Beauty's Only Skin Deep

by Sunshine G. Bruno

  Beauty’s Only Skin Deep

  Copyright © 2018 by Bruno & Brown Press

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2017

  Second Printing, 2018

  ISBN 978-1-7321238-1-6

  www.sunshinegbruno.com

  Books also written by the author:

  Kill the DJ

  Election Year 2050 (April 10th, 2018)

  Chapter 1

  Lauren-Anne

  I walked up to the building nervously, clutching my rosary. White Grimm High School. I’d be spending nearly every day here for the next four years. I might as well make the best of it.

  “Lauren! Lauren-Anne!”

  I turned around. My best friend, Meg, was running toward me.

  I grinned. “Meg! Hi! How was your summer?”

  Meg and I had been best friends since kindergarten. Despite that, we had never hung out during the summer. On the day after summer break started, Meg and her family would leave for the Hamptons. They wouldn’t come back until the day before school started.

  “Oh, it was fine.” She smiled as she said, “I had a boyfriend while I was there.”

  “What? Oh my gosh, tell me everything!”

  “Once we find somewhere to sit. I don’t want anyone to hear. I don’t need any kind of reputation on my first day of high school.”

  “Ok, tell me at Penny’s after school.”

  Meg nodded. “Alright.”

  We stood next to each other and stared at the big building in front of us.

  I looked at Meg. “Are you ready?” I asked.

  Meg shrugged. “I have no choice, do I?”

  I smiled as I shook my head.

  “Alright then, let’s go.”

  And with that we entered the building, merging into the crowd of hundreds of students.

  Brittany

  As the bus pulled up to the curb, I gaped at the gigantic brick building in front of me. Above the front doors, there was a plaque that said, “White Grimm High School”. I watched as all the students seemed to walk in pairs or groups. There wasn’t a single student walking alone. White Grimm was a small town. Apparently, there were less than twelve hundred people living here. I was probably the only new student.

  Not paying attention, I backed up off the seat. I bumped into someone.

  “Hey, watch it!”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  The girl’s look softened as she said, “I’ve never seen you around before. What’s your name?”

  “Brittany,” I answered.

  “I’m Tiffany,” She stepped back to let me get off the bus in front of her.

  “Nice to meet you, Tiffany.”

  “Are you new?”

  I nodded.

  “Where are you from?”

  “Los Angeles.”

  Tiffany looked elated as she said, “Los Angeles? Wow, that’s great! I’ve never met anyone from California. Most of the students were born here. We’ve all known each other since kindergarten.”

  “Great,” I said sarcastically. My worst fear had been realized.

  “Hey, if you need someone to eat lunch with or something come find me, ok?”

  I smiled. “Alright, I will.”

  Tiffany smiled back as she said, “I’ve got to go. Bye.”

  Tiffany

  As I walked away from Brittany, the new girl, I thought about what I had just done. My friends and I had been the most popular girls in school for the last two years. We weren’t the type to invite the new kid to sit with us. But that had been junior high. We were high school freshmen now. We were at the bottom of the food chain. Brittany was pretty and we needed all the help we could get.

  I walked over to my friends, Judy and Betty, and asked, “Have you figured it out yet?”

  “Figured out what?” Betty asked.

  “What Judy and I talked about on the phone last night.” I turned to Judy. “Judy, I told you to call Betty after we got off the phone last night!”

  “I’m sorry. I forgot,” Judy told me.

  I sighed. I was exhausted even though it was only 8:50 am. “Last night I told Judy that her and you need to find out who the most popular girls in the school are. That way we can become friends with them, and as a result, we are also the most popular girls in school.”

  “Oh, that’s a clever idea,” Betty said.

  Judy pointed to two girls standing by the auditorium doors and said, “I think that it might be those two. Everyone keeps looking at them and a few people went up to talk to them. Besides, look at how beautiful they are.”

  I nodded. They were beautiful. I immediately decided that I didn’t like them.

  Judy said, “Alright, so we’ll observe them for a few days. Make sure that they really are the most popular girls. Then we’ll figure out a way to hang out with them. Right, Tiffany?”

  I shook my head. We didn’t need to observe them. I already knew that they were the most popular girls. It was obvious. I could tell that they were. And I told Judy and Betty that.

  “What do you mean you can tell?” Betty asked.

  “Look at them. Everyone loves them.”

  Betty nodded slowly as she said, “I love them and I don’t even know them.”

  “I know, me too!” Judy agreed.

  This wasn’t right. My friends weren’t supposed to like these girls more than me. But even as I told myself that I hated them, I could feel a growing admiration for them.

  Suddenly the auditorium doors opened.

  “Come on, ladies. Let’s make our entrance and show White Grimm High School just how great we are.” I said as I positioned myself between Judy and Betty.

  Meg

  Lauren-Anne and I took our seats in the middle of the auditorium. We weren’t like the teachers’ pets, who liked to get front row seats, but we weren’t like the cool kids who sat in the back rows either.

  Everyone around us was chattering excitedly, catching up with friends. When I say “friends” I mean the kids that you like, but don’t like enough to hang out with outside of school.

  Everyone grew quiet as a woman walked toward the stage. I could see why. This lady looked mean. Even so, she had a strange beauty about her.

  “Good morning, White Grimm High School. Welcome to the school year of 1955 and 1956. I am your principal, Ms. Ruffinio.”

  Oh boy. No wonder everyone had stopped talking so quickly. Ms. Ruffinio was supposedly evil. She paddled kids for the smallest reasons. If she caught you running in the hall, you’d get the paddle. If she found out you didn’t bring your homework or textbook to class? Paddle. If you talked during an assembly? Paddle. If you talked while she was talking during an assembly? You’d get the paddle ten times.

  There was also something extremely suspicious about her. She had been married three times. All three of her husbands had died mysterious deaths.

  Ms. Ruffinio talked for a long time. Mostly about rules of the school and what was expected of the students. After a while, she said, “Now a word from two of my favorite students. Welcome, Marylin and Beverly, the founders of the Charm Club!”

  The auditorium exploded into applause. I looked at Lauren-Anne curiously. What was so special about these girls? I mean, sure, they were beautiful. But that was about it.

  “See? I told you everyone loves them.”

  I turned around to see Tiffany Thomas talking to Betty Rhodes and Judy Stipes.

  Judy nodded. “We should try to sit with them at lunch.”
>
  “Yeah, the thing about that is I told some new girl she could sit with us at lunch.”

  “What?” Judy cried.

  I turned back around when Betty glared at me, clearly telling me to mind my own business.

  There was a new girl? We hadn’t had a new kid in town for years. If there had been a new kid everyone would have known. After all, there were only three schools in White Grimm. The elementary school, the junior high school, and the high school. And why would Tiffany invite her to sit with them? Tiffany wasn’t the kind of girl to invite anyone, let alone a new kid, to sit with her.

  “Welcome back everybody and welcome freshmen.” One of the girls said. “For those of you who don’t know us, I’m Beverly, and this is Marylin.” She pointed at the girl next to her. “As you all know, White Grimm High School opened four years ago, my classmates and I were the first freshmen in the school. We had never been in a high school before, so it was up to us to shape this high school and make it the way we thought a high school should be.”

  Marylin spoke next, saying, “During our first week of high school Beverly and I decided that we wanted to find model students. Students that showed how every high schooler should be. And that’s how we created the Charm Club. Girls in the Charm Club should have beauty, poise, grace, and be well-mannered.”

  I tried not to laugh. Obviously, they didn’t have to be smart if they thought that poise and grace were two different things.

  “We had students from every class joining. Everyone wanted to be a part of the Charm Club. However, we could only take in so many students.” Marylin pointed to a group of girls in the front row. They stood up and waved to the rest of the auditorium as she said, “These are the girls who joined us last year. And every year, after the seniors in the club graduate, we have room for new girls to join. This year we have four spots available. We’ll be taking applications all week, and on Friday night we will call you to let you know if you’re in.”

  In unison, Beverly and Marylin said, “Thank you, and stay charming!”

  Ms. Ruffinio took the microphone back from Beverly and Marylin and said, “Thank you, ladies. I see many wonderful young ladies in the sea of students this year, and I look forward to seeing you at the first meeting.”

  I looked at Lauren-Ann. Ms. Ruffinio was in the Charm Club?

  “Schedules are being handed out outside. Find the table serving the students whose last name starts with the same letter as yours. Thank you.”

  As we got up to go find out what our schedules were, Lauren-Anne asked me, “What was that all about?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

  Chapter 2

  Lauren-Anne

  After I got my schedule I made my way to homeroom. When I walked in, I saw notecards taped to each desk. They were last names.

  “Assigned seating in homeroom?” Someone whined.

  “We didn’t have that last year,” Someone else said.

  Since I was a freshman, I wasn’t sure if this was something I should be angry about. So, I kept my mouth shut.

  I took my seat next to one of the girls I recognized from the Charm Club.

  She turned to face me. “Hi, I’m Margaret. What’s your name?”

  “Lauren-Anne,” I answered.

  “Oh, that’s a pretty name. Are you thinking about joining the Charm Club? Because you should.”

  “No.”

  “Why not? You’re really pretty.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not really into that kind of thing, you know?”

  “You’re not into being the best that you can be?” Margaret asked.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll introduce you to Beverly and Marylin.”

  Before I could tell her not to bother, the teacher walked into the room, abruptly ending our discussion.

  Meg and I found each other at lunch, and I told her about my encounter with Margaret.

  “That’s strange,” Meg told me. “Especially because I met another one of the Charm Club members in the hallway on the way here. She asked me for my name and said she’d send Beverly and Marylin to find me later.”

  I thought that it was a little strange, but that was all I really thought of it.

  Brittany

  I hadn’t made any friends by lunch. Of course not. I was the new girl. The outsider. So, at lunch, I searched for Tiffany. When I couldn’t find her I started asking other kids if they knew where she was. No one did. After asking a few kids, I saw the Charm Club sitting at a table in the center of the cafeteria. They seemed nice enough, so I thought I’d ask them if they knew who Tiffany was and if they did, where she was.

  “Excuse me?” I approached the table.

  Beverly looked up at me. “Hi, did you come to sign up for the Charm Club?”

  “N-no. I was just wondering if you know Tiffany?”

  “What’s her last name?”

  “I’m not sure. Um, I think she’s a freshman.”

  “Oh, I don’t know any freshmen.” Beverly turned to the rest of the Charm Club. “Do you guys?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “Sorry,” Marylin said.

  “That’s alright. Thanks anyway.”

  Beverly called, “Hey, wait! Do you have anyone to sit with?”

  I shook my head.

  “Come sit with us!”

  I smiled. “Alright.”

  I sat down and spent the lunch talking with everyone in the Charm Club. I actually liked them. They weren’t the stuck-up snobs that I thought they were going to be. In fact, they were really nice.

  At the end of lunch, Marylin asked, “Brittany, are you sure you don’t want to be part of the Charm Club? Because if you do, you have the spot.”

  I thought about it for a moment. I’d have a spot for lunch, I’d have built-in friends, and one of the girls had said that the Charm Club meets three times a week, including on the weekends. I’d have something to do after school!

  I nodded. “I’ll join.”

  Tiffany

  “It’s settled.” I said. “The three of us will join the Charm Club. And Brittany, if she wants to be friends with us.”

  “I don’t get why you’re being so nice to the new girl,” Betty said.

  “I saw her.” Judy told me. “You only want her to be our friend because she’s pretty, don’t you?”

  I shrugged. “She would help us get in with the popular girls. And she’s from California. I’ve never met anyone from California! She seems pretty cool.”

  “Hey, isn’t that her?” Judy asked.

  I turned around and looked in the direction Judy was pointing. Sure enough, Brittany was sitting at the Charm Club’s table.

  “Looks like she thinks she’s better than you,” Betty laughed.

  “If she thinks that then she obviously thinks that she’s better than you too,” I snapped.

  “Gee, I was just kidding,” Betty held her hands up in defense.

  I sighed through my nose. I was nice to Brittany and this was how she thanked me? “Judy!”

  “What?”

  “Go get Charm Club applications.” I demanded. “Three of them.”

  “Ok. Gosh.” As Judy walked away she muttered, “No need to be so mean.”

  I might have been being mean, but I didn’t care. This was not how the first day of high school was supposed to go.

  When Judy came back with the applications I said, “Alright, fill them out. Lie if you need to. We are getting into that club.”

  Meg

  After school Lauren-Anne and I met at Penny’s Diner.

  “Alright, tell me everything about this mystery boyfriend,” Lauren-Anne said.

  “His name is Adam and we met on Independence Day.” I told her. “We danced under the fireworks and stars. It was dreamy. And we spent all of July and August together. Every night. He had a job, so he had money to take me out. Ready for the best part?”

  “What? Tell m
e!”

  “He had a car!”

  “He’s an older guy?” Lauren-Anne asked loudly.

  I nodded. “But be quiet. I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

  “Alright, sorry. But wow, how scandalous!”

  I shrugged. “He’s only sixteen.”

  “Are you going to keep in touch?”

  “Yeah. We’re going to write to each other. I write to him one Sunday and he writes to me the next. That way we should have received each other’s letters by the time it’s our turn to write.”

  “Aw, that’s so cute! Meg, I’m so happy for you!”

  Suddenly a girl said, “Lauren-Anne! There you are!” She grabbed Lauren-Anne’s arm and shouted, “Marylin! Beverly!”

  “Oh, Margaret. Hi,” Lauren-Anne said.

  Margaret turned to Beverly and Marylin, who came up behind her. “Ladies, this is Lauren-Anne. The girl from my homeroom. I told you she’d be here.”

  “How’d you know that?” Lauren-Anne asked.

  Margaret smiled. “You told me, silly.”

  Lauren-Anne looked perplexed as she said, “No, I didn’t.”

  “You must have, otherwise I wouldn’t have known where to find you.”

  Lauren-Anne still looked confused, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Here, let me look at you.” Marylin said, taking Lauren-Anne’s face in her hands. “Oh my, you are absolutely beautiful. Please say you’ll join our club!”

  “I-I don’t-”

  “Oh! And you!” Beverly grabbed my face. “You’re beautiful, too!”

  “You are!” Marylin agreed.

  “No one has ever told me that before,” I said.

  “Oh, that’s because you aren’t showcasing your beauty. If you join the Charm Club, we can show you how to do your hair and makeup. We’ll also show you what to wear. Please say you’ll both join!”

  As they stared at me I could feel something inside of me urging me to say yes. Even though I never thought I would have joined a beauty club in a thousand years, I still said yes. I think I shocked everyone there. I certainly shocked myself. And I was shocked again when Lauren-Anne said, “I’ll join too.”

  Chapter 3

  Lauren-Anne