The Secret Recipe to Beauty | Teen Ink

The Secret Recipe to Beauty

February 27, 2024
By notel25 BRONZE, Iowa City, Iowa
notel25 BRONZE, Iowa City, Iowa
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The click-clack of Swayze Lee's shiny, new stilettos echoes throughout the main cafeteria, and I can’t help but look up and stare. In one hand she holds a pink Chanel  bag, which was definitely more than my house, and in the other her drink of the day, which today looks to be some sort of healthy green juice. Even though it's just a typical  Tuesday at East View, Swayze is sporting a baby pink, tweed skirt suit, which I'm assuming is also Chanel.  Her pink suit almost sparkles in comparison to the dull colors of the cafeteria, which Swayze is currently strutting through like it’s her runway. She walks confidently while gracefully ignoring the fact that every high school boy in the room is practically drooling over her, and though I wish I could say I’m better than those stupid boys it would be a lie to do so. She’s beautiful, so beautiful and like everyone else in the cafeteria I can’t keep my eyes off her.

  Though, I'm soon pulled out of my dreamlike trance because it’s hard to ignore the fact that Swayze is now coming my way. After saying a quick prayer to the man above I close my eyes and hope that when I open them she’ll be gone. I have no clue why she would want to talk to me, but whatever it is it can’t be good. However, today is obviously not my lucky day because right as I flick open my eyes Swayze reaches my table, and I immediately feel every onlooker's gaze burning through me. Probably thinking, why is Swayze Lee talking to some nobody? And I agree with them, why is she talking to me?

“Hi, are you Nessa?”  She says with a smile filling her face.

“Yes I- I am.” I somehow manage to say.

I do this trying my best to keep my composure, though my heart is nearly beating out of my chest and at this point my cheeks must be cherry red. How does Swayze know my name? Nobody ever knows my name.

“I was just wondering if you’d possibly want to go shopping sometime?” she says.

“You want to go shopping with me?” I let out before thinking.

Shoot! I should’ve just said yes. No one has asked me to do anything in ages and now Swayze Lee is asking me to hangout, and I question it? God I’m stupid. 

“Sorry nevermind, I meant yes!” I spit out before she can even form her next word. 

“Perfect! Meet me after school. I'm parked in the back lot!” she says flashing me another grin, and before I can ask for any further details she spins around and walks away.

As the last bell of the day rings my stomach starts twisting itself into painful knots. I have no clue what these next few hours are to bring, but the only important thing is that they will be spent with the most popular, beautiful girl in school and I am definitely not considered popular nor beautiful. 

I walk to the back lot taking extra time to try and calm my nerves, though the gravel beneath my feet only seems to get louder with each step closer to the lot's entrance, worsening my stress. Once I’m close enough I immediately spot Swayze. It’s almost impossible to miss a shiny new Mercedes in a sea full of run down high school kids cars. 

“Get in!” she yells from across the lot as she sees me. 

I quickly hurry over and take one last deep breath before opening the passenger door and hoping in. 

“You ready?” She says buckling her seat belt.

“ More ready than ever!” I say as she pulls out and leaves the school lot. 

After driving for a good ten minutes a small worry begins to fill my mind. We are headed toward neither of the malls near us, and to be quite frank we’re driving away from everything in town. I don’t want to question Swayze and sound dumb so I sit quietly listening to the hum of the background music, but something doesn’t feel right and a pinch in my stomach confirms the worry filling my head. 

“Um, Swayze, where are we going?” I finally spit out after another fifteen minutes of driving through nothing.

“Just wait Nessa, you’ll see.” She says, sounding almost mischievous. 

 My anxiety has always been bad but for some reason right now I know my stress is valid. I have no clue where we are and if something were to happen I have no cell reception so I can’t even call for help. Though before I can fully process my worries we reach our destination. Swayze drives through a narrow path surrounded by trees and pulls right up to what looks to be a very large concrete cube. 

“What is that?” I ask, full of confusion.

“Follow me, I’ll show you.” She says smiling. 

I don’t know why but for some reason I feel compelled to do everything Swayze asks of me, so I trail right behind her as I step out of the car. Once we get closer I can see that the concrete cube is a structure with a door, which Swayze jogs straight up to and fishes out a silver key that’s the perfect fit.

“After you.” She says turning the knob and swinging open the door.

I step in and for some reason I immediately feel uncomfortable. All that’s in the room is another door and water dispenser like the ones at the dentist’s or nurse’s office. I don’t know why I feel uncomfortable but I do.

 After scanning the room I turn to see Swayze holding one of the small cups out to me. 

“Drink up,” she says grinning. 

Now that I think of it I guess I am really thirsty, so I grab the cup and in one gulp I’ve downed the whole thing. 

“Ok let’s go.” She says, leading me to the next door before us. 

Once again she twists the knob and this time the door swings open with an eerie creek. Like the last room this one is also bare, though in this one there is what looks to be a medical chair standing in the middle of the room and next to it a tray full of supplies. 

Before I can even ask Swazye what this is, a numbness fills my body and my limbs go limp. I crash to the floor hitting the concrete hard, and right away a sharp pain shoots through my head. I try to reach up and  hold the pounding spot on my head but then I realize, I can’t move. 

“Swayze!! Help me! ” I yell out being unable to turn my head and meet her eyes. 

“Don’t worry Nessa, that's what was supposed to happen.” She says sternly.

What is she talking about? Suddenly I hear her footsteps next to me and she’s lifting me off the floor onto the chair. 

“Swayze!!” I yell, “What is happening?” Tears are now streaming down my cheeks, yet I can’t wipe them away because I’m paralyzed.

“Oh Nessa, this is why I knew you’d be perfect. You’ve always been so unsuspecting and stupid. Thinking I would even want to hangout with you was your first mistake.” She says.

“What are you talking about?” I screech while choking on a sob.

I hear her reach over to the tray and I look as far as I’m able to the side without moving my head. In the corner of my eye I can see her grabbing a scalpel and a glass jar. 

“You see Nessa, beauty is very important to me and I've tried every product there is to improve my skin. But I’ve found only one that works well. Blood, specifically human blood.” she says looking down at me.

“Please don’t hurt me, I didn't do anything!” I yell, barely able to breathe over my sobs.

“You see, I pick people that nobody will miss because they’re irrelevant. Just like you.” She says while bringing the knife up to my arm.

All I can do is scream.  She cuts vertically and as the blood pours out she catches in glass jars. My vision is fading and at moments all I can see is pure black. As my world fades away the last thing I see is Swayze Lee smearing blood all over her flawless face. 

“Now you know my secret to beauty Nessa.” 


The author's comments:

I wrote this piece for a creative writing class I'm in. I've never written a thriller before but I had a really fun time during the creation process of this piece and It's definitely something I want to try again. The first time I wrote the story It had a very boring, typical plot so after reading it and conferencing with my teacher I completely changed the plot's outcome which I think definitely improved my story!  


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