The Right Side of Wrong

How To (Not) Be Yourself

"You almost done?"

Dizzy was extremely thorough, I would give her that. My hair had been cut, dyed, restyled, and cut some more. And despite having sat in the same chair for the past ten minutes, hair having long since been dried, she continued to comb through it and find small, uneven sections to fix.

"You're an interesting case," she told me. "I mean, I understand that whole not wanting to look 'Auradon' anymore, but no matter how I adjust this, it's still... you."

She turned my chair around so I could get a look in one of the fragmented mirrors.

It was cute. A lighter purple than I normally would have gone for, but it wasn't unappealing. My hair had been straightened, with flat bangs across my forehead and a blunt end just below my armpits.

But Dizzy was right. I didn't scream 'Isle' just yet.

I stared into the mirror a minute longer. My features hardened, remembering my old life here. I left out a few details and just let myself be mean. I had to be on guard at all times, powerful.

"There I am," I muttered, finally starting to see some of the old me in my face.

"Well, viola!" Dizzy exclaimed.

"Viola," I repeated, leaning back.

I took a moment to look at Dizzy's face. I appreciated it, but this was the Isle. "Thank you" wasn't in Dizzy's vocabulary and I now had to rebuild my reputation. There was no room for charity acts.

I pulled out a few dollars from my pocket and handed them to her as payment.

"For me?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yeah. You earned it."

She giggled, taking the money, as little as it was, and running over to the cash register, but she didn't even get there before it was snagged.

"Fork it over, you runt," a boy with a thick accent said, the sound of the door closing behind him following.

I turned and watched Harry Hook snatch the money from Dizzy, running his fingers over it. Without looking up, he tapped the register with his hook.

"Now, the rest of it."

Dizzy's face dropped, walking around the desk to pull out the rest of the money and hand it to Harry. I knew why she was upset. It wasn't about the money, it was the fact that her grandmother would come down at midnight, when the store opened, and find out.

"Still running errands for Uma?" I taunted him. "Or do you actually get to keep what you steal?"

Harry's jaw tightened when he heard my voice, eyes sliding up to meet my face. I smirked and he did the same.

"Well, well, well. What a nice surprise."

"Hi, Harry."

He sauntered over, always the flirt. "Just wait until Uma hears you're back. She's never going to give you back your old territory."

I waited until he was inches away, watching him look me over. It felt wrong. Not that anything would come from being near Harry. He liked to talk big, but he had no interest in seducing anyone.

But he was still too close. Too personal. There was none of that polite distance that I got on the other island.

"Well, that's okay. Because I will be taking it."

He dragged his hook through my hair, as if threatening me. "I could hurt you."

That was a step too far. My hand shot up and tightened around his wrist. He looked almost startled, as if he had forgotten what a terror I was before I left.