Chapter 1
Tinka leaned close to the mirror and applied a second layer of lip gloss to her already shimmering lips. She rubbed her lips together to get the gloss even, then puckered and blew her own reflection a small kiss. The girl batted her eyelashes while turning her head slowly from left to right, checking to see that her sparkly pink eye shadow was properly applied. Satisfied with the effect, she took a step backward and dragged a critical eye over her entire compact appearance from head to toe.
The white blouse of her school uniform was freshly ironed. Some girls didn’t bother trying to look nice for school because they had to wear the same uniform day after day, but Tinka always put a lot of thought and effort into the way she looked. Her maroon plaid skirt was about as short as she could get it without being given a detention. Knowing how to alter a skirt was one benefit of taking a home economics class, she mused. Black Mary Janes and white socks completed Tinka’s look. The girl straightened her posture and smiled at herself in the mirror. Maybe if she was lucky, she would hit another growth spurt and reach five foot four by the time she turned seventeen.
“Tinka, it's
“Okay Mom!” Tinka called back. She grabbed her backpack and shoved in a couple of school books that were lying at the foot of her bed before trotting out of her room.
Mrs. Carrick was ministering to her coffee when Tinka entered the kitchen. The girl noted her mother’s boring cream colored blouse and plain brown suit skirt. It wasn’t the most flattering outfit, in Tinka’s opinion, but her mother did insist on dressing herself.
“Good morning, Mom,” Tinka said, cheerfully.
“Morning Tinka,” her mother said between sips of coffee. Mrs. Carrick inspected her daughter’s face. “Honey, I think you're wearing too much makeup,” she said in a gentle voice. “You need to wipe some of that off before school.”
Tinka poured herself a glass of orange juice. “Everyone wears makeup at school, Mom.”
“Everyone?” Her mother raised her eyebrows.
Tinka giggled. “All the girls do.”
“Yeah, but I'm afraid boys don't really like it when girls wear too much makeup.”
Tinka shrugged her shoulders and puts some toast in the toaster. “I like how it looks.”
Mrs. Carrick hesitated and then said, “You're father called.”
Tinka paused just a little too long before casually responding, “Oh?”
“He has to cancel for tonight, but he'll catch you on Sunday.”
Tinka shrugged again, this time she was slightly less successful at showing indifference.
“I'm sorry honey...” Mrs. Carrick said, wanting to hug her daughter. Sometimes she really wanted to strangle her ex-husband for being so inconsiderate. He never seemed to realize how much he hurt their daughter’s feelings by cancelling on her all the time.
Tinka shied away a little from her mom. “No, that's okay. I guess Sherry's pretty good at keeping him busy, huh?”
“I think he's probably busy with work.”
“Yeah... Sure...” Tinka didn’t believe that excuse for one minute.
Tinka was quiet during the car ride to school. Mrs. Carrick knew her daughter had been looking forward to seeing her Dad and it hurt the girl each and every time he canceled. As they pulled up in front of the school and Tinka prepared to hop out, Mrs. Carrick suggested, “Maybe we'll go shopping this weekend?”
Tinka gave her mom a weak smile. “Okay.”
Mrs. Carrick glanced at Tinka's overly-short skirt. “You must be growing. Your school skirt is getting really short. We should get you a new one.”
Tinka gave her mother a genuine smile. “Let me guess, you're afraid boys don't like it when girls wear short skirts?”
“No, I'm afraid they like it too much.”
Tinka giggled as she opened the car door. “Bye Mom.”
“Have a good day, honey,” she called after her daughter, watching her bounce out of the car. Mrs. Carrick caught a glimpse of Tinka in the car’s rear view mirror as she was driving off. Tinka didn’t seem to have grown any taller, but that skirt was awfully short.
Another car sped past the school causing a draft to momentarily flip up Tinka's skirt. The girl let out a little shriek and batted it quickly back down. Red faced, she looked around to see if anybody had noticed, but couldn’t detect that anyone had newly acquired knowledge of the color of her panties.
Regaining her composure, Tinka headed across the school’s large front lawn towards the building. The eyes of Jason Lunding followed the girl as she walked. Jason liked to watch Tinka and did so as much as possible without drawing the notice of his friends. Standing in the parking lot with a group of guys, Jason was half a head taller than all his friends and on the lean side, with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. Tinka looked up just in time to notice the blue eyes watching her. Caught in the act, Jason smiled slightly and then casually let his gaze wander away to some cars in the parking lot.
Sean Aston had been observing Jason and he noticed the little smile that was secretly exchanged. He reacted to this knowledge by biffing Jason on the back of the head.
“What's your problem, dude?” Jason demanded.
Sean had golden blonde hair that fell heavily across his forehead. He was in the habit of constantly giving his head an arrogant little toss to keep it out of his eyes. The gesture suited his personality. “Jason's hot for Stinka,” Sean announced to the students standing closest to them on the lawn.
“No, I'm not,” Jason said, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.
“Even if he is, what's it to you?” injected P.J. Rooney, who was standing near by and happened to be Jason’s best friend.
“Shut up, Pajamas,” Sean snapped, giving his head another little toss, ostensibly to get the hair off his face.
Jason turned to look at Sean. “You're kind of bitchy this morning. Maybe you've got a little thing for Tinka yourself?”
“Yeah, right,” Sean scoffed. “That girl's the town bicycle.”
“Sure, Sean. Like you've been with her.”
“No, I've got too much taste, but I know lots of guys who have.”
Jason was skeptical. “Name two.”
This caught Sean off guard and he paused for a second before saying, “You wouldn't know them.”
“Yeah, cause you made them up.”
“Hey, if you're just dipping your wick, that's great, but you're the one getting all knight in shinning armor about it. Makes me think you might really like her.”
A bell rang interrupting whatever response Jason was planning. “Come on, you guys. Let's just go to class,” P.J. said. They all started walking towards the front steps of the school.
