Manicures and glitter

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara shrugged. "What can I say? I have a decadent lifestyle." She winked. Of course, that wasn't her at all; she liked to think that she ate healthily, and she could certainly stand to eat more without becoming horrifically obese- she'd been blessed with an excellent metabolism, after all, which was more than could be said for some people- but equally, the blonde did like good food; she didn't imagine that she'd do very well without it. Not for long, at any rate.

Returning the smile, she leaned back in her chair, shamelessly tracing her hands down over her front. "I'm so glad to find someone who agrees with me, honey," the girl purred. It wasn't that it didn't happen often- Tara was by no means modest; she was perfectly happy to confirm that it did- but people were not often brave enough to come out and say it. "And I'm so glad I'm not a gymnast... I don't think I could ever bring myself to hate you, gorgeous girl."

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki laughed, she was pleased to see that there was actually good conversation here, and it didn't revolve around horses. "So, what does one do for fun around here anyway?" She asked as she finally put the magazine aside, popping a gummibear in her mouth as she lounged back against her seat. It was beginning to become a little bit of a muchness with all the girls using the same make-up and hairstyle. "Are there any shops I must visit when I deem it important enough to go into the town?" Tara seemed to be a girl who would know what was happening, and she wasn't even a cheerleader!

[Tara Macmillan]

The blonde shrugged. "I don't know where you come from, honey, but I'm a New York girl myself, and so far as I'm concerned, Blue Ridge is a hick town halfway between Nowhere and Nothing. Couple of places to eat and the tack store, and that's about it. There's not a decent manicure for a couple of hundred miles. It's such a trial." To demonstrate, she waved her own hands vaguely in the other girl's direction. They were, of course, immaculate, but that was beside the point. After all, it wasn't so long after Christmas; she'd have been an idiot to give up that opportunity.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki laughed. "I'm from DC, and completely agree with your description of where this place is located." She examined her own nails, which were in serious need of a good manicure, and sighed. "What do you think are our chances on them employing someone to do our nails and feet?" She heaved a sighed. "I'm an elite athlete, I don't just play a sport, I have a career! I need proper care on my fingers and toes, they are what keep me in my profession." Ok, maybe a little dramatic, but it was the truth. Who wanted to watch a gymnast who didn't have well cared for feet? "Facials are easy, I buy all my masks online from the top suppliers, I've done my own eyebrows since I could hold a pair of tweezers, and I'm a pro at waxing- which is also delivered from the top salons in the world!" Her eyes lit up as she sat forward, clasping her hands as a plan began to unfold. We should so do a spa-day one Sunday!"

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara nodded with a smile. "It's so good to find someone who actually has a bit of sense around here!" she remarked brightly. "Most people couldn't care less if they didn't see a hair stylist from January to December, so long as they had their horses." Of course the blonde loved her mare, just as she loved to ride- otherwise she wouldn't be here, obviously- but even so, it didn't dominate her life as it seemed to for some of her fellow students. Yes, she liked to ride, but that didn't mean that she was prepared to look like a mess whilst she was doing it.

"To be honest, honey, I doubt it. The horses get their feet looked after, and I spend God knows how long on grooming every day, but ask the principal to employ a nail technician and she'd probably think you were insane." Tara sighed heavily. "People just don't understand these things. But yes, we totally need to have a spa day! I am a fabulous manicurist!"

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki grinned, happy that this girl shared her need to look her best, Now, if only there weren't horse, life would be even better! "I can't work out if my parents thought my being here would be better for my career, or to turn me into the average horse-loving teenage girl." She rolled her eyes.

She pouted at the news, though wasn't too surprised at that. "Well, then they'll just have to get used to me flying in my stylists right before big competitions." surely this school knew they importance of gymnasts being completely ready for a competition, she'd read about all the elites that had been through this school in the past.

She perked up as thoughts of a spa day began to unfold. "We'd have to take over the lounge in the rec room. Make it a whole-school thing, so we don't come off as total snobs. The lounge is bigger than this room anyway, and will allow us to set up stations around the room." She clapped her hands as plans began to form. "Oh, for all days not to have a notebook on me!" She normally always carried one around with her too, for the chance of a routine coming to mind, but today she had only come down with the magazine.

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara laughed. "Honey, the teenage girls you'll find here are a long way from being average, at least in my opinion. They'd rather be out getting hot and sweaty on horseback than lying around texting." And that, so far as the blonde was concerned, was sheer lunacy. Yes, she enjoyed riding; it was a nice diversion, and she was very good at it. It was another platform upon which she could compete and have a fair chance of success. Which wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy grooming and mucking out, but, after a while, they were just chores. Whereas a lot of the girls here actually seemed to enjoy them, which, to her mind, was just plain old weird.

"I don't doubt they'll love it," she commented drily. "Do you know where the nearest airport is?" Tara most certainly did; she'd been through it on almost every occasion when she'd travelled either to or from the school. It was hardly right next door. "Since I'm not sure they'll relish the journey, especially not in the summer- it's like an oven out here."

She shrugged. "Well, if you're that bothered about not coming off as a snob..." The blonde winked. She was well aware that most of the rest of the school regarded her as such in any case. "Here." Tara tossed her phone across. "There's a notes app on there somewhere."

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki laughed and rolled her eyes. "Who on earth flies people in on planes these days? I'd get them to helicopter in. This school has to have a heli-pad somewhere on campus. How else would they rush serious injuries off to the likes of a spinal ward, I doubt the hillbilly hospital around here would have one of them." She was sure that getting a pilot with a helicopter was easier than hiring a small plane anyway.

She laughed again. "I know all the best girls, and a few they shouldn't have let in, live in this building, but it would only be fair to open the invitation to everyone, and not have them in here. Plus, the room I want to use in the rec centre is bigger and has better lighting."

She easily caught the phone and after finding the contacts and adding her own number and then sending herself a text so she'd have Tara's number, she brought up the app she wanted and began making a list of everything they would need for a complete spa day, well, short of the spa pools, saunas and tanning beds. "I should talk to mother too, she'd make the school want to cooperate with us, hint that they could even get a bit of sponsorship with a couple of companies if they play ball and all that." Nikki would just have to make sure that anything her mother did, wouldn't interfere with her current sponsorship.

[Tara Macmillan]

The blonde shrugged. "Honestly, honey, I never planned on having a serious injury that required a visit to a spinal ward, so I can't say I've really enquired into the matter. They say the school nurse is pretty good- used to work in the ER or something- but since I'm not lunatic enough to engage in cross country courses, or Western riding-" She paused to shudder melodramatically- "I tend to do fairly well at staying on the horse, and other than that, I don't see how I could damage myself... Well, I guess maybe if I got a bit overenthusiastic with... something..." She winked.

"Lighting is everything," Tara agreed solemnly. "No one ever relaxed under airport lights yet." And equally, no one had ever been wholly awake in the dark- unless they got up early to go swimming or run marathons or something, which the blonde considered to be an act of insanity somewhere between wearing heels in a barn and wearing paddock boots to a ball. As to in which order those ought to be considered to come, she generally did not elaborate.

She shrugged unenthusiastically. "You can try it. The principal's not too bad, but tell her not to talk to the VP, whatever she does; the woman's a lunatic, and she'd probably refuse just to make life difficult. Got a weird accent, too; can't understand half the things she says."

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki shrugged. "In the world of gymnastics, we're always prepared to face the worst. I'm not too proud to know that a simple release move on the uneven bars could end my entire career, if not more."

Nikki finished making her list, sent a copy of the file to her own phone and then threw the device back to Tara. "Might keep this spa day on the down-low then, see how many people turn up to it, and it we get a big enough turnout, then we can look at going bigger next time." After all, what she had been thinking would entail a lot of planning if no one was going to turn up.

[Tara Macmillan]

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "And you call us mad," she muttered sardonically. Of course, there were an awful lot of serious injuries in the riding world as well, and Tara, being neither blind nor stupid, was well aware of the fact. Which was, in large part, why she chose to avoid the world of cross-country riding. Well, that and the fact that the girls who rode cross-country were, for the most part, quite incredibly irritating.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, flashing a mouthful of white teeth to the other girl in a sudden smile. God, she was looking forward to this; riding was anything but stressless, and she definitely needed the opportunity to loosen up a little.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki threw her head back and laughed. Sobering up she smiled and shrugged. "I've always been a bit of a wild child, and gymnastics gave me the place to run till I dropped and kept me in a safe environment." And then there were the horses, but that part of her life no longer existed, so it was never mentioned. A bridge she had well and truly burned after she had crossed it.

She returned Tara's grin. "And if it turns out that we are the only people there; we'll have a huge room to ourselves and will have fun pampering ourselves!"

[Tara Macmillan]

The blonde shrugged. "Hey, so long as your hair isn't wild..." she teased, grinning. "Now, that would be an unforgivable sin." Well, perhaps not quite that far, but it was certainly far more serious than a wild temperament, at least so far as Tara was concerned- and that, in her opinion, was all that mattered. After all, she liked to think that she had a very clear mind. "But horses are good for letting off steam too, you know." For a moment, she regarded the other girl. "You can take a turn on Jenny, if you like. She's lovely. And, don't worry..." Her lips twitched in a mischievous smirk. "I'll look after you."

"And having fun is what it's all about," she agreed with a nod.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki gasped in horror, her hands flying up to her perfect hair. "Don't even joke about things like that!! That's how you wake up with frizzy hair! She lower her hands again, shaking her head in amusement.

She shook her head vehemently, drawing back slightly in horror, as horses were mentioned. "Thank you, but I will quite happily pass on that one." She replied, all humor gone from her tone. "I have no intention of riding ever!" a silent again was added to the end of her words. She knew the reason her parents had sent her here, and it wasn't going to work. She was never, ever, going to get on another horse.

She nodded as she looked into her empty mug. "As lovely as this chat has been, I need to go and make sure that my laundry is done, so I have a clean leo for tomorrow." She rose to her feet, grabbed the magazine and took the mug and saucer back to the counter, where she rinsed the mug out and left it upside-down on the rack, planning to come and put it away later. "I'll see what I can throw together for the spa day, and we'll chat later about dates and times and things. Ciao." She wiggled her fingers in a wave as she left the common room.

[Tara Macmillan]

The blonde nodded solemnly. "It is so good to meet someone who appreciates the fact that hair is not ever a laughing matter!" she pronounced. Admittedly, there were perhaps few people in the world who took their appearance as seriously as Tar did- outside of the professional modelling industry, of course- and certainly this was the case at Blue Ridge, where most people were more concerned with how their horses looked than their own appearance. Fundamental mistake,

Tara shrugged. "Whatever you say." She had absolutely no interest in pushing the other girl to ride if she didn't want to; it would be a waste of time for both of them, and it wasn't as if Tara was set to inherit some equestian clothing company or other.... Although, that was a thought... "But if you ever change your mind..." She grinned. "Come see me. Always a pleasure to see a pretty face. Ciao, honey. Enjoy yourself."