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The night came and Hannah
and Shelly made sure they were in the sitting-room so that they
could see Sacha before she went out. Sacha knew that they were there,
so she delayed leaving her room until the last possible minute because
it was such a private moment to her that she was embarrassed.
But eventually she had
to emerge, it was inevitable: it was either run the gauntlet of
Hannah and Shelly's ever-present stares, or stand up Phillip; and
Phillip probably wouldn't understand. So she came out of her room
and, even before she'd shut her bedroom door, Hannah and Shelly
were there, having heard her door opening and come running to see
her off and wish her luck and appraise her appearance.
"You look gorgeous,
Sacha!" Shelly said, admiring Sacha's long dark skirt and short-sleeved,
high-necked top.
"It wouldn't kill
you to show a bit of cleavage, though" Hannah commented, looking
her up and down. "Show the poor boy something! Something to
get excited about, make sure he treats you well."
"Leave her alone,
Hannah" Shelly tutted. "You look lovely, Sacha" she
said again.
"I never said she
didn't" Hannah said. "I just said she could afford to
glam up a bit. Some jewellery, maybe. A necklace. Just 'cause it's
Melbourne doesn't mean you have to look like you're going to a funeral
all the time."
"Hannah!"
"I'm helping! Wait
here" Hannah commanded Sacha.
Sacha checked her watch. Shelly could see on her face how nervous
she was; it was so uncharacteristic that Shelly's heart ached for
her. "She means well, Sash" she promised her. "I'm
sorry. She's just excited about tonight, for you. You know how much
she cares about you."
"Yeah" Sacha
said, tugging at her skirt.
"You look . . . Classy"
Shelly said.
Hannah came back from her
room with a bag of make-up.
"No!" Sacha said
firmly.
"Just a little. A
bit of lippy, that's all."
"I already put some
make-up on."
"You can't even tell!"
"That's the point."
Getting a glare from Shelly,
Hannah backed down. "Okay, okay. But here, put this on."
From behind her back she produced a beaded turquoise shawl. Carefully
she draped it around Sacha's shoulders, and tugged and patted it
into place. "Just for a bit of colour. It suits you" Hannah
said.
Sacha looked down, more
touched than she could explain. "Thankyou" she said awkwardly.
Shelly clapped her hands.
"Now, go! Go! Date the hell out of that boy!"
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