Banner to the right is made by MSDoOD :)
***
After Demitri had said that, he disappeared into the kitchen leaving Skylar, my dad, and I in the living room.
“Is he ever going to come back?” I asked impatiently, eyeing Skylar.
“When he’s done with his calls,” was all he said before he went back to staring blankly into space.
Giving out a loud exasperated breath, I leaned back on the couch, as I waited another twenty minutes before he finally came waltzing back in. He was in the middle of putting his phone away in his back pocket, when he gave me a wide grin.
“Okay Lily, are you ready for your new look?”
“Um . . . you’re not going to be the one giving me the makeover right?” I asked warily, stepping back. No offense, but he didn’t look like someone who could even match outfits together, let alone give a teenage girl a whole new identity.
He gave out a loud laugh, before he shook his head. “Of course not,” he dismissed. “What do you think I was in the kitchen for? I was calling for backup.”
“Backup?”
Before he could even answer, a loud buzzing sound echoed throughout the whole house, letting us know someone was at the door.
“That must be Team A,” he said smiling.
“Team A?”
“You’ll see.” He grinned, going towards the front door. He only opened the door slightly, so I couldn’t really see who he was talking to until he let them in a few seconds later. Team A consisted of two girls who looked about thirty-years-old, with two small black cases in each of their perfectly manicured hands. They let a smile appeared on their faces when they saw me.
“She has beautiful hair,” the girl with long black hair complimented.
“Agree. It’s so long, and shiny!” the other girl gushed in awe, “it’s so blonde it’s almost white!”
“It’s a shame we’re going to have to dye it,” the calmer one said, bending down a bit. Dropping the case next to her foot, she started whispering things to her partner. Every now and then they would look at me. From the looks of it they were trying to figure out what to do with my hair. Whatever they’re trying to do, I just hope they don’t cut it too short. The long blonde hair was always my signature look—well beside the electric blue eyes.
“Okay as we wait for them to decide what to do with your hair and for Team B to get here, we might as well show you this now,” Demitri spoke up, taking the seat next to me on the couch.
“Skylar.” Demitri held out his hand, waiting for Skylar to give him whatever he wanted. Watching Skylar, I saw him taking out an envelope from behind his back. Even though I was slightly confused on where he hid such a thing, I continued watching quietly. As he placed it on Demitri’s hands, Demitri flipped it open, laying them out on the coffee table in front of me. Three faces looked back at me.
“Okay so these are the guys. These two are Bradlee and Hunter Le Feuvre.” He pointed to their respected profiles. I leaned forward, trying to study them closer as Demitri gave me more information about the brothers. “They’re fraternal twin brothers. Both eighteen-years-old. And that’s pretty much what they have in common—beside the hair. From what we had gathered Bradlee is the more quieter of the two, but that’s only because he hates everybody and anybody. So don’t let that face fool you Lily,” he warned. “He’s bad news. Out of all three, he’s the top suspect. He’d gotten in trouble with the police before, doing stupid idiotic things. Fighting, stealing, and punching a police officer. His brother on the other hand is the quarterback on the football team. Looks like he’s a straight A student, and he’s pretty popular with the ladies. His record is only filled with good deeds, from volunteering at pet shelters, to helping the elderly.” Helping the elderly? How did this guy even end up on the list? From what I could see he’s nothing but good. Though I can’t say the same about his brother.
“Last but not less, this is Ian Lynch. He’s also eighteen, and a bit weird. He’s always happy. We’d never saw the kid not smiling. His grades are pretty average, and the kid doesn’t exactly have many friends. He lives with his grandparents and little sister, and beside that the kid’s a mystery.”
Taking a good look at Ian, he didn’t seem bad either. He was cute, in a puppy-kind-of way. All three didn’t really seem like murderers. They all looked like average teenagers to me. Well . . . beside Bradlee. He looked the most scary with the bad-ass look he has going on. But even so, none of them seem that bad.
“Are you sure you have the right suspects? They don’t exactly look like killers,” I responded.
“Trust me, we know,” Demitri said, “we told you that, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, looking through the files again. “But why are they your suspects?”
He let out a long sigh, going into another one of his explanations. “When we were interviewing people around the general areas from the murder location, their names were mentioned. More than once as well. At first we were a bit surprised ourselves, but after doing some background checks on them, we found out all three were at these parties on the night of the victims’ death. Every single one of them, in every single state. And since we don’t have any more leads to go, we have to go with what we have.”
Taking everything he said in, I glanced down at the three guys, as I studied their faces once again. I guess the saying is true. Never judge a book by it’s cover. You never know, they just may end up as killers one day. Not wanting to look at them anymore, I put their pictures and their information back in the file, and gave them back to Demitri.
He shook his head, pushing it back to me. “Keep it. You’ll need it.”
I nodded, throwing it down on the table. Not even three seconds later, I saw my dad picking up the file, giving it a quick study.
“Lily, are you sure you want to do this?” he asked softly, “I mean what if you get hurt? I can’t risk that—”
“Chill Uncle. We got this,” Demitri reassured my dad.
“Yeah, we won’t let anything happen to her Sir,” Skylar cut in as well. “We’ll protect her with our lives.”
“Yeah but—”
“Dad,” I spoke up, getting his attention. “I’ll be fine. Like they said they’ll protect me.” I know at first I was the one who didn’t want anything to do with this, but now I saw just how selfish I was being. People’s lives are at risk here! And I know I’ll regret it if I turn my back on Demitri and Skylar now. I can’t let anymore people get hurt!
Even as I said that, he still didn’t look fully convinced but he eventually lowered his head. “Fine. But if you get hurt in anyway, I’m pulling a plug to this whole operation. Deal?”
“Deal,” all three of us said.
My dad grinned in return, waving the folder in the air. “I’ll keep this safe,” he said before slowly getting up from his seat. We watched him go up the stairs, before the doorbell sounded again.
“Ah. That must be Team B,” Demitri said, running towards the front door once again.
I stayed behind with Skylar and the two girls before Demitri came back with another girl. She was younger than the other two, and shorter. She had crazy red hair which matched the red lipstick she had on. She smiled politely at me, shaking my hand when Demitri introduced us. Apparently her name was Chrissy.
“Now that everyone is here. Let’s get this makeover started!” he exclaimed loudly, pumping his fist up in the air. He then eyed his backup two teams.“You guys know what to do right?”
“Of course,” the girl with dark black hair said, “why do you think it took so long to decide what to do with her hair?” she asked rhetorically, as she rolled her eyes at him.
He rolled his shoulders in response. “Just . . . get to it girls!” he ordered, and then asked suddenly, “Oh Chrissy you do have the uniform right?”
“Duh.” She pointed at her suitcase. “Why do you think I took so long to get here?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Right now we need to hurry!”
She cut her eyes at him. “Don’t rush us. Perfection takes time.”
“Whatever. Just try your best to not take all day,” he pleaded with her, his commanding tone gone.
“No promises.” She grinned wickedly.
Facing me now, she beckoned her hand to follow her to the bathroom. “Come on sweetie, time to transform you into someone totally different.”
Shutting my eyes, I calmly breathed, before opening my eyes again.
I guess it’s now or never.
***
After four long hours the makeover was finally completed. If it wasn’t for my long curly hair, it probably wouldn’t have taken so long. But at least it’s done. Jumping down from the high chair, I ran my hands through my hair several times, trying to get use to the smoothness. It was different. A lot different. It was shorter too, maybe a inch below my shoulder or so, and guess what? It wasn’t blonde anymore. It was an auburn brown and it was actually straight for once!
As my attention drifted away from my new hair, I saw the plaid skirt I was wearing. It wasn’t ugly but it wasn’t my style either. Moving my hands up, I straightened my black blazer, loosening the blue and white tie they’ve everyone wear with their uniforms.
“Do I really have to wear this uniform?”
“Seeing as it’s part of the dress code in your school, yes,” Chrissy said, as she finished up buttoning my blazer.
“But it’s so plain . . .”
“That’s the point.” She chuckled. “Plus it goes well with your new style.”
“My new style?”
“Take a look for yourself.”
Before I even said anything, she pulled a mirror up to my face. My eyes widened when I saw my face for the first time. My usual make-up was gone, and my blue eyes weren’t blue anymore. Instead dark brown eyes—almost black—stared back at me and a pair of black glasses were sat on the bridge of my nose. The hairstyle they decided to give me was one of those edgy scene haircuts as my newly bangs framed my heart-shaped face, covering my thin eyebrows. My eyes were outlined with black eyeliner, and on my lip was a pair of fake metal piercings. Letting out a small gasp, I couldn’t help but be shocked at the result.
“Good, huh?”
“More like fantastic! I didn't even recognize my own self!”
They all giggled, happy I liked it. “That’s the point,” one of my hair stylist said. “Now let’s go back and show them the new you,” she said cheerfully.
I eagerly listened to them, heading back to where Skylar and Demetri are. When we got closer, I heard a pair of new voices. When I heard her call my name I knew it had to be Megan and my mom. I guess school just ended.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Chrissy started to announce with me still behind her, “I present to you the new Lily Ace!”
When I stepped into view, I saw their eyes popped out and their mouths wide opened.
“Oh my Gosh! Is that really you Lily?”