Read Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Online

Authors: Joan Holub

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Children's Books, #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Friendship, #Ages 9-12 Fiction, #Children: Grades 4-6, #Love & Romance, #Social Issues, #Girls & Women, #Social Issues - Friendship, #Schools, #School & Education, #Love, #Greek & Roman, #Science Fiction; Fantasy; Magic, #Beauty; Personal, #Legends; Myths; Fables, #Mythology; Greek, #Legends; Myths; & Fables - Greek & Roman, #Goddesses; Greek, #Gods; Greek, #Aphrodite (Greek deity), #Atalanta (Greek mythology)

Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) (2 page)

BOOK: Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls)
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17

2 The Makeover

WHEN SCHOOL LET OUT, APHRODITE AND her friends walked up the marble staircase to the goddessgirls' dorm on the fourth floor. Halfway up, Aphrodite announced, "I think we should give Athena a makeover."

"A w-what?" asked Athena, almost dropping the bag of scrolls she was carrying.

18

"A makeover," Aphrodite repeated. "Hair, nails, makeup, clothes--the works! What do you say? We'll create a whole new you!"

"What a great idea!" said Persephone, patting her own reddish curls.

"Better her than me," said Artemis, adjusting the quiver of arrows and archery bow she always carried over one shoulder. Her three hounds leaped up the stairs at her heels, drooly tongues hanging out. Aphrodite kept as far away from them as possible.

Athena frowned. "What's wrong with the old me?"

"Nothing," Aphrodite said quickly, "but don't you think it would be fun to try a new look?"

Athena hesitated, shifting her load of scrolls from one arm to the other. Glancing down at her Beauty-ology scroll, she rubbed her thumb over its blue ribbon.

19

"Well, maybe," she said at last. "I mean I
would
like to learn more about the ins and outs of beauty."

"Great. What better time than now?" asked Aphrodite.

When they reached her door, Artemis said, "I'll leave the dogs in my room. Unless of course . . ." She glanced at Aphrodite.

"Good idea," Aphrodite said quickly, guessing Artemis was about to ask if her dogs could watch the makeover too. Most students shared a room, and she and Artemis were supposed to have been roommates, but Aphrodite hadn't wanted to share space with three smelly, messy dogs. So Artemis had taken the free room next door.

After Artemis dropped off her dogs, the four goddessgirls went into Aphrodite's room. All the dorm rooms

20

on the fourth and fifth floors were identical, with two beds, two closets, and two built-in desks. To decorate, Aphrodite had draped sparkly red fabric over her bed and painted pink and red hearts all over the walls.

"I don't know how you keep your room so neat," Artemis told her. "Mine's always a mess."

"We know," teased Aphrodite. "We've seen it." Unlike most other goddessgirls, Aphrodite always put her belongings away and swept her floor and dusted once a week. She even made her bed each morning, arranging the six puffy, heart-shaped pillows on it just so. In truth, she was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to her room and her looks.

"Must be nice to live in a dorm," Persephone commented. She lived at home with her mother, Demeter. Flopping onto one of Aphrodite's beds, she sank

21

two inches into the plush red velvet comforter stitched with a pattern of little white hearts. "Mmm, comfy," she said.

Aphrodite handed Persephone and Artemis a few issues of
Teen Scrollazine
from the shelf above her desk. "See if you can find any hairstyles that you think would look good on Athena."

"Aye-aye, Captain Makeover," Artemis said with a grin. She sat beside Persephone, and they began flipping through the pages, discussing the pros and cons of various hairstyles.

Aphrodite went to her spare desk, which she'd converted to a makeup table years ago. Neatly arranged on a silver tray atop a length of tasseled pink satin, were rows and rows of nail polish and lipsticks in every conceivable color and dozens of little pots of

22

eye shadow, rouge, and lotion.

"You can sit here," she told Athena, pulling out the stool from the desk and patting its seat.

Athena sank onto the cushioned stool and stared at all the cosmetics. "Ye gods! You've got enough stuff to open your own makeup shop." She picked up a round, silver box that sat to one side of the tray. "What's in here?"

As soon as she spoke the words, the box's lid popped off and a silver-handled makeup brush flew out. Hovering a few inches above the pots of rouge, it regarded Athena critically. Then, seeming to make a decision, it dipped into an orangey-pink one and swirled around. Then it zoomed closer to whisk its powder high along Athena's cheekbone. "Hey, stop!" she cried raising both hands and ducking away.

23

The makeup brush froze in midair, its bristles bent in the shape of a question mark.

Aphrodite laughed. "We're not quite ready yet," she told it. "After we do her hair."

With a quick nod, the brush ducked back into its box and the lid snapped shut.

Aphrodite fingered a lock of Athena's long brown hair and frowned. "You should take better care of it," she said. "It's dry."

"Really?" Athena combed her fingers through her hair, testing it herself. "I never noticed."

"That's because your nose is always stuck in a textscroll," said Aphrodite. "Do you ever even look in a mirror?"

"Not very often," Athena admitted. Cocking her head, she asked, "How often would you say
you
look

24

into one?"

"Me?" Aphrodite asked, realizing with a start that she'd been checking her lustrous waves in the mirror above her makeup table at that very moment. It was like an automatic reflex! She looked away from her reflection, a little embarrassed. "I don't know."

Aphrodite sprayed some conditioner into Athena's hair. "
Mmm
, that smells good," said Athena. "What is it?"

"Essence of Hyacinth," Aphrodite replied, combing it through. "It's the best conditioner I've found. Not only does it smell good, but it also leaves your hair really soft and manageable."

"Essence of Hyacinth," Athena repeated. "Could you write that down for me?"

Delighted at her interest, Aphrodite took a sheet of sparkly pink papyrus from a drawer in her desk and

25

jotted down the name of the conditioner with her red feather pen. "Here," she said, handing the papyrus and her pen to Athena. "In case you want to make more notes as we go along."

"Thanks," said Athena, setting them on her lap. "I just might."

"We've chosen six possible hairstyles," Persephone announced, bringing over several of the scrollazines.

After a quick look at them, Athena pointed to a painting of a goddess with her hair pinned high on top of her head. "I think I'd like to try this style."

"Okay." Aphrodite grabbed her Spell-ology textscroll from the top of her desk and unfurled it. "Use this one," she said, pointing to a spell. Then she handed her friend a silver-backed hand mirror. Looking into the mirror Athena read the chant aloud: "Magic mirror, let me see .

26

. . how this style would look on me."

As her words died away, Aphrodite touched the painting to the center of the mirror. When she lifted it again, she said, "Take a look."

Athena peered at her reflection. Laughing, she reached up to touch her magically restyled hair. "No good. I look like someone's mother."

"You're right," agreed Persephone. "In fact, you could be
my
mother."

"Looks like you're wearing a beehive on your head," added Artemis.

"Ye gods!" said Athena, giggling.

"Let's see the others," suggested Aphrodite. After trying a few more hairstyles, they finally found the perfect one.

"Fabulous!" said Aphrodite. "I like how the layers

27

frame your face."

"Yes," said Persephone. "And long bangs are so glamorous."

"You look like a different person," said Artemis. "In a good way."

Athena smiled at herself in the mirror. "Thanks." She smoothed a hand over her feathery new hairdo. Then she reached for the pink papyrus and Aphrodite's pen, quickly making notes. "What's next?" she asked, obviously getting into the spirit of things.

As if it had been waiting for these very words, the makeup brush sprang out of its box again. It went to work, dusting Athena's cheeks with a medium shade of rouge, then brushing her eyelids with a sparkly gray eye shadow that was slightly darker than her eyes. As Athena scribbled more notes, Persephone gave her a

28

thumbs-up. "Looking great!"

Glancing at the brush, Aphrodite nodded her approval as well. "Good job." Its bristles curved into a smile before it hopped back into its box.

Next Persephone began to work on Athena's nails, filing and painting them. In the meantime, Aphrodite flung open both of her closets and pulled out one chiton after another for Athena to try on. Artemis, however, seemed to have lost interest in the makeover. After poking through all the stuff on top of Aphrodite's makeup table, she grabbed a small glazed pot and retired with it to the spare bed.

When her nails were dry, Athena stepped behind a folding screen painted with delicate pink rosebuds to try on the various outfits Aphrodite had selected for her. "How about this one?" she asked, modeling a chiton the

29

color of daffodils.

Aphrodite shook her head. "Yellow's good on Persephone, but it doesn't suit you. Where's that turquoise one?" she mumbled, searching through her closets again.

"Probably in your remote closet," said Artemis. She was sitting cross-legged on Aphrodite's spare bed, waxing the string of her bow.

"That better not be my leg wax," said Aphrodite, pulling her head out of the closet.

"Oops, sorry," Artemis said meekly. She set aside the little pot she'd taken from the desk earlier.

"Remote closet?" Persephone belatedly echoed.

"I let Aphrodite use my extra closet for her overflow since I don't need it," Artemis explained. With that, she dashed off to her room, reappearing moments later with

30

the turquoise chiton.

Athena's eyes lit up when she saw it. She tried it on behind the screen and came out twirling.

"Perfect," said Aphrodite. "Turquoise looks great on you!" Digging through a drawer, she found some silver combs for Athena's hair and also a silver belt with hammered links in the shape of leaves.

"You look fantastic!" Persephone said when Athena's makeover was complete.

Busily filing an arrow tip with one of Aphrodite's nail files, Artemis barely glanced up, but even she seemed impressed by the transformation. "Yeah, you do look nice, Athena."

Gazing into the large mirror above the makeup table, Athena turned this way and that, studying her reflection. "Wow," she said. "I look ...
sophisticated
."

31

The others laughed. "Just wait till everyone else sees you!" said Aphrodite.

Persephone snapped her fingers. "That reminds me. Tonight's Friday, right? Hades told me there's a party in the godboys' dorm on the fifth floor. We could go and show off Athena."

"Great idea!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "How about it, Athena?"

Athena hesitated, as if a little unsure. "I guess so."

"All right!" said Aphrodite. She could hardly wait for everyone to admire the work she'd done on her friend. A godboy or two was sure to notice the transformation. With any luck, this could turn out to be the night of Athena's first crush. And it would all be thanks to Aphrodite!

32

3 Party Time

WHEN THE GODDESSGIRLS MET UP AFTER dinner, Athena's roommate, Pandora (one of the few mortals at MOA) came too. "How did you make Athena look so fabulous?" she asked Aphrodite as the girls climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. Before Aphrodite could reply, Pandora plowed ahead. "This party should be a lot of fun, don't you think? Won't it be great if

33

there's a band playing? Hey, could you do my hair and makeup sometime?"

"Uh, sure," said Aphrodite. Her reply would've worked for
any
of the questions. With Pandora it didn't really matter anyway. She was always so busy asking questions that she never paid much attention to the answers she received. As if a sign of her curiosity, her bangs, streaked blue and gold like the rest of her hair, were plastered against her forehead in the shape of a question mark.

The party was in the common area at the end of the boys' hall. Loud voices and laughter greeted their ears as the goddessgirls approached. But as Aphrodite led her friends into the room, a hushed silence fell over the godboys and goddessgirls milling around the snack table and perched on couches. Aphrodite was used to causing

34

a stir wherever she went--especially if godboys were present--but this time everyone seemed to be looking at Athena.

Staring at Athena in open-mouthed surprise, Poseidon did a double take and dropped his trident. It clattered to the floor, barely missing the lizardlike tail of another godboy, who flicked his forked tongue in annoyance at him and then scuttled away. "Wow, Athena," Poseidon said at last. "You look really . . . different!"

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Athena teased, but Aphrodite noticed she was blushing.

"A compliment," Poseidon said quickly. "Let me get you some nectar and some chips," he said as several other godboys gathered around to fawn over Athena.

"How about some grapes?" offered Dionysus, a

BOOK: Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls)
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