Hi! Well, this is actually my first real fanfic, to be honest. ^^' It's a collab fic that I've been writing with my friend for a couple days, and don't worry, it's not all a bunch of OCs. There are actually Warblers. (In the next chapter...) Please review if you can, because I want to become a better writer, and that can only happen with reviews! Thanks so much! :]
*Gwen's POV*
"Ugh," I slammed the door behind me, sinking face-first into my bed. "I. Hate. This. SCHOOL!" I yelled, my voice muffled by the navy comforter. I heard a light sigh and a click as my roommate shut her laptop.
"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Her soprano voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Don't act like you don't totally agree with me," I mumbled as I rolled over. I rubbed my eyes in attempt to rid myself of exhaustion. "All the girls here are stupid, the classes are boring and easy, and there aren't any boys! It's awful!" I gestured frantically at every item on my list.
"Actually Gwen, I been thinking the same thing for quite a while and," my friend smiled. "I've got an idea."
"Hannah," I got up and began to pace about the room. "You just don't under—wait, why are you smiling at me like that?"
I stopped and my friend giggled. She shook her head and smiled.
"I have an idea," Hannah repeated. Hannah opened her laptop again as I sat next to her at the small desk we shared. With a few clicks, Hannah pulled up a page and turned to the screen so it faced me. It was filled with pictures of boys in dark blue blazers with a red trim. It showed them throwing their heads back and laughing as if they were having the time of their lives. They were in a multitude of settings. Two words in bold letters sat at the top of the page.
"Dalton Academy?" I read aloud. Hannah nodded at me.
"Yup. I've been looking into it for a couple weeks now. It's the 'sibling' school of Crawford, so it's pretty similar to here, but I think we both need a little change of atmosphere. All we have to do is transfer," she hesitated, "and pretend to be guys." I laughed for a moment before I noticed the serious expression on Hannah's face.
"Wait a minute," I pushed my glasses up on my nose, a nervous habit of mine. "Are you serious?! Hannah, how the hell would we get away with this? We are very obviously not boys!" Her eyes avoided my gaze as she ran her fingers through her short black hair, careful not to tear out the purple bow that was clipped in it.
"Well, the uniforms aren't form-fitting, so we wouldn't have a problem there. You may have to get a bit of a haircut, though," she gestured to my blonde, shoulder-length hair. "I think I'll be fine, though."
"Of course you will," I muttered. "You have a fricking pixie-cut..." She glared at me, raising an eyebrow before continuing.
"Anyways, the only other thing is disguise our voices, but we could probably pass for guys who haven't hit puberty yet."
"What about our birth certificates?" I asked. This seemed like such a crazy idea. I didn't know how the hell Hannah had ever thought of this. My first bet was too much anime-watching on her part. Hannah could spend hours staring at those wide-eyed characters with impossibly-colored hair. I had no doubt she'd lost a few brain cells for each season of whatever she watched.
"You can get fake ones can't you?" Hannah asked. She carefully put her laptop on the desk.
"Well yeah, probably, but that's illegal!" I exclaimed.
"Think about it, Gwen," Hannah said seriously. "How much more illegal is staying here until you get so pissed off at the people here that you end up kicking the living crap out of them?"
Honestly, I was about a class period away from shooting Jamie Corbon's face. And I suppose that would get me more jail time than forging a face birth certificate. The more I though about this idea the more I liked it, and the more I wanted it to happen. I was always up for a challenge. This could turn out to be an exciting adventure. However, one thought lingered at the back of my mind.
"What about our parents?" I murmured. A look of pain and worry flashed over Hannah's eyes, but was quickly replaced by that of stubbornness and anger.
"They don't care," The small Asian girl shrugged. "They're on the other side of the world. Lithuania and Indonesia are millions of miles away. Besides, we've forged their signatures tons of times." I took a deep breath and nodded my head slowly before shrugging my shoulders and throwing up my hands in surrender.
"Well...what the hell?" I grinned. "Sounds like fun."
"Yay!" Hannah jumped up and clapped her hands together. "We should get to work though," Her expression suddenly turned to pure determination.
"Right," I laughed softly and sighed. It was going to take an entire night just to get the certificates made. "You should probably do some more research on the place," this could take all weekend to finish. We might have to pull a few all-nighters. I pulled my lime green laptop out of my backpack, flipping it open and beginning to type frantically.
Hannah nodded and proceeded to turn to her laptop as well, her studious habits kicking in as she scrolled, reading every letter of every word on the site. I knew if anyone could pull this off, we could.
*Hannah's POV*
I have the remarkable ability to keep myself awake when I needed important work to be done. If given enough coffee, I could probably take over the world. People often severely under-estimated me, but that only gave me an upper-hand. So for sixteen straight hours I analyzed the guidelines and rules of the student manual, and copied important phone numbers onto a notepad. My tiny, slightly cursive handwriting was barely legible, even to myself. The wall next to my bed was covered in colorful sticky notes of that same handwriting, and the occasional note was covered in Gwen's handwriting, the result of our brain-storming sessions. I let my eyes trail over the wall for only a second, but soon I returned to my work, typing crazily. I came across a web link to the Dalton's show choir performance. Lazily, I clicked it. Through the speakers of my laptop, I listened to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. I tapped my foot along with the tune as I continued to explore the site. It seemed that the show choir was a very big part of the school's extracurricular activities. The site was filled with many pictures of the students performing in competitions and showcases and concerts. My eye was drawn to an Asian boy in the choir.
I felt my cheeks flush as I noticed a picture of the boy kicking a soccer ball. His face looked focused, yet happy and energetic. The dark blue jersey had red numbers that highlighted each individual player. I closed my eyes and sighed, smiling and imagining the boy running and scoring the winning goal. Teenage Dream played softly in the background, begging me to fall asleep and create a dream of my own. Soon enough, I gave into temptation.
"Hannah," a familiar voice shook me from my slumber. I opened my eyes and sat up, lifting my head from the blessed comfort of my soft, warm pillow. "Oh good, you're awake," Gwen sorted through an assortment of papers that surrounded her. I yawned as she set a couple in front of me.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Release and transfer forms," she told me casually. "I finished the birth certificates last night."
"Holy damn," I rubbed my eyes with balled up fists. My laptop was closed, thankfully, so I didn't destroy the battery. "That was fast."
Gwen shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." She handed me more papers. "Here, fill these out."
I grabbed a pen from the tin can I had decorated with black cow spots. I clicked the pen, dropped it, and cursed loudly as I bent down to pick it up. Carefully I marked the registration form, with Gwen's help.
"What's my male name?" I asked her.
"Lewis," Gwen said, glancing up from the paperwork.
I laughed. "Lewis? Why Lewis?"
"You look like a Lewis," Gwen said simply.
"Lewis is a name for underpaid librarians," I laughed. "Whatever though. I guess I can be a Lewis." I shifted as I wrote on the form. "What's your name?"
"Alex," Gwen said. She picked up the papers and set them on the desk. Afterward, she flopped onto her bed. "I'm so tired."
"Then go to sleep!" I told her. I finished my paper and added it to the stack. "Or do you want me to get you a coffee?"
"Coffee please," Gwen said into her pillow.
"Have you eaten breakfast?" I asked, walking to the door.
"Mfnnmm..." Gwen said.
I rolled my eyes. "I'll get you a muffin." I grabbed my wallet. Gwen gave me a thumbs up as I headed out the door.
I walked through the campus in my Hello Kitty pajama pants and a bright striped blue tank top. I realized this was probably the last time to walk around in my pajamas in public, so I treasured every comfortable moment. I walked into the on-campus coffee lounge, and walked towards the cashier.
"One green tea and one mocha with..." I glanced toward the menu, realizing I had no idea what kind of coffee Gwen preferred. I shrugged, giving the cashier a 'aw, what the hell,' look. "Two shots." I knew Gwen would be bouncing off the walls, but I was too last to change the order. The cashier smiled and nodded, and took the money from me. "Oh, and two chocolate muffins, please." I handed her an extra few dollars. The cashier gave me the muffins immediately, and I sat in a chair, and waited for the coffee.
*Gwen's POV*
I stared at the ceiling. It was bare and boring. I wouldn't miss it at Dalton. I tried to list off things I would miss, but my mind went blank. Dalton seemed like the perfect school. It had excellent classes, fun extra curricular activities, a beautiful campus and building, and boys. Lots of them.
A smirk settled over my face. I wasn't a slut or anything, I just liked being around boys. Hot boys. Smart, hot boys. Yes, that's all. Plus, a little eye-candy never hurt anyone. Maybe I could find Hannah a guy as well...
My thoughts were interrupted as Hannah entered the room.
"Get up," she told me. "I brought coffee." The promise of caffeine was enough to pry me away from my bed. I was handed a muffin and a container filled with piping hot coffee. The smell of green tea wafted over from my friend's drink.
"So," she sat down, cradling the beverage in her hands, "what are we doing today?"
I took a sip, burning my mouth in the process. "Well, we should probably go downtown so we can get new clothes and haircuts." Hannah's expression changed from normal to confused.
"New...clothes?" She asked with caution.
"Yes," I stated bluntly. "Sorry, Hannah, but this means no more dresses, frilly aprons, or cardigans. We'll have to get boy clothes." I could almost see the tears forming in her eyes.
"I can't get rid of my cardigans, dammit!" She whimpered. The look of utter despair on her face was too much for me to bear.
"Fine," I sighed. "You can keep one or two cardigans, but that's it!" Her expression relaxed, and a small smile appeared where her frown previously resided. "Now get dressed and find your credit card. We're going to need it today." Hannah took a final bite of her muffin and began to search through her closet for an outfit.
I got up and ate my muffin while grabbing a bright blue t-shirt, my favorite black vest, and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. Finishing off my coffee, I tossed the cup in the trash and headed for the small bathroom that connected to our dorm. I took a quick shower, and got back to find Hannah dressed in a fluffy polka dot skirt and a red blouse. Over it all she wore a grey cardigan. She did a last minute check on the Dalton page.
"Ready?" I asked, pulling on my Converse and a white fedora.
"Yup," she shut her laptop. I grabbed my wallet and followed Hannah out the door.
The one good thing about having parents that haven't seen you since you were four is that they really can't ground you for anything. Our parents were wealthy, so as long as they never had to see us, they didn't care how much money we spent. Maybe I had minor abandonment issues, but at least I didn't get in trouble for anything.
"Which car are we taking?" Hannah asked, bringing me back to reality.
"Um, mine." I told her. There weren't really any buses that came out to Crawford. We exited the building, along with other girls that casually stood around, chatting with others. The sun shone down from the autumn sky, which was unusually clear for this tie of year. We trotted over to my sky-blue Volkswagen Beetle, and I hopped into the driver's side. Hannah settled next to me and we buckled our seatbelts as I started the engine. Wicked songs began to play from the speakers as I drove away.
"Where to first?" I questioned my tiny friend.
"Hair," she said without hesitation.
"Alright," I mumbled. The drive was short and uneventful.
When we arrived, the bell jingled as we opened the front door. A lady with a sleek black bob smiled as we entered the establishment. The decor was modern, with clean crisp colors.
"How can I help you ladies?" She chirped. Hannah and I exchanged a quick glance.
"Well," my pal began, "that's kind of why we're here." The woman shot me a quizzical look.
"We kind of need haircuts to make us look male," I tried to explain. The woman's look of confusion grew even more.
"It's a long story," Hannah shrugged. The woman still looked confused, but waved Hannah over to a hair-styling station.
"Well," she crossed her arms, "you could probably be okay with just some minor adjustments. That pixie-cut helps a lot." The woman examined Hannah's hair. "It's a bit feminine, but I can fix that." She turned to me, and raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want your hair that short, hon?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
The woman introduced us to another stylist, who, in turn, split Hannah and I apart. I went with the second hairdresser, a short Filipino woman who barely spoke English. The first woman explained to her the cut I wanted, and the Filipino woman—whose name was something along the lines of 'Dai Pon Ku,' or 'Thai Moung Yoo,' looked at me if I was completely nuts. She uttered something in Filipino, then set to work.
It is quite unsettling, watching strands of your own hair fall from above. To keep myself occupied I counted the strands, but after fifty-seven I got nervous and stopped. This haircut—though voluntary, saddened me. My naturally bright, blonde hair was a pain to grow out, and this boy-cut sure wasn't happening. After graduating from Dalton, I was going to have to wear fedoras for a year straight. Not that I really minded.
Finally, my haircut was finished. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at the dramatic change. My shoulder-length locks were gone, and in their place was just air. Slightly shaggy bands were tossed over my forehead, and I brushed my hand back, feeling the emptiness of the back of my head.
Hannah, in her new shorter do, looked slightly different. Her ears showed more, and her fluffy bangs were gone. The days of ribbons and bows in her black hair were gone. I smiled at her, leaping from the chair I had been sitting in.
"Hey Lewis," I laughed.
"Alex," Hannah grinned. "I like your hair...it's...manly." She said this with caution, as if it were going to offend me, but I laughed again.
"Is this for some kind of Halloween costume?" The woman asked us as we paid for the haircuts.
"Sure," I said, walking out the door with Hannah beside me. The previously unnoticed breeze cooled the back of my neck, another reminder of the drastic change that had just taken place.
"Now," Hannah muttered as we walked back to my car. "Clothes."
*Hannah's POV*
The ride to the mall went faster than I had anticipated. After parking, we walked through the tall doors that towered over us. Unneeded air conditioning enclosed the large, open space.
"Hot Topic?" Gwen suggested, gesturing to the goth store to her left. I shook my head.
"No, we should try some place else, somewhere more casual," I looked through the many arches of options that lay before me. "How 'bout Macy's?" My friend darted off towards the store in response. I trailed after her, venturing into the unfamiliar territory of the men's clothing section. I flicked through a few pairs of shorts. Too baggy, I thought, and the winter weather was coming up soon.
"Hannah," I felt my friend tap my shoulder. Her arms were full of t-shirts in various colors. She also had a few hoodies and button-ups. What can I say? The girl was used to shopping here. I took the shirts she handed me, and grabbed a few pairs of jeans. We tried on our clothes, deciding on just a few items for each of us. We'd be wearing the Dalton uniforms most of the time anyway. We bought the clothing from a male cashier, earning a raised eyebrow I chose to ignore. He folding the clothing and bagged it, and I met Gwen at the door. I sniffed sadly.
"No cardigans," I said. Gwen patted my back supportively.
"It's okay, Hannah," she said. "It's okay."
We drove back home after our little escapade, the sun already set after our trip to Macy's. I felt myself dozing off, and I had to catch myself and prevent myself from falling asleep multiple times. Before I knew it, we were back in the dorm. I fell onto my bed, exhausted, and sunk into the blanket, ever grateful for the soft comfort it brought me. I tugged my pillow underneath my head, and passed out immediately, welcoming the dreams of our future at Dalton
Thanks so much for reading! Stay tuned for an update that will be here soon! Review if you think you have something to help me become better at what I love! ^-^