Chapter
Thirteen
Public
Snubbing
The
evening of homecoming dance, Shiloh and Paige piled into the SUV with their
sisters. There had been a lot of racing between floors of their house in
Sunrise with the younger girls (particularly Rebel and Sia) screeching over a
lack of bathrooms (the Bennets only had two). As usual, Shiloh had showered
quickly and gone to her room to fix her hair and Paige soon followed.
“I still can’t decide what to wear,” Paige
said, pulling out a stylish jacket. Both sisters had modest but fashionable
wardrobes but their youngest sisters had theirs stuffed with many clothes of
the cheaper and slightly gaudy variety.
Shiloh sighed, she knew she had to look out
for Rebel. As the youngest child she should have been the easiest to control.
It just wasn’t the case. And Sia followed everything Rebel did with Senta “tut
tutting” behind them.
“Oh, I smell something delicious coming
from the kitchen,” Senta could be heard saying dreamily, as she walked through
the hallway, her nose in her latest music score.
It was true that Mrs Bennet had whipped up
her best fried chicken and mashed potatoes because she always insisted the
girls have something to eat before they went out.
“Finally, I’m ready. How do I look?”
Shiloh, had her blonde hair piled in a
side braid with a few sprigs of diamonte jewels to set off her knee length
dress, inspired by pictures of movie stars from another era which she had set
about her dressing table. Pretty pink fingernails and a bag shaped in the style
of a sea shell ensured that Shiloh, as always, looked a dream.
“You look perfect.”
Paige still had her dark locks wrapped
around a curling iron and wore no blush or gloss, though Shiloh had hinted some
would look good on her. She wore a plain pencil skirt and her Dad’s old letter
jacket for warmth.
“I think you should wear the ice blue
dress I chose, Paige. It suited you so much when you tried it on yesterday.”
“Done,” Paige said, she couldn’t be
bothered arguing with her sister when there were so many other important issues
going on in the world.
“I better go and see if it’s possible to
talk Rebel out of whatever trashy outfit she’s decided to wear,” Shiloh stated
matter-of-factly.
Paige smiled. Moments later, Paige looked at
herself in the mirror and was reasonably satisfied with the result. She looked
slim and strong (she’d joined the school gymnastics team in eighth grade and
never stopped going). Her hair was tonged into curls and her clothes were
unfussy, just the way she liked them. To keep her older sister happy she added
lip gloss and blush before she left the house. Oh, and mascara because Rebel
once told her it, “brings out your eyes,” and even though Rebel was wrong about
most things, Paige thought she was right about this one.
