The back-to-school rush has reached a feverish pitch here and across the region. But increasingly, especially for teenagers in affluent suburbs like this where reputations and cliques solidify faster than cold gravy, it is less about pencils and notebooks and more about the high-gloss, high-expense business of personal appearance.

"It's like the new start of everything," Samantha said. "Everyone will say they don't care, but they do. Everyone's trying so hard. Everyone's at the tanning salon. Like seven kids I know got nose jobs just this week."

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