never takeme seriously.
