This is the ending half. Hope you enjoy! Sorry it's so late...
Disclaimer: All I own right now is the empty tub of ice cream I have because USA didn't beat Belgium... but it was still a good game.
~Part 2~
The next day, Mattie opened her eyes and saw Cecil staring at her with a gigantic smile. As a rational person, she did what any other sane being would do in that situation: scream and fall off her bed. Then after, she retaliated by throwing a pillow at her roommate.
"You scared me!" Mattie complained.
"Right, I keep forgetting that you said to stop doing that... but, as long as you're awake, are you excited for Valentine's Day today?"
Am I excited for the worst day of the year? No not really, but unlike you, I'm not dating the school quarterback. Don't worry though, I know how make this day better.
"Umm, I guess I am," the Canadian said, getting off the floor. "I'm going to go shower, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. I have to go pick out my clothes anyway." Cecil turned to go to her closet, back in her own room.
After showering, Mattie went to go find her clothes. She found her longest socks and a black mini skirt to wear. Since it was Saturday, she didn't have to dress in her school uniform. She located the deepest V-neck in her closet, which happened to be purple. Immediately, she began to separate her hair in two in preparation for pigtails, but stopped herself when she realized what she was doing.
Pigtails are childish and stupid. I need to change for anyone to notice me. Anything I was before is wrong.
She let her hair ties fall to the floor as he pondered what to do next.
Makeup... I guess I could ask...
She turned to the third bedroom. The Canadian took a deep breath and started walking. She knocked on the door, but when there was no answer she opened decided to step in uninvited. Immediately, she went over to the bedside and looked down at the sleeping brunette. Mattie bent down and shook the girl awake.
The Hungarian slowly pushed herself up and stared at the blonde from under her bangs. The shadow from her hair covered her eyes, effectively making her appear ten times scarier than she normally would. The brunette's hand was already under her pillow, clutching her frying pan tightly. "What?"
"I was.. just um... I wanted..." the blonde took a deep breath and gathered all of her courage. "Can you please give me a makeover?" She squeezed both her eyes, bracing herself for some sort of physical pain. When nothing happened, she cautiously opened one eye to see a very happy Hungarian.
"I've been waiting for this day since we first met! I'm so excited!" Elizaveta squealed. The brunette jumped out of bed and ran to the dresser, dragging her Canadian friend behind her. "I mean, it's not like you need a makeover or anything -you're plenty pretty already-, but a little lipstick and some blush would do wonders for you!" The brunette sat her friend down in front of her mirror and went to work.
Mattie had never been that comfortable looking at her reflection. She had come to the conclusion that there was something wrong with her. That had to be the reason she was forgotten so easily. She took a gander at her own skin.
It's not transparent… I'm not invisible… So why can't anybody see me?
With a sigh, she shifted her gaze upward, to her hair. It still looked too much like her: the same invisible Canadian. Her fingers played with the ending strands of her hair absentmindedly as she pondered what to do about it.
"Do you have any hair dye?"
The Hungarian out down the brush she was using and raised an eyebrow at her roommate. "Why?"
"I wanted to… I don't know… look different."
Squinting her eyes, the brunette asked again. "Why?"
"I guess I'm just tired of going unnoticed. I just want to be seen. For this one day of the entire year, I want someone to look at me."
"I didn't realize you felt that…" Elizaveta glanced contemplatively at the floor, trying to decide on how to respond.
"It's not anything to do with you. Can you just dye it black? Please?" Mattie asked softly.
Reluctantly, she agreed, "Fine, but only for today. And only the ends."
"You're the best! Thank you so much!" the Canadian smiled.
Two hours later, she decided to take her new look for a spin. With one last glance in the mirror, she pulled together all the confidence left in her delicate body and headed out.
I can do this. Mattie told herself. This is going to be great. Everyone is going to notice me. All my friends will see me walk up…Gilbert will see me… I didn't think this through. Gilbert will see me… Oh gosh… what will he think? What will he say? Will he like me better like this? Does he like me at all?...
She stopped when she spotted a familiar trio a little ways away.
Will he even notice? Will he even care?
With a deep breath, she headed towards the group.
I shouldn't be making such a big deal about this. He probably still doesn't know my name… He probably wouldn't have said two words to me, if not for Francis. Francis…what a great brother he is. Always trying to get me the recognition I deserve. Funny thing is, he's the one taking attention away from me.
When she was merely a few feet away from the boys, she took a deep breath, trying to concentrate all her courage, and then pressed on.
"Hi Guys," she spoke as loud as anything Alfred has ever said. The group turned their attention to the blond girl they were sure they had never seen before. The surprise on their faces was priceless. Smirking, the Canadian continued with the most teenage-girl voice she could muster, "Hey Gil, can I talk to you for a sec?"
"What happened to you?" Francis questioned before Gilbert could reply, eyeing her up and down. Overtaken with confusion and concern, the Frenchman felt the dyed tips of his sister's once pure golden locks.
Insulted with her brother's response, she simply rolled her eyes, flipped her hair out of his hands, and directed her attention to the albino. "I just wanna talk to your cute friend," she stated plainly and shamelessly, taking steps closer to the confused German.
Francis was nowhere near satisfied with her answer. He took her arm, forcing her attention back to him. "What. Happened. To you. What happened to your hair? Your clothes? Your face?"
"It's called a makeover," she stated annoyed.
"But why?" He was honestly confused as to why someone with as much natural beauty as her would every want to hide it under a mask of make-up, fake hair, and skimpy clothing.
"BECAUSE I NEEDED A CHANGE! Okay Mr. my-life-is-perfect? I wanted today to be special and I won't let you ruin for me."
"I'm not trying to ruin anything."
"You never are, but it always turns out that way! Ever notice how you are always the center of attention and I'm just that wallflower who was lucky to be invited?"
"Mattie… I didn't know you felt that way. What can I do?"
"Stop. Talking!" she quipped. Obviously she had had her fill on of that conversation. "Go away! All of you!" she demanded.
"But you came up to us…" Antonio mentioned, not really understanding what was going on.
"Away," she insisted once more through gritted teeth.
Francis recognized that she needed space and waved his friends to follow him as he went somewhere away from the rare sight of an angry Mattie, mouthing a final 'I'm sorry' before turning away. Gilbert was on his way off as well, but was stopped when a soft hand interlocked with his.
"Not you," the Canadian plead, letting go of his hand to gesture towards her clothes. "I… What do you think of my new look?"
"Honestly?" he inquired, still trying desperately to understand why the world had turned upside down. "I preferred how you looked before."
"You never saw me before," she flipped. After all this work she did. All for him. All to be seen by him, and he dared act like she was making up her invisibility. "No one saw me before," she continued. "Before today, my nickname was 'Who?'!" The Canadian said the last word mocking the wide-eyed confusion she was used to seeing in everyone else before returning her face to its original mix of outrage and annoyance.
"Not to me!" the Silverette protested, turning a few heads from the surrounding area. "You have never been 'Who?' to me," he explained in a more 'inside voice'.
"That's nice of you to say…" She inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to prevent herself from tearing up. Even though those were the words she had been dying to hear for so long, she could not bring herself to hear them as anything other than blatant lies. Despite how much she wanted to believe the guy who she's been pining after for so long reciprocated an even inkling of her feeling, she knew that would be too good to be true. This is not some stupid love cliché love story or fan fiction that some crazy obsessed teen was writing. This was the real world.
The German seemed to understand what the girl was thinking. "It's not just something I'm saying. I've always loved the way you looked. I love you," he asserted, before realizing what he words he had accidentally let slip past his lips.
"You what?" the Canadian asked, face brightening.
The albino looked at the sky then back to the girl in front of him. "Wow, the sun sure is bright today. Man is it hot," he stated, unzipping his red jacket.
"It's nineteen degrees Celsius…"
"Like I said, fucking freezing," he explained, rezipping his jacket.
She chuckled to herself at the German's antics, twirling the ends of her hair with her index finger. "Maybe I did overdo it a bit."
"Meh, I don't know," Gilbert shrugged. "You always look pretty to me." He coughed really loudly after the last sentence. "I'm hungry. You wanna food? Food? Food sounds good."
Smiling at his poor attempt at words, she nodded. "I would love to food."
