Christina Witten placed the final double red lines at the end of the last column on her accounting exam. She flipped her test booklet to the front to make sure her student information was correct and then she gathered her things together. She felt a certain relief as she saw she was not the first person to finish the test and not anywhere near the last. It was comfortable for her to finish sometime in the middle. All her numbers matched, so it had to be good enough. She turned in her exam, swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. 

It was a weight off her mind! The test had been an important one. The last one in April—end game. Once she got her (hopefully) good grades back, she’d have her diploma in office assistance and she could quit living her secret life. Not many girls lived a secret life, but if anyone back home heard she’d been working for an escort service, that would be the end of her freedom. She knew for certain her parents would pitch an epic fit and she’d be back in her home town pumping gas before she could say, “No tuition.”

It hadn’t been Christina’s idea to work for an escort service. Well, it hadn’t been her idea in the first place, but when her cousin Mindy showed her how much money could be made by being the shiny little woman on a boring man’s arm for one evening… poor little Christina had to cave. Her pockets were worn thin. She needed money.

It was all because of her own stupidity that she had been short on cash. She was the one who told her parents she had enough money to leave her small town and move to faraway Edmonton. It didn’t matter how far away she went, they didn’t have any money to help her even if she lived next door, but she wasn’t worried. She could take care of everything. She always planned to get a part-time job to help support herself while she went to school, but then she’d been late turning in a form to request a grant and even later with her application for a scholarship. In the end, it didn’t seem to matter how many dishes she washed at the pub around the corner, there was barely enough money to pay the rent as well as her tuition. Feeding herself became a problem, too, and though Christina didn’t like to say it—she’d already maxed out her credit card buying food and those expensive textbooks.

She often wondered if she should have told Mindy about her money problems before they got out of hand, but Mindy was very different from her and the only reason Christina's parents had allowed her move to Edmonton in the first place. She had to live with responsible Mindy who was making a killing at her job… which was? Christina was very suspicious. Mindy was hardly ever home in the evenings and wherever she went, she dolled up like a celebrity about to strut down the red carpet. What could she be doing? At first, Mindy blubbered something about networking. She didn’t give any details about her career until Christina broke down and explained she was fifty dollars short on her half of the rent that month. She’d been killing herself at work for three months and she thought Mindy would understand if she was a little late.

Mindy looked at the money that wasn't quite enough and then at Christina before she said, “Your arms looked chapped. Do you want to make some money at something that doesn’t involve elbow-deep boiling water?”

“But that’s my job,” Christina responded dully, almost on the point of tears.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Mindy said, dropping the bills Christina gave her on the table like they were nothing. She clicked over to the refrigerator in her high heels and took out a can of tonic water, which she opened noisily before leaning against the wall of their apartment like she was marketing the stuff. “I could take you to work with me, and you’d earn enough to pay your tuition for next semester in a couple weeks, especially since Christmas is coming up. You see, I’m actually—”

“A hooker?” Christina filled in for her.

“Escort!” Mindy emphasized. Then she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not even that bad.”

“So, you don’t sleep with them?”

“My clients? Ew! No,” Mindy said, looking repulsed. “Not in a million years. But I do go on dates with guys who need a date for something and don’t have the time or inclination to find a date for themselves. Sometimes, it’s because they’re shy. Sometimes, it’s because they want to make a girl who’s slighted them off burn with envy. Sometimes, it’s because they’re visiting the city and want someone to show them around with a little more intimacy than a touring bus. Stuff like that. Very often, they introduce me as their cousin." Mindy explained before she bluntly asked Christina, “Well, do you want to try it?”

“No sex?” Christina asked anxiously.

“Zero sex. I promise. I’ll give you pepper spray and a pair of brass knuckles. Want to give it a try?”

“Aren’t both of those illegal?”

“Probably,” Mindy said noncommittally. “I’ve never been attacked. I don't know what happens with other escort services, but my agency’s really good. We're professionals and we say what we are willing to do very clearly in our ads. Gross stuff just doesn’t happen.”

“I’ll think about it,” Christina said.

“Do,” Mindy said. “Do.”

So, Christina thought about it. She didn't have much of a choice. She didn’t have enough money to pay the tuition for the next semester and it would be due in mere weeks. If she could earn the money she needed, then she could quit being an escort and go back to washing dishes. If she refused the job, she’d probably have to drop out of her program and go back home. That would be too humiliating. On the other hand, could she really be an escort?

Christina thought honestly about Mindy and how she compared. Mindy was shorter than Christina unless she was wearing battle gear. When she was all dressed for work, Mindy wore ten-centimeter heels. She was tanned and pierced and tattooed in all the right places and Christina was simply nothing like her.

Christina didn’t even have long, pretty hair. Her hair was that unfortunate color that was neither blonde or brown, and to top it off, it was cropped so short that it was almost boyish. She had no figure to speak of. She was pale and… ordinary. Couldn’t a guy get a girl like her anywhere?

“Don’t you think I’m plain?” Christina asked when Mindy broached the subject a second time.

“Plain?” Mindy asked skeptically. “Plain? What do you mean? If you think you’re ugly, think again. It’s true, you need help, but your problems are nothing that can’t be solved with makeup and a little extra attention. Basically, if you give me permission to do whatever it takes to bring you up to snuff, you’ll look like a fox promptly.”

“Really?”

Mindy snuffed, “Everything is fake anyway.”

“No one is naturally beautiful?”

Mindy rolled her eyes and said caustically, “Even Cinderella needed a glass shoe.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Christina said. She was too desperate to pay her bills to think rationally.

“Okay then. You asked for it,” Mindy said, picking up her car keys and heading for the door.

Mindy took Christina to her agency where she introduced her to the boss and told her they could use her for the busy season. No one wanted to be alone around Christmas time, so there was always more than enough work. The woman in charge didn’t seem very interested in Christina, but assigned her the working name of ‘Tina’ and told her she’d work with Mindy the first few times just to make sure she was trained properly. Then Mindy took her to the back for her makeover.

The first thing Mindy did once they were alone was pierce Christina’s ears. She’d never had it done and it felt like her head was going to explode it hurt so much. 

Mindy groaned when Christina whined. “Look, I’m not going to brand you. It’s a miracle you managed to make it to nineteen without having it done anyway. This isn’t a big deal.”

But, it didn’t matter what Mindy said, Christina still felt sore as Mindy busily gave her a facial, manicure, pedicure, plucked her eyebrows and did her makeup. 

When Mindy finally left her alone, she felt sure she’d made the wrong choice. Beauty was too painful for her. She didn’t want to be beautiful when the price was getting your eyebrows plucked—hair by hair. She even considered bolting… but she did need the money. Ugh! She had to endure it.

Mindy brought her back a long honey colored wig and plopped it on her head happily. 

“It’s great that your hair is so short. This way we can do whatever we want with you,” she said with a smile. “You’re going to be super hot.”

All in all, by the time Mindy was truly finished with Christina she was living a double life. By day, she was mild mannered college student Christina Witten and by evening she was Tina, an extremely beautiful and elusive escort who would never be seen past Christmas. 

Or so she thought.

Mindy was right. Christmas was busy. Tina went to six office Christmas parties, three charity auctions, one ball, two shopping excursions, a dinner party, and a performance of The Nutcracker. By Boxing Day, her first day off, she looked at how much money she’d earned dating interesting men, and she was still four hundred dollars short on tuition, not to mention January’s rent, and additional expenses. She crunched the notice in her hand and knew exactly what it meant. She would have to work on New Year’s Eve. And who would be her partner that evening?

So far, the guys she had dated hadn’t seemed that bad. Most of them were in their twenties or thirties. They didn’t have wives and weren’t likely to. They had just gotten in the habit of phoning for a date when one of these once-a-year awkward occasions came up. Some were more embarrassed than others, but she worked hard to make them all feel like she saw them as real people instead of just a customer. One of them even phoned and requested her again. Mindy thought that was great and gave Christina smiles and cheek pinches to congratulate her on her first return client.

When the end of the night came with one of these men, they’d call a cab for her and put her in it without asking for so much as a hug. More than one of them had even told her that she was much too good a girl to be working as an escort and she’d be better off giving it up. 

But by Boxing Day, she hadn’t earned enough money and she’d have to work New Year’s Eve—terrifying. 

Mindy’s words still haunted her. “New Year’s Eve,” she said with a wink. “Everybody’s date gets a kiss on New Year’s Eve. Don’t even think of trying to skip out.”

Christina gulped. If she worked that night, she’d definitely have to kiss her date!