The next day, which happened to be a sunny Tuesday, the girls decided to call off their bet. So when they arrived to school, they were back to the way they were. When their lunch period had started, they were soon approached by the Cow Belles in the cafeteria.
"Well, well, well," Mauricia started.
"Looky here," Pamela finished.
"The girls didn't commit."
"When the bet was supposed to last for a week."
"But it's been four days."
"And you're wearing makeup."
"Which was clearly prohibited."
"Ooh, that's a big word."
"I've been reading the dictionary, also."
"My sister!"
"You guys make me sick, you know that?" said Skye.
"Whatever, loser," responded Mauricia.
"She is not a loser," Madeline turned around.
"You're right," said Pamela. "You are all losers."
"And now you need to pay up," Mauricia added.
"Since you didn't obviously win the bet."
"Now we get free shoes."
"Shoes!"
"My parents are going to kill me," muttered Madeline.
"So did you guys take a realization?" asked Mauricia.
"That you are all as fake as Santa Claus?" Pamela added.
"Saint Nick?"
"Kris Kringle?"
"Yeah, we know who Santa Claus is," said Andrea.
"But did you realize how fabulous we are compared to you?" asked Mauricia.
"No, we didn't realize," Madeline replied, standing up and facing the Cow Belles. "Because there is nothing to realize. We didn't say you two were fake. I said you two were fake. But it was my mistake because I didn't have the right definition with me. You see, fake is the opposite of real. Being real is to be yourself. Makeup and hairstyles make us who we are. We don't need it but we live it. So we are not trying to be people we're not; we're trying to be the people that we are. And we are pretty amazing."
"Wow, I never thought about it like that," said Pamela softly.
"I totally get it now," said Mauricia.
"So," Madeline continued, "can we put that bet behind us and just be ourselves?"
"What do you think, Mauricia?" Pamela asked.
"I'll say my answer if you say your answer," she responded.
"Okay."
"One, two, three..."
"No!" they said simultaneously. They began to giggle while bringing blank expressions upon the quintet's faces.
"We are so slick," said Pamela.
"Yes, we are," Mauricia nodded.
"You're not getting off that easily."
"A bet's a bet."
"So we want our shoes."
"And we want them by Friday."
"Maddie, can I borrow some money?" whispered Lizzie to her.
Madeline glared at Lizzie's question.
"You know what?" she said, looking at the Cow Belles and crossing her arms. "I knew this was going to happen. You girls haven't changed since kindergarten so there was no way you two were going to crack today."
"We're just too strong," said Pamela.
"Oh, I agree. You two are so very strong that I convinced my friend, Calvin Layfield, who is a pretty good journalist, to publish a couple of pictures of you two to go with your fashion show story in the newspaper."
The Cow Belles' faces went from pleasured to disgusted.
"What pictures?" Mauricia asked menacingly.
"Oh, you know," said Madeline, "the ones that you posted on Facebook from your slumber party last year."
The Cow Belles gasped.
"Well, tell your friend to not use them!" demanded Pamela.
"Oh, I'm afraid the damage is done, my friend," smiled Madeline. "I recommended the pictures last week so they are already in today's newspaper, which a bunch of people are reading right now."
The Cow Belles turned around and spotted many students reading the school newspaper at their tables. The ones who obviously saw the pictures, which were ninety percent of those students, saw the two girls and instantly started pointing and laughing.
"And Pamela..." Madeline continued.
The Cow Belles turned back around with flushed faces.
"What a zit! Have you been watering that thing?"
Pamela groaned and walked away from the girls. Mauricia groaned as well and stomped away from the girls, following her best friend.
Madeline sat down on the bench and said, "That's how you do it, girls!"
The girls laughed and cheered.
"Did you see the looks on their faces?" inquired Lizzie. "Can you spell 'priceless'?"
"That was quite evil of you, Maddie," said Andrea.
"I know," Madeline responded. "I'm sinister."
"They really did had some monster pimples on their faces back then," said Skye. "Facebook, you are a blessing."
"I felt like you shouldn't have done that," confessed Debra.
"Really?" Madeline responded.
"Yeah, it was a little too much."
"Oh, that does sound like something you would say. You don't feel any good about it?"
"No."
"No?"
"Okay, I'm lying. That felt so good! I just didn't want to break out from my aura."
"We were all breaking out during that bet," commented Lizzie. "That's for sure."
"I never got to go out with Kevin Christie again," Andrea pouted.
"Hey, you will find other boys," said Madeline. "At least he saw your true colors... I didn't mean it like that."
Andrea crushed her lips together as the girls laughed.
"I think she's trying to say," said Debra, "is that if a boy can't like what's under, he doesn't deserve what's over."
"I would've said that so differently," Madeline commented.
"Either way, Kevin is not for you."
"I can't believe we freaked out over not wearing our makeup," giggled Lizzie.
"Yeah, that was crazy," said Skye.
"You can't come between a girl and her makeup," said Madeline.
"You got that right, sister," Andrea agreed.
"Girls, even though we live in makeup, we're pretty beautiful with and without it."
"I agree," said Debra.
The rest of the girls nodded and agreed.
"So have you guys seen Living Single?" asked Debra.
"Let it go, old person," said Andrea, before sipping her open can of orange soda.
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