What A Girl Wants by Liz Maverick

that.That’s Audra’s domain.” She gestured to the overdecorated dressing room. “But this  . . . this is my domain. You just need to understand how the game is played. First we need to understand the principles. Tonight we understand the principles, and later we execute.”
    â€œRight. Well, I’ll just watch and learn, I guess.” Hayley’d seen Suz doing her thing before, and while it was impressive, it wasn’t exactly enlightening. And she couldn’t ever recall her own self-esteem improving as a result of watching Suz do anything. But she was making an effort to help, so Hayley kept her mouth shut.
    Suz pulled her keys out of her bag and opened a tall gray locker backed up against one wall of the dressing room. After a couple of tugs, she managed to squeeze her elaborate green poofy Johnny Beer girl costume out of the narrow opening.
    It was generically Germanic-looking, embroidered with multicolored thread and featuring an extremely short skirt. Well, it was more like a round piece of green fabric that stuck straight out from the waist with a radius of two feet held up by several layers of stiff white lacy petticoat ruffles.
    Suz ran her palm down the fabric of her dress and nodded with satisfaction. “For me, being a Johnny Beer girl is the ultimate expression of feminist power.”
    Hayley reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a large blond wig with a long braid sticking out from either side. “I see. Sort of like being a stripper?” She grinned at Suz.
    Suz didn’t grin back. She was all business. “Well, no. Stripping is about showing. Providing. Giving. It involves direct commerce. Being a Johnny Beer girl is about power. Teasing. Toying. And ultimately denial. Unless, of course, you decide you really want him.”
    â€œOkay. I see.” Well, not really.
    â€œYour timing was perfect. Grace is on vacation.” She openedthe locker next to hers, braced her foot on the edge of the metal, and pulled out a second dress.
    That fuzzy foreboding sensation became clearer in Hayley’s brain.
    Suz tossed over the dress and Hayley reflexively caught it. “I e-mailed her about borrowing the costume. She’s cool with it, so no problem.”
    Hayley held the dress out in front of her as if it were tainted meat. “No problem? No problem?”
    â€œ Is there a problem?”
    â€œYou’re asking if there’s a problem? You’re expecting me to put this on? You’re expecting me to put this on and go out there into the bar? Yes , there’s a problem.”
    Suz put her dress on the makeup chair and took Grace’s dress out of Hayley’s arms and put that on the chair as well. “Let’s sit down for a moment and calm ourselves.”
    Hayley refused to sit. “You can’t lull me into sedation just by using the collective ‘we.’ I’m not a Moonie.”
    â€œA Moonie? Where is this coming from?” Suz shrieked with laughter.
    Her laughter only made Hayley more stubborn. “I won’t do it. I won’t wear that dress. You wear the dress and tell me what happens.”
    â€œIt’s not the same. You have to wear the dress. You must experience the dress for yourself. Humor me for one second. Go stand over by the full-length mirror.”
    Jaw set, Hayley walked up to the full-length mirror. God, I look unhappy. Why am I so unhappy?
    From behind, Suz plunked Grace’s blond wig down on Hayley’s head. The two girls stood there looking into the mirror insilence. On Grace’s wig, the braids looped up in an arc from the sides of the head for a sort of virginal-milkmaid effect.
    Hayley couldn’t help but smile.
    Suz put her arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. “It’s not so bad, is it? Kind of fun, don’t you think? What do you say?”
    â€œThey’ll laugh at me. I can’t pull this off. I don’t have what it