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try,” Mom said. “You always go all out no matter what you do.”
    Lily wished more than ever that she had a cell phone. It was torture to have to wait until she got home to call Reni. When she did, Reni squealed as if it were happening to her.
    â€œBut you have to promise not to tell anybody else,” Lily said.
    â€œHow come?”
    â€œBecause I don’t want Shad Shifferdecker to hear about it.”
    â€œOh yeah. He’d so make fun of you.”
    â€œFun? He’d flip completely out.”
    Of course, come Monday morning, Shad made fun of her anyway, every chance he got.
    When their class was in the library, he hissed to her, “Hey, since you’re taller than King Kong, can you get me that book on the top shelf?”
    And when they were at lunch, he said from down the table, “Don’t eat those carrots! Dude, it’ll turn your hair orange! Oh, sorry. It already is orange.”
    And when they were working on a Native American mural for their classroom wall, he handed her the beige paint and said, “Here. Paint this on your face so you won’t look like a dead person.”
    Sure, it all made Lily want to holler, “Ms. Goo-ooch!” But then she would think about Kathleen and how un-giraffe-like she felt when she was at Rutledge. Then she would just toss her head away from him and move on.
    â€œShe thinks she’s all that,” she heard Shad say to Daniel. Lily merely smiled to herself—and waited for Tuesday night. That would be her first class with Kathleen.
    Tuesday evening finally arrived, and Lily spent an hour getting ready. She pulled her hair back the way Kathleen had at the workshop that day, and since she didn’t have any cleanser or toner, she scrubbed her face extra hard so it would sort of tingle like she remembered. She wished she had some blush and lip gloss, but once the class was all assembled, listening to Kathleen talk, she was glad she didn’t.
    One of the first things Kathleen said to them was, “Now, this class is not about piling on makeup and doing elaborate things with your hair. This is not a beauty pageant.”
    â€œThat’s good!” somebody said. It was one of the two boys in the group. Lily looked around to make sure Cool Jeans wasn’t one of them.
    â€œI knew you’d appreciate that,” Kathleen said.
    Her eyes flickered to Cassie, who was sitting next to Lily. Cassie had her hair done up in a bouquet of curls on top of her head, and she was wearing enough lipstick for every girl in the class. When Kathleen looked at her, Cassie said, “My mom made me put all this stuff on.”
    Kathleen smiled. “That’s why we don’t let moms in the room during class.”
    She went on to tell them that they would have a three-hour class once a week for six weeks. During that time, they would learn the best age-appropriate look for each of them. More important, she said, they would discover ways to be poised and confident and to project themselves as people.
    â€œThese are not acting lessons,” Kathleen warned them. “When you go out to audition for a modeling job or a commercial, you have about thirty seconds to show them who you are. There is no time for acting. You will learn how to walk in with an air that says, ‘I know who I am, and I’m not afraid of what you think of me.’ ”
    I would love to be able to do that around Shad Shifferdecker , Lily thought. This is going to be so cool .
    And then Kathleen announced the coolest part. “At the end of our six weeks together,” she told the class, “in late November, we will present a modeling show for parents and friends.”
    The room immediately buzzed.
    â€œT.J.Maxx will bring in clothes, and you will each choose three outfits to model. By then you’ll know how to style your hair to match the look of each outfit, and you will be able to walk down the runway with poise and confidence,