From Geek to Goddess (Zodiac Girls) Read online

  I quickly went to the back of the group and watched what they were doing. It was a different routine to the one we’d done when we did the show in junior school but I studied it for a few minutes then began to copy what the others were doing.

  Easier said than done. They went one way, I went the other. They’d had time to practise, I was thrown in at the deep end. Mercedes did a balletic leap backwards as I pirouetted forward and I ended up splayed on the floor with my milk-bottle glasses skew-whiff on my nose.

  “Oops,” laughed Sara.

  Mrs Woods clapped her hands for attention and motioned for me to get up. “Right, girls, you can stop there. I think I’ve seen enough and we’ve got to move along. I’ll post my decision for Blousey later. Now then, those girls at the back who’ve been waiting, let’s see who’s right for the part of Leroy next. Okay, everyone who’s auditioning, get up and come forward, the others take your places at the back.”

  I went to sit on the benches at the back and watched as six girls went through Leroy’s routine.

  “Love your glasses,” said Sara with a snide look. “Going for the fishbowl look, are you?” Then she did what I can only assume was an imitation of a goldfish, opening and closing her mouth.

  I didn’t even bother to reply.

  “Oh, you poor thing,” said Mercedes. “It must be so hard, having to wear glasses.”

  I didn’t reply to her, either. I knew she was being sarcastic. A few minutes later, I heard her sing, “there once was an ugly duckling…” then laugh.

  I felt like crying, but I bit my bottom lip and swallowed back my tears. I wasn’t going to give them the pleasure of seeing how much they upset me. Not if I could help it.

  Later in the day, it was announced that Bugsy was to be played by Mercedes, Tallulah by Sara, and Blousey by Lois.

  I was offered a tiny part as an undertaker.

  Over my dead body, I thought. Social services and the Outreach programme, you just got yourself another volunteer.

  Chapter Eight

  Makeover madness

  At last it was Saturday. Rest and recreation and my first week in the school from hell was over. Sadly, Mum and Dad weren’t allowed to visit, because the school said that new pupils needed the first two weeks on their own to find their feet, but all visitors would be welcome the following Sunday. I didn’t need to find my feet. I knew exactly where they were – on the end of my legs and ready to start walking out of there. I couldn’t wait for Mum and Dad to come so I could tell them how lonely it had been. Hopefully, they’d see sense and get me out and back to sanity. I couldn’t wait.

  For once, Ruth had her head out of a book and seemed to be getting ready to go out.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Oh. Salon,” she replied. “Remember the vouchers? Nessa booked us in this afternoon. She told us when we were leaving the goddess class.”

  I vaguely remembered Nessa saying something, but hadn’t paid too much attention. I was too upset with my inner beastie goddess person.

  “Er… is that still all right with you?” continued Ruth. “You did say I could use one of them. Er. Sorry.”

  “Ruth, you don’t have to act like a scared mouse around me,” I said. “Sure. Take the voucher. Take both of them. I won’t be using them.” It will probably be another lecture on the ancient goddesses through time, I thought, and I’d learnt enough about them to last a lifetime.

  Ruth sat on the end of my bed. “Are you upset about yesterday?”

  I shook my head. “Nah,” I lied. “Win some, lose some.”

  “I think you’d have made a great Tallulah,” said Ruth. “They don’t know what they’re missing.”

  Jess would have said exactly the same if she was here, I thought.

  “Thanks.” I said.

  “I mean it, you’d have been great. So what are you going to do today?”

  “Oh, stay here. Read. With these monstrosities of glasses, at least I can see now.” Not that the idea of an afternoon on my own appealed that much; I just didn’t want to be seen at the moment. I’d had about as much as I could take of being called speccy-four-eyes or the ugly duckling by Sara and her sarcastic friends.

  “Oh, please come with me,” said Ruth. “It would be company, and anyway, you can’t hide away from the world up here. It’s not the answer.”

  I had to smile when she said that. In one week, we’d done a complete turnaround. Now she was the one urging me to get out, while all I wanted to do was hide from the world under my duvet.

  Ruth got up from the bed and went to my laptop. “Let’s see what the site says.”

  “You can,” I said. “I’m really not interested. I mean, so much for being a Zodiac Girl. I thought it might have been a good thing but now I think it’s some kind of curse. Like, where’s it got me? Nowhere.”

  Ruth pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. “There’s a message for you. From Hermie. He says he’s been trying to phone you and that you’re not to give up. To trust him. And not to be over-sensitive. He says Saturn will intervene to teach a lesson but Venus is still well aspected for a few more days so make the most of it. Oh come on, Gemma, come with me for the makeover. Please. It would be good to get away from school for a few hours.”

  “Pffft,” I said, as I looked out of the window. “Stupid site. Saturn. Venus. Aspects. What’s all that supposed to mean, anyway?”

  However, it was a bright autumn day. It would be a shame to stay indoors. Everyone would be going down to the village on the school bus and Ruth would be on her own amongst them. I ought to go, if only to protect her. She looked a right mess. Her hair was back in its usual plait. She was out of uniform and dressed in a grey sack-like pinafore. She looked like she belonged to a past era more than ever.

  “Okay, I’ll come with you,” I agreed. “Give me two minutes to put my jeans on.”

  Dr Cronus was ticking names off outside the main door in the courtyard where the bus was waiting to take everyone into the village.

  “Jenkins, Peters, McMasters,” he said with a nod as each girl passed him. “Whiting, Parker.”

  “Ah, there you are, fellow goddesses,” Mrs Blain called down from the front seat when she spotted Ruth and me. “Off for your makeover?”

  I prayed that she’d keep her voice down as Sara and her mates were at the back of the bus. The last thing I needed to get out was that I had an inner goddess, that I was Gemma, the Lady of Beasts. They’d love it and I’d never hear the end of it.

  Dr Cronus glanced up at Mrs Blain then rolled his eyes to the sky. “Goddesses? Makeover? Frippery! You girls should be going to the library or to a bookshop. Doing something educational to enrich the mind and the soul, not wasting time on superficialities.”

  He can talk, I thought, as I looked at his tie. If that wasn’t frippery, I didn’t know what was. The pattern of stars and planets against a bright blue background was a strange choice for someone who dressed so soberly most of the time. I bet Hermie bought it for him, I thought, as the star pattern was like the one Hermie had tattooed on his arm.

  Mrs Blain smiled back at him. “Not true,” she said. “Life should be about balance, and the girls need some light relief. They work hard enough in the week and deserve a little downtime. And it’s not all frippery. We’ve been discovering our inner goddesses, haven’t we, girls?”

  “Has that Nessa been doing her goddess classes again?” frowned Dr Cronus. Then he looked directly at me. “There’s only one lesson you need to learn, young lady, and that’s to love yourself and be yourself.”

  Yeah, right, I thought as I took a seat behind Mrs Blain. Just shows what that old codger knows about anything. Love myself? I hate myself. And be myself? I’d rather be anybody but me.

  Ruth sat besides me and nudged me. “Er… did you know that another name for Saturn is Cronus? I read that in my book about gods and goddesses.”

  “So?”

  “Dr Cronus. Don’t you get it? The website said that Saturn woul
d intervene to teach you a lesson.”

  “So?”

  “So, Saturn, Cronus.”

  “She’s quite right,” said Mrs Blain turning round. “Gods and goddesses often have two names. Like Mercury. In some cultures, Mercury is known as Hermes.”

  Ruth nudged me again. “Hermes, Hermie.”

  “Yeah, yeah. And John is also known as Joe and Katherine as Kate,” I said. “They’re only names.”

  Ruth shrugged but as we rode on, I began to wonder. Could it be possible that the planets were walking round in physical form? Nah. Never in a million years. Mad. I’m losing the plot, I told myself as the welcome sight of shops and the village came into view.

  Nessa looked up from doing an old lady’s hair and beamed when Mrs Blain dropped us off at the salon.

  “I wasn’t sure you were coming,” she said as she put the finishing touches to her customer. “Hermie said he hadn’t been able to reach you on your phone. But I’m so glad you both made it. Be with you in two ticks, just got to finish off here.”

  While Nessa showed the lady the back of her hair in a mirror, the receptionist introduced Ruth to a beautician called Tracey who marched her off to a room at the back. While I was waiting, I sat down and flicked through a magazine.

  “Cup of tea while you wait for your driver?” Nessa asked the lady who smiled and nodded.

  As Nessa disappeared into the back, the salon door chinked open. My heart sank when I saw Sara come in with Mercedes. I quickly ducked down to the side of the reception area, where I could see them but they couldn’t see me. I needn’t have worried. They weren’t staying. Sara glanced round, took one look at the old lady in the chair then declared loudly. “Let’s get out of here quick, hairdos for the living dead.”

  Mercedes giggled and out they flounced.

  “You can come out now,” called the old lady as soon as the door shut behind them.

  I peeked my head up. “Oh, yes… right. Sorry. Just someone I didn’t want to see.”

  “I can understand why,” said the lady. “What rude girls.”

  “I know. Sorry about them,” I said. “We’re not all like that at our school.”

  “You’re from Avebury, are you?”

  I nodded and went to stand behind her. Although she looked like she was well into her eighties, her cornflower-blue eyes twinkled with life and she was very elegant in a dove-grey suit, pearls round her neck and her silver hair swept up at the back. I hoped I looked as good as she did when I was her age.

  “And… your hair looks lovely,” I said. “You mustn’t take any notice of them or listen to what they said. They can be really mean.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry, dear,” the lady said then chuckled. “The living dead! Well there’s plenty of life left in this old girl, I can assure you. Just you wait and see.”

  “Here’s your tea,” said Nessa, who reappeared from the back carrying a tray with a china cup on it. “Now, is it okay if I leave you alone and get on with Gemma?”

  “Of course. I’ll be fine,” said the old lady. “And thank you for the tea.”

  Nessa took me into a small treatment room next door to the one Ruth was in and once we were alone, she looked me up and down like I was a prize piece of meat.

  “Hmm. Best get started,” she said. “I like a challenge.”

  Cheek, I thought but I knew what she meant. My hair was madder than ever and with my glasses, no one was going to look at me twice, except with pity.

  She sent me off to a changing room at the back of the salon to put on a robe, and as I was changing, I heard the front door chink open. Probably the old lady’s driver come to collect her, I thought.

  After that, I was pummelled and plucked and waxed and exfoliated and moisturised. At one point, I peeked in the mirror to see what Nessa was doing, only to see that she had covered my face with some pale green gloop. I looked like a ghoul.

  Nessa caught me looking and quickly covered the mirror with a huge white towel. “No peeking until I’ve finished,” she said as she produced a pot of cream. “Now. This is my mystery potion for spots. It’s full of herbs from the Himalayas in India. They’ll be gone in no time. Give me those glasses and I’m going to pop out for a while to see what I can do. You stay here and let the facemask work its magic. Back in a jiffy.”

  I lay back on the reclining chair and prayed that she wasn’t having a laugh at me and that I wasn’t going to end up looking worse than I had before. Nothing to lose, I thought. I might as well enjoy it.

  When Nessa came back, she painted the nails on my hands and toes a fab glittery turquoise, then set about cutting my hair.

  “Only one thing to do with hair like yours,” she said. “We’ll keep it long and put some layers in it. It will take the weight out of it.”

  “Whatever,” I said. I was beginning to enjoy the experience. All the lotions and potions smelt wonderful, of roses and jasmine, and I was starting to feel relaxed and light-headed.

  After the cut, she blow-dried my hair. “I’m going to pull it straight to give it a shine,” she said, “and I’ve got some great products for taking the kinks out, if you like. You can take them back to the school with you to use there.”

  “Whatever,” I said again, but I was definitely feeling better. To have straight hair was my dream.

  For the final touch, Nessa applied a little make-up.

  “Au naturel for someone your age,” she said, “but a little concealer for those spots, a touch of highlighter here and a bit of blusher there won’t hurt, and it will bring out your colouring. You’re a very lucky girl to have such gorgeous brown eyes.”

  Hah! I thought, ‘gorgeous’ and ‘me’. Not two words that go together in my book.

  After a couple of hours, she had finished.

  “Want to look?” she asked.

  “Sure,” I said. She couldn’t have made me look worse. Nothing could.

  She led me to the mirror that she had covered with the towel, then swished it away.

  “Ta-dah,” she said as I gazed at my reflection. “What do you think?”

  I stared at the girl in the mirror. She looked great. I couldn’t believe it.

  “Is that me?” I asked.

  “It certainly is,” she said. “Every girl has it in her to be a frump or a goddess, and you, my dear Gemma, are definitely of the goddess variety.”

  “Wow,” I said as I gazed at my reflection. “The Lady of the Beasts has been tamed.”

  “Indeed,” beamed Nessa.

  I really did look amazing. My hair was perfect, silky and soft to my shoulders and Nessa had even put some chestnut highlights in.

  I turned and gave Nessa a hug. “Thank you so much. I don’t know how you did it.”

  “Cheers, darlin’,” she said with a smile. “But I only brought out what I saw.”

  Then I remembered my glasses. “Oh, but I still have to wear the milk bottles. They’re going to ruin all your hard work.”

  Nessa tapped the side of her nose. “When I do a makeover, I do a makeover, and nothing is going to ruin it. I’ve been over to see the optician and he was just working on your prescription. I persuaded him to get a move on, so here they are. Try them.”

  I tried the glasses and as everything came into sharper focus, I looked back into the mirror. The glasses were perfect. They were an oval shape with no frame. Best of all, they had a slight rose tint so they looked more like really cool sunglasses than glasses. No one would call me speccy-four-eyes in these.

  “And I’ve asked him to make you some contact lenses as well, so you have the choice,” said Nessa. “Some days, you won’t have to wear glasses at all.”

  “Nessa, you’re a star,” I said. For some reason, Nessa seemed to find this very funny and cracked up laughing.

  “Private joke,” she said. “That’s a good one. Now let’s see how Ruth’s getting on with Tracey next door.”

  We knocked on the door. “Just a mo,” said Tracey and opened the door.

  “O
migod!” I said when I saw Ruth.

  “Omigod!” said Ruth when she saw me.

  She looked fab. Tracey had got rid of Ruth’s plait and cut her hair into shoulder-length layers. She’d even put in delicate blonde highlights. Ruth no longer looked like a scared mouse. She looked very pretty. Delicate but pretty.

  “Ruth, you look amazing.”

  Ruth blushed. “Do I?”

  “Take a look,” said Nessa.

  Ruth turned to the mirror and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Is that me?”

  “Sure is, babe,” grinned Nessa and gave the other beautician the thumbs-up. “Nice job, Trace.”

  When we got back on the bus, no one recognised us.

  Nessa had pulled some clothes out of a chest at the back of the salon and Ruth was now dressed in a pink, ripped one-shoulder T-shirt with the words “Goddesses Rule Okay” written on it, and a fab pair of white jeans, as well as pink trainers with silver stars on the side.

  She’d given me a pale blue T-shirt with the words “Bite Me” on it.

  Sara Jenkins did a double-take when she finally recognised us and nudged Mercedes who was sitting next to her. Mercedes glanced over and her eyes widened with shock.

  “It’s the ugly duckling,” she said.

  I made my arms float up like a ballet dancer about to fly. “Yes, but now I’m a swaaaannnnn!” I said as I flew past and took a seat at the back of the bus.

  “More like a duck,” said Sara sulkily.

  And in that moment, I understood something unbelievable. She was jealous.

  Tasha turned round and smiled at me. “You look fab, Gemma,” she said. “And so do you, Ruth. Really pretty.”

  “Thanks,” I smiled as I did my best to look modest.

  Maybe being a Zodiac Girl had its pluses after all.

  Chapter Nine

  Clear as mud

  After a supper of shepherd’s pie and peas on Saturday evening, I went out to retrieve my phone from the rubbish area outside. I really wanted to thank Hermie for the makeover vouchers. They’d worked wonders, not only with the way I looked but also with the way people treated me. It had been brilliant when I got back to school; I’d been the centre of attention and felt like a star.