Title: Change of heart

Summary: HAIRSPRAY! She hated Tracy. She hated Link. She hated Corny. She hated Inez. She hated her mother. She hated herself! But most of all Amber Von Tussle hated her life!

Disclaimer: I do not own Amber, Tracy, Link, Corny or Inez. Thank-you.

A/n: NO FLAMES! Not accepted thank-you. VGxx

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Amber Von Tussle. Blonde, beautiful, bossy. That's what everyone saw. But what they didn't see was what went on inside her head. Ever since Tracy Turnblad came into her life and auditioned for the Corny Collins Show Amber hated her. Ever since Link got himself landed in detention for deliberately mis-quoting Patrick Henry's immortal last words as 'Kiss my ass', she hated him. Since Corny picked Tracy to replace Brenda on the show Amber hated Corny. And ever since her mother had told her she switched the tallies and fixed the votes for Miss Teenage Hairspray 1962 she hated her. She even hated herself for believing that she was actually winning on the people's votes! In short, Amber Von Tussle hated life.

She looked at herself in the mirror. What she saw she didn't like. She let what little self-control she had left fail and she punched the glass as hard as she could. It shattered and as the pieces fell to the floor she began to cry. The door of her dressing room opened and she was faced with four faces concern on each of them. Tracy, Link, Corny and Inez. She scowled at all of them.

"Amber what did you do?" Tracy asked grabbing Amber's wrist of the hand she'd punched the mirror with. Her knuckles were bleeding. Amber tried to snatch her hand back but Tracy had a hard grip on it. The crimson liquid started to run along Tracy's hand and drip onto the floor. Link stepped up beside Tracy and pressed his handkerchief onto Amber's knuckles.

"I know you don't like me." Tracy said quietly. As she wrapped Amber's hand in the cloth, "but I don't want you to hurt yourself because of hatred. You're still a beautiful girl. Right guys?" Link and Corny nodded, "see, Amber it doesn't matter how much you try to make yourself ugly and I know you were trying to – people are still going to love you."

"I hate everyone Tracy! You, Link, Corny, Inez, my mother and myself! I'm not loved anymore! My mother fixed the contest! She expected me to loose to you! Don't you see that? I didn't care! When you didn't arrive to the contest I thought for sure I was going to win because I had no competition, but with Mom fixing the tallies I would've won anyway!" Amber let her eyes got to Inez who still stood at the door, "I'm not mad that Inez won. I'm surprised but not mad. She deserves it as much as me or you do." Amber at this point seemed a whole lot more human than she ever had. Tracy smiled genuinely at her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Amber – we understand that you wanted to win, to be honest I thought I'd win it! But when I heard Corny announce that Inez had I couldn't be happier! Being the lead dancer on the Corny Collins Show wouldn't help me integrate it!" Tracy said, "Amber…I saw you dancing with DJ. You looked happier than I'd ever seen you. Happier even when you'd been with Link." Link looked a little surprised but he accepted that – it must have been true to some degree. Amber smiled genuinely at Tracy, somehow this 'great white whale' wasn't as bad as Amber had first thought.

"I'm sorry Tracy." Amber said quietly, so quietly that Tracy almost missed it, but amber made this mistake as looking up at her when she said it.

"What for?"

"For being so mean to you. I guess I misjudged you. I didn't see what was beneath." Amber said softly, Tracy wrapped her arms around Amber. Surprised Amber awkwardly hugged her back, before she relaxed and let herself hug and be hugged. Even Link joined the hug. For once Amber actually felt like she belonged somewhere.

"Uh Tracy?" The brunette turned, "can I use your mirror to fix my hair and make-up? I'll need to get a new one." Tracy laughed.

"Sure you can. It's in Brenda's old room." Amber smiled again and dashed out of the room. Corny looked from the open door to Tracy and back.

"You know…sometimes that girl worries me."

"She needed to be steered in the right direction, that's all Corny." Tracy said. He smiled wrapped one arm around Tracy's shoulders the other around Inez and walked the two girls out, Link following closely behind.