Hello everyone! Today's update isn't as long as most of the others, but at least it's something.

I'm planning on updating again soon, but that will come after another update to my sequel.

Enjoy!

Small, yet warming, rays of sunshine poured into Ashley's room. It danced across the curtains, coated her drawers and wardrobe, and practically flooded the floorboards. For a hot second, panic filled the teenager's mind as she thought about the school that she was missing at the moment, but she quickly remembered that it was the weekend. No school, minimal socializing, and a couple of days of having the majority of the time to herself to relax.

    Her first school week had been fun, but very tedious and tiring. So far she was passing both academic and physical classes with flying colors, but it came at a cost. Nearly eight times a day, her mind would settle into the process of dumping information into her knowledge while giving her a headache. Smaller and more specific topics weren't nearly as taxing as learning about things like Tony Stark's flying suits and the history of wars of the world, but everything added up. At the end of the day, she usually just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep off her throbbing head.

    As Ashley was stretching her limbs and slowly crawling out of bed, her vision stumbled across a beautiful dress that was hanging in the corner. To be completely honest, shopping for a homecoming dress wasn't as bad as she pictured it to be. Over the series of several days, they had ventured from boutique to boutique to find a dress that Bethany claimed was perfect. Of course, they butted heads several times on what she would choose, but they eventually ended up agreeing on a winner.

    Now the question is, will I have someone to wear it with? Or will I fly solo?

    The icy-haired girl shook her head. She didn't care about boys, right? They were just confusing, immature...

    Ashley had to stop herself. It wasn't fair to stereotype all boys to that personality. For example, you had Flash and Peter. They were polar opposites, each with their own flaws and perfections.

    Even so, I won't let a silly boy mess with my head. Ain't nobody got time for that.

    A little smile spread across her face as she indignantly thought the last line, then fully stood up from her bed. As she brushed her hair, teeth, and did a light coat of chapstick and mascara, she pondered about what she would be doing for the day. Another photoshoot for Forever 21? Hanging out with Bethany? Perhaps training with her? Maybe sightseeing? Maybe, if she was lucky enough, a little bit of everything.

    "Ashley? You up?" A voice called from the kitchen.

    "Believe it or not, I actually am," Ashley shouted back with a laugh as she went back into her bedroom. She pulled out the first half-decent outfit she came across and threw it on, then quickly put her hair in a side braid so it would stay out of her face.

    Ashley entered the common area (which consisted of the open concept of a living room, dining room, and kitchen) with a little bounce in her step, then plopped down into one of the bar stools that was lined up against the kitchen island. Bethany was beside her, brushing back strands of her chocolate hair as she took a sip of her steaming espresso. The teenager hadn't taken a liking to the caffeinated drink yet, but she was sure that in time, she would learn to depend on the survival juice.

    "If you're feeling up to it, I've actually gotten a request from a company line for you to model for a few different dresses. Nothing too extravagant, but it's all up to you," Bethany said after a long drink of her coffee.

    "What kind of dresses?" Ashley asked as she grabbed an apple off of the fruit bowl in the center of the island. A banana would've been lovely, but, as many of you know, Bethany was not the banana-type.

    Bethany gave her a side smirk, knowing that she wasn't going to like her answer. "Gowns."

    Ashley's breath hitched as she thought of trying on all of the scratchy, long, and hot dresses. She was originally going to jump on the opportunity, but after hearing this, she took a moment to contemplate. "I'll do it."

    "You sure? I know this isn't really your cup of tea," Bethany asked, getting up from her stool and wandering over to the pantry. She grabbed two granola bars, keeping one for herself and tossing the other one to Ashley. The teenager gave her a grateful smile, peeled back the wrapper and took a bite, then replied to her question.

    "I'm good with it. You never know how much the opportunity might help me. Besides, it beats being a couch potato."

    "You? A couch potato? I'll believe it when I see it," Bethany laughed.

    "You aren't one to sit around that much, either," Ashley pointed out, referring to the woman's constant work with her job and practicing martial arts. "I'd bet that I'm like this because of your influence."

    "Maybe so," Bethany agreed.

    "So, when does the shoot start?" Ashley took another bite out of her bar.

    "It starts," Bethany paused, checking her phone for what Ashley assumed was the information, "in an hour, and it takes half an hour to get there."

    "Well," Ashley said, eyes wide as she realized there was little time to get ready, "I suppose I'll start on my makeup."

    "Ash, wait!" Bethany called after her, who was already on her way to her bathroom. "You seriously don't need to. You're already beautiful as you are. Why change yourself?"

    "Because," Ashley sighed, gesturing to her face, "my white markings."

    "Haven't you heard, Ash? They all love them. It's unique, and to everyone I've talked to, everyone thinks they are gorgeous."

    "Really?" Ashley asked, her jaw slightly slack. "I didn't even know that was possible."

    "As I said," Bethany restated with extra assurance, "everyone loves them. I think they would be disappointed if you showed up with a face full of makeup that covers your natural complexion."

    Ashley took a steadying breath, then nodded. If that's what they wanted, that is what they would get.

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    After several exhausting hours of wearing beautiful, yet very irritating, gowns that were suited for formal events or bridesmaids, Ashley was finally done with the shoot. If any word could be used to describe her adventures, interesting would definitely be it.

    Perhaps the more normal end of the shoot would be considered actually taking the pictures with several different dresses that the company provided. The first one was a burgundy, off-the-shoulder, gown that touched the floor. The ruffle that ran across the neckline was chiffon, nicely complimenting the gentle slit that went about half-way up the dress. If Ashley was being honest, it was probably her favorite out of all of the dresses, but it still couldn't compare to the stunning dress she and Bethany had purchased for homecoming.

    Next was a little bit more playful: a slightly dusty blue dress with a sweetheart neckline, decorated with a floral lace that extended from the neckline and up a few inches, then swooped to the side to create a short-sleeve design. It wasn't really Ashley's style, but she had to admit, the blue accentuated the streaks in her hair perfectly.

    After that was a bit more mature of a design: blush with a simple belt and a cold-shoulder neckline that also displayed a v-neck. The material on the sleeves was chiffon, which was truly the perfecting touch on making the dress work.

    Then, finally, was another burgundy gown. The material of the torso twisted into a knot in the middle of her chest, and the dress featured a special off-the-shoulder design that consisted of a sweetheart neckline and fabric that was attached to the edge of it, which continued to loosely drape around her upper arm and connected to the back of her dress.

    However, that right there was the only extent of normal happenings of the whole event. Everything took a wild turn as she was in the dressing room, slipping off the last gown she had tried on and replacing it with her casual clothes.

    It all started with a stupid, yet surprisingly pretty, earring. Ashley wasn't really focusing on the piece of jewelry she was hooking onto her ear, so it wasn't exactly a shocker when her fingers managed to fumble around enough to let it slip out of her hand. Now, given that these were slightly expensive, Ashley wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of the earring roughly slamming into the ground.

    So, as any normal person would do, she tried to reach for the jewelry and catch it before it hit the ground. This would've worked if it wasn't for the fact that the little gust of wind from the air conditioning system blew it slightly off the path that Ashley had calculated it would travel. At this point, the earring was mere inches away from the floor, and Ashley was beginning to panic. As a last-ditch effort, the teenager frantically stuck her hand out to try and reach it one last time.

    This is where the real fun began.

    She failed to catch the earring, but it never touched the floor. Instead, a small tug was created between Ashley's hand and the jewelry, so it was left to levitate and tremble slightly about an inch off of the ground. The icy-haired girl's jaw went completely slack as she blinked several times in a futile attempt to assure herself that her eyes were just playing tricks on her. However, even with rubbing her face with her opposite hand, the earring remained in that same hovering position, caught between gravity and the energy that was being emitted from Ashley's palm.

    "This is normal this is normal this is normal," Ashley chanted to herself at about a mile a minute, searching through all of her knowledge to see if there was any scientific fact that could prove that this phenomenon was totally normal. To her dismay, she couldn't figure out an answer.

    Just admit it, Ashley. This isn't normal. This is you being the inhuman person you are.

    In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this was just another thing to add to her list of peculiarities. Not only did she have something in the form of a sixth sense, have the ability to know literally any factual information, natural white and blue hair, white markings on her face, eyes that practically glowed, but now she also had some form of telekinetic abilities.

    "Okay, I'm just going to pretend this isn't happening," Ashley told herself, her tone on the borderline of hysteria. She tried to stop the little connection that was between her hand and the earring, but nothing happened. Her palm and the small little piece of metal remained to create a pull between each other just light enough to be tangible.

    Ashley bent over and tried to use her free hand to pry the earring free, but it was useless. It remained rigid in its place, seemingly determined to annoy Ashley even more.

    "Listen here you little rat~" she threatened, leaning her weight back on her heels and trying even harder to loosen it from her unintentional grasp. Just as she was about to give up, she felt the little waves being sent from her hand suddenly stop. The previously anchored piece of jewelry suddenly was freed, causing her to reel backward crash violently into the changing room's wall.

    "Ow," Ashley whimpered, cradling an arm that she landed on wrong. She took a brief moment to study it, and, to her great relief, nothing seemed broken. However, as she reached back to gingery rub her spine, she knew that she had at least severely bruised her back from crashing into the wooden wall. And, judging from the intense pain throbbing from underneath her shoulder plate, she might've even pulled a muscle.

    As the girl leaned her head back in exhaustion, a glimmer of something on the ceiling caught her eye. It took her a moment to focus, given that her head was just slammed into a wall and her vision was in the least obscured, but her eyes eventually cleared enough to realize that it was her earring stuck in the ceiling.

    "You can stay there," Ashley growled, then winced as she pushed herself up. Waves of pain crashed across her body, but the girl just had to force herself to ignore it. She was about to walk out the door of the changing room and leave all of the mess behind her, but she eventually groaned and turned back around. She had gone so far to save the stupid little piece of metal and jewel, so she was most certainly not going to stop now.

    Ashley looked up at the ceiling, noticing that the earring had managed to wedge itself into the material by it being projected upwards at just the right angle. The back of the earring had been pointing precisely up, so it was able to stick itself into the roof.

    "This is going to be fun," Ashley moaned as she rose her hand up, then began trying to mimic the movement she had made earlier. Maybe, if she did it just right, she would be able to replicate the connection between herself and the earring, allowing it to be pulled back to herself.

    A small bead of sweat began to form at her temple as she pushed harder, but her efforts were futile. No matter how much she tried, it just wasn't working.

    "Well, I suppose it's time to whip out the old-fashioned method," Ashley chuckled to herself as she jumped on top of the little chair in the corner. Not only would she have to jump several feet, but she would also need killer precision to make sure that she peaked at the right area of the ceiling. Here goes nothing, Ashley thought to herself with a grim smile. Then, without hesitation, she prepped herself for the jump by crouching slightly, then pushed herself off of her feet as hard as she could.

    Now, to say that she was expecting the outcome would be a lie.

    After all, who could've predicted that she would've jumped so high that she would ram her head into the ceiling panels?

    A small squeak escaped Ashley's lips as she came crashing down to the ground. Thankfully, she managed to land in a hamper filled with clothes that happened to be sitting in the corner.

    "Why all the bad luck so sudden?" Ashley cried out as she relaxed her muscles and simply lied in the pile. She was done. A stupid earring had defeated her. Something that literally didn't even have a brain to function with.

    Ashley gave the glimmering speck on the ceiling one last glare, slowly crawling out of the clothes basket. With a resigned sigh, she unclipped her other earring and set it down on the chair as a token of loss.

    "Beth?" Ashley asked, which sounded more like a grunt from all of the aching in her body.

    "Dear God Ashley," Bethany panicked. "What the heck happened in there? What was all that banging?"

    "I...um..." Ashley nervously chuckled, running her hand up her hair but eventually having to stop herself because it brought too much pain to her head. "A shirt fell."

    "That sounded a lot louder than a shirt," Bethany argued defiantly, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"Yeah," she groaned, "and I was in it."

    "Of course you were," Bethany face-palmed. "From all of the training I've been doing with you, I've never realized that you were that clumsy. I suppose we all have our surprises."

    "I guess we do," Ashley quietly agreed, raising her palms and studying them. After nearly a minute of staring at them, yet finding nothing out of place, she decided that what happened in that changing room stayed in the changing room. It was probably best for everyone to just not talk about it.

    "Are you going to keep staring at your hands all day? I mean, they're pretty interesting hands."

    Ashley sheepishly smiled at the brunette and allowed her hands to fall to her sides, all the while following Bethany out of the store and leaving behind the war zone.

Just gonna throw that picture out there.

That was all I could think about when I wrote that Ashley left behind the kinda-destroyed changing room.

I never knew how destructive an earring could be!

BUT YAY SHE'S GOT HER POWERS NOW AND WE'RE GETTING CLOSER TO THE ACTIONNNNNNNN!!!!!!