Everything started to go downhill after scrubbing those floors in chemistry. I knew things in my life were going to change with Leira, but not this fast, and certainly not this drastic.

"Ariel!" Annabelle called from across the hall, her mouth agape. I looked around, searching for something that might've startled her. 

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Your hair!" Annabelle cried, grabbing my head and investigating the crime scene. "Oh, this won't do!" And with that, I was being dragged by the ear to the beauty training wing of Mogermentry High.

"Celia, fix this." Annabelle pushed me down into one of the old hair styling chairs. It creaked under my weight, which wasn't a lot in my opinion. I heard Celia gasp behind me, followed by a whispered conversation between her and Annabelle.

"Don't worry honey, we'll have you fixed right up." Celia sounded more like a middle-aged woman than a high school junior. Before I could even say a word, Celia was already snipping at my hair, black tufts falling to the floor. Fifteen minutes later, my new 'look' was finished. "All done!" Celia beamed in the mirror as she twirled me around so I could see. My hair now fell just above my shoulders, a soft wave in the middle of it. 

"Here, this is cute!" Annabelle stuck a bright red bow in my hair. 

"To match!" Another beauty student, I think by the name of Francis, came over and coated my lips in a bright red. 

"Ugh, makeover much?" I muttered and stood, taking a good look at myself as Francis dusted my cheeks with a shimmery pink. It's not that I looked bad, quite the opposite, in fact. As if I was out of a fairy tale.

"All set!" Annabelle smiled, slipping a ten to Celia, who took it just as discreetly. "You look amazing." Annabelle told me once we were back in the mainstream of students, who were now staring at the freshman who just got a new 'do.

"Okay, Annabelle, I really appreciate all," I gestured to myself for emphasis. "this. But I really have to go deal with that other girl that looks like me and I don't have time to explain right now. Love ya, see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." I gave Annabelle a quick side hug and bolted off to find Leira, who was sure enough right where she liked to be, in front of a mirror.

"We need to talk. I marched up to Leira, who was in fact checking her reflection in the showcase glass, and dragged her to the outside courtyard, which was deserted as all the other students were trying to get to their next class on time.

"Who, me?" Leira gave her best 'innocent look'.

"You need to go back to wherever you came from." I growled.

"Well, there's only one way that's even possible." Leira gave me a thin lipped smile and wandered over to the greenhouse section of the courtyard.

"Which is?" I followed, not wanting the conversation to end.

Leira looked around, investigating the scene around us. "Not here." She stepped inside the greenhouse and motioned for me to follow. I obeyed. We walked through the glass dome, stopping at the flowers room. Leira opened the door.

"Okay, what was that one thing?" I asked again while Leira nudged me into the flower room. Since I wasn't really paying attention to where I was moving, my feet succumbed to her pushing and I gradually started to move backwards.

"To exclude the X factor. You." Leira slammed the greenhouse flower room door in my face, locking it from the outside. I jiggled the door handle repeatedly, begging for her to come back. The only sound that echoed was Leira's heels click-clacking out the door. I leaned against the wall and sank to the floor.

An hour passed by, and the greenhouse maintenance team came in. Despite me making as much noise as humanly possible, they didn't notice me as they were knee deep in carrots. Defeated, I walked over to the flowers and laid in between some rows of colorful tulips, not caring if the dirt got in my hair. Slowly, but surely, I drifted off to sleep in the flowerbeds. What a day.