AN: I basically wrote this to explain the discrepancy between Sophie's hair in Littleinkling's "In Another Life," art, where she's blonde as a child, and my vision for her, where she has Chell's hair color

Timestamp: 2107

Sophie Newell took a deep breath. Summer was over, and while she didn't particularly hate school, she did wish they would spend more time on stuff she needed to learn to be a doctor and less time on math.

She walked through the door, and her eyes swept over the room. There was Ellie, and the twins, and a couple other kids she didn't know the names of. And there in the front was-

"Class, we have a new student today." Mrs. Kent said. "Meet Sally Vance. Her great grandma was-"

"Alyx Vance," Sally interrupted. "Maybe you've heard of her?"

Almost immediately, the room erupted with questions: "The Alyx Vance?" Did you ever meet her?" Did she marry Freeman?" "Did you ever meet a vortigaunt?"

"Class, I'm sure Sally will answer all your questions later. Sally, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"I grew up in the city, but my parents got sick of all the noise, so they moved us to this...place." Sally said. "I was pretty popular back home, and I hope I can make lots of friends here too!" She flashed a grin in that practiced way people do in front of a camera.

"Watch out for her." Ellie whispered from next to her. "She feels like trouble."

Later that day at recess, Sally cornered Sophie behind the schoolhouse.

"Look kid, you've got potential. I should know, I'm famous." Sally began. "Stick with me and you'll go places. I don't make this offer lightly but...wanna be besties?"

"Uhh, sure, we could hang out. I'll go get Ellie."

"Woah woah woah, I asked you, not her. I don't hang out with just anybody, especially not weirdos like her."

"Weird?" Sophie said incredulously. "Ellie's not weird."

"Oh come on! Didn't you hear what she said earlier? Normal people don't just say somebody's pet is gonna die!"

"But she was right!"

"And that's weird!"

Sophie was getting mad now. "Look, me and Ellie have been best friends since Kindergarten. You get both of us, or none of us, and right now it's looking like none of us."

Sally's face darkened. "You're gonna regret that. " She said as she stormed away. "Nobody says no to Sally Vance."

"Right again Sophie." Ellie said as she put away her biology textbook. "At this rate, you'll get into med school in-"

"I'm sorry, med school?" Sally interrupted, "You want to be a doctor?"

"Yeah?" Sophie replied. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Well for one thing, you've never been to a real school, and for another-" Sally looked around like it should be obvious. "You're blonde. No one would take you seriously!"

One of Sally's new friends was confused. "And what's wrong with being blonde?"

"Oh come on! Haven't any of you seen that comic?" Kids around the schoolyard looked blankly back at her. "Ugh, country kids. I'll show you guys later." She looked at Sophie, "especially you."

Sure enough, the next day Sophie found a clip out of a newspaper in her desk. The comic strip was called Dumb Blonde.

The comics didn't stop, and neither did Sally's teasing. Sophie tried to ignore it ("Don't let them get to you." her mom always said. "Getting upset is exactly what they want."), but Sally was attacking her dream (well, her hair, but it was distantly related to her dream).

By Friday, Sally was quoting that stupid comic every chance she got. Sophie had had enough. That evening, she went out and used her allowance to buy a bottle of hair dye. "Dark brown," she thought, "Just like mom."

It was tough, but thankfully Sophie had not inherited her father's "clutz gene," and she managed to apply the dye without staining anything. Mercifully, her parents didn't say anything the next day.

7 years later. December 2114

"Sophie, I'm so sorry, I couldn't find your hair dye! Maybe you could try a different color like...blue! Yeah! Everybody in the cartoons have got blue hair. You gotta have blue hair!...if you're in a cartoon."

"That's alright dad." Sophie said. After fighting Her, having blonde hair was nothing. She had really only been doing it out of habit anyway, and anything was better than electric blue.

AN: Oh, it's a hidden reference, a thing for you to find! If you can find the reference, you've got my kind of mind!

I figure Sophie would alternate between blonde and brunette after In Another Life, like my hypothetical actor for her, Emily Rudd (but younger).