ful scholarship, Susan stole her thunder by getting the lead in the school musical. Their parents paid Susan’s way through colege, while Marge earned hers through hard work and dedication.
How she hated her sister for everything great that fel into her lap! That is until Susan died in the car crash. She should have felt sad. Instead she was happy not to have to hear how perfect her sister’s world was. But now Marge was stuck raising Libby, another slap in the face.
“But Libby has been through a traumatic time. She’s literaly lost her family. She needs as many normal teenage experiences as possible. She doesn’t have a job, she doesn’t have a driver’s license. Al these things are important to a young person’s development.”
“Driving costs money and she’s already a financial drain.
Now you want me to give her money to buy a fancy dress?” Marge crossed her arms, time to shut this woman down.
Julie Orman stepped away and into the kitchen, taking in the flies flitting around old fast food containers. She opened the bare refrigerator, revealing dried up food on plates along side a few bottles of forgotten condiments.
“Don’t worry about a dress, I’l take care of it.” She shut the fridge door.
“You can’t come in here and tel me what to do. I’m her legal guardian. I know how kids her age act. Once you let them loose, there’s no stopping them. She’l end up knocked-up, just like her mother.” Her sister wasn’t actualy pregnant until she was twenty-two and engaged, but the hoity-toity school woman didn’t need to know.
“I’l be chaperoning the dance, so she’l be with me the entire time. I’l pick her up that afternoon and return her home after the dance. You don’t need to do a thing.”
Stubborn bitch, wouldn’t back off.
The two women stood their ground, Marge in her dirty work clothes and Miss Orman in her pressed blouse and slacks. Both refused to look away.
“Has the social worker done a home visit recently?” Julie’s eyes lit in chalenge.
Marge’s blood boiled. These school people thought they could intrude wherever they wanted, al in the name of a child’s welfare. She buckled. “Fine, take her, but I’m not giving her a dime.”
A smirk on her perfect face, Julie stepped to open the front door. “Thank you. Libby wil be in good hands.” Marge folowed. “One more thing. Don’t ever step on my property again.” She slammed the aging door.
Chapter 12
“Hair up or down?”
Libby perched on a kitchen stool in the smal bathroom of Miss Orman’s apartment. Hair and makeup paraphernalia cluttered the tiny counter.
“Both,” she answered. “I want the front and sides up and then the back to fal in a bunch of curls. Can we do that?”
“We can do anything.” Miss Orman studied Libby’s long hair, determining how best to begin.
Sitting together, in front of the giant mirror, reminded Libby of the times she watched her mother get ready for special parties with her dad. She and Sarah would sit on the counter and laundry hamper playing with her mom’s cosmetics. They laughed and teased each other as Mom artfuly applied makeup, occasionaly brushing blush on their faces or spritzing them with perfume.
Miss Orman brushed through Libby’s hair; her summer highlights stil shimmered. Libby closed her eyes and imagined it was Mom who held the brush and hummed as she worked. Perhaps she peered down from the heavens to guide Libby through this memorable day.
“Have you decided which dress?”
Miss Orman had borrowed two dresses from a friend’s daughter. Libby didn’t care if she wore a used dress; she was ecstatic to be going. Plus the dresses were beautiful.
“I like the pink and brown one.” It fit close to her body and then flowed loosely over her hips and legs. She transformed into a beautiful girl when she tried it on. The top tied behind her neck like a halter top and revealed her back. The front showed just the right amount of cleavage.
“That’s my favorite too. I like how the patterns swirl together.
Plus, you look amazing in it. Any boy would be crazy not to fal at your feet.” Miss Orman used the curling iron on Libby’s long locks.
“You think so?” Libby blushed, but for once it was out of excitement instead of humiliation.
She wondered what it would be like to spend an entire evening with Peter, dancing in his arms and letting the world see they belonged together. After losing her family she gave up on her dreams, but now, with