Maria was already in the bathroom when Tora entered. She had the makeup kit on the counter, next to one of the sinks, and was putting a bit of foundation on her cheek to cover up a blemish.

“Hey, Maria,” Tora said.

Maria looked at Tora in the mirror. “Hey, there.”

“What are you doing?”

Maria smiled. “I’m just using a bit of color to hide a pimple. I hate zits.”

“Me, too,” Tora said.

Maria turned around and looked at Tora’s face. “You don’t have any zits.”

“I do too,” Tora said, turning her head to the left and pointing to a pimple near her left ear.

“Well, what do you know.” Maria dabbed some foundation onto Tora’s cheek with a pad. “There,” she said. “All gone.”

Tora turned her head to look in the mirror. To her surprise, she couldn’t see the pimple anymore. “Wow, thanks,” she said.

“Here, try this,” Maria said, handing Tora a lipstick.

Tora looked at it strangely, taking the tube in her hand as if it might break.

“It’s just lipstick,” Maria said, with a laugh. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

Tora fiddled with the tube, trying to bring the color out.

Maria reached over and gave the tube a twist. Suddenly a bright red bullet rose up. “Isn’t this an awesome color?”

Tora nodded. It was so bright, so red…

Maria raised the lipstick to Tora’s mouth and drew it gently across her lips. “There!”

Tora leaned in close to the mirror and took a good look at herself.

“Beautiful!” Maria said.

Tora smiled.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.” Tora liked the color red, not because it made her look pretty, but because it looked like she had the blood of a fresh kill on her lips.

“You should come over to my house sometime,” Maria said. “You could try out my mascara, my blush…the works.”

“I’d like that very much,” Tora said, still looking at herself in the mirror.

* * *

At lunch, Tora and Maria met up in the same corner of the cafeteria and, this time, Tora had some chocolates in her bag in case Maria wanted to trade.

“So,” Maria said. “Did anyone say anything?”

“About what?” Tora asked.

“Your lips. The lipstick.”

“Oh, not really.” A few boys had smiled in Tora’s direction, but no one had actually said anything.

“What about Michael?”

“I haven’t seen him, yet,” Tora said. She felt badly that she hadn’t been spending much time with her boyfriend lately, but that was offset by the excitement of having a girlfriend and discovering new things about herself.

“Hey, Tora, there you are!” came a voice from behind her.

She turned around to see Michael Martin. “Have a seat,” she said, looking at Maria to make sure it was all right with her.