Perfect Cover (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Dectective Series #31)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, IT'S A WONDERFUL TOWN "Ladies and gentlemen," the flight attendant announced over the intercom, "we've begun our final descent into New York City. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened and your seat backs and tray tables are in the upright and locked position." "Look out, New York, Nancy Drew is here. Yes, I meanthatNancy Drew, teen detective and beauty pageant winner!" George Fayne, one of my two closest friends, turned to me from the aisle seat and held an imaginary microphone to her lips. "The-e-e-ere she is, Mi-iss Pretty Face...," she crooned. I groaned. "George, if you sing that to me one more time, I swear I'll seal your mouth with duct tape." George smirked. "Goes with the territory, Nan. I know you entered the Miss Pretty Face pageant to solve a mystery, but the mystery's over now -- and yet, here you are, about to take part in the next phase of the competition. I just want to hear you admit that you're a real pageant girl." "I am not!" I protested. "It just didn't seem right to drop out, especially after all the drama the pageant has had the last couple of years." I'd originally entered the regional Miss Pretty Face beauty pageant to go undercover. I had been trying to find out why the previous year's winner had been dethroned. I solved that mystery, and found plenty of scandals and surprises along the way -- but the biggest surprise came when I ended up winning the pageant! Now I was on my way to New York City to represent our hometown, River Heights, in the nationwide Miss Pretty Face pageant. George and my other best friend, George's cousin Bess Marvin, had come with me for moral support (or, in George's case, to torture me in person) and to take a vacation in the big city. The plane's wheels touched down on the runway and we taxied toward our gate. "Nancy, can I borrow your Perfect Face again?" Bess asked. I laughed. "I know you just want to borrow some lotion, but it sounds weird when you put it that way. I feel like saying, 'My face doesn't come off!'" Unzipping my carry-on bag, I looked inside for the small Perfect Face Revitalizing Lotion samples I had been given as a contestant. "You can have them all," I said, handing them to her. "To be honest, I don't really like the way the lotion makes my face feel." "Oooh, I do," Bess said, smoothing it onto her cheeks. "I totally love it! It's so tingly." "That's exactly why I don't like it," I told her. "I don't know, it just feels strange." George put a finger to her lips. "Shhh, don't say anything bad about the Pretty Face products. Piper's listening," she cautioned me. "I bet she's trying to find some dirt on you so she can get you disqualified as Miss Pretty Face and take your place." I sneaked a glance between the seat backs. Sure enough, in the row behind us, the first runner-up, a blond girl named Piper Depken, was leaning forward with her ear cocked. When she caught me looking at her, she flushed and leaned back, giving me a cold stare. "You've got bags under your eyes," she told me, then pointedly held up a magazine and pretended to read it. I sighed. Talk about a change of attitude. When I first entered the pageant, Piper had been friendly and seemingly helpful, giving me advice about how to make myself a better beauty queen. Granted, her tips included telling me that I was ten pounds overweight and trying to convince me to go on an awful diet in order to lose the weight, but still. However, the moment it had become clear that I was actual competition, the friendly manner had vanished. Piper wanted to win the pageant crown, and she wanted it bad. In fact, I did feel a bit guilty about winning. The crown happened to come with a lot of great stuff, like a scholarship, not to mention free Pretty Face cosmetics for life, since Pretty Face was the pageant's sponsor. Piper, I knew, came from a poor family and could really have used the scholarship. "Oh, and Nancy?" Piper added, tapping my sKeene, Carolyn is the author of 'Perfect Cover (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Dectective Series #31)' with ISBN 9781416955306 and ISBN 1416955305.