Chapter Two: A Makeover
"Morning,” I said, walking into the dining room for breakfast.
I got a chorus of Good Morning's back, except from my younger brother, Thomas, who was too busy stuffing his face with pancakes. I rolled my eyes at his disgusting etiquette and took a seat in my spot.
"So sweetheart," My mother began as I sat down. "Since you’re going back to school, we decided it would be best to give you a makeover."
My jaw dropped, as I coughed out the milk that I had choked on, upon hearing my mother’s suggestion. "What? Why?" I heard Thomas snort, so I gave him my evil eye before looking back at my mother.
"Would you rather have a makeover or a bodyguard? Your choice," She asked, leaning back in her chair.
"Makeover it is," I grumbled.
It wasn't that I had anything against makeovers, in fact I was quite use to it, from all of the times that I had had to get pampered for dinners and balls, that we had to go to as a family. It was just that sometimes my mother could go to extreme measures, and I had a feeling she was looking for an excuse to dress me up as a Barbie doll.
A couple of minutes later a plate of fresh pancakes were placed in front of me. I licked my lips in hunger. I would love to just devour them like a pig, like how Thomas was, but I had better manners than that. So instead, I just began to drench my pancakes in syrup, and that was when my father spoke up.
"Alice, adding on to what your mother said about you getting a makeover, it does also seem like a good idea however, to get you a bodyguard. Someone to watch over you during school and class, make sure you’re safe and all.” My dad said, his eyes glued to today’s paper.
I spit out my pancake, "Excuse me? But mom just said that if I get this stupid makeover-" He glared at me for my word choice, "I mean this interesting makeover, that I wouldn't need a bodyguard. And anyways it’s not like I am the President, no one cares about me enough to kidnap me.”
My dad gave me a look, "This particular bodyguard is still in high school-"
"You hired a guy who's still in high school?” I blurted out.
"If you would let me finish," He said, now glaring at me. "The boy’s parents actually work for me, so I talked to the parents, and they said that he would be happy to do it. And since his parents work here, they are bringing him over later on so you can meet him,” My dad said in a calm voice.
“You’re acting like you guys are setting me up for a play date,” I grumbled to my parents cutting up my pancakes and shoving them into my mouth.
I took a few more bites of my food, before I decided I wasn’t so hungry anymore. It didn’t really look that appetizing anymore, "I am not so hungry anymore." I muttered, pushing my plate out in front of me.
"I'll have it!" Exclaimed Thomas, grabbing my pancakes, piling them onto his already stacked plate and stuffing them in his mouth. I really do wonder about him and what goes on in that ten-year-old mind of his.
"You’re eating like a pig." I said to him, wiping my mouth on my napkin.
“Well,” Thomas said, swallowing his food before speaking. “I’ll have you know that the pig is the sixth smartest animal on the planet.” He said to me, grinning.
“Well, I’ll have you know that I really don’t care.” I said smirking back at my brother. I then quickly got up from the table, walking out of the kitchen before I could be lectured by my parents.
I walked down the hall, nodding my head in acknowledgement to the guards as I walked past them, towards the stairs. Once I arrived into my room, I flopped down on my bed, grabbed my phone from my side table and called Holly to tell her the news.
My eyes scanned my room, it was a fairly big room, with white walls and a queen sized bed located in the middle of the room. It was nice and simple, just like how I liked it. My dressers were off to the side of the room, but most of them were empty, since I basically had a closet big enough to store another queen sized bed.
After two rings, Holly picked up, "How bad did they punish you?" She asked, not bothering to say hello.
"Not too bad-" I stopped mid-sentence, as I realized something. "Wait a minute, how did you know I was punished?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.
"Oh come on Ali, we snuck away from the White House and there are cameras located on every inch of it. I knew from the beginning that we were going to get caught. I just wanted you to start living a normal life." She said.
"So you knew I was going to get caught, yet you still forced me out of the house?” I asked her, “Well thanks to you, I am grounded for a month." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Well, some good must've come out of sneaking out."
"Yeah something good did, and you’re going to be excited for this.” I said, to Holly.
“What? Is it food related?” She asked.
I chuckled, “If saying I finally get to go to school, is food related than yes, it is.” I said sarcastically
I heard a scream come from the other end, and as I pulled the phone away from my ear, I heard a thud, assuming Holly dropped her phone. "No way! You’re coming back to school? Or are you just messing with me? Cause I did hear some sarcasm in your voice."
"No Holls, I am dead serious. I spoke with my dad, and I think it is time I finally get to be a normal teenager for once in my life, so mom is taking me to get some stupid makeover."
I heard another scream on the other end of the line. I pulled the phone away from my ear. If Holly keeps screaming like this, I am bound to start going deaf. "A makeover? I'll be over in ten," With that she hung up, leaving me with only a dial tone.
I let out a sigh, burying my head in my pillow and wondered if school was how movies and books portrayed it to be.
What if I don’t fit in?
"No Alice don't think about that. You'll do fine." I said, trying to convince myself. After eight years of not going to school you start to forget what normal is. My thoughts were then interrupted when I heard the intercom in my room buzz. I got up from my bed, walking over to it. As I held the talk button, my mom’s voice rang out of the speakers.
"Alice, will you please make your way downstairs. Your new bodyguard is here."
I groaned, smoothing out the plaid skirt I was wearing, making my way out of the door and towards the stairs. Once I reached the bottom, I did not see my parents or my new bodyguard so I assumed they were still at the front door and made my way over there.
I was looking at my feet when I arrived at the front door. I was silently praying that my bodyguard was cute or nice, but mostly cute.
"Alice, this is your new bodyguard. His name is-" I heard my mom speak, but I cut her off when I realized who he was.
“You!" We shouted at the same time. It was the guy that I had met at the bar. Even though it was a little bit dark at the bar, I clearly remembered his voice. He was the same person who kind of flirted with me, and who had basically shut me out when I asked about Holly.
"Do you guys know each other?" My mom asked, clearly amused.
"Yeah," I heard Ben mutter.
"And how do you guys know each other?" My dad asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, I met Ben at the bar." I said, looking over at my parents whose eyes were widened at what I said. "No, Ben just made my drink." My parent’s jaws dropped as I continued to talk. I looked over at Ben who seemed to be watching me in amusement, "Wait! No, not a drink. A drink of water.” I said, trying to explain myself. I let out a few swear words under my breath as I felt my cheeks flush.
I was no good under pressure.
"Um, okay.” My mom said, looking confused. “Since you, guys already know each other. I'll leave you two alone." My mother said, grabbing my dad’s arm and walking away, leaving me and Ben to socialize, but all I did was glare at him.
We stared at each other for a couple of minutes, until the front door swung open, hitting Ben in the process. I stifled a laugh as the person at the door open there mouth to apologize. “Sor-“ The person began, but stopped as Holly stared at Ben in shock.
Holly’s face then turned white, as if she was seeing a ghost, "What are you doing here?" They said, simultaneously.
Wow is Ben in sync with everyone.
They then turned to me, anger evident in their expressions, ”What is that doing here?" They said, once again, simultaneously pointing to one another.
I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest. "So... Do you want to tell me how you two know each other?"
"No," Grumbled Holly. "I would like to know why he is in my presence instead."
"Holly, meet my new bodyguard Ben." At first, I was against this whole bodyguard thing, but considering the pissed off looks they were both giving me, it somewhat amused me.
"And Ben, this is Holly my best friend and cousin.” I said to Ben, who didn’t even glance at Holly. “So get use to each other because you'll be seeing each other a lot."
"Whatever," Holly said. "Can we just go to your room, I am allergic to idiots."
"So you’re allergic to yourself?" Ben retorted.
Ben’s reply caused Holly to leap on him, but I grabbed her before she could have the chance to claw his eyes out. "You’re just as crazy as I remember." I heard Ben mutter, Holly must have heard because she huffed, stomping her foot and marching down the hall, most probably heading to my room.
I glared at Ben, "Don't think I am done with you. Now thanks to you, Holly is in a bad mood and no one likes when she is in a bad mood." I said, pointing my finger in his face. I then ran down the hall and back upstairs to search for Holly.
When I got to my room Holly's head was buried in my pillow, I heard her quietly sobbing. I closed the door walking towards her. "Hey, what happened back there?" I asked, her softly.
"I don't want to about it," She croaked out.
"Okay," I said, rubbing her back trying to comfort her, I knew it had something to do with Ben, and I intended to find out.
*
"I look like a rainbow threw up on me," I said, looking in the mirror of the store we were currently in.
"I think you look fine, stop complaining,” My mother said.
Stop complaining? I looked ridiculous.
"Who even wears this much pink anyways?” I grumbled to my mother, who was too busy grabbing a bunch of clothes of the racks. I was literally in pink shorts, top and shoes.
"Hey, I don't remember you being named America’s number one fashion designer." She pointed out, "Plus, this is what all the kids are wearing."
I let out a groan of annoyance. If only I had a normal mother… or a normal family in my case.
"She's not wrong," Holly said, appearing out of nowhere. She was holding a bunch of clothes in her arms. "A lot of stuck up girls wear that much pink, except with way more cleavage showing." She said shuddering, "Anyways, here you go." She said, dumping all the clothes she had in her hands to me.
"What the heck am I supposed to do with all of these?" I asked.
"Try them on? Duh." She stated, shooing me off to the changing room, I inspected the clothes that Holly chose for me. They were a lot better than the ones my mother chose.
I grabbed a pair of white skinny jeans and a grey muscle tee out of the pile of clothes. I also grabbed a black leather jacket and pulled it over my grey top. I scanned myself in the mirror. I liked the clothes that Holly chose, and I had to say they made me look pretty darn good. I then came out of the changing room to show Holly and my mom, who were sitting on the chairs talking amongst each other.
When I walked out of the changing room, both of their heads snapped to me. They both squealed. "I take it that this looks good?" They both nodded their heads, with big smiles etched on their faces. After trying on and modeling a few more outfits, we paid for them and left.
"Um... Thanks... For um shopping, Miss First Lady." The employee said, stuttering. I looked over at her name tag, it read Jesse. She looked awfully young. She was most probably fifteen or sixteen.
"No problem. Thanks for closing down the store for us, Jesse." Said my mom, smiling politely.
Jesse looked surprised. "Um no problem... Come again." She said, managing to give us a small smile.
We then left the store to make it to my 5:30 hair appointment. After endless battling with my mom, Holly and the lady who was doing my hair. I finally agreed to get it cut, to at least shoulder length and dye it a darker shade than it already was.
They weren't kidding when they said they were giving me a makeover.
"Okay we’re done sweetheart," She said, turning me around on my chair. "What do you think?"
I let out a gasp. My dull brown hair was now a darker shade, looking to be almost black. It was cut above my shoulders, thankfully not looking like a bob cut. The salon lady also gave me side bangs, which I absolutely adored because it framed my face perfectly.
"I take it you like it?" She asked, smiling. I nodded my head, unable to speak. "Don't worry sweetheart, you came to the best," She said proudly. "No one will be able to recognize you now." She said, smiling, then leaving the room probably to go call my mother and Holly. I really did look different, but it was a good kind of different.
She came back minutes later with Holly and my mom. They started to squeal once again, complimenting me on my hair.
As soon as I got home, I started to hang all of my clothes in my closet with the help of Holly. School was in a couple of days, so Holly was staying overnight, to help me prepare. "So anything I should know about school?" I asked, sitting next to her on my bed.
She nodded her head. "Our school is very superficial. There are the jocks, cheerleaders, nerds and drama geeks. Don't draw attention to yourself, and whatever you do, stay away from Ashley Rome and Gavin Storm."
I could have sworn when she mentioned this guy Gavin's name, her eyes darkened. "Why?"
"Ashley is the schools head cheerleader, she gets whatever she wants and doesn't care who she steps on." Holly replied, her eyes glued to the magazine in her hand.
I nodded, "Got it."
"Good." She said, looking back at her magazine.
"Um Holls, what about this Gavin guy?" She cringed, at the sound of his name. I looked down and saw her clenching her hand.
I stared at her for a couple of minutes. "Holly, what happened between you and Gavin?"
Her eyes got glassy, she looked to be on the verge of tears, "Ben." She croaked out. "W-we use to go out." She said, stuttering.
I knew that there was something to do with Ben, but it still didn’t make sense why she was telling me this about Gavin.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I whispered, to her.
She shook her head. "No, I have to tell you. I really need to get this off of my chest," I nodded for her to continue. "We started dating junior year, Ben and I. We really liked each other. We did everything together. I told you about him, remember?” She asked. I nodded my head.
I remember her telling me about her boyfriend, last year. I had just never met him. Holly talked about him a lot. But when they did break up, Holly came to me crying. It took a good month for her to finally get over him, and even then she wasn’t as functional as she used to be.
“I really liked Ben. He meant everything to me, and everyone knew that. But, there was a problem, Gavin.” Holly’s eyes darkened as she said his name. “Gavin was Ben’s best friend, and our schools biggest playboy. He flirted with any girl, including me. But I never gave in, I was one hundred percent committed to Ben. Gavin played girls. He got them to fall in love with him, sleep with him and then he would dump them. The typical player boy that you read about in books and watch in movies.” Holly said, sniffling. "And that's what he did to me, you would think that since I was his best friend’s girlfriend, I would be off limits. But I wasn’t. I was only part of a stupid bet.”
I did not want to hear this anymore. I didn’t want to know what Holly had had to go through. I’ve always wanted to know the story that broke Holly, but I realized that I was wrong. I didn’t want to know, anymore. "Holly, you really don't have to tell me."
"I don't have to, I want to. Anyways, we were at a party and I was drunk to the max. Ben's friends came over and asked him to play some guy game. He didn't want to leave me, but I kept telling him to go. Long story short, the next day I found myself in bed with Gavin and I had no idea how I had gotten there. To this day, I still don’t know. But the news spread like wildfire, and Ben broke up with me. He's hated me ever since and after a bit, I started hating him as well." She said, finishing her story and beginning to cry once more.
I felt my heart shatter, as I finally realized what had happened, and the story behind it. "Holly it wasn't your fault, don't ever blame yourself." I said, wrapping my cousin in a tight hug.
She gave me a small smile, "You are the only one I've ever told." She said, as she wiped the tears of her face. “I am going to clean up,” She said, getting off my bed and wiping her face with her hands as she walked towards my bathroom. She turned around briefly, giving me a small smile. “Thanks, Alice.”
I laid myself on my bed as I stared up at the ceiling. I heard the sound of water running coming from my bathroom. I felt bad for what Holly had went through. No one deserved that, no matter who you are. I closed my eyes trying to digest all the information.
My heart broke for her and what she had went through. Maybe high school is not what I thought it was, maybe it was hell. I just wouldn’t know until I go to school myself.
One thought played itself in my mind over and over again. To stay away from Gavin Storm and I was going to do whatever it takes.
*****
Hello Lovelies,
Sorry I could not update I was out of town. (Well I still am) I had to update because I have 2000 reads, Thanks for all the wonderful comments and I also saw that some of you added it to you reading list so THANK YOU! Chapter 4 is done if I get 40 votes and 10 comments for the chapter I will update it, when I get back home, which is tomorrow... PS: I respond to ALL messages so feel free to message me about anything I talk to everyone... I am weird like that!
This is dedicated to @Rafitarox another one of my awesome supporters of this story!
Picture on the side of Holly Richards portrayed as Kay Panabaker
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xoxo_mysteriousgirl