Free Prom Queen, The (Life at Kingston High Book #3) by Melody Carlson Page A

lot of shades of red. But I think this one would be perfect for you.” She pointed to a purplish shade of red. “Raspberry.”
    “Raspberry?”
    “There’s that echo again,” Belinda teased. “And the only thing you can put with raspberries is chocolate.”
    Megan resisted the urge to echo that. Instead she just nodded. “That sounds tasty, but will it look okay?”
    “If you do it right.” Now Belinda pulled up one of the posters, pointing to where Chelsea had made borders of various colors. “Run the raspberry here, the chocolate there, and if you need a third color, I’d suggest a soft pink. But you’d probably be smart to keep it all to just the raspberry and chocolate.” Now she asked Megan to show her where she’d ordered the chocolate bars. “So we can see if it’s too late to change the wrapper.”
    Megan got back into the site, and then Belinda took over. “We’ll see if your wrappers can be chocolate brown on the outside, like a Hershey’s bar, and the lettering will be raspberry red and all caps. The words will say, ‘Make It Megan!’—with an exclamation mark.”
    “Make It Megan!” She nodded eagerly. “I like that.”
    “So do I. Simple, but strong.” Belinda finished up the message she was writing to the company, politely pleading for a change, then hit Send. Next she began focusing directly on Megan. “First you need to practice your posture,” Belinda said. “Sitting, walking, standing. You realize you’re a slumper, don’t you?”
    Megan shrugged.
    “A slumper and a shrugger. Neither are particularly queenly traits.” Now Belinda had Megan walk, stand, and sit with a book on her head. “You probably think this is silly, but if you could see how much prettier you look right now, you’d never slump again. Trust me.”
    As Megan practiced with the book on her head, she listened to Belinda espousing the benefits of good posture. Shewanted to trust her sister. And really, why would Belinda lie to her about this sort of thing? Even so, she was glad her friends couldn’t see her right now. She was also relieved that Arianna was at a sleepover tonight.
    “Now let’s work on your makeup and beauty routines.” Belinda chuckled as she led Megan to the bathroom. “This is something I’ve wanted to do to you for years.”
    Megan knew that Belinda had always spent much longer getting ready for school than Megan. But because the three girls shared the bathroom, the time that Belinda used had always cut into Megan and Arianna’s turns. As a result, Megan had learned to be very quick in getting ready. In fact, until recently, she’d taken pride in being such a low-maintenance sort of girl. Of course, those days were gone now.
    As Belinda explained some of the basics of skin care and makeup, retrieving some of her own left-behind beauty products from a drawer in the vanity, Megan told her about the makeover and photo shoot they’d done last weekend.
    “I thought you looked extra good on those posters,” Belinda said as she showed Megan how to apply eyeliner. “The thing is, you need to look like that every day.”
    “Every day?”
    “Every day that you’re running for prom queen.” Now Belinda showed her the proper use of concealer. “There really is an art form to hiding zits,” she explained as she first applied a tiny dot of concealer, then patted some powder on over it, then lightly brushed it off with a big fluffy brush from Belinda’s own cosmetic bag. “I’ll help you to find the tools and products you need online,” she promised. “There’s a really good site where I get all my stuff.” Next she showedMegan how to use lip liner, lipstick, and finally lip gloss to make her lips appear fuller.
    “Wow.” Megan peered at her own image. “You really do know what you’re doing.”
    “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years. You just wouldn’t listen.”
    “I’m listening now.”
    Belinda went over some more things, including going through