Clandestine

two

julia

Rosalina swipes a different shade of lipgloss on my lips. She takes a step back and squints at me. "What do you think?"

I shrug, "I thought the first one was good. I thought the second one was good. And I think this one is good too."

She sighs, "It's can't be just 'good'. It must be perfect. Do you know how difficult it is to match shades to your hair?"

I raise a hand to my hair. It is currently a bright blue, though that will probably change when the newest set of hair dyes come out.

I say, "Then it is perfect. My mother is going to be furious that I'm not at the dinner yet."

Carlotta speaks up from the corner of my room. She's slouched over one of my chairs, swiping through something on her phone. "Julia, do you really have to go to that thing? I heard there was a party on the Westside. Can we go there instead?"

I squint at her, "Are you crazy? You know who probably is hosting that city."

"The Tinsleys. Yeah, I know. But it would be fun. I know a couple girls that are going. They've been to one of those parties and they said it was crazy. Not the normal 'get super wasted and go home' party. There were acrobats and dancers and fire swallowers. Everything. It wasn't even that hard for them to get in. I'm sure we could sneak in and no one would even notice."

"But if my mother knew, she would kill me. You know how our family feels about the Tinsleys. And if the Tinsleys were to find out who I am, they would be furious. They are criminals. They would probably kill all of us and then parade our corpses through the party."

Carlotta rolls her eyes, "Has anyone ever told you that you exaggerate, just a little bit? The worst thing they would do to you is kick you out."

Rosalina sighs dramatically, "I don't care about what party we go to tonight. I just need to get Julia's lip gloss color right."

Carlotta closes her eyes and plunges her hand into Rosalina's overflowing bag of lipglosses. For one girl, Rosalina probably owns enough lip gloss for the entire population of Melior. Carlotta pulls a random gloss out of the bag and tosses it to Rosalina. Rosalina struggles to catch it, earning a laugh from Carlotta.

Rosalina peers at the lip gloss and turns up her nose, "Early Morning Plum? With Julia's blue hair? Are you serious?"

Carlotta says, "Just put it on her lips and let's go."

Rosalina huffs something under her breath and swipes it across my lips. I smile thankfully at Carlotta and stand, smoothing out my dress.

Rosalina fishes a lip gloss of her own out of her pocket and reapplies her own gloss. "So what party? The Tinsleys' or Julia's?"

"I can't go to the Tinsley party. I promised my mother that I would be at the dinner tonight. Even if I hadn't promise her, I'm pretty sure it's required that I go. It's a pretty big deal. Besides, you two promised that you would go with me to the party."

Carlotta shrugs and agrees to come along. Rosalina couldn't care less as long as she gets to show off her lip gloss.

We leave my room and walk down the stairs. Carlotta chatters about the new swimming team she's been following. She's hoping that she can try out and maybe gain a spot on the team. We both know that there's no reason for her to waste her time hoping. Carlotta could get on any swim team she wanted.

Rosalina talks about the latest fashion show she's taking a part in. Two pieces from her latest collection will be showed on some of the most famous models in the country.