Love Scenes by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Author:Susan Beth Pfeffer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497682863
Publisher: Open Road Media

9

Alison sat in front of the mirror in her dressing room and brushed her hair. Her muscles still ached from the tug-of-war and she had a bruise the size of a baseball on her right thigh that looked as though it would never go away. There were also the three broken fingernails and the small cut on her left cheek. She had no idea how she’d gotten cut, but she blamed it on Star Olympics anyway.

In short, she was a mess, but a rich one. Her mother had been thrilled with the additional income that Alison’s non-existent athletic abilities had provided them with.

“We’ll buy a new car,” her mother had said.

“We don’t need a new car,” Alison had replied. Eventually a compromise had been achieved where a substantial percentage of the winnings went into Alison’s family account to be used by her father for him and her brothers, part of the money went into Alison’s mother’s account, to be used in ways Alison didn’t want to know about, and whatever else remained went into Alison’s private account, to be held to pay the taxes on all the extra income. Anything that was left over, Alison got to keep.

“You only worked for two days,” her mother said. “I don’t know why you’re complaining.”

Alison looked at herself in the mirror and half sighed, half smiled. Only after the fight about the money had her mother even bothered to ask how she felt, and then she’d gotten hysterical about the cut on her cheek.

“What if it scars!” her mother had screamed. “Your face is your future. Without your looks, you’re nothing.”

If nothing else, her mother was consistent, Alison thought. If her mother had petted and spoiled her and bandaged her wounds, Alison would have assumed she’d stumbled into the wrong house. That was her image of how Miranda’s family was, or Bill’s, loving and concerned, and not likely to equate personal appearance with personal success. There were times when Alison envied Bill and Miranda for coming from those sorts of families, but for the most part, she didn’t mind her mother. At least she knew what to expect.

“Hi, Alison,” Susie Goldstein said, coming into the dressing room.

“Hi, Susie,” Alison said, brushed her hair, and went “Ouch,” as one of her aching muscles protested. She and Susie shared a dressing room, which was fine with her. No one else much liked Susie, but Alison felt a genuine fondness for her. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Susie said, more subdued than usual. Alison wondered if the other kids had been giving her a hard time, but didn’t want to ask.

“How was Star Olympics?” Susie asked, taking the seat next to Alison’s.

Alison laughed. “Want to see my war wounds?” she asked. “I have a black and blue mark on my leg that’s so ugly I can’t even look at it.”

“Ugh,” Susie said. “Do you think it’ll go away?”

“Eventually,” Alison replied. “In the meantime, I just won’t look at my right leg. I’ve always been a little queasy about bruises. My mother would get mad at me if I got any.

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