Acceptance

On their covers, the magazines promised how to get boys to like you, a subject Samantha had little interest in. She liked the magazines for their pictures of beautiful women. Whenever she saw one with her same hair, eye, or skin color she imagined that woman as her mother kissing her goodnight or asking about her day. Because of this, she never showed the magazines to any of the other girls.

That night, the girls all pretended to sleep on their pallets until they were positive Miss Brigham had gone back to her cottage. As one, they threw the covers off and filed into the other room, where they sat in a semi-circle three-deep around the bed. Samantha sat on the bed and opened the book to begin the nightly reading.

The story began with Remy and Vienna landing on the island of Jamaica. "Where's that?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's far away," Samantha said. She described Vienna walking along the beach in a bikini. Helena stopped her to ask about bikinis. "They're for swimming. One part is like a very small pair of underwear and the other part goes over your chest."

"So you're almost naked?" Prudence asked, her face wrinkling with disgust.

"Yes. That's the point." The younger girls all shuddered at this while the older ones-except Prudence-adopted a dreamy look. Samantha continued the story with Remy kissing Vienna and pushing her down into the sand. She skipped over the rest of the scene, picking it back up in the hotel, where an assassin leaps out of the closet to attack Remy. The toddlers gasped at this, some pulling their nightgowns over their heads. Remy and the assassin roll across the floor, the assassin trying to stab Remy until Vienna breaks a wine bottle over the assassin's head. "That's all for tonight," Samantha announced to a chorus of groans.