The Wish by Gail Carson Levine Page B

“That’s so funny. Maybe I should do it.”
    How could he? “Why pay somebody to make you look bad?”
    â€œNot bad—funny. Would you mind waiting?”
    I didn’t want him to do it, but I also wanted to see what Antoinette would come up with. I’d never seen a caricaturist draw someone I knew.
    â€œAll right. Go for it.”
    Antoinette handed the drawing to her customer, saying, “You’re done. I outdid myself.”
    â€œCan you do me now?” Jared asked.
    â€œPay me first, and remember, you asked for it.” She waited for Jared to hand over his money.
    He paid her and sat on the bench, grinning.
    She stared at him for a minute, then extended her arm with her charcoal pencil held vertically. She looked at Jared down the length of her arm and turned the pencil horizontally. Then she drew an egg shape, with the wide end on top.
    After that, she marked off where his eyes, nose, and mouth would go. The caricature part began when she put in his forehead. She made it look like an overhanging story on a house—it jutted way out in front of the rest of his face. His eyes were lost underneath, just dark holes. Then she worked on his mouth, which she made narrower than it actually was. After his mouth, she added detail to his nose. She got the shape right, but she drew it too small too. Next, his eyebrow.
    Jared has thick, curly brown hair, and his eyebrow hair is curly too. She made it bristly, like barbed wire, as if he had coarse, kinky bristles crawling up his forehead.
    I was furious with her. If it weren’t for his eyebrow, Jared would be cute. His eyes aren’t huge, but they’re totally alert. His nose is straight, not too small, not too big. His lips are thin, and I like that. All he needed was tweezers.
    She drew in his ears. They were okay. But then she made the hair on his head like his eyebrow, only longer. Now he looked like he was being electrocuted.
    The crowning touch came when she started shading. She left his forehead pure white and put the rest of his face in shadow. This made his forehead, bordered by writhing antennae, seem to stick so far out that it cast a shadow over the rest of him, possibly down to his shoes, which were off the page.
    â€œYou’re done.” Antoinette sprayed the drawing with a can labeled “Fixative.” “I outdid myself.”
    Jared came around to see. “It’s terrific! Look, Wilma. My eyebrows are a riot.”
    Antoinette took the caricature away from him and slid it into a big envelope. “How about your girlfriend?” she said. “You want to give her a gift she’ll never forget?”
    A caricature of me? No way.
    His girlfriend? Jared One Eyebrow’s girlfriend? Double no way.

Chapter Thirteen
    â€œY ou want to?” Jared asked. “I have enough money.”
    I shook my head.
    â€œOh. Okay.” But I could tell he was disappointed.
    Antoinette scanned the area for customers. “Tell you what. I’ll do her for half price.”
    â€œYou will?” Jared looked delighted. “You’re sure you don’t want to, Wilma? If you do, we’ll both have souvenirs.”
    I did not want a caricature of me as a souvenir.
    But I didn’t want Jared to know how much all this embarrassed me. Especially, I didn’t want him to know that he embarrassed me. He was still wearing my sweater as a cape and holding his revolting caricature tenderly.
    He was nuts, but he looked so hopeful, as hopeful as Reggie before mealtime. I couldn’t spoil his day. Anyway, how bad could it be? It took just a few minutes, and nobody from school was around to see.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “But if you ever tell anybody about this, I’ll . . .”
    â€œI won’t. I’ll go to my grave—”
    â€œPay me first. And remember, you asked for it.”
    I sat on the bench where Jared had been, and instantly it was worse than I expected. I