4 Pageant and Poison Read Online Free Page A

of her, and found surprisingly, that she couldn't wait. She felt more in her element than she had for quite some time.
    “Just go ahead and get familiar with the girl s, introduce yourself. Here,” Rafael pushed a pamphlet into her hand. “These are the hairstyles we'll most likely be using the most.”
    “Thanks,” Bekki said and started to say more but Rafael had already whisked himself off in the other direction.
    Although the back stage area was a swarm of women buzzing with excitement and giggling, Bekki could tell right away who were the contestants in the pageant. They were the ones with stars in their eyes, that distant and stunned look that showed they were certain that they were dreaming. There were ten contestants, and Bekki intended to take the time to meet each one.
    “Hello there, I'm Bekki, I'll be working with you on your hair and makeup,” she said to one raven haired beauty who looked like she was about to turn green with nervousness.
    “Oh great, oh thank you,” she said as she tugged lightly at her thick hair. “I don't know what you can do with it though. I'm Ana,” she shook Bekki's hand quickly.
    “You have gorgeous hair!” Bekki assured her. “Are you excited?”
    “I wish I could be,” Ana winced. “I just can't believe I was actually chosen, and I get to wear all of these expensive clothes, and now all I can think about is whether I will trip and fall!”
    “Don't worry,” Bekki assured her. “I've been to plenty of these things and you'll do just fine. Just remember to smile.”
    “Oh no, I forgot to smile, didn't I?” Ana reached up to touch her lips lightly. Bekki laughed gently and patted the girl's shoulder reassuringly.
    “Try to have fun,” she advised the young woman as she walked toward s the next contestant. Before she could introduce herself, an argument drew her attention.
    “That is Sasha's sash,” a shrill voice carried over the din of the backstage. It was followed by the loud cluck of a tongue.
    “No , it most certainly is not,” a harsher more masculine tone fired back. “That is Alana's sash, see, it matches her dress!”
    The voices were easily recognizable, not because Bekki knew who they belonged to, but because she had heard the same words from different mothers on more than one occasion. Since most of the contestants were in their late teens, they still had dear old mother controlling their every move. Bekki had often felt sorry for some of the girls whose mothers were so delusional that they would not allow their daughters to eat or drink before the pageant.
    Then the true horror erupted.
    “Oh no!” the shrill voice grew even shriller to the point that Bekki needed to cover her ears. “They're wearing the same dress!”
    Bekki caught the overbearing floral scent before she even saw the person approaching. She recognized the woman by her obnoxious perfume. She had been wearing it for years, and it made Bekki a little sick to her stomach every time she smelled it. Candy LaRuse had organized thousands of pageants. She was a Miss Everything herself, and now as a woman in her mid-fifties she still took her beauty every bit as seriously.
    “Ladies, ladies, how unbecoming,” she chastised in a syrupy voice as she wriggled her skin and bone frame through the crowd that had gathered. “Of course it is a horrible tragedy that you have both purchased such an ugly dress for the opening segment, perhaps there is something that we have laying around from last year that will at least be slightly better than that piece of… of…,” she shuddered a little. “I'm not even sure what to call it,” she smiled sweetly and batted her mascara laden lashes.
    Bekki observed both of the mothers' heavily made up faces contort into expressions of deep offense. But neither would dare say a word against Candy, as they might end up negatively affected in the competition if they did. As both mothers hurried off, presumably to find the nearest dress shop, Bekki did her