Getting Shiny

AN: Thank you SO much to everyone who's read this story so far!! I can't believe how many people are interested in this little drabble... it really makes me smile and inspires me to keep going!
Also, enormous THANK YOUs to those of you who went the extra mile to review. I know I didn't get a chance to reply to each of you personally from last chapter, and I feel horrible about it. Good excuses: I was sick, sick baby, sick hubby, and traveling/vacationing. But I want you all to know how much I appreciate it, and I swear I'll reply to each of you this time. It helps more than you know to hear your comments, ideas, etc. So thank you, thank you, and thank you again!!!
This chapter is dedicated to all of the reviewers- you know who you are!!!

For someone so incredibly small and pixie-like, Alice Cullen was a frighteningly unstoppable force of nature. Now I understood why Bella turned white with terror at the mere mention of a make over. There were apparently very few boundaries Alice wasn't willing to cross when it came to getting her way; once my butt hit her salon chair, I became her personal, living, breathing Barbie doll.

So there I was, trapped for who knew how long with my hands and feet soaking away in bowls filled with some kind of bubble-covered liquid, and sticky green goop drying into a tight mask on my face. The cucumber slices covering my eyes kept wanting to slide off, and I had so much foil in my hair I would swear I could pick up the local Forks radio station. To make matters worse, Nessie sat on the floor watching the whole procedure with rapt attention while Rosalie perched on the counter and leafed through a fashion magazine in a bored, disinterested way. Like I needed an audience for this.

"Since when does a haircut involve a manicure, a pedicure, a facial, and highlights?" I demanded again for probably the thirteenth time. And just like the previous twelve, this time had no effect on Alice, either.

"Don't move your mouth so much. You'll crack your mask!" she scolded me while she peeked at a chunk of my hair imprisoned in the tinfoil. "You can't deny you really needed this. You'll thank me when I'm done."

"But what the hell will highlights look like when I shift? I'm going to be a splotchy, freaky looking mess!" I moaned.

"Well, that's why I'm only doing light brown and auburn this time. After we see how it shifts, I can do fun colors like pink!"

"Oh, hell no! Wash that stuff out right now, Alice! I mean it!" I exclaimed, struggling to get up from the comfy, reclined chair. Small, icy cold hands held me firmly in place, and I found myself staring into narrowed, gold eyes as the cucumber slices slid off yet again.

"Don't make me call Jasper up here," she hissed at me, deadly serious. I slumped back into the chair in defeat, pouting as much as the tight, green goop on my face would let me.

"That's just cruel- threatening me with the Mojo Master," I muttered as she slapped the slimy slices back over my eyes again. Nessie stifled a giggle behind her hands as Rosalie flipped through the pages with her long, red nails and rolled her eyes.

"No crueler than... wait. Did you just call Jasper the Mojo Master?"

I muttered a non-committal answer, and Alice's tinkly, soprano laughter filled the room. Rosalie snorted- honestly, it was absurd how she could make even a sound like that come out sounding delicate and feminine- and the cucumbers slid off my face again to reveal her rolling her eyes with amusement.

"Don't call him that around Emmett. Please," she implored me. "We'd have to put up with his jokes about it for the next decade."

She flicked her long, perfectly curled, blond hair over her shoulder as she resumed paging through her magazine, and I had to bite back a grin at the way Nessie attempted to copy her movements. Guess she hadn't inherited her mother's lack of interest in fashion and feminine wiles.

"Here, you can wash the mask off your face now, and then we can rinse out your hair," Alice told me cheerfully as she handed me a steaming wash cloth. I took it and scrubbed at the green goo gratefully; my face had started to feel like it was shrink-wrapped.

"So, just my nails after that and I'll be done, right?" I asked hopefully as she began pulling out the foil in my hair.

"Oh, no. I'm going to wax your eyebrows, and let's see...Oh! I almost forgot about the exfoliating seaweed body wrap!"

I think my eyebrows shot clear off the top of my forehead and hit the ceiling at that. "Seaweed body wrap? Absolutely not. No way. You can dye my hair, you can paint my nails all colors of the rainbow, but I am not letting you wrap me up in stinking seaweed muck."

"Oh, c'mon. Please, Leah?" Alice pouted heavily. "I've been wanting to try that forever, and Bella would never agree to it! It's supposed to do amazing things for your skin!"

"Oh, so I'm going to be your beauty lab rat? No way! Have Nessie make Jake do it!" I argued angrily.

Rosalie gave that insanely delicate snort again. "I'd pay serious money to see that mutt forced into a seaweed wrap."

"Me, too, actually," I agreed. "Hey Nessie, go tell Jake-"

"NO!" Alice broke in loudly. "Nessie, if you stay right here, I promise I'll do your nails, okay? Any color you want."

Nessie contemplated her aunt's offer for a moment as I silently begged her with my eyes to help me out. She tapped her top lip in a perfect imitation of Alice and smiled.

"Designs, too?" she bargained.

"Whatever you want," Alice agreed quickly. Nessie arranged herself comfortably on the floor with a happy grin, obviously willing to take the deal.

"Traitor," I muttered, scowling. "But it doesn't matter anyway, 'cause I'm not doing it."

Alice raised one eyebrow at me mockingly. "Is that so? Oh, Jaaaas-"

"Okay, okay! I'll do it!" I cut her off quickly, flapping my hands wildly in pathetic defeat. There wasn't much I could do when she had the ultimate weapon attached to her with a wedding ring. She beamed at me as she bent my head over the sink and started rinsing out my short hair.

"This is so incredibly embarrassing," I moaned two hours later as I lay immobilized in my mummy-wrap of seaweed. I could feel Nessie poking at my thigh with a curious finger and silently cursed Alice with language that probably made Edward's ears burn wherever he was in the house.

"Just focus on how incredible you're going to look when it's all over," the deranged pixie instructed me cheerfully. She was positioned by my head, happily painting hot wax onto my eyebrows and ignoring my dark glare. At least Rosalie had disappeared a little while ago. Alice's icy fingers pressed strips of cloth into the wax, then, without warning, ripped them off with an almighty yank. I gave an involuntary yelp of pain.

"Jeez! Did you leave any skin behind?"

"Oh, quit being such a baby. Lots of people pay insane amounts of money for this, you know," she informed me with a grin. "Nessie, stop poking her leg. You're going to ruin your nails!"

"About that," said Bella suddenly as she walked into the room. "Did you really have to pick red, Ness?"

"It's pretty. Like Aunt Rose's nails," Nessie replied, admiring her glittering nails, adorned with little smiley faces and hearts. Bella just shook her head with amused exasperation, then turned to look my green-slime covered self. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Jeez, you're brave, Leah. I couldn't stand the thought of getting wrapped up in that stuff."

I shot a deadly, venomous glare at Alice. "Bravery didn't have anything to do with it..."

Rosalie sailed into the room then, her arms full of clothes. "Okay, Here's what I've found- something in here's got to work," she said to Alice as she dumped the pile onto the counter. The two of them started sifting through it, and I realized with horror that they were looking for an outfit to dress me in. God, would it never end?

I decided not to even bother arguing anymore when Alice finally freed me from my seaweed prison, since she'd just pull out her Jasper-card and trump me, anyway. And my skin did feel pretty amazing...

Alice wouldn't let me see myself at all while she styled my highlighted hair, applied my makeup, and put the finishing touches on my nails. I just went with the flow, relaxing into my unbelievably soft robe and eating the delicious food Esme thoughtfully brought up for me. After all, it wasn't like I got a free spa-day every week or anything.

"What about this one?" Rosalie kept asking, and then she and Alice would debate whatever it was behind me so that I couldn't even give my opinion. Bella was completely ignored whenever she ventured a suggestion, primarily because her suggestions were always something along the order of, 'how about a pair of jeans?'. Suddenly, Alice squealed with excitement.

"Oh! That one's perfect! Don't you think?" she asked Rosalie.

"Yeah, it could work," Rosalie mused thoughtfully. "But what about shoes?..."

"Those black Manolo's of yours. You know, the strappy ones you didn't like."

"Perfect!"

"Manolo's? You guys are crazy!" I shrieked, attempting to swivel around in my chair to argue. Unfortunately, Rosalie was already gone. Bella gave me a small, sympathetic grimace as Alice broke into a huge, triumphant grin. She thrust an armful of dark red, silky material at me gleefully.

"Put this on. And no peeking until I tell you, okay?"

"What is it?" I asked dubiously as she pushed the fabric into my hands and shoved me into her dressing room. Alice's lack of reply as she shut the door seemed ominous, and I shook out the red silk in my hands tentatively.

"A dress? I don't wear dresses!" I wailed plaintively. "Especially not ones like this. Alice! Let Bella pick my outfit!"

Alice's pixie-like face poked around the door, twisted into the most pained grimace I'd ever seen. "Let Bella pick your clothes? Are you insane? Have you seen the things she wears? She'd dress you in a pair of jeans that made your butt look bad and a frumpy, old t-shirt!"

"Hey!" Bella exclaimed indignantly from the other room. Both of us ignored her.

"That'd be better than this. What is this?" I muttered, holding the dress out at arms length and scowling at it.

"That is a one-of-a-kind Georgio Armani, and you are going to look fabulous in it, so shut up and put it on," she hissed, then yanked her head back and slammed the door.

For a long time, I just stood there, staring at the red material dangling from my hands. Honestly, I felt a little bit like crying from embarrassment. I had no doubts Alice was going to parade me around in that thing, and when my Pack saw me in that.... when Embry saw me in that... I mean, the dress was made for someone like Rosalie, someone catwalk-ready, and I was just going to look awkward and pathetic. The boys would never let me live it down.

Slowly, I dragged the luxurious material on and smoothed it down over my skin. The plunging neckline showed a hell of a lot more cleavage than I was comfortable with, and the slit on the right side of the fitted skirt went almost all the way up my thigh. I was sure I looked like a prostitute, and a cheap one at that.

Sighing, unable to prolong the inevitable any longer, I flung the door open and marched out of the dressing room with my head held high. The burning, mortified blush on my face felt like it mirrored the deep red of my dress. Hopefully one of them would have enough sense- or pity- to let me change into something else.

"Oh, wow," breathed Bella, as she and Nessie gaped at me with open mouths. My blush intensified, and I wondered if my head was about to pop off from the blood rush. Rosalie breezed in, a pair of strappy, stiletto heels dangling from her fingers that she held out to me.

"Put them on, put them on!" Alice commanded excitedly, and I reluctantly complied. It took me a few minutes to figure out the intricate straps before I could stand back up, teetering precariously on the slim, four-inch heels. Now I absolutely towered over the tiny pixie-vamp, but that didn't dim the beaming smile on her face one bit.

"Perfect! Doesn't she look just amazing?" she demanded happily. Nessie and Bella nodded with awe-struck faces, but Rosalie just shrugged.

"That dress looks better on her than it did on me. Shoes, too," she conceded.

"Am I ever going to get to see?" I whined, shifting uncomfortably under all their unwavering stares. Alice grabbed my arm and led me over to a huge three-way mirror as quickly as my ridiculous shoes and the tight skirt would let me go.

"Ta da!" she exclaimed as she waved her arms like a game-show host presenting the prize. For a while, I couldn't find anything to say. I just gaped at myself like a brainless idiot, twisting this way and that to get a look from every angle.

It just wasn't possible. The girl in the mirror was undeniably me, but I hadn't look like that in... wait- I'd never looked this good. My hair was short, but stylishly spikey, and the colors Alice had put in added a whole new dimension to it. My makeup was deceptively minimal, just enough to bring out my best features and the hidden hazel glints in my eyes. And the dress. For all my insecurities, I most definitely did not look like a cheap prostitute. It hugged my figure smoothly, highlighting my curves perfectly, as if it had been made for me. The halter strap around my neck showed off my shoulders beautifully, and the plunging neckline and high slit that I'd been so uncomfortable with somehow managed to look classy instead of trashy. Unbelievable.

"So, what do you think?" asked Alice, a hint of anxiety in her pretty voice. I tilted my head to the side, considering myself critically.

"I think... you may be a miracle worker," I told her seriously. Her face lit up like a thousand Christmas lights, and I gave a small shrug. "Or maybe it's the dress. I'm not sure."

"You like it! You like it! I told you you'd like it!" she cheered triumphantly. I had to laugh a little at her enthusiasm, but then sobered up as I looked at my reflection again.

"Yeah, I like it. Too bad I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go, huh?"

Bella nodded in agreement. "That's exactly what I say. Forks isn't any sort of high fashion. And I just feel silly dressing like that here at home."

Alice tapped her finger on her top lip thoughtfully, her face scrunched up in concentration. Rosalie picked up her magazine again, looking disinterested, as I stared critically at my reflection. Suddenly, Alice's face brightened as an elated smile bloomed across her face.

"That's it! We'll have a girl's night out!" she exclaimed.

"Where? The diner?" snorted Bella laughingly. Rosalie smirked a little behind her magazine as I bit my lips to hide a smile.

"No! Seattle!" Alice insisted, hands on her hips. "Here's the plan: we all get dressed up like Leah, drive to Seattle and go clubbing all night! We need to do some sisterly bonding now that Leah's joining the family!"

Bella looked slightly horrified at the idea, and my expression wasn't all that far behind. Luckily for me, I remembered one tiny detail that would put the brakes on the whole thing.

"Yeah, well, as fun as that sounds, Bella and I aren't twenty-one yet. They won't let us in," I said with a grin. The immensely relieved look on Bella's face faded at the unperturbed smile on Alice's.

"No problem. We won't even need ID's if Rosalie's along," she announced confidantly. "You'll come, won't you, Rose?"

Rosalie made a small show of flinging her magazine down with a long-suffering sigh, but there was an undeniable glint of excitement hidden in her beautiful eyes. "I suppose I could... we haven't had a girl's night in a long time," she replied.

"Yay! Thanks, Rose!" Alice cheered, throwing her arms around her statuesque sister. "Okay, Bella, go to your cottage and- uh, nevermind. Wait here, and I'll go get something for you to wear."

She and Rosalie breezed swiftly out of the room, leaving Bella and I to stare at each other helplessly over Nessie's head.

"She's going to force me to go, isn't she?" I murmured despairingly. "Sisterly bonding. With vamps."

Bella looked like she was going to be sick. "Dear god, she's going to make me dance."

"Why sisterly bonding? I'm not going to be her sister!"

"She's going to make me dance in heels."

Nessie stood between us, her bronze ringlets flying as she tried to follow our separate rants of despair. Alice flew back into the room, flung an armful of clothing at Bella, and pushed her into the dressing room with all the speed and force of a hurricane. She disappeared into her ludicrously immense closet and emerged less than five minutes later wearing a vibrantly yellow dress that would have looked absolutely ridiculous on anyone else.

"Bella, quit stalling and get out here. We need to leave!" Alice called through the door to the dressing room. I heard a few indistinctly muttered insults before the door flew open and Bella stalked out.

"Seriously, Alice. Why did you even buy this for me?" she complained loudly.

"You look beautiful, Mama!" Nessie exclaimed, clapping her hands, and Bella's complaining abruptly stopped as she smiled at her daughter. It was true, too. The ice-blue dress with high-heeled, silver stilettos looked fantastic on her. It helped that her eyes were now the same topaz as the rest of the Cullens instead of that freaky scarlet.

"Hurry up, Rose! We're ready!" Alice called as she herded us out the door and down the stairs. I dragged my feet as much as I could in those killer heels as we headed downstairs, praying with every fiber of my soul that the Pack wouldn't be around.

No such luck. Seth, Jake, and Embry were all in front of the TV, avidly playing some video game with Emmett. Edward and Jasper hovered nearby, and they broke off their conversation to look up at us. I could feel my face starting to burn with mortified trepidation as Nessie streaked down the stairs ahead of us to launch herself onto Jake. I reached the bottom of the stairs just as he looked over at me.

"Leah! Is that you?" he asked with mock surprise, but the shocked look on his face made me wonder just how much he was joking. I froze in place and pasted a nervous smile on my lips as Embry twisted around to look at me.

"Whoa..." he breathed, a wide-eyed, dumbfounded look on his face as he stared at me. I shifted and tugged at the hem of my dress a little under his gaze, but he kept staring, his mouth hanging slightly open as he blinked a few times.

"Dude! That's my sister!" Seth hissed under his breath as he nudged him sharply. He gave me a huge grin while Embry shook his head a little and closed his mouth. "Looking good, big sis! What's the occasion?"

"She's going out with Mama and Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose. They're going dancing in Seattle!" Nessie told him brightly.

"What?" asked Emmett, startled out of his game play by her announcement. Beside me, Alice was grinning her head off while Bella looked like she was about to attend a dear friend's funeral.

"Jasper and I agree that you should take one of us with you," Edward informed us quietly. Suddenly, their intense, quiet conversation made a lot more sense. Little Alice swelled dangerously at that, and I could see the beginnings of mutiny on even Bella's face.

"What for? Protection? We all know perfectly well that almost nothing could hurt us. I'm not a fragile human anymore, Edward," she stated in a deadly calm voice that spoke volumes about her irritation.

"Besides, there'll be four of us together. I think we can manage to stay out of trouble," Alice added with a tinge of sarcasm. "And don't even think about making us calm and compliant, Jasper Whitlock!"

Jasper frowned. "But you won't be able to have any visions while you're out..."

I didn't miss the sidelong glance that he gave me and had to resist the childish urge to stick my tongue out at him. Next to me, Bella and Edward argued in low, quick murmurs as Alice launched into a long, angry rant focused mostly on Jasper. I had the distinct feeling that she was going to get her way in the end, so I quietly slipped away towards the couch.

"Hey, lil' sister. You're looking very girly tonight," said Emmett cheerfully, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "Never thought I'd see you in a skirt."

"Watch it, buddy. I think these heels could do some damage. Leech skin or not," I replied with narrowed eyes. He laughed, but his attention was caught by Rosalie coming down the stairs toward us.

"There's my girl," he exclaimed as he bounded to his feet. He meet her on the last step, and I rolled my eyes at the look of possessive admiration on his face. Not that I could blame him. Rosalie, in her deceptively simple and tastefully revealing white sheath dress, was simply the most devastatingly beautiful thing in the known universe.

I heaved a giant sigh and muttered under my breath. "Why do any of us even bother?"

"Huh?" Embry grunted, still giving me that weird, blank stare. I frowned at him and gestured over my shoulder at Emmett and Rosalie.

"Rosalie. There's no point trying to look good when she's around," I explained patiently. His expression didn't waver from the befuddled, vacant look he'd been giving me since I came downstairs, and it was really starting to get on my nerves.

"What's with you, Tank?" I demanded, hands on my hips.

"What?" he asked blankly. Seth elbowed him sharply again, and I leaned over the couch and plucked the video game controller out of his hands.

"That's it. No more games for you tonight," I told him severely. "Your brain's totally fried."

His entire face turned a magnificent shade of red as his mouth worked like a gasping fish out of water for a few moments. He didn't make a sound, but his eyes darted everywhere except at me awkwardly. I was about to smack him upside the head and demand to know exactly what was wrong with him when I realized just how much cleavage I'd inadvertently shoved in his face when I'd leaned over the couch like that. Oops.

But seriously, did he have to act like it was the most horrific thing that had ever happened to him? Was the undeniable evidence that I was a girl that abhorrent? I scowled a little at him when Seth nudged him in the ribs for the third time, hard enough to leave a bruise.

"So, you're going to Seattle? Mom won't like that very much when she finds out," he told me seriously. Alice was suddenly at my side, glaring menacingly at my Pack mates on the couch.

"Then she's not going to find out, because none of you would be stupid enough to tell her. Right?" she replied, and all three of the boys nodded under her deadly glare. "Good. Okay, Leah. Let's go!"

She grabbed my arm and hauled me swiftly out of the house, Rosalie and Bella trailing. I just managed to catch Embry's confused voice before the door shut behind us.

"Wait... Leah's going somewhere?"

AN: Sorry- I was planning on having the whole "Girls Night Out" in this chapter, too, but I think that would have made it ridiculously long. Plus, I really wanted to post something tonight, since I never got a chance to respond to all my reviewers. Hope you liked this chapter- next one should be interesting...