REALLY ✓

43: The Game Changer

Beauty's not pain... beauty takes time.

"You cut your hair?" Hallee gasped as soon as she walked into my room.

My room was a mess. Hot iron-curler on the bed, clothes on the floor, my make up kit, shoes and heels were scattered all over the place. Hallee tiptoed carefully inside, and she was already wearing her gorgeous bright red dress.

"Yup. Say goodbye to platinum blonde Taya. I'm back to my normal, boring self," I said as I threw my towel to the ground.

"It's a maybe on the normal, but boring? Never," she chuckled as she studied my damp hair with her fingers.

"Where is my hairdryer, ugh," I groaned as I raided my vanity table. "It was just right here,"

"Dude, your room's a mess," Hallee plucked the hairdryer from the floor before giving it to me.

"What can I say? It's the accurate depiction of my mind's current state," I snorted, and the loud noise of my hairdryer filled the air.

"You sure you're all right?" Hallee said once I was done drying my hair.

"Absolutely. Thanks for knocking some sense into me, by the way. I can't believe I almost missed out on one of the greatest nights of our lives,"

"Amen to that, sister," she said as we high-fived each other.

"You look amazing, by the way, red really suits you," I complimented her look and she did a little twirl.

"You go put on your dress too, come on, I wanna see," she said as she grabbed my dress from the door and shoved it to my face.

My dress was this glamorous two-piece gold and white dress. The top part was tight an embroidered, and the bottom part was long and silky. They fitted so perfectly on me, hugging my body in all the right places. I couldn't help but feel a little proud of myself for even just putting this dress on. I felt absolutely beautiful, even though my man couldn't appreciate it today.

"There. Meet Taya 3.0, what do you think?" I said as I stepped out of the closet and back into Hallee's periphery.

For the first time since I've known her, Hallee was speechless. But that huge smile forming on her face was a good sign.

"Hey, you live and you learn, right?" I said again as I shrugged.

"My god, you look amazing, Tay!" she said finally, "And if Judah's not here to see it, it's his loss,"

"It's fine," I waved my hand to her as I made my way to the vanity table for some last-minute touch ups, "I don't care about not having a date to the prom. I got my friends. I got a fabulous dress. And I got a nice, shiny new hairdo. I'm good,"

"But still, it doesn't hurt," suddenly we heard a voice and a knock on the door.

Gabe walked right in, and he was in a crisp dark gray suit, looking mighty slick. On his hand was a box of corsage. He waved the little thing at me and smiled.

"Gabe?" I asked him with a confused look on my face.

"Boy, you need to wear a suit more often," Hallee hollered as she fanned her face with her hand, causing Gabe to blush.

"Come on, what do you say?" Gabe said to me, ignoring Hallee.

"Whatever happened to asking Maddie to the prom?"

"Meh," he shrugged. "We still have the summer. I'll ask her out then,"

"You're willing to give up your chance to ask Maddie to the prom, for me?"