Authors: Lori L Clark
Juliette felt a little guilty for what she was about to do. For all of three seconds.
"Starley, before you leave for school, I have something for you," Juliette said quietly.
Juliette's gaze darted around the room looking for Francesca. If she got caught giving Starley two vials, there would be a whole mess of questions. Questions Juliette wouldn't be able to answer honestly without incurring her sister's wrath.
Starley secured the door on Larry's crate with a zip tie. The silly dog had figured out how to let himself out during the day. She didn't see what the big deal was, but Francesca had started complaining that the sofa smelled like dog.
"Okay," Starley said, holding her hand out in front of Juliette. "Let's have it."
Juliette turned her head right and left and took on the look of deep guilt. She held her index finger to her lips. "Shh," she hissed. "Francesca will have my hide if she finds out what I've done."
Starley grinned and rubbed her hands together conspiratorially. "Sweet, what do you have?"
Juliette held up a small, clear spray bottle. Blue liquid reached nearly to the top. In her other hand, she had an identical container filled with green liquid. "Just remember, blue is for Beatrice. It's vitally important you don't get them mixed up."
"Why do I get the feeling you two are up to no good?" Francesca said, leaning against the doorway with her hands on her hips.
Starley jumped, nearly dropping the vials before she recovered and slipped them into her pockets. "Because you're paranoid?"
Francesca arched an eyebrow. "Usually with good reason, knowing you the way I do."
"Aw, Frank, I'm wounded," Juliette said, clutching her chest.
"I'm going to be late," Starley interrupted and made a beeline for the front door.
"Starley, wait. I'll walk you out," Juliette said, hot on her heels.
Once outside, Juliette reminded Starley to be sure not to get the vials confused.
"Yes, I know. Blue for Beatrice," Starley said impatiently. "Please tell me the green one will make Elise's hair fall out or she'll grow a bushy mustache."
Juliette snorted. "Well, no. That wouldn't be very neighborly of me, now would it?"
Starley rolled her eyes. "Right. So, what? Do I spray it on them when they're not looking? Because I'm sure Elise has no idea who I am, and me randomly giving her a gift of perfume is going to seem pretty weird, don't you think?"
"You're creative, I'm sure you'll figure something out," Juliette said. She glanced at her watch. "By this time tomorrow, the status quo at Prosperity High School should be quite a bit different."
Starley grinned. "Are you sure there won't be any mustaches?"
"Sorry to disappoint, sister dear, but no, no mustaches," Juliette said. She fluttered her fingers. "Now, go!"
Starley had to jog to catch Rue before she gave up waiting and went on to the school without her.
Rue stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest, tapping her foot. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming today."
Starley's face lit up with an ear-to-ear grin. "Trust me. I wouldn't have missed this day for anything."
Rue tipped her head to the side, studying Starley. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"
Starley ignored the question. "Listen, I need you to help me do something."
"What's in it for me?" Rue asked.
"You'll see. Now, are you going to help me, or not?" Starley said.
"Fine. What do I have to do?" Rue opened the front door to the school and held it for Starley.
"Your locker is next to Elise Garner's right?" Starley reached into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around the bottle. She pulled out the one containing the green liquid.
Rue nodded.
"I need you to make sure she gets this." Starley dropped the perfume into Rue's open palm.
"What is it?" Rue asked.
"Perfume." Starley winked. "A very, very
special
perfume."
"Ooh, that sounds ominous. Tell me what this
special
perfume is going to do to her." Rue curled her hands around the cool glass of the bottle, feeling it warm beneath her fingertips.
Starley shook her head. "I'm not sure. Juliette wouldn't tell me. She just said to make sure Elise gets the green bottle and Beatrice gets the blue one."
"Let the games begin," Rue said. "See you in class. I have a special delivery to make."
Rue took off in the direction of her locker and Starley headed toward hers. Rue slipped Elise's
gift
into her locker unnoticed, and Starley handed Beatrice her bottle, telling her it was compliments of her sisters.
The morning passed uneventfully, no matter how much Starley stared at Beatrice, or how many times she saw Elise in the hallways, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
Starley trudged into the cafeteria and scanned the students for Rue. Instead of getting anything to eat, Starley plopped down on the bench beside her friend. She was too anxious to think about eating.
Beatrice leaned closer to Starley and whispered, "Notice anything yet?"
Starley took a deep breath. "Nope, nothing."
"It might help if we knew what we're supposed to be looking for. I mean, it could totally be working, and we wouldn't even know the difference. I wish your sisters would have told you what was going to happen," Rue said tapping her spoon against her yogurt container. "Elise is starting to wonder why every time she looks up I'm staring at her like she's some kind of science experiment and I'm waiting for her to grow mold or something."
Starley didn't have any answers, at least none that made sense.
All of a sudden there was a loud commotion out in the hallway. Rue and Starley exchanged glances. They jumped to their feet and ran toward the noise.
A group of girls had Elise cornered. The Queen Bee's court surrounded her. One of the girls screamed obscenities and accusations at Elise. Another girl poked Elise in the chest, shoving her until she stumbled and fell into a garbage can.
"What the hell?" Rue mumbled. She rubbed her eyes. "Tell me you're seeing the same thing I'm seeing."
Starley giggled. "Oh yeah."
"Do you think … I mean, could this be..." Rue stammered.
"I don't know," Starley replied. She glanced around looking for Beatrice. "Since this is happening to Elise, then we need to find Beatrice. Maybe the crown has changed heads."
"Yeah, like will the real Queen
Bea
please stand up?" Rue snickered at her own joke.
The leaves skittered across the streets of Prosperity, taking anything not nailed down along for the ride. The day was blustery and from the color of the sky indicated that rain was imminent. Not great weather to be out and about shopping, but Juliette had promised Starley they'd make a day of it.
Starley couldn't stop smiling. "Juliette, you should have seen it. It was great!"
Juliette bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I'm sure it was. Tell me again what happened."
"Rue and I were in the lunchroom when we heard people fighting out in the hall," Starley said, talking with her hands animatedly. "When we got out there, Elise's friends had her cornered. She actually fell into the freaking garbage can!"
Juliette glanced into the rearview mirror before changing lanes and grinned. "What about Beatrice? Did you notice anything going on with her?"
Starley bobbed her head up and down. "Definitely. All of Elise's friends dropped her like a bad habit, and I saw them walking out with Beatrice after school. I have no idea how you managed to pull off the double whammy, but dang. Remind me to never make you mad."
"I didn't really have to do anything," Juliette said. "I just had a little help from my good pal Karma."
"Seriously, what did you and Frank cook up?" Starley asked.
"Francesca doesn't know about our little present for Elise," Juliette said. She pulled into a parking spot in front of the mall. "She helped with Beatrice's perfume, but she has no idea I took it upon myself to dig deep into the books and find the one for Elise."
"Books? There are books for this stuff?" Starley had never heard any mention of books before. She tapped her finger on her temple and said, "I always assumed you guys kept all your secrets right up here."
"A lot of them, we do. Francesca's got a nose for creating new recipes, but once she's found one that works, she sometimes puts it in the books. Most of the formulas written in the books are from our ancestors and go way, way back," said Juliette.
Starley made a mental note to search for these books. She'd never been interested in the business before, but after seeing firsthand what could be accomplished with the perfumes, she was suddenly intrigued.
Their first stop was for an appointment with an optometrist. Starley had never been vain, her biggest problem with wearing glasses was the fact that they constantly slid down her nose, and she spent more time looking over the top of them than through them. After her exam, she got fitted for a pair of blue tinted contacts. Her eyes popped with color and Juliette thought she looked gorgeous. Starley wasn't completely convinced, but she remained open.
After they had finished with the eye doctor, it was off to the hair salon. Starley's hair was naturally blonde, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd had more than an inch or two taken off.
"Oh, baby doll, people pay big bucks for hair this color," Kosmo the hairstylist told her. "All this virgin hair."
Kosmo's eyes lit up like a kid with his mom's credit card in a candy store.
Juliette shook her head. "Let's not go getting crazy, Kosmo. How about taking a few inches off the length, give her some volume. Maybe add a few layers?"
Kosmo sighed and said, "Fine."
Finally, it was time for the wardrobe improvements. Starley tried on a pair of jeans and proclaimed that they were too tight. Juliette smirked, proclaiming they fit perfectly. Starley scowled but knew better than to argue.
Arms loaded down with shopping bags; they were ready to leave the mall and head back to Prosperity when they passed the formal store. Starley slowed to get a better look at the beautiful deep blue satin dress on the manikin on display in the front window. She couldn't help but admire the gown, and wonder wistfully what it would be like to go to homecoming on the arm of Beau Byrd.
Starley blew out a noisy breath and turned to leave.
"Do you want to try it on?" Juliette asked.
"No, there's no point in buying a dress like that when I don't have any place to actually wear it," Starley said. She began walking toward the exit.
"There's no harm in trying it on," Juliette called after her.
The dress, of course, fit as though it had been tailor made for Starley and over her protests, Juliette bought the dress.
"What if he doesn't ask me? That's an awful lot of money to waste on something that probably isn't going to happen," Starley mumbled.
"I have a feeling that your first homecoming will be a night to remember," Juliette said.
Later they'd find out just how prophetic those words would turn out to be.
While Juliette and Starley were out spending money, Francesca had her hands full at The Perfumery. On a typical Saturday afternoon, all three of them would be available to help out. Francesca loved the feeling being busy gave her. It was like she hovered a few inches above the floor and floated -- very quickly -- around the shop.
Several new customers came through the front doors, and that pleased Francesca a lot. Her face hurt from smiling all day. It was late afternoon before Starley and Juliette finally breezed into the store, their grins nearly as wide as Francesca's had been.
A few minutes before closing time, the shop had finally grown quiet when a woman slowly pulled the shop door open and peered inside.
"Is it too late? I can come back if ya'll are getting ready to close," she asked.
Starley's eyebrows shot up, and she pulled her lips between her teeth. The woman resembled a mouse, right down to the beady eyes and whiskers.
Francesca painted on a tired smile and took her by the hand. Immediately, she was taken aback by the unpleasant odor of rodents. She twitched her nose, and said, "Of course it's not too late. It's never too late until we've locked the doors and gone home for the day. Won't you come in and look around?"
"My husband bought me a gift certificate for my birthday," the woman said with a nervous titter. "I don't know what he was thinking. I can't remember the last time I indulged myself with something as frivolous as perfume."
Juliette offered her hand. "Welcome, I'm Juliette."
The woman shook Juliette's hand and said, "I'm Mrs. Byrd. My husband is Pastor Byrd."
Juliette didn't have to be gifted with the sense of touch to sense how nervous Mrs. Byrd was. If Juliette had her way, she'd whip up a batch of backbone in a bottle, but Francesca would discourage her from doing that.
Francesca, as though reading her sister's mind, cleared her throat. "Mrs. Byrd, we have some lovely scents over here in this case." She pointed to the large display case at the back of the shop.
Juliette knew there were a few self-confidence potions in that case and was pleased to see that she and Francesca had been on the same wavelength. Granted, Juliette had a little something stronger in mind, but it probably wouldn't be wise to turn meek, mousy Mrs. Byrd into a raging ax murderer. As much as she'd like to.
Francesca opened the case and moved a few of the bottles around on the shelves until she found the one she wanted. She pulled out a small crystal decanter filled with blood red liquid. It was the most potent self-confidence scent she dared sell the woman.
"Here you go, Mrs. Byrd. What do you think of this one?" Francesca spritzed the air and sniffed.
Starley giggled as Mrs. Byrd wiggled her whiskers.
"It's wonderful. It reminds me of something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it smells divine," Mrs. Byrd said.
Francesca rang up the sale and took Mrs. Byrd's gift certificate. "Pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Byrd. We hope to see you again."
"Easy to see who wears the pants in that household," Juliette said. "You should have let me make something stronger for her."
"I don't think that would have been a very good idea considering who her husband is. The last thing we need to do is raise Pastor Byrd's suspicions about what we do here," Francesca said. She walked to the door and flipped the closed sign around. "She just needs a little bit of confidence. We don't want her to file for divorce or kick the pastor to the curb."
"I bet they don't keep any cats around their house," Starley mumbled.
Francesca beamed at Starley and changed the subject. "Look at our baby sister. You look beautiful!"
"I'll admit, it's a bit of an improvement," Starley said, hopping down from the counter. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say I look beautiful."
"You're too modest. I bet Beau Byrd's eyes pop right out of his head as soon as he gets a look at the new and improved version of Starley Duchesne," Juliette said. "If he doesn't, he needs to go to the eye doctor."
The three women walked outside, and Francesca locked The Perfumery's front door. They climbed into the station wagon and headed home.