The stylist had taken over Jasmine's kitchen, planted her on a stool and held her there against her will for at least three hours. The intense bright ring light in her face made it feel much more like an interrogation than a makeover. But even in her discomfort, Jasmine had to admit that he was extremely good at what he did. Her hair was straightened and her bangs swept over one side of her forehead. Her brown eyes stood out like headlights beneath the dusky shade of mascara. As she gazed into the white oblivion of the vanity mirror surrounded by lights, she saw a different girl. She saw a face that she immediately recognized as the image she had in her mind when she thought of what people seemed to consider beautiful. She looked more like Lauren, with bronzed, accentuated curves of her cheekbones, dark fanning eyelashes, and for the life of her she didn't know how she made her lips so pillowy and plump. It prompted a tiny simper to escape her painted smirk.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just— wow."

He laughed. "That's why Lauren keeps me around— wow factor."

"How long have you been working for Lauren?"

"Oh forever. It's had to be since she was young. The Lockharts have always been about maintaining a pristine image."

"What's Lauren like?" Jasmine wondered aloud as she imagined Lauren's face: her beautiful, distant, enigmatic expression. Behind her smile, there was a callous, discerning stoicism carved in her to the bone, to the point where Jasmine could never read what she was thinking. She was a scary kind of beautiful. The kind she was dangerously drawn to.

"Like all beautiful, powerful women," the stylist mused. "Everyone sees her. But few really know her. Few have ever made it past the wall she's built to protect the fragile person inside. People like her are among the loneliest in the world, I'd imagine. A lot of times I envy her, sometimes I don't. But, what about you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Every girl I know wants to be near Lauren. What made you the lucky girl?"

"I dunno," she stammered. "I just bumped into her in class one day and she offered me a job."

"I see. Well, in that case let me just offer you one word of advice, honey:

Don't ever disappoint Lauren Lockhart."