The Mag Hags (19 page)

One of the final things the girls had to do was the cover. For weeks, Belle and Wanda had been downloading pictures of gorgeous airbrushed teenage girls with larger-than-life smiles and skin so smooth the closest they had come to a pimple was seeing a face full of acne on their less genetically blessed teenage brother.

Whichever photo they found, the girls could never agree on which image encapsulated their magazine. There was much debate about the attitude of the model, whether they were fat enough, skinny enough, too sexy or not sexy enough, but they could never find a shot with the ‘Wow' factor, as Belle put it. Now, with just days to go, the girls all stood in a row looking at a variety of covers stuck on the wall so they could decide once and for all.

Mand was looking at the images when her eye was drawn to a blown-up picture of Maggie from the future formal shoot. Wow, she was gorgeous, thought Mand in surprise – she'd really never looked that closely at Maggie before.

‘I know this sounds crazy, but what about putting Maggie on the cover?' said Mand, rocking back on her chair.

‘If you're making fun of me –' said Maggie feeling her usual defensive self when it came to her looks.

‘Maggie, for god's sake, look at the future formal pictures, you look like some teenage supermodel.' Mand pointed at the spread. ‘Once you can see your face from beneath that fringe, you've got cheekbones like icebergs and lips like you've been punched in the gob. Wanda, what do you reckon? You could do the make-up and we could use one of your outfits. And Belle, you could take an amazing photo. I'll even get my mum along to do the hair.'

‘I think that's a wicked idea!' said Belle. ‘Maggie does have an amazing face.'

‘Yeah, I can kind of see what you're saying,' said Cat, who felt the green-eyed monster of jealousy rise inside her because nobody had suggested that she should be on the cover. ‘But really, is the lunchtime library chick with no mates – no offence Maggie – really the kind of image we want to portray in our magazine?'

‘That's not fair, Maggie has mates,' said Wanda. ‘I, for one, count Maggie as a friend.'

‘Me too,' said Mand. ‘Maggie has been the surprise package of this whole project. I don't think I ever noticed you existed before this.'

‘Thanks, Mand,' said Maggie. ‘I think.'

‘It would be kind of kooky if we won it with Maggie on the cover,' said Belle. ‘No one would even know it was you. You hide beneath that fringe like it's a burqa!'

‘I'm not sure I really want to have my face plastered all over Baywood,' said Maggie.

‘At least give it a go,' said Mand. ‘If you hate the photo, we don't have to do it. Deal?'

Maggie reluctantly agreed but insisted they have a backup photo just in case she changed her mind. It was a big thing for her, the idea of opening herself up to the ridicule of the whole school – just who would they think she was, thinking that she was pretty enough to be on the cover of a magazine? Then the thought occurred to her that they might not even win the competition and the only ones who would ever get to see her picture would be the Mag Hags and the teachers. For Maggie, there was comfort in that thought.

The girls spent the rest of the night trying to come up with an image that represented all of them, but using Maggie as the blank canvas to project onto.

‘Why don't we just shoot Maggie's face, really close up?' said Mand. ‘I'm sick of all these celebrities flashing their bits all over the place. It's so trashy. You can be strong and sexy without being cheap.'

‘But then you don't get to see Wanda's clothes,' said Belle. ‘Have you got any ideas, Wanda?'

‘I've got this tiny little jumper, in red, blue and white angora wool. I knitted it last year. It's got a deep V-neck, which would show off Maggie's fantastic collarbones. It's pretty sexy, but cool, if you shoot it from the nipples up.'

‘That sounds wicked,' said Belle. ‘And what about attitude, what are we trying to say?'

‘That we are sexy, funny, smart, intelligent chicks who know where we're heading,' said Cat.

Mand stuck her finger in her mouth and contemplated what Cat had just said. ‘Mand, don't move a muscle!' said Belle, picking up her camera and taking a photo. ‘I think I just saw the cover!'

Just at that moment the head of a gorgeous boy popped through the door. Mand gasped, but hopefully not out loud. It was the boy from the photograph. She'd recognise that face anywhere. However, he was cuter in real life. His thick black hair swept across his forehead like a wave. His eyebrows turned down, making him look wise and mysterious.

‘Hey, Belly,' said the head, smiling a big wide smile, framed by the cutest dimples.

‘Zeb!' Belle jumped up out of her seat and ran to hug him. ‘You're home. I didn't know you were coming today.'

Zeb's whole body appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a black T-shirt that clung to his body in all the right places, brown checked shorts that hung low and
scraped his knees, and no shoes. ‘What's Mag Hag Central?' he asked, reading the sign on the door.

‘We're creating a magazine for school,' explained Belle. ‘We're called the Mag Hags – Wanda, Cat, Maggie, Mand, this is my brother Zeb.'

All eyes were already drawn to Zeb. It wasn't often that a sixteen-year-old being of such gorgeousness turned up unexpectedly in their lives. The girls were transfixed until Belle's father broke the magic spell. He appeared just behind Zeb and slapped him on the back with enough force to send him staggering forward.

‘Trust you to find the girls,' said Adrian, winking at Zeb. ‘Chip off the old block, aren't you, son.'

‘Dad!' said Zeb.

‘Anyway, leave these ladies alone,' he said. ‘They are supposed to be working.'

Mand couldn't believe that Zeb could possibly be the fruit of Adrian's loins. The good looks definitely had to have come from his mum.

‘Okay, catch you later, Belle, and nice to meet you, girls,' said Zeb, staring straight at Mand. Their eyes locked for a split second, making Mand feel quite sick. She blinked away from the intensity of his gaze and then spent the evening convincing herself that she had actually imagined it.

After the girls had left, Zeb came back into the office.

‘Hey, Belly.'

‘Zeb I thought you weren't coming back until Friday for the “family” dinner with Dad and Reanne.'

‘As it's Dad's wedding, I blagged a pass to study at home. How's the magazine going?'

Belle told him about the plan to shoot Maggie for the cover. Zeb said he thought their father had some lights up in the attic – he'd bought them when he took up photography in a vain attempt to distract himself after their mum had died.

Belle and Zeb went to the top floor of the house. Zeb took a chair from one of the bedrooms and pulled down the aluminum ladder that led to the roof, then scurried up into the dusty attic to see if he could find the lights. Belle stood below listening to his footsteps.

‘Belle, you should see this,' he called down the stairs.

Belle, who had never been up into the attic before, gingerly climbed the ladder to find Zeb looking inside an old wardrobe full of women's clothing.

‘Do you remember this?' he said, pulling out an elegant plum-coloured coat.

‘Wow, these are Mum's clothes!'

Belle looked into the wardrobe and pulled out a white cashmere cardigan with a scalloped collar. She took a deep breath but could no longer smell any trace of her mother, just the smell of mothballs.

Suddenly a well of grief rose up through Belle's body, spilling out of her eyes in the form of big, fat, wet tears.
‘I didn't know that Dad had kept anything of Mum's.'

‘Sorry Belle, I didn't mean to upset you,' said Zeb, coming over and embracing her in one of those awkward brother and sister hugs.

‘Zeb, it's alright but I'm really worried about Dad.' said Belle after the tears had stopped. ‘Reanne is only after his money, she doesn't give a damn about him.'

‘Belle! Dad's really happy for the first time since Mum died, don't spoil it for him, okay? I know Reanne can be a little self-obsessed, but he said she makes him feel alive.'

‘She's a two-faced bitch who wants to send me to boarding school, actually,' said Belle. ‘My friends overheard her talking about it to one of her friends in the changing room at Glitz. And she's still seeing her old boyfriend who's a kickboxing champion and I've got proof. It's all on my friend Cat's phone. Cat recorded her saying that she's marrying Dad for the money.'

‘That's a pretty big accusation. Have you spoken to Dad about it?'

‘He thinks I'm just jealous that he spends all of his time with her.'

‘Maybe you are. She's actually quite a cool chick once you get beyond the blonde hair and silly laugh.'

‘That's what you think! You're just like every other guy, blinded because she's so attractive.'

‘Oh please, that's a little too weird, even for you,' said Zeb. ‘She's Dad's future wife. My soon-to-be stepmother.'

‘Don't use that word, ever,' shouted Belle, her voice high and shrill. ‘She'll never be our mother! We have a mother, or perhaps you've just forgotten that.'

‘Belle, I think about Mum a lot, okay?' Zeb looked really upset, and Belle felt terrible – she knew deep down that he must miss their mum as much as she did.

‘I'm sorry, I know you do,' said Belle, crying again. ‘I just miss her so much. Everyone's got a mum but me. All of my friends moan about how their mothers are trying to control their lives. And now Dad's got Reanne. Idon't have anyone …'

‘You've always got me,' said Zeb.

‘Why don't you move back home then?' said Belle, who suspected that Zeb probably never gave her a thought when he wasn't at home. ‘You're never here. Even in school holidays you go away with your friends' families rather than come home.'

‘Come on, Belle, that's really unfair,' said Zeb. ‘I try and come home when I can. I send you emails, text. Don't give me a hard time. I just want to finish school with my mates. And if you got offered to go skiing, then you'd go too … Look, I don't want to get all heavy right now, just know I care about what happens to you, okay?'

Belle nodded, biting her lip, wishing they could have talked more, but it was obvious there were some things that Zeb wasn't facing. It appeared he was like his dad – Zeb didn't like talking and needed firm proof before
believing her. That meant an extra day of happiness for her dad before breaking his heart by telling him that the woman he'd fallen in love with was a lying, conniving cheat.

‘Come on now, Belly,' said Zeb. ‘Let's get these lights sorted out, eh?

They spent the evening rigging up the lights in the office, and taking test shots of each other, laughing, sharing memories of when they were kids, like the time two seagulls mugged Belle from behind and nicked her croissant while they were on holiday, or when Zeb made her eat poisonous berries from the garden when he was four and she was three, and she had to go to hospital to get her stomach pumped. It was actually terrifying at the time, but very funny from this safe distance.

Zeb asked her all about the magazine and the girls who were working on it, before casually asking about that ‘dark-haired chick in the black jumper'.

‘Oh, you mean Mand. She's a bit feisty, but once you get to know her she's really funny and cool.' Belle looked at her brother closely. ‘Why, do you like her or something?'

Zeb just smiled that rather enigmatic smile of his and raised his eyebrows, and suddenly looked thirteen again. She shot him a bittersweet smile, knowing that if she didn't tell her father about Reanne, then by this time next week Zeb would be back at boarding school, the Mag
Hag project would be over, her dad and Reanne would be on honeymoon, and she'd be alone once more, with just the Biggins for company, in a very large, very grand and very empty house.

After school on Wednesday, the girls went to Belle's house for the shoot. Mand's mum jumped at the chance to come along to do Maggie's hair, as she'd always wanted to have a peek around the Askew mansion. She left the salon early and picked the girls up from school in her little hatchback, then sped off up the hill to the house. Zeb had spent the day turning the office into a studio, and even carried a huge mirror from one of the downstairs guest bedrooms, so there was a proper hair and make-up area.

‘I'd like to cut your hair, so we can see your face,' said Mel, pushing Maggie's fringe to the side and holding it, whilst staring intently at Maggie in the mirror. ‘You've got a lovely face under all that hair. Are you game for a new style? I reckon something really short, jagged and funky would look great on you. What do you think?'

Maggie looked tentative. ‘I don't know …' She'd hidden beneath that fringe for years and wasn't sure she was ready to show her real face to the world. But the girls urged her with numerous ‘Go for its', and
eventually she relented and agreed to the big chop.

‘A change is as good as a holiday,' piped up Wanda. ‘Anyway, it's only hair, it'll always grow back.'

‘I'll take the holiday then, if it's on offer,' said Maggie with a forced bravado, as Mel chipped and chopped at her hair, which fell in big brown clumps onto the wooden floor, giving her the cutest pixie cut. It made her look younger but somehow more sophisticated at the same time. All of the girls ‘oohed' and ‘ahhed' at Maggie's new do and told her how fantastic she looked.

‘Wow, from library girl to cover girl in a term!' said Mand, feeling secretly proud that her mum could still cut a trendy style even if she was thirty-eight. ‘Who would have believed it?'

Wanda set up a rack of clothes that she and Cat pored over, discussing the merits of every piece, as Zeb and Belle worked on the test shots, with Mand acting as the model in Maggie's place, which was mortifyingly embarrassing because she had to act all nonchalant in front of Zeb, whose mere presence seemed to make her lose the power of speech. Zeb was trying to act all cool but he did say that Mand looked ‘kind of nice' in the photos, which Mand took to mean he didn't think she was a total loser.

After an hour of hairstyling with Mel, and then make-up with Wanda, Maggie was set for wardrobe. Wanda tried out several outfits before all the girls agreed that the stripy jumper was the best option after all. The shoot got
underway, with Zeb acting as Belle's assistant, testing the light with the light meter as she snapped away. Cat and Mand coached an initially shy Maggie into striking a few poses, while Wanda and Mel were running in and out of each shot, fussing with Maggie's hair and make-up.

‘Put some more attitude into it, Maggie,' called out Belle from the top of a stepladder. ‘Put your right hand on your hip, now turn your left shoulder forward. That's it. Now pout!'

‘Yeah, go for it!' called out Cat. ‘Pucker those lips like you're about to kiss a boy at the formal!'

‘Not much chance of that,' sighed Maggie. ‘I feel ridiculous.'

‘Remember what Mel said – feel ridiculous, you'll look ridiculous,' said Belle. ‘Now, for this shot, I want you to wink.'

Maggie remembered how her dad had taught her to wink when she was seven years old. They still winked at each other now. It was their little thing they did. Maggie did a series of winks, with a cute smile as Belle snapped away.

‘That's it! You're a natural! The camera is loving you!' said Belle which made Maggie relax and feel that being the centre of attention wasn't so bad after all.

After about forty-five minutes, Belle had finished taking the shots and was downloading them onto her father's computer, which she had commandeered to
finish the project. After the Kylie Mannigan Berry Berry shake debacle, Belle had been diligently backing up all
The Mag Hag
files each evening.

All the girls crowded around the screen as pictures of the newly sheared Maggie popped up. ‘Wow, you're really photogenic,' said Mel.

‘Talk about an extreme makeover,' said Cat. ‘She's practically unrecognisable!'

‘Which is how I like it,' said Maggie.

The photos had a real quality to them. Maggie positively glowed, although Cat was right, even her own mother would have been hard-pressed to recognise it was her. Belle was particularly taken with a close-up shot, which she said she wanted to have a play with in Photoshop.

‘Now you need to take a team photo,' said Zeb, ‘I'll take the shot for you.' The girls stood against the backdrop, with the most beautiful smiles, laughing, arms wrapped around each other like they were the absolute best of friends.

It was ten pm by the time the shoot ended and everybody was so exhausted they felt as though they had run an assault course in over-sized Wellington boots. Mel had trouble getting Mand to leave, as she and Zeb made shy overtures to each other until Zeb finally asked Mand, if she wanted to ‘hang out' sometime. Mand said she'd love to but it would have to be after Friday when the magazine project was finished.

By Thursday lunchtime, the girls had achieved the feat of redesigning and sharpening copy, but there were still pages that needed to be designed and proof read, so they decided to have a sleep-over at Belle's and work all night, if that's what it took to get the magazine finished on time.

Pierson arrived directly on the final bell, and from the moment the girls got into the office, it was heads down, bums up; well more like bums down, heads up, because they were sitting down, but the effect was the same.

The final job was coming up with shout lines for the cover to entice readers to look inside the magazine. All of the girls sat around reading the stories until they came up with: ‘Like you, only better. Meet the real Tyler Grey'; ‘Oh Boy – A modern girl's guide to the male species' – for Maggie's Jones sisters feature, ‘How to make friends with your body (it's the only one you've got)' and ‘Your planet needs you!' for Mand's stories.

Belle got to work on the cover, manipulating the close-up of Maggie, so it was just her face and the top of Wanda's stripy jumper. She played with colour, making Maggie's face very white and her eyes, hair and eyebrows black. Then she added splashes of fluoro pink across the page, and added the shout lines in fuchsia.

By five on Friday morning, the magazine was finally finished, and so were the girls, who had crashed like Formula 1 drivers in a pile-up on the opening grid.
Mand was asleep in a chair, her head flopped backwards, her mouth wide open with wells of spit forming in the crevices; thank god Zeb was nowhere to be seen. Cat and Wanda were curled up in little balls of teenageness at opposite ends on the big cream couch; while Maggie was face down on her desk, drooling over a picture of herself on the front cover. Belle had woken up half an hour earlier from her position on the floor, but had decided against getting up and going to her own supremely comfortable queen-sized bed in a show of solidarity with her uncomfortable friends.

At 6.30 am the door opened and Adrian and Reanne, dressed bizarrely in matching jogging outfits, peeked in at the sleeping girls.

‘Oh my goodness,' said Reanne, smiling at the girls. ‘Look at them, they're so adorable. There's something to be said for youthful enthusiasm.'

‘They've put everything into this assignment,' said Adrian. ‘I've read some of the stuff, it's pretty good too. It's a sure bet that they'll win.'

‘Honey, don't build up Corabelle's hopes,' said Reanne. ‘You know how subjective these things are.'

‘I'm not,' said Adrian tersely. ‘I happen to think they've got a pretty good chance.'

‘But you don't know what the other kids –'

‘Reanne, do you know you can be so negative when it comes to anything to do with my daughter.'

‘It's pretty hard for me too, you know I'm always trying to be nice to Belle but she hates me with a passion. She said she would rather stick pins in her eyes than be my bridesmaid. Do you know how hurtful that was, Poo?'

‘I know, baby, she'll come around once she gets to know you,' said Adrian, before changing the subject like he was flicking channels on the remote control. ‘Shall we go jogging, then wake the girls up for school?'

‘Sure, Poo,' said Reanne sadly as Adrian closed the door on the sleeping girls.

 

On Friday morning, in the period just after recess, Bone Marrow was standing at the front of class, most of whom looked as though they had had as much sleep as the girls. Unlike that fateful day when universes collided and groups of students were bundled together at the beginning of term, a strange hush had fallen over the classroom. Ten long weeks had elapsed since Ms Marrow had given out the magazine assignment, in which time every group had had their fair share of dramas.

There had been tears, tantrums, punch-ups (the explosion of testosterone between Lindsay Stott and Jai Jones had been ignited over a discussion on the origins of punk rock – whether it was UK in 1977 or three years before in New York); friendships were made, friendships were broken, but for all the drama, all of Year 10 now had
a deeper understanding of each other, even if it just confirmed why they had had barely a thing to do with one another for the past four years. Whatever their personal differences, the truth was practically every student had slogged their guts out on this project and was desperate to be on the winning team.

Ms Marrow asked for a representative from each group to come forward and hand in their work. Belle took
The Mag Hag
project up when their group was called and placed it on Ms Marrow's desk, which was heaving beneath the weight of magazines contained in folders, on brightly coloured cardboard, printed on A4 like a fanzine, as well as all the files burned onto CD.

Ms Marrow explained to the class that the judges would be announcing the competition winner in two weeks' time, on the day of the school formal. But the excitement was dampened when Ms Marrow told the class to settle down and get on with their lesson on Samuel Beckett's play,
Waiting for Godot
, which, after the excitement of creating their own magazine, seemed as boring as sitting on a park bench waiting for somebody who never arrived. It was a great relief when the bell rang for lunch and the students filed out of the classroom and gathered in groups in the hallway.

Although they weren't expecting it, there was a general feeling of anticlimax now that the project was finally over. A lot of students had discovered a passion
for schoolwork that they never thought possible.

‘Well,' said Maggie as the girls milled around in the hallway. ‘We can all get back to our normal lives again.'

‘Is it back to the library for you then?' said Cat, laughing.

‘It certainly isn't back to the top of the steps for you, is it, love?' said Mand with a cheeky grin. ‘Looks like you'll be joining Maggie in the library.'

‘Well actually, Maxine texted me saying that Mannigan has been totally doing their heads in and asked if we could meet at Hoolio's today after school to discuss how we can get rid of her,' said Cat.

‘You're not going, are you?' said Wanda incredulously. ‘After they made your life hell?'

‘No way. I'm so over the US Crew but I thought it would be cool for all of us to go and celebrate at Hoolio's,' said Cat.

‘That's a great idea,' said Mand. ‘Toast ourselves with a Hoolio shake.'

‘Yeah, cool. What are you doing for lunch, Maggie?' said Wanda. ‘Come and hang out with me.'

‘Can I come too?' said Belle.

‘And don't forget me,' said Cat.

‘Oh my god,' said Mand dramatically, putting her hand to her forehead. ‘Are we friends now or something? If that can happen, then perhaps there is a chance for world peace after all.'