The Makeover

The Ups and Downs of Being the Only Girl

"Yeah, well it is my 16th birthday." And it was true. Today was the day I turned into a real teenager teenager. The day when I could let loose and have fun.

"Yeah yeah... Are your brothers throwing you a party?" Liza asked.

They were.

Okay, lets get this straight. I loved my brothers, but they, like everyone else I knew, were convinced that I had to "live a little." Which, of course, they said, didn't mean I needed to get a boyfriend or go out and drink or anything (though thats what Liza's definition of "live a little" was), no, they just wanted me to go out and make some new friends.

Uh, no thank you.

"Well duh." I said.

"Well, maybe you can--"

"Not happening Liza." I interupted, opening up my locker and grabbing my books for math.

Ugh, here we go.

"Alex, I can't stand seing you like this. I mean, I'm glad i have the position of your BFFL, but I don't want to be your only friend. I'm the only person outside of your family that you actually talk to. You ned to b a teenager! Go out, get drunk, get a boyfriend!" See, I told you. "It's your birthday for goodness sake! Live a little!"

I shut my locker.

"Look Liza, I love that your concerned for me and everything, but I'm fine. Your all the friends I need and more. I'll live. Besides, we're only sophomores. I have more than enough time to get drunk and get a boyfriend."

"Yeah, but not the boyfriend you want to have." Liza muttered. I froze.

His name was Lloyd. He had black hair that came to his ears, and pierciing blue eyes. He was tan and tall (about 6"2') and he was perfect. And everybody wanted him.

Including me.

I sighed.

"Yes, Liza, not the boyfriend I want. But he's not interested in me. He probably doesnt even know my name."

"Exactly!" Liza exclaimed, "He doesn't, but he should! You need to talk to him, even casually, instead of sitting here like a lovesick puppy. Besides, he's not going to stay single forever.

I begged to differ.

Lloyd, as sexy and scrumptious as he is, got a lot of girls. In other words, he was a player. And he wouldn't give that up for the world. He was so popular that even the seniors wanted a piece (he's a junior). Everyone loved him.

I didn't stand a chance.

"Look Liza, forget it okay? He doesn't like me, doesn't even know who I am. And even if I did talk to him, it would be completely awkward. I'd probably get immediately rejected and you out of all people should know how embarrassing that is."

I hated saying that, but it did it's job; it effectively shut her up. Frankly, I hated talking about that incident myself but I was going to have a breakdown if she continued on.

Liza walked off in the direction of our shared homeroom.

I slammed my locker shut and followed. "Liza, wait!" I yelled, jogging down the hall to catch up. I was attracting attention, but for once I didn't care, I needed to apologize to my friend.

"Look Liza, I'm sorry, I don't like talking about that anymore than you do. But I really hate talking about Lloyd alright? I'm really sorry Liza." I apologized.

After a few moments, she sighed. "Its fine. I shouldn't have pushed you to talk about it either; it's your life. I'm sorry too." Liza looked down on me, a nostalgic glint in her eyes.

"It's fine, I get it. I'll let you dress me for the party if that will make you feel any better, and you can do my make up and everything. I'll be your project today okay?" I offered, trying to make her feel better. I knew if done much more than make her feel better when I saw her expression change to one filled with excitement and even a but of evil. Uh oh.

"Yes! I'm going to make you the sexiest girl there! You'll look amazing, I promise."

Despite my hesitation, I nodded and said, "I know." Because I would look amazing, especially if Liza was the one who was getting me ready.

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I loved Liza, but right now I was dying, and I was so taking her with me.

Liza, Jared (my 16 your old brother who was a junior) and I all had social studies together, because Liza and I were advanced they placed us in the junior class (too bad I wasn't so amazing in ELA). It was the one class I had with Lloyd, and I savored every last second of it.

It was also the only class that I had with one of my brothers, which means that he took any and all opportunities to embarrass me.

And then there was Liza, the she-devil herself, who decided it would be amusing to sing "Happy Birthday" to me in class. The class with Mrs. Wilson, the over-happy teacher who loved songs and all of her students (not sure all of her students felt the same about her). The class with my brother, who loved to watch me squirm. And, most importantly, the class with Lloyd, the fixation of my fantasies since who-knows-when.

And. All. Eyes. Were. On. Me.

Jared was sitting in the corner, laughing at my expression (which was probably horrified), and what made it even more ironic was that he didn't even know I liked Lloyd, but he joined in the fun anyway.

Liza was one clever bad word (I absolutely refuse to curse, much to Liza's distaste).

But, the worst part? Was that Lloyd was completely ignoring everything as he sat in his chair, smirking at his lap. He was probably texting a girl that was pretty and wore stilettos and lots of makeup.

I wanted to cry.

But, not really. I also wanted to punch someone (violent tendencies--also in the genes). Like seriously, that's what he was doing? Suddenly, for the first time, I was angry for blending in so easily.

When they got to the part in the song where they said my name, about half of the people said "Blegh-exandira" because they didn't know my name. Why was I surprised though? No one knew me. And that's how I liked it.

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Okay, so first off, I would like to say thanks for stopping and reading this, it means the world to me. :)

This book is completely new territory for me. I'm trying to write about something completely unlike me at all, so this is kind of difficult; I normally base something a just the character on myself, so it's hard to build someone up who's there own character (in this case, Alexandria). So she may have some random changes in character throughout the book, but I'm going to try and keep it as clear as possible.

Again, thanks for reading!

- Tini