Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

it at the back of the closet and I knew she loved it. I could recall her buying it with Giselle. I smiled, feeling evil boil in my blood, as I stormed back to my room. I put the dress on and looked at myself frowning. Who was I kidding? My long, blonde hair looked stringy, my eyes had dark circles under them, my chapped lips were still peeling and my thin, long face was making my nose look birdlike. My grey-blue eyes seemed to have a small amount of sparkle but nothing to write home about. The only thing working for me, was that I had managed to gain back a bit of weight and I had breasts again. The dress looked pretty good on my body, but cutting off my head was not an option.
    I looked like an idiot.
    I phoned Giselle.
    “ Hello.” Her voice sounded weaker than normal.
    “ Were you sleeping?” I felt bad.
    She laughed. “God yes. All I do is sleep. What’s shakin’ bacon?”
    I laughed at bacon. “I am going to a party tonight, stealing my sister’s clothes, and I don’t know how to do my makeup. I look bad still from being sick.” I regretted saying it to her the minute I did, but she ignored it.
    She burst out laughing. “I have never been more proud, than I am in this moment. Which outfit?”
    I looked down at the dress, letting an evil grin cross my lips. “The red one, it has the tags on it still. It’s from the back of her closet.”
    There was silence. “Oh my God. That’s the one she got on harsh sale at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver. Ok, you’re a beautiful blonde with plump lips and blue eyes in a red dress, you aren’t going to need much. Is your face clean?”
    “ Give me a second.” I wiped quickly with stolen makeup wipes from Alise's room. “Ok, clean slate. What do I do?”
    “ What kind of materials am I dealing with here?” Giselle sounded very serious in all of this.
    I looked down at the old kit my mom gave me a year earlier and grimaced. “You know those kits you get from Walmart that have everything all in one? Like a painter’s palette.”
    I heard a sigh. “Dear God—I knew it.” She went quiet for a moment and started to speak again, “Ok, this is what you’re going to do.”
    She led me through the makeup, the hair, and the shoes.
    When the doorbell rang and my dad called up at me, I whispered into the phone, “Thanks Giselle, see you next week, ok?”
    “ Uh, speaking of visits, are you bringing the new hottie in your life or just regular old Shane?” Her voice was full of sarcasm.
    I groaned. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with either of them. Shane likes me and we kind of kissed, but Aleksander is the guy I was telling you about with the crazy blue eyes. I’m lost.”
    “ Oh my God, Aimee. He could be the psycho.” She sounded panicked.
    I shook my head, like she could see me. “No, it’s not him. His lips aren’t the same, at all. I think my sister has her claws in him already, anyway. So I guess Shane is the one for me.”
    “ So he kissed you. Is that your first kiss?”
    “ Yeah. It was nice.” I blushed, smiling hard. I looked at myself in mirror and knew Shane made me happy. I could see my face transform talking about him.
    She moaned. “Awe, I’m so bummed, I’m missing your first party with a boyfriend, sort of. Good luck tonight. Don’t drink anything you didn’t open.”
    I laughed. “Yeah, lesson learned.” I hadn’t told her or anyone about Aleks, but it seemed the news had traveled, even to a children’s hospital in the city. Sad really. Damned Facebook.
    I hung up my phone and stuffed it down the top of the dress, to the side of my boobs, like my sister always did. She was classy like that. I left the room and started down the staircase. I was one of those cheesy movies. Overly made-up girl, walking down the stairs. She's a nerd transformed into hottie. Her date is at the bottom, staring up at her the whole way down.
    I focused more on the stairs than anything. The shoes Giselle picked were high heeled and I was feeling very unstable. On the stairs, I realized my side cramps were back. I was feeling bloated and sort of gross but I pushed it aside. I hoped Shane and I would have fun, maybe I would see Aleksander again.
    “ Dear God…what are you wearing? Go put something on,” my dad groaned at me.
    I laughed. “Dad, Alise wears less to church."
    He rolled his eyes at me and sighed. “If Alise went to a church, it would light on fire instantly. Besides, you’re my jeans and t-shirt, daughter, I expect certain