What a Doll! by P.J. Night Read Free Book Online Page A

braces were as cool as a broken leg, she thought, leafing through a women’s fashion magazine in the waiting room. Page after page of models stared back at her, looking about as far from human as aliens. One wore a dress that looked like it was made of aluminum foil; another had a face painted like a leopard. She didn’t usually read these kinds of magazines but was strangely drawn to the images. It was sort of impossible to look away. “Fashion” was a word she had heard spoken by Lizzy all too often lately, and it seemed like something Emmy needed to learn a thing or two about. She didn’t even like shopping, though, so how would she ever change her look from kid to tween?
    It felt like it was taking a long time for her name to be called. She flipped a page and saw a model with black nail polish on. Emmy herself had only ever painted her nails pink or red, but come to think of it, she’d seen a few girls at school with darker colors on their nails, like deep blue or purple. She and Lizzy used to give each other manicures and pedicures using their mothers’ nail polish, which was the usual variety of pinks and reds.
    Maybe it would be cool to do something new, Emmy thought. The black seems kind of cool. And then a thought popped into her head. It was a thought she wasn’t proud of, but there it was nonetheless.
    Maybe Lizzy would think it was cool.
    After all, painting her nails black was a risk Lizzy hadn’t taken, and this time Emmy could be the one to show Lizzy a thing or two about what looked cool. Emmy kept thinking about Lizzy telling her she needed to update her look. Well, consider it updated.
    On her way home Emmy stopped at the drugstore and examined her choices. She was surprised by how many different colors there were on display. She’d never thought much about nail polish, actually, and now realized there were people whose job it was to name the colors. What a cool job! Satin Slipper. Peony. Candy-Apple Red. And finally, Midnight, which was the one she grabbed, brought to the counter, and paid for.
    When she got home, Emmy emptied her backpack out onto her desk as usual. Her books, her notebooks, her nail polish, her pens and pencils, and her little doll. She picked up the bottle of nail polish and stared at it. Then, as suddenly as she’d gotten the idea to paint her fingernails black, she realized how crazy it was. She imagined Lizzy’s table at lunch with Sophie and Cadence and their snarky laughter. She remembered the model in the magazine and how tall and elegant she was, and the outrageous clothes she was wearing. Emmy was neither tall nor elegant and owned nothing that could even remotely be considered outrageous. She sighed. Who did she think she was fooling?
    Okay, it’s only nail polish, she thought, trying to talk herself down. Then she saw the doll out of the corner of her eye. She was not as into it—or the lavender candle—as she had been earlier in the week. In fact, looking at it now, she wondered what made her buy the silly little doll. But then she had an idea for a new use for it. Maybe I’ll just start by testing out the black nail polish on the doll, she thought. A practice run. She reached for the doll and set it in front of her. She gave the small glass bottle a good shake and twisted open the cap. Then she carefully, delicately applied the black lacquer to the tips of the doll’s tiny fingers. She had to really focus because the fingertips were so small, but she was able to dab a dot of the enamel on each of the doll’s fingertips.
    When she had finished, she tilted her chair back and examined her work. Interesting, she thought. It looks kind of cool. Now that she saw it on the doll, she decided to paint her own nails. Once she’d finished and her nails had dried, she started on her math homework, which was a breeze. Soon her dad called her downstairs for dinner.
    Like lunch, dinner was always a bright spot in