https://youtu.be/eMY-qbs75ug

In the late eighties, my mom worked as an assistant in a hair salon through college, and she rocked at it. She learned everything there is to know about hairstyles and could turn a frizzball into a Barbie doll. When I was little, my mom loved to work on my hair. I was her own personal living doll and she would style me with the cutest styles. Only problem was, I never liked them because they were short hairstyles, which made me look even more baby-faced. After Amber grew up, she became Mom's model.

But now, Mom did me justice. When I asked her to do my hair, I saw that sparkle in her eyes. She was going to enjoy this. She gave my hair a perfect V-shaped cut, as opposed to my boring straight cut which I'd kept for years. Then she feathered them a little and finally, like magic, she made them cascade down my shoulders in soft, romantic ringlets. My hair was naturally bouncy and wavy so all she had to do was set it. To top it off, she put in faint copper highlights (my hair was chestnut in color) which would shine red under bright lights.

"Baby, you look so pretty!" Mom gushed over her handiwork when she was done. My hair did look great. From plain to pretty, kind of like the makeover in Princess Diaries, only less drastic. Amber said I switched from a cleaning mop to a magazine model. She got a good punch from me for the first remark.

"Thanks, Mom. Only you could have pulled this off for me," I told Mom, hugging her tight. Even my dad gave me a thumbs-up as he reviewed my hair. Part one of my revamping was complete.

Jules rushed over the next morning, burning the road to get here. It was only when she arrived all berserk and antsy asking me why I didn't answer any of her calls and texts had I realized my phone's battery had died. I plugged it into my portable battery and turned it on—whoa, there were twelve missed calls from Jules. Guess I'd been too preoccupied with the golden boys yesterday to check my phone.

"D, you had me so worried! Are you okay? Did you make it home alright? How did—" She stopped and gaped at me with her mouth hanging open when she saw my new hair.

"OH, MY, GOSH!" She exclaimed. "Thea, you look amazeballs! What happened? Did you hit the salon yesterday?"

"No, this was all Mom. And thanks," I said with a smile.

"So what happened last night? I didn't hear a word from you... You feeling better?" She asked, half-hugging me.

"I'm fine Jules. And you'll never guess what happened last night." I had to brace myself for her reaction once I told her. Her eyes almost popped out when I finished.

"You just got taken out on a date by the golden boys?! EEEEEK!" she squealed in excitement.

"Shh! Not so loud! You're the only person I told so far!" I hushed her as I continued dressing for school. "And it wasn't a date! I still don't even know why they did it."

"Who would've thought the golden boys were secretly so kind and sweet? Wowee, I can't believe they would do something this nice for you!" she gushed.

"Neither can I," I mumbled.

"They must really like you... Gosh, this would literally kill Karen! She'd be jealous as heck if she knew!"

"No! Jules, no one can find out about this. I cut my ties with them after yesterday. I don't want to be associated with them anymore. It's more trouble than it's worth. And I'm done with Karen's drama. I'm not gonna get dragged down by her or get involved with the golden boys." No matter how nice they are, I added in my head.

"But—but..." Jules stuttered.

"No!" I said firmly. She groaned.

"And I so hoped for a chance..." She trailed off and shook her head. I wondered what that was about. But she changed the topic the next moment.

"Anyway, you should have seen Karen after you left yesterday! She was spluttering like a goldfish! I think she really does feel threatened by you."

"By us," I corrected. "She's probably super jell because we're so tight and she doesn't have the same bond with her posse."

"That, and the fact that we're super hot," Jules said with a smirk as she flounced her hair. I laughed.

"Are you women coming or what?!" Amber hollered at the top of her voice from downstairs.

"We're coming!" I shouted back. That little imp...

"So why the new hairdo, Thea?" Jules asked with a sly smile as we headed down. "You're not trying to impress a certain someone, are you?"

"Not on your life!" I said fervently as I put on my shoes, despite Pierce's words reverberating in my head. "I'm doing this for myself. Karen thinks she can trample me and I wouldn't fight back. Well, now I'm really going to give her a reason to feel threatened. I'm stepping up my game."

"Oh yeah, about that. There's something else I need to tell you," Jules said, nervously biting her lip. I looked at her questioningly.

"I made the cheer squad," she said miserably.

"Aw, Jules, I'm happy for you! I'm glad you made the team. You don't have to feel bad about that!" I said, hugging her.

"Oh, good. I was worried about how you'd take it. But even if I'm on the squad, I'm still your girl for plotting revenge against Karen."

"Oh, I'm not going to get revenge on her," I said, shaking back my new hair. "I'm going to take the high road with my head held high."

~

Walking into school this time was different. I had a complete makeover, I ditched my stockings and switched from Mary Janes to glossy pumps and even spruced my wardrobe a bit. Our uniform was flexible thanks to the new principal, as long as we wore the school skirt and blazer. So I opted for a satin blouse inside and a light pink sweater vest which my mom called 'adorable'. I even opted for a little rockin' red strawberry lip gloss—before today, I hated makeup. Of course, I wasn't prepared for the reaction I would elicit from everyone.

In my decision to revamp my look and prove that Karen did feel threatened by me, I did not realize how the male populace would react to me. The first thing I noticed was the scrutiny. Heavy at that, on me. I caught looks of admiration and awe—but ninety percent of them were from boys. I felt I was in over my head when wolf whistles were blown at me. A few guys even called me 'hot stuff' and I blushed furiously. I was so not ready for this!

"Jules, I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea," I whispered nervously.

"No way! You are rockin' the cute girl look," she said positively. I tried. I actually tried to look pretty for the sake of proving I'm not a pushover but I felt so lost in the process, so unlike myself. Why oh why did I ever let Pierce Hartman's words affect me?

And then I saw them—the golden boys. My breath caught as they raked their eyes over me.

"Thea?" I heard Matteo say as he stared at me with an unreadable expression. I saw Pierce smirk and Shane blinked speechlessly at me.

Is that—Thea?" I heard some of the girls say.

"She looks—wow!"

"Who do you think she dressed up for, I wonder?" Okay, that remark made my face burn. I screwed up my courage and held my chin up as I walked through the hallway.

"No way—Thea?!" Sara, one of Karen's posse commented on me. I turned and saw Karen staring at me like she couldn't believe her eyes. I saw her noticing the golden boys—and their eyes were on me. She gave a choked cry.

"Let's go before this time bomb goes off!" I whispered to Jules, pulling her with me to class. Great, was this what I had to go through just because I changed my look?

~

The stares didn't stop all day. Even in class, a couple of teachers paused for a moment to take in my appearance before continuing as though they couldn't recognize me. I took refuge hiding in my books. How do popular girls deal with all this attention? It was suffocating me!

I was dreading lunch hour. I knew everyone would crowd me to talk to me, from all the looks I was getting. So I shot out of class the minute the bell rang, desperate for some fresh air. Unfortunately, I ran into Pierce Hartman. Oh, just perfect.

I had been on my way to the vending machine (It got fixed and the culprit was never found) to get some biscuits and a lemonade. I'd try to drown my problems out with comfort food. I didn't think I had the stomach for lunch. Again, while searching my pockets for change, I smacked right into Pierce. He was slouching against the wall, as impassive as ever. He blocked my path with his arm, raising hooded eyes to my face.

"Hey, babycakes. Glad to see you took my advice. You look gorgeous," he said with an effortless smile. I frowned at him.

"I didn't take your advice," I said obstinately.

"No? Then why the sudden makeover?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. I remained silent. I didn't have to explain my motives to him so I ignored the question.

"Could you let me pass?" I asked, nodding towards his arm.

"So who exactly are you trying to impress in that cute little get-up?" He asked, making no move to let me pass. His eyes still looked me over with unveiled admiration and it made me distinctly uncomfortable.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone, now will you quit the interrogation?" I asked, irritated.

"By the way... What did you say to upset Matteo last night?" He asked suddenly, straightening up. He had completely disregarded my question.

"Me? I—I..." Hold up, what I said was nothing to get upset about.

"Yeah. You messed him up pretty bad last night. What'd you say?" he persisted.

"Nothing! I just don't want..." I couldn't say that out loud, it was too rude.

"Well?" Pierce asked, his gaze x-raying my face.

"Look, I made it clear we don't go in the same circles. I didn't mean to upset him." I said as carefully as I could. His eyes narrowed.

"So basically you dumped him after everything he did for you?" he asked sarcastically. "Jeez, Thea, you could've been less heartless." My mouth fell open.

"What? I didn't do anything! And I did not dump him! We're not even dating! That's not even possible!" I said hotly. Pierce's expression lapsed back into lethargy. I suddenly realized that was the first time he actually said my name. It sounded... too familiar even from him, like it did with Matteo.

"It would've been better if you were at least playing hard to get," he said in a low voice. I stared at him, not knowing what he meant. A thought struck me.

"You didn't—tell Matteo about our conversation last night, did you?" I asked nervously.

"Would it matter if I did?" he asked, infuriating me. "It's not like you'd go out with him."

"No, I wouldn't," I retorted. To my surprise, he suddenly smiled and pulled away from the wall.

"Would you go out with me then?" He asked, unabashedly. I scoffed at the incredulity of his words.

"Not in my right mind," I replied and turned to leave. Forget the biscuits, I wasted enough time talking to him!

I gasped as something hooked around my waist and pulled me back. I found myself rapidly spinning around to face Pierce and suddenly I was pressed flush against his chest in his grip, his lips so close to mine that my heart stopped. Pierce had hooked me to his body with his tie!

"You won't be seen with Matt, so go out with me. You don't have a problem with me, do you?" he asked, his eyes raking my face. I blinked, my throat too dry for words to form. His hands came up to my collar and I shivered involuntarily as his fingers brushed my jaw.

"Word of advice—lose the second button," he said as he unbuttoned the top of my shirt and yanked off the button. I gasped.

"Pierce!" I cried. My cheeks burned red hot, and I tried to push him away, but he held on.

"Damn, sounds good when you say my name," Pierce breathed gutturally.

"OH. MY. GOSH." I turned and saw Iris and Caroline, two of the school's biggest gossips staring at us! Oh, crap!

"Are you seeing this?" Iris asked Caroline. To my horror, they pulled out their phones and began to snap pictures of us. I frantically pushed Pierce away now that he was distracted, hoping in vain I wouldn't get caught in the shot.

"I have to send this to everyone!" Caroline said with eerie excitement. Then, seeing Pierce's fierce face, they scuttled off. I slumped against the wall, horrorstruck.

"This will spread like wildfire! I'm doomed!" I hyperventilated, clutching my head. Pierce slipped his tie off me and swiftly slung it around his neck. He stared at me for a moment, looking thoughtful. I simply moaned.

"I'll never hear the end of this and Karen—"

"Kensington won't do anything to you and neither will anyone else," Pierce cut me off emphatically and walked off in long strides. I almost followed him when I heard the sound of hordes of footsteps—people heading for the cafeteria no doubt checking their phones for the newest scandalous picture—of me. Great. My life at school was over.

~

I wanted to get a hold of Jules to tell her what happened. I wanted to text her to tell her to meet me in the book club room during lunch (nobody ever went in there) but I left my phone in my bag in my locker so that plan was out. I debated waiting in the hallway for her but changed my mind and scurried off before I ran into anyone else. Iris and Caroline will have blown up social media channels with that picture of me and Pierce and by lunch, everyone will have seen it! I couldn't bear to hear the rumors of how I must be 'hooking up with a golden boy' right now. So humiliating. I had to disappear for a bit.

I was outside the school building before anyone saw me. I stood at the door for a minute, trying to catch my breath and figure out how to deal with the bombshell that would blow up my clean reputation in just minutes. As I stood there, I heard voices drifting down from the balcony above and looked up. I realized it was Matteo and Shane talking. It sounded tense like they were arguing about something.

"No, Shane, give it a rest! I never agreed to this crazy plan of yours from the start!" I heard Matteo say. Shane's voice was less audible, so I couldn't catch what he said.

"No! I'm done with this! I'll deal with that problem on my own. I don't want two dozen desperate girls breathing down my neck for attention! I quit!" I heard Matteo shout. The next moment, I saw him fling something white down over the parapet. It was a ton of sheets of paper and they came raining down on me like snowflakes. I picked one up to see what it was—it was, quote, 'an application for a potential girlfriend'! My mouth fell open. Girls actually made these out and sent them to Matteo? Pitiful. Guess they were willing to date anyone.

I got startled when I looked up and noticed Matteo and Shane had spotted me, holding the application. Shane whistled to me. I sucked in a breath, dropped the application, and sprinted off. I heard Matteo calling my name but didn't turn around. I so didn't want to get caught by them now!

I headed for the east building at the other end of campus where all the school club rooms were. It should be empty now. I ran into Tom on the way and what a break it was for me that he was carrying my bag!

"Hey, Thea. Jules asked me to give this to you. She's at the cafeteria waiting for you," he said, handing me my bag. I smiled at Tom in relief.

"Tom, you're a lifesaver!" I said and pulled out my phone from my bag.

"Er, okay, I'll take it. Don't know what it's for... Anywho, I'm off, I don't want to miss dessert! Later!" he said and sped off. I shook my head. I'll never get people with sweet cravings.

I opened my social media account to see if Iris or Caroline shared those incriminating pictures of me yet—oddly, there was nothing. What happened?

I checked my texts next seeing that a new one popped up as I walked inside the club building and was surprised when I saw a text from an unknown number—until I read the message.

You can relax. No one will see the picture of us. Iris and Caroline have been dealt with. Pierce?!

How did YOU get my number? I asked, capitalizing the 'you'.

I have my sources, he replied, with a sunglasses-face emoji. You still haven't given me an answer BTW. I coughed. An answer to what? That ridiculous offer to date him? Wasn't he playing around? I didn't even take that question seriously.

That's not funny, Pierce. Stop kidding around. I texted back.

I wasn't kidding. I meant what I said. I'll give you time to think about it. TTYL, babycakes. His message left me dumbfounded. And who gave him the right to call me babycakes?!

We're not that close! Don't act like we are! I texted back with a frowny face. He merely returned a winky emoji. Oooh, that boy gets under my skin! And what did he mean by Iris and Caroline being dealt with? What did he do?

"Thea?" I jumped out of my skin with a squeak on hearing my name and looked up to see—Matteo! Shoot, he followed me! I'd forgotten that I was running away from him!

"Can we talk?" he asked, looking pensive. Great, I was trapped. At least no one was around to see us.

"I—I don't think there's anything for us to talk about," I said, trying to keep my voice stable. Why did he have this effect on me?

"Yes, there is. When Shane mentioned you had an accident in the gym yesterday I thought it was just an accident—until now. But it wasn't, was it?" I stared at him.

"Yes but, I don't see how that concerns you," I countered. His brows knit together and he stepped closer and spoke, forcing me to back against the wall.

"That's not the point! You could've gotten badly hurt! Why didn't you tell anyone? Karen could've caused you a serious accident! She's lucky you didn't end up in the hospital."

"Hold on, I don't know that Karen did it, I only suspected it! But even if she did, I don't see why you have to get involved in this! This doesn't concern you, Matteo Sterling!" I retorted heatedly.

"Knowing that you could've gotten hurt is my concern!" he contended. "How do you think I feel every time something happened to you and you did nothing about it?!"

"It—has—nothing—to—do—with—you!" I argued back emphasizing each word. "Why do you have to get involved? Why do you care?!" I wasn't prepared for his reaction. He suddenly seized my face and crashed his lips against mine. I froze. The wind got knocked out of me. I couldn't feel my legs. All sound drowned out of my ears as if I had been exposed to a hundred-and-twenty-decibel atom bomb that left a ringing in my ears. My thoughts scrambled. Altogether, I was no better than a pile of mashed potatoes.

I don't know how long we stood there, his lips pressed between mine, with me trapped against the wall. Might have been an hour for all I knew. When he finally withdrew, I stared at him with unfocused eyes. He slowly released my face and looked at me as if he couldn't believe what he just did.

"Thea, I—I'm sorry." He croaked and walked speedily away. I exhaled the breath I had been holding and sunk to the floor; my legs felt like jelly. I gingerly touched my lips, feeling the warm wetness—the remains of his kiss. Matteo Sterling just kissed me.

🌹

Ahhhh it happened, the first move has been made!💕💋 But it's 2 boys competing for Thea, not 1. How do you think this will go? 🤨😮 ps did you expect anything? 😏 Who are you rooting for, Matteo or Pierce?