Hello, faithful and new readers alike! Welcome to the sixth update of Misery Business! YAYYY!!
Aha, anyway, here's the next chapter.

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far:
just me, 120, Hope-W, calamityxcooper, GossipGirl17, Dangerous Diamond Darling, -The Boys Are Too Refined-, Dizzy Daydreamer, MkGrays, , Kahuna-Sama, jessica, Carla, Peaches, GeeTiger, thelastblack13, You're Just As Sane As I Am, Raanah, mayah murchinson, Cayla, and kaite.
All reviews, anonymous and signed, are appreciated! :D

Soundtrack for this chapter:
"Misery Business" - Paramore; "Crushcrushcrush" - Paramore; "Come One, Come All" - All Time Low; "Shesgotstyle" - Nevershoutnever!; "Risque" - Cute Is What We Aim For; "Teenagers" - My Chemical Romance; "Don't Trust Me" - 3OH!3; "The Way She Moves" - Forever the Sickest Kids; "Momentum" - The Hush Sound.

Misery Business.

Chapter Six: They're Gonna Clean Up Your Looks with All the Lies and the Books.

"Ouch! God, Leesh, watch where you poke that thing!"

Alicia hissed in air as my hand flew to my eye. "Sorry," she said, "but put down your hand, Ange, I'm almost done."

Reluctantly, I lowered my hand.

"Stop glowering at me; I can't see your eyelashes if your face is all scrunched up!"

Katie giggled, placing her hand over her mouth. I glared at her for a split second before trying to relax my expression. Maybe, if I was lucky, I would come out of this thing with only one black eye.

Alicia moved the mascara wand across my eyelashes several times before stepping back and examining me.

"Oh, my God," Katie breathed.

Alicia turned to her. "I know, right?"

"What?" I asked, panicking. "What's wrong? Did Alicia give me a black eye?"

Katie started laughing so hard, she fell on the floor and started rolling around, tears forming in her eyes. "Angie!" she gasped, clutching her stomach and gasping for air.

Alicia looked strangely at me, then at the squirming Katie on the ground, then back at me. "Ange, I didn't give you a black eye. What kind of amateur do you think I am?"

"Then what's wrong?" I pressed.

She smiled. "Take a look," she said, and she handed me a mirror.

O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o

"They're all staring at you!" Alicia whispered to me excitedly as we exited the Great Hall after breakfast. "I did a really good job."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled all the same. Alicia had done a good job. She had used a straightening spell on my hair, which was down instead of in its usual braid. My eyes were outlined in black eyeliner, powdered with gold eye shadow, and mascara-ed to perfection. My lips had a slight coat of lip gloss on them, and a light blush colored my cheeks. I was pretty much unrecognizable, at least to myself.

"Ow OW! Looking good, Ang-ah-LEEN-ah!" I blushed and looked at my perfectly manicured, maroon and gold fingernails as a tall, good-looking seventh year and his friends catcalled their way past me.

Alicia flipped back her hair, grinning madly. "Oooh, I can't wait to see Fred's expression when you walk in that door!" She gestured toward the Charms room, a good fifteen feet away.

"What if it's too different?" I asked as we neared the classroom. I stopped and gripped Alicia's arm. "What if he doesn't like it?"

Alicia scoffed. "Angie, please. He'd have to be gay not to like you with this new look." And, with that, she pulled open the door and pushed me inside.

I blinked at the sudden brightness of the classroom in comparison to the candlelight in the hallway. I shielded my eyes with my hand, then realized that the classroom was silent. Dead silent.

Alicia entered behind me, and the bell rang. Keeping my eyes on the floor, I headed to my seat, next to Fred. As soon as Alicia sat down across the isle way, moments after I had sat, the whispers started.

"Ange!" Fred whispered. I didn't want to look up at him, afraid of his reaction, but I managed to peek out from underneath my caked eyelashes. "What's with the new look?"

I felt my cheeks redden. He didn't like it; I knew he wouldn't like it. I shrugged. "I just... needed a change."

He stared at me for a second. "Well," he said. I took a deep breath in. This was it. He was going to tell me he hated it, that I should go back to how I looked before, that I should just stop trying to impress him already because he was clearly not interested. I gulped.

"I like it."

"Look, Fred, I—wait, what?"

He looked at me strangely. "I said I liked it." I gaped at him. "What? What did you think I would say?"

I shrugged, trying too late to play it cool.

"Angie, something's up with you. First, you meet this mystery man and you're keeping secrets; next, you completely change your image. I mean, don't get me wrong, you look... well, you look gorgeous... but don't go changing yourself for this guy, alright?"

Too late, I thought.

"If he sees what I see, then he'll like you just the way you are."

Wait, did I hear that right? "Fred, what'd you just—"

"Alright class, settle down, settle down!" I glared at the back of Flitwick's head as he made his way to his podium. That man sure had timing. "Today, we start Cheering Charms. Now, the key to performing a Cheering Charm correctly, is..."

I didn't hear any more. I glanced over at Fred, and he was smiling at me. Maybe he had really said that after all...

O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o

"Fred and Miss Priss sighting!" Katie announced dramatically as she waltzed into the library the next period, making her way over to where Alicia and I sat.

"SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY!" Madame Pince squawked, swooping down on Katie before she could reach us. "Miss Bell, are you ready to accept my rules?"

Katie gave her a strange look, then said, "Alright then. Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

Madame Pince eyed her warily. "I'm watching you, Miss Bell." Then she stalked away.

Alicia and I smothered ourselves to keep our laughter from being overheard as Katie came toward us. "Well, that wasn't creepy," she said sarcastically, pulling out a chair and sitting daintily. "I don't want to sit too loudly," she stage-whispered.

I giggled once more, then remembered what Katie had originally said. "Wait—Fred and Miss Priss sighting? When?"

Alicia wiped her smile off her face and turned to Katie grimly. "Tell us what you know."

"Yes, master," Katie cracked, snorting with laughter.

Alicia glared at her.

"All right, all right, keep your panties on! I'll tell you what I know!"

"You should totally be a torture-expert for the Ministry, Leesh," I said appreciatively. "Seriously, one glare, and they confess all their sins."

"You think so?" she asked.

"Do you guys wanna know or not?!" Katie whisper-yelled, as to not get thrown out by Madame Pince.

"Oh, yeah, continue," I said hastily. My stomach jumped up and down with anticipation.

"Anyway, I was walking down the hallway, and Fred was coming towards me, right? So I was getting ready to be all, 'Hi, Fred, how've you been, ready for Quidditch practice on Thursday, blah blah blah,' when I noticed that he wasn't even looking at me. So I turn around, and Chloe fugging Walker is behind me, making goo-goo eyes at dear Frederick. I'm thinking, 'Hell no, she thinks he would not talk to me, and just go straight to her and be all: Chloe, darling, baby? Fug no.' But he totally does that. His face is all serious, and he doesn't even acknowledge me, he just breezes past me. He puts his hand on her shoulder and leans down, and I was like, 'He's gonna kiss her right in front of me, oh God, that's gross.' But he just says, 'We need to talk,' and leads her away." Katie took a breath, leaned back, and crossed her arms over her chest, signaling that she was finished.

Alicia was as dumb-founded as I was. "He just led her away? No hello kiss, or anything?"

Katie shook her head.

Alicia looked at me. "This is definitely not like Fred, you know."

I nodded. I was afraid that if I tried to speak, no sound would come out.

She turned back to Katie. "He definitely said that they needed to talk?"

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"Excellent! That has to be good news!"

"But what if it isn't?" Ah, so I had a voice after all.

"What do you mean, Ange? That's, like, the standard line when someone breaks up with someone else."

"But... it's Fred. Fred never has a clue; he probably doesn't even know what that means in Girl-Code. He probably just meant, 'Hey, we need to plan where we're gonna have our snogging session tomorrow because the Charms classroom is occupied.'"

Alicia looked doubtful, but Katie looked genuinely concerned. "Angie's right... It is Fred. He could mean something else entirely different."

Alicia sighed. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find out."

I looked at her pointedly. "By...?"

She rolled her eyes. "By asking George of course!"

Welp, there you go. Chapter six. The title's too long to type out again :)
I really do try to update faster if people are actively reviewing and urging me to update, so I think you know what to do. :D