--------ARIANNA’S POV OF THE STORY---

I was sitting in my room, waiting for my packages to arrive. My father “gave” me his credit card, so I can get whatever I want but under the limit obviously. Since father doesn’t come around anymore, I get the whole house, Christopher, and also Vann to myself. As well as the other servants. They’re ok I guess. I mean, they do what I ask of them. Even though Vann tries to give me an attitude saying I have one, so I just threaten to fire him and he stops talking. Vann is a great cook, but he’s sort of slow when I ask him to make me things. Maybe another one would do me some service? My phone dinged, and I looked at it. Veronica messaged me, asking if I wanted to go to the mall. I smiled, and replied to it. ‘Of course I want to go to the mall. It’s so, boringgggg here.’ It was a few minutes until she responded. ‘Good, we’ll come pick you up-- or do you want to pick us up?’ I frowned. Do I want to ride in those poor people's cars, or do I want to ride in my own state of the arch, limo. ‘I can come and pick you guys up if you want.’ I offered, waiting for her response. ‘Sure.’ I nodded my head, and picked up my purse, wallet, phone charger, and a light coat. Being in middle school means that I get to meet new people and become even more popular than I already was. 

I found Christopher was talking to Vann. It seemed to be a conversation about my father. Talking about how he should spend more time with me or whatever. I gave off a small scoff, and they went silent. “Do you need anything Ms. Delmire?” I smiled. “Can you drive me to my friend’s house, and then to the mall. Wait probably two or three hours before picking us up again, and driving us here. Once we got to Veronica’s house, I was greeted by all three of them. Felicity, Jordain and Veronica were ready for shopping. Their parents supplied them with some money to already go and do this, so it was easier to stay under the credit company’s non-alert code thing. We got into the limo, and made our way to the mall. Christopher knew not to talk, so it was easy for us girls to have our own conversation without the need of Christopher to ask if what we are talking about is good for our mental healths or whatever. We didn’t say anything bad, so I don’t know why he was all uptight. We got there, and Veronica squealed as we passed Claire’s. I sighed. “What are you squealing about?” She pointed to a pair of earrings, looking like little cats loafing. I smiled. “Those are cute.” We entered, and she tried on a pair. Definitely going to get those. 

Felicity and the others went into the food court after an hour or so of shopping. I just sat there on my phone, not wanting to do anything. My mother used to take me to the mall when I was younger, and that's where I got my ears pierced too. I shuddered at the memories of her, why can’t I just forget them? What was so special anyways. She was stupid enough to die, so I guess that was something. They came back to me, and handed me a soda. I smiled, thanked them, and we went back to shopping. It was a few hours later, and some heavy bags loaded into the limo before we got home. Well, to my house at least. I put all my stuff in my room, and ordered Vann to make us something more fling that isn’t food court stuff. Veronica showed me something off Pinterest. “How about we do that to your hair?” I frowned. “I don’t want to look like your grandma.” She giggled. “You’d be a good looking grandma.” I frowned harder. “Shut up and pick something else.” She sighed, and scrolled through. “How about we just dye the ends of your hair.” I nodded at what Felicity said. “That’s something smart.” Jordain stayed silent as she scrolled through her phone. “What are you thinking?” She looked up after I asked my question. “Yeah, it’d be pretty to see the ends of your hair dyed. You have some pretty hair anyways.” I smiled. “Thanks, I like your box braids too.” She gave a nod of her head, and went back to whatever on her phone. 

Jordain said that she had to leave, which was weird. “Uh, where are you going anyways?” She looked at me. “Well, my mother said that I have to come home for dinner because we are having Nyama Choma, and Sukuma Wiki for dinner.” Arianna rolled her eyes. “I have no clue what that is, but have fun.” She sighed, and left. Veronica dug through her bag to see if she had any hair dye. “Ugh, I have none. Do you have any Felicity?” Felicity shrugged. “Let me look..” she dug through her bag. “Nnnnope. Buttt, I do have some makeup and nail polish. That won’t work though.” I got an idea. “Oh! Let me check in the packages I ordered. I think I got some..” I went downstairs, and told Christopher to bring up the boxes. He brought each one up, so that I had intotal four big boxes. I opened each one, and in the last one I finally found it. Hair dye. I handed them each the six boxes of different colored dyes, including bleach.

“Let’s get this hair looking pretty!” Felicity squealed, and stood up. Her ginger-orange braided hair fell off from where it was over her shoulder. Veronica stood up as well and we all went to the bathroom. Veronica pulled her shoulder length black hair into a bun, and started to run the water so that we could wash my hair for the now second time today, which would be a third time when I wash it later tonight. They bleached the ends of my hair because dark hair and dye doesn’t mix, and then after it was fully bleached blonde and looked like it was going to crumple into a full on set of dog fur, they dyed it the lavender color that I had picked out. Once it was dyed, and all our stuff was picked up, we went back to my room. “It’s going to be so pretty!” we all giggled over it. Felicity soon gave off a gasp. “Oh my god! I wonder how uh, what’s her name? Baseball cap kid doesn’t like, have crusty hair. Doesn’t she wear it to bed?” Veronica gave off a squeal. “EW! Do, NOT, mention her.” I frowned. “Her friend group acts like a group of babies.” They giggled. “Also, her name is Ash. But, Ashbutt sounds better to me.” Veronica giggled. “Do you think that should be her legal name?” Felicity smiled. “How about we take her hat and glue things to it?” I frowned. “Like what? Googly eyes? That’s a baby move. We need something worse.” They furrowed their brows, clearly thinking. I opened up a small package of chocolate, and set it out for us. 

“How about we just put it in mud, then say she did something to it.” Felicity suggested, clearly out of suggestions. I groaned. “Well, we have nothing. Anyways, I'm bored of this subject. Let’s go watch a movie or something on the TV.” They nodded, and we went to put on a movie. “Ugh, what movie should we watch?” Veronica asked, settling herself on the rug in front of my bed. Felicity pulled out her phone. “How about we watch… I dunno. Titanic or something.” We surfed through for a little while, until we settled on The Greatest Showman and when that was done, we were half through Atlantis: The Lost City when Felicity and Veronica’s parents called to tell them to come home. Christopher dropped them off at their houses, and Vann was making my dinner. I took a shower, and the dye surprisingly stayed in my hair, just the access washed off making my back look like Barney the Dinosaur. I changed into an oversized graphic tee that I had bought and some Nike athletic shorts, plus a pair of black ankle socks and fuzzy indoor slippers. I went downstairs to the kitchen, my hair pulled up in a loose ponytail. “I see you dyed your hair?” Vann ventured to make small talk. “Mm. I did. Why? Does it look bad?” He shook his blonde head. “No, no. I just haven’t seen you dye your hair before.” I scoffed, and he pushed the plate to me. After I finished, and he took care of the plate, I went back upstairs. Two or so more weeks until father would be home. 

I woke up, and got dressed. I felt like being cute today, so I pulled out a gray short pleated skirt, a black long sleeved tee shirt, and my black and white converse. Now, what to go with it? I had many sets of earrings, light necklaces, rings, and just other things. And also the makeup look. Would it be light on the make up, or would it be more so “heavy” looking? I decided on curtain bangs, a loose ponytail, and light natural looking makeup. That would do for today’s bare minimum. I grabbed my backpack and put in all my school supplies. Vann was there with my breakfast of avocado toast and some tea, and I went to school. Ash was there, obviously, and looked like a literal dunce. But, whatever. She wasn’t on my list today. I walked into the building, and found my friends quite quick. They greeted me, except for Jordain. She was off somewhere. We went back outside to find her talking to Ally, one of Ashbutt’s friends. Ugh, she was annoying to me a lot. I pulled Jordain by her sweater, and we went over to Ash. “Tell your little friend to leave my friends alone.” She looked at me. “Well, Ally didn’t walk up to Jordain first, Jordain walked up to Ally first.” Ally nodded, as well as Jordain. I scoffed. “Well, maybe she wouldn’t walk up to her if she was more like you.” Ash looked confused. “Huh? What do you mean if she was more like me? Last time I checked, she was a normal human being..? Ooh. Is it because she breathes the same air as you?”