Faced with the ACLU screaming at them and bad publicity, the school backed down. I was now a little worried something would happen at prom, though.

Surtur trying to ruin it. Or protestors. I found a good dress for Kanesha – it had belonged to a fellow model who had no real need for it.

She looked spectacular in red and me in blue and silver, and nobody was saying anything when we walked into the room.

Well, except some looks of jealousy in my direction. “If that’s what professional modeling will get you…”

I didn’t disillusion the girl who had spoken. “You should try it. You’re even tall enough for catwalk.”

She looked shy and turned away, though.
Well, I probably shouldn’t be trying to recruit.

“You girls look fantastic.” A glass was raised to us. Sparkling cider, of course.

I grinned. “We worked hard on it.”

“I’m betting that dress came from a designer you work with.”
Again, I didn’t disillusion him. His name was James, and I didn’t know him well, but I did know he wasn’t looking at me like that. “I’m rather pleased with it.”

“I wish I knew what my career was going to be.”

I shrugged. “Some people need more time to find their calling.”
“Some people never do. I’m afraid I’ll be one of those people. Not like I can afford college even with a scholarship.”

Maybe one day that would change. All I could do for now was make sympathetic noises. Kanesha, though, stepped over. “I’m going to talk to James for a bit.”

Which left me with James’ date, Marcy. “So…I was…I kind of want to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“You’re a model. And…” She blushed. “I want to learn to do better makeup.”

“I can hook you up with somebody who’s even better than me and loves to teach,” I offered.

Normal stuff. Normal girl stuff. It couldn’t possibly last.
And didn’t. About five minutes later some asshole pulled the fire alarm.

Fortunately, the sprinkler system didn’t go off. We milled around outside until we got the all clear, but there were quite a few creative threats being voiced.

I stored up the best of them for later possible use. In fact, I added one of my own, “Replace their vitamin pills with caffeine pills.”

“Ooh, that’s a nasty one.”

“Well, I’m betting they’ve interrupted people’s sleep with that prank. Laxatives would be good too.”

But we got let back in fairly quickly and back to the party. Nothing more went amiss.