Logan and I were both grounded. Duh.

He spent the night, and we stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to figure out ways to entertain ourselves while being confined to our respective dwellings. In other words, we were gonna be bored out of our minds for a month straight.

I awoke the next morning with a sore mouth. I ran my tongue over my gums in confusion. Something didn't feel right. I quickly got up and went to the bathroom, examining myself in the mirror. I opened my mouth widely and stuck out my tongue. What I saw just about made me pass out. I let out a mix between a strangled choke and a pterodactyl screech.

Logan was up in an instant, rushing groggily into the bathroom.

"Dude, what the heck? It's Saturday and freaking six in the mor- WHAT THE ACTUAL CRAP IS UP WITH YOUR MOUTH???"

My friend's eyes widened and he took a step back.

I stared in horror at my now razor-sharp teeth and long, striped tongue.

"MY THUNG ITH FOOKED, LOGAN!" I wailed, trying to talk around it or something.

"Dude, no need to swear."

I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue back inside my mouth awkwardly. "Forked, Logan. My tongue is forked, Logan!" I said loudly, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a bit.

He held up his hands. "Woah, dude, chill. We'll figure this out. No need to get all worked up."

I swear I thought I was gonna punch him.

Instead, I let him go and sat in the floor, my hands taking through my longer top locks. I let out a confused, frustrated breath.

"Um, yeah, so, I dunno if this is a good time or not but.... I don't remember us dying your hair last night."

I squinted upset him. "The heck are you talking about?"

"Uh, your tips. They're green."

My eyes widened as I bolted up on my feet and turned, once again, to face the mirror. My hair's roots were their natural chestnut color, but the tips were a bright, radioactive green. My eyes widened even more.

"Dude, I swear it wasn't like that just a minute ago when I was looking at my mouth."

"You think Meghan poisoned you or something?" he asked me.

"Um, no."

"Then what the heck is wrong with you?"

"I don't know!"

We both stood in silence for a minute. That's when we heard footsteps coming down the hall and into my room. Logan and I shared an uneasy glance.

There was a light knock before my mom poked her head through the door. "Boys? Are you up?"

Logan and I slowly stepped out of the bathroom.

"Oh, there you two are. I didn't expect you guys to be up so early, but I've got a little while before I have to go in to work, so do you want me to fix you two some breakfast?" I saw as her gaze slowly made its way up to the tips of my hair. Her eyes widened. "Ean, what did you do to your hair??"

"Nothing, Mom, I swear! I woke up and one minute, I was fine. The next, this!!"

My mother rushed over to me, grabbing my face and prying my jaws apart, her eyes still wide and full of what looked to be uneasiness or uncertainty. Maybe a little of both.

"Your... your teeth, and your tongue," she said, finally letting me go.

"I know, Mom. I... I don't know why all of this is happening. I-"

I was cut off when Jameson barged in, silk robe draped over his figure and cup of vegan tea in hand.

But like.... how can tea not be vegan? Whatever, that's not the point.

"What's going on in here? Why does Ean have neon green hair, now?"

My mom looked as fed up with Jameson as I was at that point.

"Jame, not now. I'm handling it, oka-"

"Um, why does he have fangs??"

"Jameson, I'm-"

"And have you seen his tongue??"

"JAMESON!" my mother snapped.

All three of us went deadly silent.

"I told you, I'm handling this," she said, taking a few shaky breaths to calm herself down.

Jameson sighed, mumbled something about breakfast, then shuffled out of my room and down the hallway.

Logan and I exchanged a glance.

"Look, um... If anything else happens to you," my mother began again, seeming quite disturbed, "call me and let me know."

I stared at her, my brow furrowing. "Anything else??? Mom, what's going on?" She didn't say anything. "Wait.... Do you know what's happening to me?"

She looked up at me, a pained expression on her face. "I may have an idea, but it's too soon to tell."

I opened my mouth to demand she explain what her idea was when I was abruptly pulled into a hug.

"You're gonna be fine, I promise," she said, rubbing my back soothingly.

I couldn't tell if she was saying this to reassure me or herself, and that made me uneasy. She finally pulled away and straightened her suit jacket.

"Well, I gotta go, I'll.... I'll talk to you boys later. Don't do anything stupid!" she added on the way out of my bedroom.

"The heck was that all about?" Logan questioned after a minute, coming to stand beside me.

I shook my head, lost in thought as I stared at my closed door, vaguely aware that my School of Rock musical poster had somehow ripped at the edge.

It was at that point that Logan and I heard a tapping on the window. Our heads swiveled in that direction, and we found June and Sofia standing outside. I went over to unlock the window and let them in. As I did so, both of their eyes snapped up to my hair. The two girls crawled in.

As Sofia stood up and brushed herself off, she said to me, "Well. Never thought you were the 'multicolored hair' theater kid."

I sighed. "I'm not."

June was eying me suspiciously. Sofia just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly.

"Lemme guess: Logan did it while you were asleep."

Before Logan could open his mouth to incredulously protest, June spoke up.

"I don't think so, Sof," she said, coming close to examine my hair.

I felt my heartbeat quicken a bit. But that was stupid. June was my best friend. I didn't think of her in that way....

"Ean?"

All of a sudden, my green eyes snapped to her cyan ones, my mind breaking out of my groggy cloud of thoughts.

I felt my face heat up a tad. I grinned sheepishly at her. "Sorry." I noticed they were all staring at my hair in shock. I laughed nervously. "What?"

"Your hair-"

"Yeah, I know, it-"

"It's changing colors!"

That shut me up real quick. I frantically rushed back into the bathroom, staring in disbelief at my hair.

The tips had changed from an electric green to a rosy pink mixed with orange. My brow furrowed, worry seeping into my mind. All of a sudden my hair was a light yellow. I gasped and took a step back, and as I did so, it changed again. This time it was a light silver color.

"WHAT IS GOING ON??" I screamed, putting my hands on the sides of my head and sinking to the floor.

I could tell my three friends were staring at me worriedly.

"So.... is anyone gonna tell him it's like silvery-red, now?" I heard Logan whisper. "Ow!"

Sofia shushed him. "You're gonna make him even more upset!"

"Well, you didn't have to kick me!"

They continued to whisper-argue as I stood up. When I walked silently between them, their bickering immediately ceased.

June came up behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I looked back at her. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I lied. "I'm going for a walk."

And as I walked out the front door, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass. My hair was now a murky grey. And I had a feeling it matched the fact that I wasn't feeling anything at all.