Beauty

noun - 1. a combination of qualities that delights the aesthetic senses. 2. before another noun intended to make someone more attractive: beauty treatment. 3. a beautiful woman. 4. an excellent example. 5. an attractive feature or advantage

When is the dictionary going to give me the right answer for crying out loud...

Saturday dawned bright and early... not entirely to my liking. I'd been writhing around all night. When my mind hadn't been on everything that had happened with Xandrell, it was on James and Lucy going to Prom together, and then when it wasn't on that, it was on the hellish Saturday ahead of me.

I could see no point in lying in until the last minute. I was meeting the girls at about lunchtime. I struggled out of bed and wandered out and down towards the bathroom. Early on Saturday meant I could have a bath and still have time to get ready.

"Morning Amy!"

I closed my eyes as the usual voice chirruped in my ear, before looking up at him. "What do you want?" I mumbled sleepily.

"I just said good morning." he said with his usual silly smile. God he irritated me with that smile. Then it faltered and he frowned down at me. "Amy, you're not ill again are you?" he asked in a concerned voice. "You look... very, very pale."

"I'm tired." I muttered pushing past him and walking determinedly into the bathroom and locking the door behind me.

I twisted the taps on to full blast and poured in the herbal bubble bath. God I needed one of these, especially with Xandrell around all the time. I sat on the edge of the bath watching as the water rose slowly higher. I dabbled my fingers in the warm water, allowing the scent of the rosemary and thyme to make my mind go numb. After what seemed like a long time, I turned off the taps and stepped into the hot bath. I leaned through the clouds of frothy bubbles floating on the surface of the water and closed my eyes. This was the most relaxed I had felt in a very long time. Then again, it was impossible to be relaxed with him there. I sank further into the water, allowing the gentle currents to completely relax me. The cool colours of the bathroom swirled around me and before long, I began to feel strangely heavy. My heartbeat seemed to magnify like music drumming in my ears. My chest ached with the heavy smell of rosemary and thyme.

Amy?... AMY?!

There was that sound again... a whisper in the back of my mind as I was cradled in the arms of darkness... and that was ok... I thought... wasn't it?

Suddenly something gripped me and pulled me up out of the darkness. Cold air whacked my face and I gasped, suddenly aware of how heavy my chest felt. It spasmed instinctively and water flooded from my mouth. I drew my knees closer to my chest as I coughed up what felt like the contents of a swimming pool.

"You stupid human female." his voice thundered in my ear, probably seeming a lot louder than he was actually speaking. "I told you, you're not well!"

I closed my eyes as my head spun. "Just tired..." I mumbled sleepily. "Just tired."

"Amy, wake up! For God's sake!" he yelled. "You nearly drowned just then."

"I can live with that." I droned, feeling myself dozing again.

"Amy..." his voice sounded slightly distant now. "You do know you're in the bath don't you."

My eyes snapped open and I stared wild eyed up at him. His eyes were fixed on my face, but I could tell from the position of his head, he was trying not to look anywhere else.

"What the hell are you doing in here then?" I yelped, sitting forward and scooping the bubbles up so they covered the worst. "You don't sit watching people in the bath, perverted alien boy!"

He folded his arms and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "I just saved your life, and I don't even get a thank you."

"No, you don't until I'm actually out of this bath." I snapped. "Now get out for God's sake."

A few minutes later, I was back in my room, dressed in my favourite pair of black jeans a white vest top and my favourite black cardigan. I let my damp hair down out of the towel and found a brush. I was sat at my dressing table, halfway through yanking the brush through my hair when the door opened and Xandrell stepped into the room.

"Don't you knock?" I asked moodily. Xandrell cocked his head on one side, before rapping on the door with his knuckles. "It's too late now." I groaned pulling the brush through my hair. "What do you want?"

"I came to make sure you were ok, after I saved your life, which I still don't have a thank you for."

"That's the only reason you stopped me from drowning." I muttered. "So you could hold one over on me, don't deny it! You think I don't know you, but I do Xandrell. I've got you worked out."

"Have you?" said Xandrell in such a curious voice that I looked up. His face was completely expressionless as he looked at me, before he turned and laid a hand on my keyboard. He frowned at it. "... strange..."

"What is?"

"When you play, you have such grace and elegance..."he murmured his fingers pressing down on a few of the keys so that they whispered a tune. "And then you stop... and you have the air of a drunken elephant in a glass house."

"Thank you Mr Tact." I muttered, pulling too hard with the hairbrush and yelping as I pulled out a huge tangle of knotted hair. I swore loudly and my mother banged on the door, saying something about foul language.

Xandrell sighed and moved over to stand behind me. "Would you like me to do it for you?"

I thrust the brush at him. "You had obviously better seeing as you don't have the graces of a drunken elephant."

He chuckled and very gently began to pull the brush through my wild hair. "Sorry if that offended you..." he said quietly. "It's all I ever seem to do... offend you..."

I shrugged. "You say what you think. Most people would praise you for that."

"But you don't."

It was strange, he didn't seem to be finding any knots as he pulled the brush through my hair.

"True." I shrugged. "When people speak their minds to me, it's usually to point out my flaws though."

Xandrell paused mid-brush and looked at my face staring thoughtfully at the mirror. "What do you mean flaws?"

"When people say what they really think about me, and don't care about how I'll take it." I muttered. "Like the fact that I'm an ugly sarcastic cow."

I was not exaggerating. I had been told this before... once it had been published on the internet.

Xandrell gently pulled the brush through my hair again, looking as though he were in deep thought... either that or had a really bad case of gas. "They're fools." he murmured after a few moments. "Amy, why do you take the opinions of your peers so seriously?"

"Because that's part of being a teenager isn't it." I muttered darkly.

"Of course it's not." cried Xandrell, now brushing from the front of my hair back so that it brought out the layers. "So part of being a teenager is letting yourself get hurt by people who are jealous of you? Man, did I land on the wrong planet."

I frowned at him and folded my arms. "What do you know?" I snapped. "You're an alien who barely understands sarcasm."

"I understand that it's the way you express your innermost feelings and intentions without anyone truly understanding." he said quietly. "I understand it's the way you distance yourself from others because you're afraid to get close to them. I've studied human behaviour. It was a lesson's work in our 'universal civilian-ship' class... I just can't work out... why..."

I blinked. It was so weird, the way he talked at times, about these things that seemed so ridiculously unreal as if it were something that everyone knew about. "Maybe... but you still don't understand what it's really like being a teenager out in this real world... and I mean, when you're here, you're not a prince are you?"

"That's true." said Xandrell frowning, still pulling the brush gently through my hair. "But I do understand you I think."

"You don't!" I snapped immediately. "It doesn't feel like anyone does."

He chuckled. "You see?" he said pointedly. "Distancing yourself? Trying to make yourself mysterious and un-understandable? Haven't you ever wondered if that's why people say you're a cow?"

I frowned. "How do you mean?"

"They don't know you." he said gently. "That's why they think you're strange and weird and... well you get the picture."

"Yeah, thanks." I muttered, not looking up at him.

"And as for the ones who think you're ugly... well look at yourself. Do you think you're ugly?"

"Yes!" I snapped, not looking up.

He sighed as he opened a box stood on my dressing table, reached inside and brought out a clip with a black satin bow on it. He carefully moved my side fringe over so it was out of my face and slid the clip into it. "How about now?"

"How exactly is a hairclip meant to make me feel better about myself?" I growled. I was getting fed up with this constant 'Amy you're so wonderful, and beautiful' rubbish he was trying to spoon feed me.

"Just look will you?" he said, obviously slightly irritated. "Just tell me what you see."

"That sounds like some corny line out of a Disney film." I sighed. "You're expecting me to look in the mirror and go 'oh, look that hairclip made all the difference! Now I'm a bloody princess'. Those things don't happen in real life Xandrell."

However, I decided to humour him. I turned and looked at my face in the mirror. Pale, freckly, slightly podgy Amy Wren glared back at me. The only difference was that her layers were easy to see, and she had a clip holding her fringe out of her face.

"So..." said Xandrell expectantly.

"So what?" I sighed looking up at him. "It's just me with tidy hair and a hairclip. What's your point?"

He sighed and moved forward turning me around so I was looking in the mirror again, before slipping his arms around my neck. "Is that really all you see?"

"That's all there is to see." I told him, slightly angrily now.

He laughed very softly and shook his head turning his attention back to the mirror. "I don't know what girl you're looking at, but the one I'm looking at is a very intelligent, very kind and loving girl. Look at her. See that glitter in her green eyes? That's the un-laughed giggle. When she smiles, or laughs, she has one dimple... just there." He touched the skin beside my lips gently with one finger, before stroking the side of my face. "She rarely gets spots, and she has the softest skin I've ever known in my life. Her hair is like silk, and she has this constant scent of jasmine about her. Her fingers are long and slender, artists hands. She is beautiful. Do you know what I think Amy? I think there's this whole other person trapped inside of you. She's fighting to get out, but everything you are is keeping her trapped. You should let her surface more Amy, because she's wonderful."

I frowned at him. "Why do you keep insisting I'm something worth anything?" I muttered.

He sighed and buried his face in my hair. "Because I know better. I know that she's worth running the risk of losing everything."

"Amy!" Tasha's voice broke through my train of thought.

I blinked and frowned as Xandrell disappeared and Tasha, Sophie and Lucy appeared around me, all frowning at me across the Burger King table. "What?" I asked frowning.

"I asked you how Xandrell was and you spaced out!" said Tasha turning back to her chips and putting one in her mouth. "Seriously, what were you thinking of?"

"Just something he said this morning." I muttered picking up a chicken nugget. "Xandrell's fine. Why do you ask?"

"Is there anything wrong with common courtesy?" mumbled Tasha not looking up.

We spent much of the day going into shop after shop. I didn't try any dresses at first, and for a while, neither did Lucy. Tasha and Sophie vanished into dressing room after dressing room, reappearing after a few moments looking absolutely beautiful. Both Lucy and I would immediately say that they looked great, but then they'd tell us we were wrong, and that it was the wrong colour or that it made their hips look big, and vanish into the changing rooms again. Before long, Sophie had a beautiful black dress which hung down to just below her knees, with a kind of white ruffle in the skirt which had looked absolutely beautiful on her. Not long after this, Tasha had found one of the most unusual dresses I'd ever seen to say the least. It started at the top dark purple with an intricate gold thread design. Then the skirt faded from dark purple to a kind of fuchsia colour. Like I said, it was one of the most unusual dresses I'd ever seen, but it was nice all the same, and Tasha looked really pretty in it. Then of course came the somewhat laborious task of looking for dresses for Lucy and me.

"This is so boring." I muttered to Lucy as we made our way over to the next shop.

"It could be worse." said Lucy. "I saw tonnes of dresses I thought would look nice on you, but none that would look good on me."

So, out of sympathy for one of my BFFL's, in the next shop we tried, which happened to be one of those quiet little shops down a side street where every dress is unique, I actually took interest in looking for a dress. At first, Sophie and Tasha thought I was looking for me, and got all excited, thinking I was finally giving up my plan to go to prom in jeans, t-shirt and Converse shoes. However when they worked out that wasn't the reason, they decided to help too. After almost ten minutes of searching through armfuls of frills, lace and that weird netting stuff that makes you feel like you're walking wrapped up in the things people hang over windows, I found, quite possibly, the most perfect dress for Lucy.

"Lu, what do you think of this one?" I called.

She turned to look at it, and immediately I could tell she liked it. You could just tell these things with Lucy. Sometimes the eyebrows would go up, sometimes the mouth would drop open, and sometimes you could just tell by the way her eyes lit up. When Lucy looked at this dress, the eyes lit right up, as if someone had just strung up a load of Christmas lights inside her eye sockets and flicked the switch.

It was a straight black dress, no stupid extravagant frilly bits, made of a material which felt like satin. It was one of the most gorgeous dresses I'd ever seen in my life, and for me to be saying, that, you had to believe it was nice.

Lucy immediately rushed off to try on the dress. When she emerged, she looked absolutely stunning. The straps didn't cut into her shoulders, which was a problem I had observed which had made Sophie and Tasha put the tiny, 'you need to be size 0 to fit into these' dresses back. I think the dress was supposed to be floor length, but where Lucy was so tall, it hung an inch off the floor.

"At least it wouldn't get dirty." I observed, making Lucy grin.

"I love it!" she said happily, twirling around in it. "I could actually survive prom in this thing I think!"

So, Lucy had her dress too, which left me to be awkward. I was dragged into shop after shop, and no matter how many times I said that it was fine and that they didn't have to do this, they still made me try on countless numbers of dresses. Each one I stood and waited while they picked out the flaws of me in the dress before telling me to take it off and we moved on to the next dress, or shop.

Oh what loyal, kind, determined friends I have... I cursed them at this moment.

Finally, after six hours of searching, we came to the final shop. Everyone was out of breath, and getting very hot and bothered. It was starting to look like I'd won.

"It's actually hopeless!" cried Sophie throwing down the gazillionth dress and putting her hands on her hips crossly. "Swear to God, Amy, you must be the only girl in the world who we cannot find a single dress that would suit you."

"Oh dear... what a shame..." I said sadly, waiting until Sophie had turned her back before doing a 'random happy dance'.

"Wait!" cried Tasha emerging from a dress forest, between two clothes rails holding an armful of purple. "Wait just a minute. I think I've found something."

She held out the dress. Sophie and Lucy both went 'ooh' simultaneously while I folded my arms and glared at the slippy material in Tasha's hands. "Tash, I appreciate everything you're doing for me, but you don't have to steal from circuses."

"Ha de ha." muttered Tasha handing me the dress and leading my over to a dressing room. "Just put it on and stop arguing."

I held out the dress. It was a deep purple colour made of the same kind of satiny material Lucy's was made of. I glared at it before pulling my t-shirt off and yanking on the dress. I finally stopped staring at it. "Tasha, where are the straps?"

"It's like a boob tube thing." called Tasha. "You hold it up with your chest."

What chest, for God's sake! "I can't wear this!"

Tasha pulled open the curtain to the dressing room and I immediately squeaked and tried to cover my bare shoulders. "Oh, come on, I bet it looks... oh my God..."

"What? It looks horrendous doesn't it?" I wailed. "I'm taking it off!"

"No, Amy..." said Tasha quietly. "You look... pretty..."

Sophie and Lucy peered at me over Tasha's head. Both of their jaws dropped. I frowned, before turning to look at myself in the mirror. I determined it couldn't be that amazing a transformation.

I stopped, and stared at the girl in the mirror. Who was she? Certainly not me. Amy Wren was average... nothing like her... she was elegant, she held her head high, graceful and beautiful. Her dark hair tumbled over her milky shoulders to stroke the top of the dress. I raised a hand to see if I could reach through the mirror to her. She imitated me, and our hands met upon the glass of the mirror. I smiled at her and received a warm friendly smile in return. She was me!

I felt like a princess... I felt... beautiful...