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Both girls with me didn’t help ease my nerves either. They were right in my face, looking as solemn and severe as ever. Xander’s chin was perched over Oaklynn’s shoulder, as she watched every move Oaklynn made.

Oaklynn bit her lip. “What do you think?”

Xander wrinkled her nose, then tipped her head as she studied me. “Can we angle it a little more so it gets longer as it gets closer to the rest of her hair?”

“Ooh. Good idea.” Oaklynn brought the scissors close again.

A handful of snips later, she pulled back once more.

Both women blinked at me before Xander breathed, “Holy shit.”

“Oh my God, what?” I demanded and whirled to find a mirror. But when I did, I pulled up short. Lifting my hands to my cheeks to make sure it was really my own reflection I was looking at, I breathed, “Holy shit.”

Oaklynn nodded her agreement. “I suddenly see how no one could figure out Clark Kent was Superman.”

Still touching my face and gaping at myself, I said, “I’m…pretty.”

“Oh, whatever.” Xander nudged my arm and rolled her eyes. “You’ve always been pretty.”

I shook my head, not agreeing, but neither girl cared.

“Seriously, have her lips always been that…full?” Oaklynn asked, glancing at Xander in question.

“I mean.” Xander lifted her hands cluelessly. “They had to have been. Right?”

“We are totally capitalizing on them,” Oaklynn decided with a flourish as she swept toward a counter full of Xander’s makeup. “If we shiny them up with a bit of gloss, those things are going to pop like nobody’s business.”

“And smoky eyeshadow too, don’t you think?” Xander asked, rushing to follow her.

“With eyes as deep brown as hers?” Oaklynn snorted. “Definitely.”

Another ten minutes passed as the two sat me down in a chair and hovered over my face, applying all kinds of things that had never touched my skin before.

Makeup just hadn’t been much of an interest for me.

But after the giddy way Oaklynn and Xander kept congratulating each other, I was beginning to get curious.

Both girls were talkers, so I wasn’t required to join their conversation as they worked. It relaxed me enough that I actually added a word or two on my own every once in a while, though. I was pretty freaking proud of myself, to be honest. I acted almost… normal around them.

When they finally finished and gave each other a smug nod of approval, I pushed from my chair to look at the finished product, only for a breathless, panting Hope to dash through the doorway, announcing, “Okay, I brought three different outfits for—holy shit.”

She pulled up short to blink at me. Then she gaped at the other two. “What did you do to her?”

“What can I say?” Making a show of breathing on her knuckles and buffing them off against the front of her shoulder, Xander announced, “We’re awesome.”

Hope took two slow steps toward me and asked, “Waverly? Is that really you?”

“Well, now I have to see.” I turned to face the mirror.

But Xander caught my arm, stopping me before I could behold for myself what they’d done. “Let’s wait until you’re completely done with the outfit and everything before you take in the final result.”

“Why?” I demanded suspiciously. “What’s wrong?”

“Not a damn thing!” She bounced her eyebrows happily. “Just trust me.”

I winced but let it drop even as a fresh quiver of anxiety bloomed in my belly. I couldn’t be as apathetic about this as I wanted to be.

“So what did you bring?” Oaklynn asked Hope, and the three of them huddled together discussing their options without asking for any input from me. Every few seconds, one would glance over to study my complexion and height before going back to their conference.

When they finally came to a decision, the three turned as one, looking proud and expectant before Hope stepped forward and handed me a top and a skirt attached to two hangers.

“Go ahead and change in the bathroom,” she said, nodding her head toward the hall bathroom that Alec had emerged from earlier.

I nodded and eyed the other two who smiled back in encouragement. Then I took the clothes and stepped from Xander’s room.

The air was still damp from Alec’s recent shower, and the mirror was fogged, so I changed quickly to escape the humidity.

I didn’t pause long enough to really study what I was putting on.

The skirt was short, and I felt a breeze flow up it, which made me shiver.

The emerald green top was probably super snug on Hope, but it was pleasantly loose on me.

I couldn’t hide the straps of my bra while wearing it, though, so I just shed the bra altogether.

Once dressed, I tiptoed barefoot back to Xander’s room, glancing toward the stairs as I went, unable to help but wonder what Keene was doing down there right now.

Clutching my bundled street clothes to my chest, I entered the room, where Hope, Xander, and Oaklynn stared at me without speaking.

“What?” I finally asked, glancing down at myself.

Hope turned to the other two, demanding, “Where the hell did those legs come from? Have they always been that long?”

“I…” Oaklynn shook her head, at a complete loss for words.

Xander glowed proudly and set her hands up by her mouth. “She’s breathtaking.”

I glanced down at myself, not seeing whatever they seemed to see. So I started for the mirror again, only for Xander to dash forward, intercepting me. “Shoes,” she cried. “She needs shoes.”

The other two paused. Finally, Hope said, “Can you wear heels?”

I snorted in response. Not in this lifetime, I couldn’t.

“What size are you?” Xander asked.

“Seven, seven and a half,” I answered.

Oaklynn held up a finger. “I have the perfect flats. Be right back.”

Seconds later, she returned with a pair of silvery shoes. I slid them on, and all three women beamed.

“That’s it,” Xander decided. “That is it. She’s perfect.”

She finally stepped aside to stop guarding the mirror so I could have a look at myself.

I shifted forward nervously, only to stop and gawk. I didn’t even look like me. I had no idea how they’d been able to transform me into a completely different person, but it almost felt as if I were wearing a mask. Slowly, I lifted my hand to my face and whispered, “That’s really me?”

Xander clutched my shoulders from behind. “That’s you, hon,” she murmured in approval.

I glanced at her, and she nodded proudly.

Just as I turned toward the others, a male voice called, “Oaklynn?” followed by footsteps jogging up the stairs.

“In here,” she said, moving toward the door so she could meet her boyfriend, Damien, when he appeared at the entrance.

“Hey.” He grinned down at her with an appreciative glance at the outfit she was wearing before he added, “The guys and I are going to pick up the kegs now. You want anything?”

Reaching up to trace her fingers along his jaw in a loving caress, she kissed his mouth before answering, “Just whatever Hudson uses to make his special brew.”

He winked. “You got it.” Glancing at the rest of us, he asked, “Any other requests?”

Hope and Xander both shook their heads because alcohol was out for them since they’d both been involved in that liver transplant four months before.

Damien turned his attention to me, only to furrow his brow in confusion. “Hey,” he said, waving in greeting as he shied closer to Oaklynn. “I’m Damien.”

“Babe.” Oaklynn nudged his arm as if scolding him, and he squinted at her in question. “It’s Waverly,” she said. When that name held no meaning for him, she rolled her eyes and motioned toward me more aggressively. “ Library Girl .”

His eyes widened as his attention swung back to me. “Holy shit.”

I winced and eased a step back, not exactly comforted by the stunned way he gaped at me.

“I know,” Oaklynn said, bouncing on her toes as if she approved of his stare. “Can you believe she was hiding all that right in plain sight?”

“Yo, man, what’s the holdup?” a new voice asked before another guy filled the second half of the doorway behind Damien.

Immediately scowling, Parker Ohrley sniffed the air before announcing, “It smells like trouble in here.” His gaze veered directly to Hope. “God. What the fuck did you do this time?”

“Wow,” she scoffed. “You are so paranoid.” Motioning to me, she asked, “So what do you think?”

He glanced over, skimmed his gaze over me without really seeing anything, and then he turned back to Hope with a confused frown. “What am I supposed to be looking at here?”

“You’re supposed to be looking at Waverly ,” she said, jabbing both hands my way to emphasize me the same way Oaklynn had to Damien.

“Wave—?” He scowled harder, searching for me in the crowd before finally settling his gaze on me. His eyebrows furrowed before he turned back to his girlfriend and repeated, “What the fuck did you do?”

“Hey!” Hope cried in defense. “I didn’t do anything. Xander and Oaklynn were the ones who decided to give her a makeover.”

Parker arched a brow in disagreement before glancing back at my outfit. “I distinctly remember peeling that very shirt off you last week. And that skirt the week before. She’s in your clothes, darlin’, and yet you’re claiming no responsibility for this?”

“I mean, okay, the clothes are mine,” Hope relented with a sigh.

“But the rest was done before I got here. Don’t you just love her hair, though?

” Stepping closer, she reached out to run her fingers jealously over my locks.

“These bangs really bring out the soft lines of her face, don’t you think? It’s making me want bangs now.”

Turning back to me, Parker studied me for a moment before moving forward. “Are you okay with this?” he asked, speaking directly to me.

He was the only person in the room who knew what kind of past I had, and it made me want to squirm uncomfortably.

He made it worse by saying, “Guys are going to hit on you. Maybe a lot of them. Are you ready for that ?”

I swallowed thickly, not ready at all.

But Xander stepped up next to me and hooked her arm through mine in solidarity. “She’s going to love it. It’ll be awesome. Besides, I’ll be with her all night. I won’t leave her side. Not once. She’ll be fine.”

“And I’ll help out when Xander has to step away,” Hope answered, appearing at my other side.

Parker heaved out a breath like a hesitant father who was too afraid to let his daughter go on her first date. His eyes never left mine as he waited for me to reply.

I inclined my head to reassure him. “I’ll be fine.” Even though I was growing more nervous and not fine by the second.

From the doorway, Damien said, “We’ll have to put a leash on Dugger to keep him away from her.”

Parker scoffed. “We’d have to fucking neuter Dugger to keep him away from this.”

Xander waved an unconcerned hand. “Oh, whatever. Keene’s harmless.

” Tipping her head toward me, she assured, “He might flirt shamelessly and not know how to stop, but he’s never laid an inappropriate hand on me.

Not once. All you gotta do is reject him a single time, and he’ll respect your boundaries.

I mean, he’ll still talk the talk, but that’s it. Don’t worry about Keene .”

Yeah, but what if I didn’t want to reject him? Did I worry then?

Because the idea of Keene being drawn to my makeover made my stomach flutter with a sick but thrilling anticipation. I had a sudden, terrifying thought that this party just might change the rest of my life.

What was worse… I think I wanted it to.