Selma Jane was aware she was not the most attractive girl in her class. Not by far. As a sunflower nosed mole, Selma’s nose was big and odd-looking, with tiny pink tendrils eruption from its center, and this would have been bad enough without her chunky square glasses and the braces that lined her yellowed teeth. Even her clothiers were frumpy and plain, hanging loosely around her stout form. No, Selma wasn’t pretty, not one bit.

One day she was sitting in the library eating lunch when two shadows fell across her table. She looked up to see Ri Ri and Brittany, the two most popular girls in school. They were snow-white mice, with tiny ears and perky pink noses. Selma could see little white bows tied onto their long tails as they stood staring down at her. “Uh, hi,” Selma said.

“Selma,” Ri Ri squeaked, flashing her perfect white teeth, “we’ve decided to make you our new project!” The two mice stared at her expectantly, grinning, their eyes bright and glossy.
“Er…your what?”

“Our project!” In a flash, Ri Ri and Brittany were sitting on either side of Selma, leaning in. “It’s going to be so much fun!” Brittany gushed.

Selma shook her head. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” she said.

Ri Ri rolled her eyes. “We’re going to give you a makeover, silly!”

“Duh,” Brittany chimed in.

Selma was taken aback. “Me?”

“Yes!” Ri Ri told her. “You see, Selma, we choose a new subject every year, and THIS year, we chose you!” She winked. “We guarantee you’ll be satisfied with the results.”

Selma stared at them. A makeover? It was something she had never considered before; she had never really had close girl friends, and who else was she supposed to get a makeover from? Her ma wasn’t exactly a fashionista.

After a moment of indecision, she said, “Okay, I guess.”

Ri Ri and Brittany squealed and enveloped Selma in a huge hug. What did I just say yes to? she thought.

The first thing the mice did was get rid of Selma’s glasses.

“But I can’t see without them,” Selma told them, squinting. They assured her that to be popular, you didn’t need to see much. I can’t see at all, Selma thought, but she kept her mouth shut. Ri Ri and Brittany obviously had more experience in such matters than she.

Next, the mice made her up. They coated eye shadow, blush, mascara, and lip gloss on various parts of her face in heavy amounts, making her cough, and curled the tips of her fur in teeny ringlets. “This is one of my FAVORITE styles,” Brittany gushed excitedly. The ringlets hanging in her eyes, Selma wasn’t so sure, but if the mice said it looked good, she guessed it must.
The mice’s last step was to tackle Selma’s clothes. The mice had her go into the bathroom and strip down to her underwear. Once she had done so, they shoved through the door piles of slinky, colorful garments and high heels. They were nothing like Selma had ever worn, and she wasn’t sure they were even that attractive–but this was an afternoon of firsts, so she wriggled into various outfits for the mice to judge, until they finally decided on a particularly low-cut pink top with a matching miniskirt and pumps. “You look so GORGEOUS!” Ri Ri exclaimed. The mice shoved her in front of a full length mirror, but all Selma could make out were vague blobs of color. She took their word for it.

Finally, the three girls stood over the trash can in Ri Ri’s house, which was where they had congregated.

“I don’t know,” Selma said, unsure. She held her clothes close to her chest, clutching them like they were a lifeline. Did she really want to do this? What would her ma say?

Ri Ri gently rested a hand on her shoulder. “It’s for the best, Selma,” she said. She sounded so confident.

Selma drew in a deep breath. Her ma wouldn’t mind too much, right? Once she got over the surprise, she’d be happy for Selma. She opened her eyes and slowly exhaled. “Okay,” she announced, “I’m ready.” Before she could turn back, in one smooth motion she threw the clothes into the trash can. As Ri Ri and Brittany jumped around her gleefully, Selma was excited despite herself. So this was what it felt like to be popular.

Selma almost thought she liked it.

Walking home, though, Selma’s excitement started dying down. The bag of clothes the mice had given her was heavy, and though her house wasn’t too far from Ri Ri’s, the mice hadn’t given her a jacket, and the skinny straps on her top left her arms fully exposed to the chilly air. Worse, thunder had started rumbling ominously in the sky every minute or so like a threat. Selma quickened her pace, wishing she could put on her glasses, which were in her pocket. Everything was blurry, and it was hard to see where she was going, especially with the heels on–but the mice had told her she looked much better without them, so she kept them off, even though she was squinting to see two feet in front of her. Even her makeup felt unnatural and heavy, and her curled fur kept falling in her eyes.

She wondered how her ma would react to her new look. Would she be mad that Selma had gotten rid of her clothes? Selma was starting to feel a little queasy, an uncomfortable knot beginning to form in her stomach. She hoped her ma wouldn’t be mad.

Suddenly, rain started pouring from the sky. Selma shrieked. Her new clothes would be soaked! She started to run, as well as she could in her outfit, when her left heel caught in a ditch and she went flying, landing in the dirt with a thud. She lay there gasping for a moment, the wind completely knocked out of her, rain beating down on her. When she finally got her breath back, she moaned. “Ow,” she whimpered. Her arms and legs were stinging, and her glasses had flown out of her pocket into the mud. Selma slowly reached for them and wiped them off on her top, now wet and muddy, before putting them on clumsily, blinking to adjust to the suddenly in-focus world. Raindrops kept hitting the lenses, so she averted her eyes, which were suddenly tearing up. She wiped at them, sniffling. Her clothes felt tight and uncomfortable, and the heels were pinching her feet. She was suddenly very ashamed.
Slowly getting to her knees int the downpour, she was preparing to stand when she caught sight of herself in a small puddle on the ground. She gasped. With her soaked mop of curly fur and the bright makeup the mice had put on her running down her muddy face in loud rivers, she didn’t even recognize herself.

With that, Selma shot to her feet and didn’t stop running until she reached home.

The next day at school, when Selma came to school in her old clothes and her glasses, she was accosted by Ri Ri and Brittany almost as soon as she walked in the door.

“What are you doing?” demanded Ri Ri.

“You’re wearing your glasses again!” Brittany cried, horrified.

Selma shrugged. “These clothes just fit me better. Plus, I really can’t see anything without my glasses.”

Ri Ri and Brittany both looked like Selma had just committed a horrific murder. “No one has ever, EVER rejected our makeover before!” Ri Ri squealed.

“EVER!” Brittany wailed.

Selma shook her head. “You guys think I’m better when I look like you.” She smiled at their aghast faces. “I like myself the way I am.” Then she walked away.

THE END