The Mag Hags by Lollie Barr

funny.’
    â€˜Especially on those commercials,’ said Cat, standing up and emulating his little wiggle dance.
    â€˜Please, enough of my father already,’ said Belle like she meant it.
    It was getting late, so it was time for the girls to get their respective buses home. ‘Any further Mag Hag business?’ said Maggie.
    â€˜I’ve finished getting the clothes together for the fashion shoot,’ said Wanda. ‘Now we’ve got to think about where we want to shoot it.’
    â€˜That’s your department, Belle,’ said Maggie. ‘Any ideas?’
    â€˜Yeah, actually I was thinking about shooting it on the steps of the civic centre,’ said Belle. ‘Then, because the theme is futuristic, Photoshopping in some spaceships hovering in the background. I’ve even been drawing some cute aliens to be our dates.’
    â€˜That’s totally kooky but I like it,’ said Mand. ‘Actually, I love it!’
    â€˜Oh yeah, Mand,’ said Belle. ‘Wanda thought it would be cool if your mum would do our hair for us.’
    â€˜She’d love to,’ said Mand. ‘What my little Melsy would give to “hang” with the girls. I suppose I could manage it for an afternoon; although, trust me, she will drive you nuts.’
    Just as the girls were packing up their stuff, there was a noise from the hallway that sounded like two cats fighting in a dark alley.
    â€˜You’re a selfish, spoiled bitch,’ cried one voice in a hysterically high tone.
    â€˜What was I going to say, “No Guy, I can’t marry you because my older sister is an ugly old maid?”’ spat another. ‘This is not Jane Austen, where the older sister has to marry first. Don’t know you if you’ve noticed, but we live in the twenty-first century!’
    The girls sat open-mouthed and looked at Maggie for clues to what was going on.
    â€˜Mum, she’s got engaged, the cow,’ said the first voice, snuffling like she had a nose full of snot. ‘I hate you. You know Roddie was going to ask me at Christmas. You knew it, Caro, everybody knew it.’
    â€˜Everyone except perhaps Roddie, Bet,’ said Caro, her voice dropping an octave with malice. ‘He told Guy he didn’t want to get married until he was, like, thirty!Maybe you should have discussed it with him first.’
    â€˜Welcome to my world!’ said Maggie in a whisper. ‘The shit is really about to hit the fan now – there’ll be hair balls floating down the hallway like tumbleweed before you know it. It’s probably time you left.’
    The girls would have loved to have stayed and heard the Jones sisters rip each other to shreds. Wanda, especially – she’d always thought having sisters would have been the best fun ever, sharing clothes, make-up, talking about boys. But was it really like this?
    â€˜Keep it down, you two!’ said Dario in a hiss. ‘Maggie’s got four girls in the dining room. Do you want the whole town to know the way you two carry on?’
    The cursing suddenly stopped, to be replaced by the sound of doors slamming as the girls left the house. The screeching started up again when they were further down the street and continued all the way to the bus stop.

The window let in a cool breeze that made Wanda’s pink bedroom curtains flutter like butterfly wings. Inside, it was absolute pandemonium. Once lessons had finished on Friday afternoon, the girls had headed straight to Wanda’s and spent three hours in a marathon trying-on session, in which they emptied the contents of Wanda’s and her parents’ wardrobes. Surprisingly, Mr and Mrs Hong had some mean throwback disco clothes – Mr Hong had won a dance-off in 1986 and had been known around the clubs for his killer moonwalk.
    The girls had been looking for the perfect outfit for the fashion shoot, which was to take place the following day. There were