Free I So Don't Do Makeup by Barrie Summy

weird.”
    â€œOf course, there’s the problem of how he’s getting the habanero juice in the lip gloss,” I say.
    â€œAnd we don’t know what made us break out from Nite Sprite Creme.” Junie touches her cheek.
    â€œWe don’t even know that Wacko Will’s up next if your kiosk comes open,” I say. “Could be some other business would move in.”
    â€œHi, girls!”
    We all jump like we’re in a horror movie and a big hairy tarantula lunged at us. We were so intent on sauces and glosses and kiosks that we didn’t even hear Crystal approach.
    â€œGirlfriend!” Amber squeals. They hug. “How are you?”
    â€œBusy.” Crystal smiles at Amber.
    Lacey and Amber and Crystal dive into a big gripe session about the janitors at the mall and how they’re all slackers with no apparent schedule for trash pickup, because they just come by whenever they feel like it. Junie and I are totally shut out from this inner circle, which gives me a chance to stare uninterrupted at Crystal.
    Where Amber and Lacey have shoulder-length blond hair and porcelain skin, Crystal has short black boy hair and the hugest chocolate brown eyes. She’s seriously married to bling and wears tons of it, from hoop earrings to several silver necklaces of different lengths to arm bracelets to ankle bracelets to toe rings. She’s very metallic and glittery.
    The three of them, with their gorgeous hair and nails and makeup, stand chatting and complaining and laughing. It’s hard not to sigh at the sight of such beauty.
    â€œGuess what I scored, girls?” Crystal fans herself with a bunch of coupons. “For the new pretzel place.” She passes a handful to Lacey. “They are so yummy.”
    She turns her gaze on me and it’s like being in the white warmth of a spotlight. “That is the cutest denim purse I’ve ever seen. I am so digging the silver studs.”
    â€œThanks,” I say. So on top of her great looks and generosity with coupons, she has incredible taste in purses.
    Crystal pushes a circle of bracelets up her slender arm. They tinkle down, glittering. “Lacey, what can you tell me about Eve?”
    â€œEve?” Lacey says. “Who used to work for me?”
    â€œYeah,” Crystal says. “She filled out an app to work for me.”
    â€œReliable, polite,” Lacey says. “But she couldn’twork the hours I needed. For a very part-time employee, I think Eve’d be good.”
    â€œShe wasn’t so polite when Lacey let her go.” Amber’s lining up miniature bottles and filling them with white cream. “She stomped the whole way out the door.”
    Junie pokes me in the side. I know exactly what that poke means: A disgruntled, stomping ex-employee makes a fine suspect.
    â€œShe’s coming in for an interview tomorrow after school.” Crystal runs her fingers through her hair. “Lacey, Amber, did a man come by? Somebody’s husband. Gray hair, basketball stomach, Discount Mart jeans? He was returning lip gloss his wife bought yesterday.”
    Amber waves the container of gloss Lacey just tested on her wrist. “Yeah, we refunded him.”
    â€œHe tried to return it at my counter,” Crystal says. “I guess his wife had an allergic reaction? Anyway, I recognized the gloss and sent him your way.”
    â€œDoesn’t look like it was an allergic reaction.” Amber goes back to filling the little bottles, all the while explaining about the other lip gloss returns and the habanero sauce and my slumber party fiasco with Nite Sprite Creme.
    Crystal gazes first at my face, then at Junie’s. She touches Junie’s cheek. “It does look like a chemical burn.”
    The whole time Amber and Crystal are talking, Lacey’s head is down. She’s fake-tidying-up the counter, just moving items back and forth. Her hands are shaking.
    â€œHave you ever had a