Prologue

Prologue: Devastating Ends Lead to New Beginnings

Piper smiled as she headed towards the apartment door. It was her birthday and she was excited. All day, she was ignored by all her closest friends and her boyfriend, Jay, hadn't even acknowledged her. She was so sad, instead of going shopping with her best friends Hailey and Bailey, twins, she stayed home and cried into her pillow. She hadn't expected her father to wish her but her friends and especially her boyfriend not remembering? That stung her a lot. It was while she was listening to Taylor Swift on her IPod she got a text from Jay.

Hey beautiful. Come over to my apartment, I have a surprise for you. ;)

Piper, with one earbud in her ear, she checked her phone. Upon reading the text, her eyes brightened up. She smiled so widely it hurt her face. Piper quickly replied,

Okay, can't wait. Be there in 20. (Heart Emoji)

After replying, she opened her closet. She looked at bundles of unorganized clothing and scratched her head. After taking her closet completely apart, she chose to wear a simple white waterfall style dress with brown wedges. She made simple braids down the sides of head and put on a little makeup. After looking at her appearance and nodding satisfactory, she grabbed her small purse and made her way through her bedroom. Piper McLean was not, by any means, an organized person. If you were to come in her room, you'd get lost looking for her bed. So as Piper stepped over the piles of clothes and boxes of pizza, she dropped a pile of papers. She cursed under her breath and hastily picked up the papers. Putting them back "in their place," she noticed one paper that had been giving her a hard time for the past few weeks. It was a letter from Helios Studios, a music label that had offered her a spot as one of their new recording artists. She knew the owner, Apollo Helios. She also knew his son, Will Helios. He was a great friend of her dad's and hers. That's how they met, through her dad. She went to one of his awards shows and met Will. He tried to flirt with her, a lot, but when he found out Piper was Piper McLean, he backed off and decided to just be friends. That's when Will offered Piper a chance to record in his dad's studio. She told him she'd think about it but in reality she had no idea about what she was going to do. She picked up the paper and crumbled it up. She threw it in the garbage can and smiled. She hadn't told anyone about the offer and wasn't going to need to now, what's the point of telling Jay if she isn't leaving. And why leave, with such a great boyfriend?

Piper knocked lightly on the door and was elated to hear Jay's happy voice. "Who is it?" Jay teased.

"It's the mailman!" Piper joked back.

"Aw yes, my Play Boy magazines must be here!" Piper snickered while Jay opened the door. He frowned and said, "My magazines?"

Piper smiled and said, "Sorry, no magazines." She hugged Jay and he kissed her cheek.

"Aw man, I heard there was this new section where-" he began.

"Shut up, you're so gross," Piper teased. She hugged Jay's waist as she entered the apartment. She lightly closed her eyes and opened them while feigning a surprised face. She expected a surprise but Jay's living room was the same as it always is. She wasn't sure as to what to say so she turned to face him. "So, where's my surprise?" she asked hopefully.

"In my bedroom," Jay said slyly. Piper wasn't sure why the surprise was in his bedroom but she went with it anyway.

"Oh, well let's see it." Piper walked, hand intertwined with Jay's, to his bedroom. Slowly opening the door with her eyes closed, she opened them and once again feigned surprise as she saw a, pinball machine?

"Surprise!" Jay yelled. He walked over to the machine and smiled. "You like it? I got it for thirty bucks at a garage sale." He smiled like he bought her a diamond ring, which made Piper feel ridiculous.

"You, you got me a pin ball machine?" Piper asked uncertainly.

"No Pipes, I got us a pinball machine! It's awesome right?" He turned it on and began explaining the rules but Piper wasn't paying attention. She was too busy silently crying. When Jay finally managed to notice, he frowned and walked over to Piper. "Come on Pipes, I know it's awesome but it's nothing to cry about." He tried to hug Piper but she backed out of his room. "Okay Piper, seriously. What's wrong?" Jay asked.

Piper had had enough. "What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! Nothing's wrong Jay. Nothing at all! Oh yeah, except the fact that your a freaking bastard!" Piper cried harder.

"What are you talking about?" Jay's tone wasn't getting any softer.

"I'm talking about you! First, you cheat on me with Hailey. We break up. Then you ask for my forgivness and I forgive you, we make up. Then you embarrass me in front of my friends, but I forgive you. Then you fight with my dad, and I still stand up for you. Now after all we've been through, you can't seem to remember my FREAKING BIRTHDAY!?" Piper screamed at him.

"It's-It's your birthday?" Jay asks.

"No, it's freaking Halloween!" Piper exclaims. She tries to leave but Jay grabs her arm. "Leave me the hell alone!" She pulls her arm away and stomps out of the room. She runs towards the door and Jay runs behind her.

"Babe, I'm sorry! It will never happen again! Come on, Piper! You can't seriously be mad about this. What about the pinball machine?" Jay complains.

Just as she is about to leave, she turns around. "You know what? F*** you and your pinball machine. I don't give a crap. You can go shove it up your ass because we're done." Piper leaves and runs home. She runs into her room and cries against the door. She stays like that for ten minutes before kicking the trash can next to her desk. As if it were a message, a crumpled piece of paper lands in front of Piper. She slowly wipes her tears and straightens out the paper. After a minute of thinking, she grabs her cell phone from her purse and tries her best to sound okay. As the call goes through, Piper fiddles with the paper. When Piper hears the receptionist voice, she says "Hi! Can I make an appointment with Will Helios? Tell him it's Piper, Piper McLean. I'm ready to accept his offer."

Chapter 1: Piper

"That's it. Man, I can't believe it's you. You wouldn't believe how much I want to do you right now,"

"Are you sure about this Piper?" Will asks me unsurely.

"This is the one thing in my life that I am the most sure about," I reply. I look at all the stylist that are surrounding me and gulp. With my eyes closed, I nod.

I hear Will sigh, "Alright. Go ahead." Just as one stylist grabs a lock of my hair, Will shrieks, "Stop!" I open my eyes surprised and groan.

"What now Will?" I ask slightly irritated. We've been at it for an hour now.

"Can I at least take a picture of you before, it happens?" Will asks. He pouts a little so I frown.

"Fine." Will smiles and brings out his phone. He comes behind me and takes a selfie of the both of us. I smile lightly while he full on smiles. He presses the button about 50 times before pulling away.

He sighs again and covers his eyes, "Alright, go ahead." Will pretends to cry and I roll my eyes, for a twenty one year old, one year older than me, he acts like a baby. The first stylist gently grabs a lock of my uneven hair and cuts the bottoms. Will shrieks at every snip! and I can't help but smile. After an hour of cutting, styling, walking to other stations and chemically smells, I look in the mirror and I can't believe what I see. My hair, choppy and chocolate brown, was now cut in layers and had absolutely no split ends. My hair an light highlights of chestnut brown which made my hair look "warm" if that's possible. The hair was done in ringlet curls making them look bouncy and no frizz was to be seen. I ran my hand through my hair thinking it would be crusty and hard but it was actually soft and untangled. I was amazed at how well the stylists transformed my hair. I turned around to face the two stylists who worked on my hair. I made a stern face and asked them, "What are your names?"

The stylists gulped and the older looking one, she looked like she was from the South with her bleach blond hair and brown eyes and southern accent, "My name is Honey and this one here," she pointed at the other stylist who looked Apollo's age with brown hair and dark brown eyes, "is Lily." I nodded before enveloping both of them in a giant hug.

"Thank you Honey and Lily, my hair is great," I said while hugging the both of them. They were momentarily shocked as they didn't hug back but when I said that, they laughed and hugged back.

"You're welcome," Lily replied with a Long Island accent.

"No need to thank us, it's our job," Honey replied.

"Well thanks anyway," I smiled at them when I heard a sharp intake of breath. I turned to see Will at the door and his expression was shocked.

"Piper! Your hair looks amazing! Really!" Will came over and looked at my hair.

"Thanks Will." I blushed a little at Will and he smirked.

"No problem, it's my job to compliment beautiful women," Will smirked. Behind me, Honey and Lily snickered while Will playfully glared at them.

"You sound just like your father, and that's not a compliment," Lily says smirking almost as well as Will. Will sticks his tongue out at her and I laugh.

"Alright Piper dear, time for your make up and clothes," Honey said clapping.

"Okay," I took a deep breath, "let's do it."

I looked in the mirror for the second time that day and I was astonished by what I saw, well more like who I saw. The girl I saw had the same hair I had this morning. Her eyes were a brown shade of hazel, unlike my eyes that were color changing. Her eyes beautifully contrasted with her hair and her plump lips were a hot pink shade. The girl wore heavy eyeliner that accentuated her eyes made them stand out. She had freckles that dusted the bridge of her small straight nose. Her cheek bones were high and a light shade of pink as well. She wore a dazzling sapphire shoulder cut off that had a thumb whole at the end of the long sleeves. Her long finger nails were painted to match the shirt and she wore a simple gold knuckle ring on her index finger. She also wore shorts but only the hem of the shorts could show due to the long shirt. On her feet were black wedges to match the shorts and her long tan legs were scab or cut free. On top of her new hair was a black hair net style beany. I looked at the girl with interest. The girl was beautiful, beyond words. I hesitantly touched my hair, "Is, is that really me?"

"Of course it's you! Why, don't you like it?" Honey asked behind me.

"No, I love it! I just can't believe it's me." I reply. I continue to fiddle with the ends of a curl and bite my plush lips. "This girl, this isn't Piper McLean. I'm not Piper McLean anymore, that's for sure." I turn around for them to see and they both smile at their work. "Can you call Will? I want his opinion."

Lily nods and goes out the door and after about two minutes, I hear Will from outside the door. "Are you sure? She's done? I hope this ends well." The door opens and Will comes in. He looks at me for a second and then looks at Honey, "Honey? Where's Piper?" I want to laugh at him so I snort.

"I'm right here dumbass." I wave my hand in front of me and his eyes widen.

"Piper? Is that really you? You look, you look, uh," Will burns red at his own words.

"Pretty? Beautiful? Sexy?" I offer.

"That's it. Man, I can't believe it's you. You wouldn't believe how much I want to do you right now," Will replies.

I snicker and say, "I can. So, this is the new me," I say taking it in.

"Yup, this is it Pipes." Will says still staring at me. "So now that your appearance is done, what's going to be your new identity?"

I think about it for about a minute before settling for one name in particular. "Good bye Piper McLean, hello Scarlet Hues."