Bit late, sorry D: guess I was thinking about… a lot of other things last night xD

xx

Chapter 7 – Complete Makeover

I felt a lot more relaxed after spending another day at my new home… however long I'd end up being there. The day after that, however, it was looking to be a bit sunny, and I had (sort of) decided that I wanted to go out for the day.

It was pretty early in the morning, and I had been awake for about thirty minutes, just sitting on the couch and writing in my diary. Bridgette and Leshawna both appeared to be still asleep, and it also didn't look to be raining outside, which was good.

A sudden knock gave me such a fright, that I very nearly drew a massive line across the page. I could only groan and tossed my diary onto the coffee table, then standing up and walking over to the door. I was only in my midnight blue and black pyjamas – with a black sweater overtop – but I was probably decent enough for this time of the morning. I reached for the door handle, but hesitated as I heard some muffled words from outside.

"Is someone at the door?" Bridgette called from her bedroom, sounding a bit half-asleep.

I had no time to reply, because my hand was suddenly turning the door handle. I then thought that it was possibly Geoff, just to check up on us, and maybe make sure that I was settling in alright. I opened the door, and surprise, it was… not Geoff.

"Uh… what is it?" I asked a rather sheepish looking Duncan, who had his hands in his pockets.

"Well…" he began, taking his hands out and looking at me with his… somewhat tantalizing blue eyes, "my ex-girlfriend dumped me… about nine months ago now, and a few minutes before you arrived, I'd just found out that she's moved on… big time."

"What do you mean by that?" And why was he telling me this anyway?

"She took up a spot at the new Playboy mansion a month later. And is apparently sitting right at the top now."

"Right at the top?" I repeated. Sounded quite familiar. "Let me guess, her name's Courtney, she's all about her being a CIT, and is a whiny bitch."

"You… got that right. How did you know?"

I froze for a few seconds and looked over my shoulder. Bridgette was in her blue pyjamas and standing a few feet away from the hallway. She eventually shrugged, which I presumed that I was okay to spill the beans.

"Because I was there as well." I said, turning back to face Duncan, whose eyes almost immediately went wide at what I said. "Oh, and I left it a few nights ago… no, I escaped. With the help of one of another girl who'd… sort of left some time earlier. She's a bit nuts to say the absolute least."

A… very awkward silence followed. All I could do was just stand there, looking off to the side for no apparent reason.

"Gwen, are you… done yet?" Bridgette asked. "It's just that I've… just gotten a great idea, but we really need to get going if it's gonna happen."

I decided that I was finished in a matter of seconds and walked back inside, going around to the kitchen, but stopped when I noticed Bridgette looking towards the doorway with a slight smirk.

"Did I miss something?' I asked as the door shut.

"Yeah, I think Duncan likes you." She replied, giggling. "I know it's been only a few days, but… well, he was staring after you as you came back in.'

"Are you serious? I just moved here on Sunday, haven't got a lot of money, and I still need to actually sort out what I'm gonna do with my life. And now you tell me that guy likes me."

"Hey, he doesn't normally look at girls like that. Normally he's got a bit of a smirk on his face, but… that time he just raised an eyebrow."

"Did I hear that right or has Gwen got a guy runnin' after her already?" Leshawna called from her bedroom.

"Not running after me!" I hastily replied, and went to say more, but missed my chance.

"Yeah, I think she will very soon." Bridgette added with another giggle. "And I think it's gonna be Duncan."

"Ooh, damn girl!" Leshawna laughed as she came out to the hallway. "Oh, and you said you… got an idea?"

"Oh! Well yeah, I do! It's going to involve a visit to the hair salon and a bit of shopping… maybe."

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping back slightly. "Don't try and make me dye my hair bright pink or something. That is not happening."

Bridgette just started laughing, leaving me to stand there, wondering what the heck she was on about. "If you want to blend in and hide yourself from media, then you'd probably have to change your entire look." She said, giggling again.

"Does that mean fake tans and big, bright hair?" That was a massive no-no. I was not going there.

"Oh, no, we're not gonna make you sit in a tanning bed for twenty minutes!"

"Girl, maybe let Gwen decide for herself." Leshawna suggested.

"Well… I guess we'll have to see how it goes. But we better get ready and have breakfast as soon as possible though, today's a mission!"

I didn't really know what happened for the next half hour, but everything was a blur; rushing in and out of the shower, just about tripping over as I got dressed, and gulping down a brief breakfast of peanut butter on toast.

Once I'd finished doing my hair (which I had just left loose), Bridgette came down and told me to stand against my closed bedroom door as she took a photo of me.

"Just to show what you looked like before the makeover." She said sunnily, putting her phone away in her bag. "Okay, let's go!"

I followed her out and around to the hallway, where Leshawna was waiting. Being the last one out, I closed the door behind me, then stopped suddenly.

"Is… there a key?" I asked, looking around.

"Oh, we have swipe cards here, so the door automatically locks on the outside when you shut it." Bridgette explained, pulling a blue and white card out of her shorts pocket to show me. "You can get your own one from the reception I think?"

"What are you ladies up to?" Geoff called from his apartment, which appeared to be open.

"Oh, nothing! Gwen's just gonna come back… looking a bit different."

"A bit different?"

"You just gotta wait and see." Leshawna snickered.

"Uh… alright then!"

From then on it was another blur, bolting down the hallway and through the laundry, nearly running into a rather short guy with dark skin along the way, around to the elevators and before I knew it, we were standing at the bus stop.

"So where are we going to?" I asked, looking left for any buses that could be coming.

"Central city." Bridgette replied. "There's apparently a really good salon there, so I guess it'd be best to try it out!"

"But I thought this was some big… mission or something. Actually, I don't… know what exactly I want." Correction – I had no idea what I wanted.

"Oh, don't worry, from what I've heard, the prices are pretty reasonable. You'll be fine!"

"Bus!" Leshawna suddenly shouted.

I looked to my left again, and saw a bus turning the corner, a Central City sign on the top. It stopped in front of us, and I went to walk on, but was instead dragged on by Bridgette, who quickly paid the driver as she went past him, and pulled me over to a right seat near the front.

"I can get on the bus myself, you know." I joked. "I've got arms, I've got legs."

"Sorry, but… it's just so exciting!" Bridgette laughed, putting her bag down at her feet. "Oh, I hope we don't get stuck in the school traffic… it could still be a bit blocked up. What is the time anyway?"

"Quarter past eight." Leshawna replied as she sat down in front of us, sounding a bit surprised. "Thought it was a bit later than that."

The bus pulled out onto the road, and it was only a couple of minutes before we had to get off again, apparently outside a subway station. Although I still felt a bit confused, I just followed Bridgette and Leshawna down the steps and onto the waiting train. I managed to see a screen with a timetable, showing that the train was due to leave very soon.

"Is it a long ride from here to the city?" I asked as I sat down on a sideward facing seat.

"Thirty minutes, I think." Bridgette said, already seated across from me. "There's nine stops for the whole ride, including here and Los Angeles, and… I don't know if there'll be a delay – last two times I was on one there was."

I sat back as the doors shut and seconds later, the subway train started to move away from the station. It had been a long time since I was last on one of these, yet somehow it just felt like normal, as I'd always caught the subway to school from sixth grade onwards.

Thirty minutes passed, and we were in the middle of Los Angeles. The train station was packed, and I even lost Bridgette for a few seconds at one point. The whole time, I was thinking that with this many people at the station, it could be possible for a few to recognize me, which was of course the last thing I wanted. But once I got out onto the street, the crowds had thinned out quite a bit, and I could see where I was going at last.

"So where's this salon, hm?" Leshawna asked.

"Um… I think it's a couple of blocks away?" Bridgette said, sounding unsure. "I know it's not that far from the station… but not where exactly."

A couple of blocks later, we'd arrived at the salon – and it didn't look that shabby either. Whatever I was going to have done to my hair, I could only hope that it didn't take as long as… three hours or something.

First up was a hair wash, which only took fifteen minutes. But all throughout that time, Bridgette and Leshawna were both darting between there and the rack of hair colours, bringing back several at a time to show me. Shades of blonde, brown, ginger, even a jet black. Nothing was impressing me though – all of them just didn't seem good enough to make me unrecognisable.

Once I was done with the wash, it was over to the salon chair, and at that point I had already decided to get my hair cut short – just above chin length. Although Leshawna had given up, Bridgette, who was very excited about the whole ordeal, was still shoving hair colours in my face, with the odd unnatural colour starting to show up in the mix. As many times as I'd said no, the hairdresser seemed to be quite understanding, and remained patient as the colours kept coming.

At least forty minutes later, my hair had been shortened considerably, and I was still undecided with colours. Bridgette seemed to be on the verge of giving up, having gone through just about every single hair colour the salon could offer, and was sitting on a nearby stool. My own head was also about to explode – if nothing suited me, what the heck would?

I looked out the window, and saw a guy and a girl walking past. Both seemed to be… very pale skinned, and were wearing mostly reds and blacks. The guy, who was quite a bit taller, had red and black hair that ran down the back of his neck, while the girl had white and raven black hair, the long bangs almost covering her eyes, which I could tell had a fair amount of black eyeliner or something similar around them. Goths, they appeared to be.

That was when an idea struck me.

"Bridgette, are there any… darker colours?" I asked, looking over my shoulder. "Unnatural ones, I guess."

Bridgette leapt up as soon as the words came out of my mouth. "Darker… unnatural colours?" She repeated. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. I've got an idea."

"Okay…"

I watched Bridgette walk over to the colour wall, and she stood there for a few minutes, grabbing a few palettes which I couldn't quite see. "There's not that many, but I've got… three here." She said, turning around and walking back. "They're all… pretty much darker versions of some that I showed you earlier, but there's a purple, a navy, and a… teal, I think."

I turned back to face the mirror as Bridgette put the palettes in front of me. The purple seemed a bit too girlish, and I didn't really like the shade of navy. But the dark teal looked just about perfect.

"The dark teal should work." I told Bridgette, who audibly sighed once I'd said that. "But… I don't know if it's that great by itself?"

"Oh… why don't you use black as well?" Bridgette suggested.

I looked over at the colour wall. Black could definitely work with the teal, if I wanted to pull off a Goth look.

Two hours of styling, hair dye and sudden shopping later, I was sitting on the bus from the subway station to the apartments. And for once, I couldn't stop looking at myself in the reflections around the place – I actually looked amazing.

My hair was pretty much half black, half dark teal, and both colours were done in chunky stripes. A few stray hair at the top of my forehead had turned teal, which the hairdresser had offered to chop off, but I told her it was fine.

Once the bus slowed down outside the apartment block, I was quick to get off, excitement bubbling up inside me. I'd even gotten some black eyeliner from the salon, and a lipstick which a street girl had made out of chap-stick and blue paint – and it was the same colour as the teal in my hair.

I was finally free to go anywhere without getting easily recognised. But I still had to lay low – I had no idea what would happen in the next month or so.

xx

Hopefully the next chapter will be up on time next week XD until then though, stay tuned!