That Hyaloc, the final day of their school week, Kayla came over to Aless’s house to dress.  Kayla had bought a new mini skirt and a cute top for the date.  She fussed over her hair and begged Aless to help her with her make-up.

“Do you think I should draw a temporary Josӕng?” Kay asked.

She studied her face in the mirror, carefully examining Aless’s handiwork.

“No, Kay. That’s silly.  Everyone will know it just temporary,” Aless shook her head.

“Yes, but lots of girls wear temporary Josӕng now.  It's fashionable and it allows us to see what design we like best,” Kay countered.

“I don’t think it will impress John.  He’s pretty traditional. And if you were to wear a temporary Josӕng, I think you should get it done professionally.  You don’t want to accidentally have messy lines or something.  That could be embarrassing.”

“Wow.  I hadn’t thought about that.  You are right, but maybe tomorrow we can go check out a professional place.”

“Maybe.”

Kay turned her face this way and that, examining herself.  Her long, silken brunet hair was styled with a single braid, which started at the top right of her face and wrapped around to the back where it hung on top of the rest of her hair. Thanks to meticulous care, Kay’s skin glowed, blemish-free.  Her naturally rosy lips were full and lay only a finger’s width away from her perfectly shaped nose.  Kay’s face was well balanced with gentle yet distinct cheekbones and soft hazel eyes. In Aless’s opinion, Kay could have been a model.  She was always perfectly manicured and had a graceful elegant body.  The short skirt and cute top only emphasized this.  Aless didn’t deny she was jealous of her friend’s physical perfection. 

Squelching a sigh, Aless looked down at herself. She had chosen to dress in jeans and a tank top.  She wasn’t trying to impress Tyler and wanted to be comfortable. Yet standing next to Kay, whose large chest made Aless feel inadequate, Alessandra wondered if she should change.  For the most part, Alessandra liked her body.  She was well toned from Pakido without being too muscular.  She possessed an impressively flat stomach, which she loved to show off with belly tops, a petite waist, slightly larger hips, and an average-sized chest.

“You are going to put on some makeup, right?” Kay asked.

Looking up, Aless saw Kay staring at her in the mirror.

“I hadn’t planned on it,” Alessandra admitted.

“Come on, Aless.  I know you don’t want to go on this date, but you could at least put a little effort into it.”

Judging Kay’s jutting jaw, Aless knew she would lose the argument, so she sighed openly and stepped next to Kay in front of the mirror.  She applied the bare minimum makeup, smoothening out her skin with foundation, accenting her nonexistent cheekbones with blush, and highlighting her excessively long eyelashes with mascara.  Normally, Aless’s eyelashes were invisible because they were so white blonde, but, when she put mascara on, they went from invisible to bam! People often asked Aless if she wore falsies.

Turning to go check her phone, Kay walked out to the bathroom.  Scrunching her nose, Aless examined herself.  Her skin was nice but nowhere near as smooth and perfect as Kay’s.  Once a month around her menstruation, she always had a small break out around her chin.  It drove her crazy.  Her eyes and nose, she felt, were too big for her face.  Not to say she had a huge nose, but it was more rounded on the end than Kayla’s, very much like Aless’s father.  She also had her father’s distinct jawline which made her face somewhere between a heart and a circle. Kay always teased that Aless would have made a pretty boy because of her jawline and that her large dark silver eyes with streaks of aqua blue made her look like a pin-up cartoon.  Kayla called Aless’s large eyes “moon eyes.”

“Stop worrying about your eyes,” Kay called from the bedroom. “Guys love big moon eyes.”

Biting her lips, Aless wished she would take some of the size from her nose and eyes and place it in her lips.  They were petite and delicate, a soft shade of pink with a gentle lavender-rose tint. Kayla told her she had pouty lips, whatever that meant. Brushing out her long wavy hair, Aless smiled as she ran her fingers through strands of honey gold.  Out of everything, Aless loved her hair.  She had her mother’s hair. 

Turning, Aless left the bathroom. Examining her, Kay nodded in approval.  Her eyes rested on Aless’s right shoulder.

“Aren’t you going to cover that up?” Kay asked, her tone annoyed.

Shaking her head, Aless didn’t even need to look down.  She knew Kay was talking about her gotong, or mourning tattoo.  Spreading from her the end of her shoulder down the top of her arm, Aless had a brilliantly white five-point star made of dancing waves and rows of traditional boxed diamonds.  The brilliant white stood out against Aless’s skin and made it seem as if the tattoo shone.  It was an unorthodox tattoo since most gotong were worn by men.  Aless had gotten it only a year ago to mark her mother’s ten-year death anniversary.  It embarrassed Kayla, because it was “unfeminine.”

“Did you have to get it in such a bright white?” she complained for the millionth time.

“Yes,” Aless replied flatly.

“Women don’t get gotong as a general rule, Aless, and, if they do, they get small, delicate ones on their hands and wrists, not their shoulders like a man’s band.”

“I like my tattoo,” Aless said coldly.

The iciness in her voice signaled to Kayla that she was treading on dangerous grounds.  Knowing when to shut up, Kay rolled her eyes.

“Fine, but it’s kind of a mood killer, Aless,” Kay said. “This is a date.”

“So, you have reminded me, but it is hot out and I am comfortable in a tank top.  It’s not like John and Tyler haven’t seen it before.  I mean they see it almost every day in school.”

“You are hopeless.”

Kay groaned and headed downstairs.  Following, Aless stuck her tongue out at Kay’s back.  Downstairs they snacked a little while waiting for the boys. At seven sharp, the boys arrived in John’s car.  He drove an expensive sports car with his Josӕng design painted along the sides, a stream of flowing Xs that ended a curved crescent. A sickle. While it was now popular for teenagers to show their Josӕng designs, the sickle, the leaf, the moon, the sun, and so on, Aless found it to be flashy and unauthentic. It made her realize that maybe John wasn’t as traditional as she had thought. Examining the gaudy display of his Josӕng, Aless realized the car only had two doors.   As soon as Aless saw this, she grimaced.  Tyler and she would be stuck in the small back.