Chapter Seven
Veda doesn't stop talking the entire way to her room. She giggles and talks faster than anyone I've ever heard before. "So like I was saying, you're going to absolutely adore Alcibus. It's so great, almost as great as our new friendship is going to be!" And that's basically all she says, just phrasing it differently each time.
We finally reach her hole, which is almost double the size as Calix's. There's a bed to the left, which she plops down on when we walk in. A dresser and vanity next to it, and a loveseat to the right. Still the same dirt walls and flooring, but her room has small tufts of grass and blossoms poking out.
"I'm sorry if I sound a little over excited, I've never had any friends that are girls," Veda says. "Most of the girls down here are little slutty bitches," she whispers. She giggles and stands back up. Well, one of you can sleep on the chair over there and two of you can sleep on the floor, I have extra sheets and pillows you could use."
"How come your room is so much bigger than Calix's?" Dylis asks.
"That's 'cause he got himself into a little trouble, and he didn't really have any money to ever move or have it expanded, where as I did," she tells us. "Well we've got about a half hour until we have to get ready, and about another hour after that until we go." She giggles and claps her hands.
"Get ready for what, exactly?" Melina asks.
"To go to Par's! Oh you'll love it! And I have just the thing for each of you!" She runs over to the dresser and opens it up, then digs through piles of clothes, throwing them off to the side until she finds what she's looking for.
Veda pulls out a clump of dresses and dumps them on the bed. "Now, I will examine each of your eye, skin, and hair colors to determine what to do with your make up, hair, and outfit," she says.
"Wait, what?" I say. Make up and outfit? Who is this Par person?
"You'll see!" she jumps up and down giddily. "Oh, I am so excited!!" Then she takes a few deep breaths, trying to control her excitement. "Okay, so who's first?"
None of us speak, in fact I'm kind of nervous. I have no idea what we're 'getting ready' for, and frankly, I'm not a big fan of make up and dresses. We aren't allowed to wear make up back at school, and we have school uniforms. The only time we can wear what we want is on the weekends, which luckily, today is one, otherwise we'd all be stuck in little plaid skirts and gray polo shirts. Then we'd look really out of place.
"I'll choose one of you if you won't volunteer," Veda says, putting her hands on her hips. Just then Dylis gives in. "Okay, I'll go." "Perfect!"
She has Dylis stand in the part of the room that has the most light, then in the darkest part. She analyzes her face and hair, then has her sit down in front of the vanity. "Okay," Veda says, preparing her station. She sets out all different colors and kinds of make up; from lip gloss, to foundation, to mascara, everything. I didn't know a girl could own this much make up.
She works neatly and efficiently. And before a half hour is up, Dylis' hair and make up is complete. She looks stunning. Her hair is up in some sort of a braided bun and topped with a sparkly headband. Her lips shine with the shimmery lip gloss and her eyes look more defined with the eye make up. Wow, I guess the commercials weren't lying when they said that make up works wonders on people.
"Now, Melina. You're next!" Veda says. She repeats the same examination, but does a totally different make up job that suits her client. She puts on a light blue-green eyeshadow, which makes her eyes pop. Now I'm even more excited.
Once she's done with Melina's make up, she has me sit in front of the mirror. She takes my chin in her hand and turns my face from side to side. Then takes my hair and looks at it for a while. "I wish I had your hair color. Mine's just black," Veda says. "Thanks," I reply. She sets my hair down and gets her brushes ready. "Let's get rid of this innocent look," she says. I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I don't question her knowledge.
She applies a lot to my eyes, so I have them closed most of the time. I feel her pad the brushes and powders all over my face. "All done!" she says. I open my eyes and am shocked by what I see. There isn't a blemish in sight, even the little pimple bumps are hidden somehow. She put on heavy liquid eyeliner and black eyeshadow that fades out into my skin. My coppery hair is curled in a side ponytail. I appear flawless. "Oh my god..." I say. "Do you not like it?" Veda says, a bit hurt by my comment. "No, no, no! It's amazing! I thought I'd never look this pretty," I say. She puts her hand on my shoulder. "Oh, please. You are so pretty! Make up just makes everyone look even better!"
Veda (who already had her make up on) then selects about seven dresses from the pile and lays them out in front of us, two for each of us and one for her. "These are the dresses that suit your look best," she says. "I've already done so much to you I thought I'd let you pick the actual dress. I just hope they're your size." She smiles, then blinks noticeably harder. A door closes behind us. I guess everyone can do that down here.
She begins changing while we decide on our dresses. Before me there are two dresses: one is black and strapless, and fairly short; the other is mint green and has spaghetti straps, and is one of those high-low dresses.
"Oh shoot!" Veda says, now in a purple dress that matches her eyes. "I forgot! I need to change your eye colors! How could I have forgotten?"
"It's okay, we don't mind..." Dylis says. She sounds a bit unsettled. Change our eye color?
"No, nobody has brown eyes down here. Melina's fine because her eyes are blue. But you two are going to have to switch. I've never seen anybody with brown eyes, how could I not have noticed? People don't have brown eyes, well because all the dirt surrounding us is brown. I have some contacts in here somewhere..." she says, beginning to dig through a drawer.
"Wait, so people's eyes aren't naturally those colors?" Melina asks.
"No, they're natural. Every person has their own distinct feature about their eyes. But none are brown." She pulls out about fifteen contacts cases. "I don't have them labeled, I just hope they go with your make up..." She passes out one to each of us.
"But I already wear contacts," Dylis says. "I won't be able to see."
"These contacts give you perfect vision. Just stick it in your eye, you don't feel a thing."
Dylis shrugs and takes out her real contacts and sets them into her contacts case that she had in her pocket. Then pokes the other contacts right in. She blinks a few times. Now her eyes are bright green. She looks in the mirror. "Whoa!" "I told you! Now you go Liliya."
I open the case and put one of the contacts on my finger. I use my other hand to force my other eye not to close. The first one's in. I repeat and both contacts slide around in my eyes until they settle on my iris. They didn't sting like I thought they would, but actually soothes my eyes. I look over in the mirror, and my eyes are gold with black speckled throughout.
"Well I certainly do not remember buying that color," Veda says. "Don't worry, I'd tell you if you didn't look good with it though. But now the mint dress is out of the question." She throws that one back into the dresser. "Looks like you're wearing the black one." Strapless it is, I guess...
The dress fits perfectly, but I keep having the urge to pull the skirt of it lower. It stops mid-thigh, whereas our school skirts were knee length. "Quit tugging on it!" Veda constantly says while she paints our nails. "This is like the ultimate girls' day, I've never felt so pampered," Dylis says. "Oh please," Veda replies. "I do this like everyday. Wait till you see the shopping center! Of course we can't go tonight, since we're going to Par's, but still. It's a-maz-ing!"
"When do we actually get to know who or what Par is?" I ask.
"You'll see when we get there," she says, blowing on our nails. "There. They should be dry now."
She just painted them a second ago, and only blew on them once. I touch my thumb nail, and it's completely dry. Another magic trick thing I assume. "You guys don't have to wear shoes if you don't want to," she says. Good, I don't have any anymore anyway. Veda grabs a few more contacts cases and throws them in her clutch bag. "Just in case your other friends need them," she says. Then we walk out of her room, and continue on to a place none of us except Veda knows.