Every Inch of Sanity

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and I raced to meet Eliza and the rest of the guys outside.
The walk to Eliza's house wasn't that long, only 5 blocks.The guys volunteered to walk us, since Frank's house - were they were practicing - was in the same direction.
After waving the guys good-bye at the front door, Eliza pulled out a house key and let us in.

"I'm home!", She called, and I could suddenly hear tiny footsteps running toward us.

Suddenly, a little boy, about three years old, came trotting out from the living room.The dark brown curls surrounding his face swayed with his movement.
He ran up to Eliza and hugged her legs tightly.

" I missed you, Elly.", he said, his face still buried in her legs.

Eliza chuckled softly and swiftly picked him up, resting him on her hip.His arms went around her neck and he smiled a cute, dimply smile.

"I missed you too, Charlie.", she said sweetly, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hi Miss Jamie.", Charlie piped up when he saw Jamia.He waved his little hand at her.At that moment, Eliza's mom emerged from the kitchen.

After introducing me to both Charlie and her mother, Eliza led the way up to her bedroom.As we entered, I noticed that you could barely see the walls from the amount of posters adorning it.Several band posters hung randomly all over the walls, interrupted by some family photos.
A big, red poster caught my attention, and as I neared in to examine it, I let out an amused chuckle.
Photos of the guys - yes, the guys as in Gerard , Mikey and the others - were all over the poster, and near the bottom, in crimson red, were the words, 'My Chemical Romance, The Next Big Thing."

"Nice...", I complimented, nodding my head while still laughing.

"Yeah.They needed some advertisement so I thought of designing a poster for them.It's amazing what you can do with a few photos and a Photo-shop program.", Eliza shrugged indifferently.

Sitting on the bed and crossing her legs, Eliza told me to make myself comfortable.I shyly took a seat on the floor, while Jamia just stood by the door.

Minutes ticked by as silence enveloped us.Each one of us was staring in a different direction, making the situation that much more awkward.

"So...", I prompted.

Suddenly, Jamia's eye lit up and she jumped, frightening me in the process.

"Oh I know! How about we play Makeover?!", she said, her eyes widening in excitement.

To my surprise, Eliza nodded, mirroring Jamia's excitement.I just stared at them like they've both just grown two heads.
Then, a weird giggle erupted through me.

"Your kidding, aren't you?", I started laughing.

Both of them turned to look at me, their expressions totally serious.My laughter was cut short.

"You aren't?", I concluded, my voice sounding scared.I suddenly stood up."Hell no! I am not taking part in any 'Makeover' game!"

Gesturing wildly with my hand, I started walking out the bedroom when Jamie caught my shoulder.Her eyes were ablaze with humor.

"Yes you are.", she said firmly, pushing me back on the bed."Stay here!" , she warned, pointing.

Jamia stalked away to Eliza's dresser, opening a box that was there.She started rummaging through it, then she simply picked it up and walked back to sit beside me.I peeked into the box to find several makeup items.Eye shadow, eyeliner, lipstick, lip gloss, blush and all sorts of other things.
My eyes wandered up to follow Eliza.She was standing in front of her open closet, surveying the clothes.She occasionally pulled out an item or two.

" 'Kay Ken, let's go.", Jamia suddenly said, starting to get up."

I stared at her, puzzled.

"Go where...?", I cocked my eyebrow.

"The bathroom of course!We're going to dye your hair!"

I stared unblinkingly at Jamia's excited, hyper figure."Uh, what do you mean 'dye my hair'? Who said I wanted it dyed in the first place?"

"Well , we're giving you a makeover.That kinda includes dying your hair.", she said, matter-of-factly.

"Whoa, no! I do not want my hair dyed! ", I stood up,starting to head for the door.

"Jamia, use force.",Eliza murmured, and I stared at her.

Suddenly, Jamia had my wrists and was dragging me to the bathroom.

"Dude! I don't want my hair color changed! I like it that way!." .

"Why not?", Jamia argued.

"'Cuz I like it this way!", I whined back.I did not want my blonde and pink tips replaced, I got grounded for a week when I got them and I was not about to lose them.

Finally, I sighed, and as we entered the room, I said." Okay, you can dye my hair, but stay away from my blonde and pink tips!", I warned.

"Okay okay!", Jamia said, and I really didn't know how she'd do that.I had said that on the hopes of her realizing she can't do it and forgetting about it altogether.

And I surrendered my hair to her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next thirty minutes of my existence were spent being pampered by the girls.They fixed my hair, dying it a deep purple, and miraculously keeping away from my tips.Eliza helped choose my outfit, believing I needed a wardrobe update.She picked out a pair of black skinny's, a red Batman T-shirt and a pair of red flats. Shoving them at me, she ordered me dressed so that Jamie would start working on my makeup.
I mumbled as I quickly slid my legs into the black jeans that somehow fit perfectly.The t-shirt was a bit...big but it looked good.I slipped on the flats and walked outside the bathroom.

"Great! Now we move to the makeup!", Jamia grinned childishly, and my only response was to roll my eyes as I walked to her.

Seating me at the dresser, she starts to rummage in the makeup box again.The first item she pulled was a stick of eyeliner, which she used to apply a thick layer of eyeliner all around my eyes.Next thing was red eyeshadow, she smothered it on my eyelid and then moved on to lipstick.

About 10 minutes later, I was standing in front of a full-length mirror, admiring the outcome.

"Wow.", I breathed, not believing the person in the mirror was actually me.The person was not extraordinarily beautiful or anything, but it was indeed far more beautiful than I was.

I glimpsed the reflection of Jamia and Eliza grinning contently at each other, and I couldn't help smiling my self.

"Thank you guys.", I said, turning to them.

"Anytime!", Eliza gestured indifferently." You gave us something to do.", She concluded with a smile.

I raised my eyebrow at her as she laughed with Jamia, and then my eyes landed on the wall clock, and I was curious.

"When exactly are we supposed to leave?", I asked.

Eliza, following my gaze to the clock, was the one to answer."At about 5, which gives us another hour or so...", she trailed off.

I nodded, taking a seat on the bed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After playing all kinds of different games for the past hour , we decided it was about time to go.
Walking downstairs, Eliza led us to her mum in the kitchen.

"Mum, we're leaving for Frank's.The guys are practicing.", she said hurriedly, and after her mum nodded, she started heading to the front door with us following.

Suddenly, she wheeled around and ran back to the kitchen.

"Can we borrow the car...?", I heard her ask, and moments later, she came running back with a key chain.

When we were almost to out the door, a cute voice called."Elly!"

Eliza's little brother, Charlie, came running to us.He ran to Eliza and yet again, hugged her legs.

"Can I come with you?", he asked, lifting his face and smiling his dimply smile.

"I'm sorry Charlie, but you can't.", Eliza pouted back at him."Maybe next time."

A frown creased Charlie's little eyebrow and he let go of Eliza." 'Kay...", he whispered sadly, then he lifted his head up to us."Bye Miss Jamie, Bye Miss Kenny!"

Charlie started back to the living room, and my eyes followed him till he disappeared.

'Wow, he's one hell of an obedient kid...", Jamia trailed off , making Eliza chuckle.

"Yeah.", she answered, and no more was said.

All three of us boarded the car, me riding in the backseat, and as Eliza started driving, I stared out the window.

Jamia fiddled with the dial on the radio, trying to find something.She finally stopped at a music channel.Alternative Rock channel, obviously.
My Favorite.
I sang quietly with the familiar song, but somewhere in the middle, I started getting really absorbed, my voice getting higher.

"Kendra, you got a nice voice and all, but shut up", Jamia said very calmly."I'm kind of trying to listen to the song."

I glared at her playfully in the side mirror, and stuck my tongue out.She just chuckled, shaking her head slightly.
Ten minutes later, I asked the rhetorical question,

"Are we there yet?", I questioned, moving to hover in the opening between the two front seats.

"Five more minutes.", murmured Eliza, clearly absorbed in something.

I sat back , slamming my back into the couch, and stared out the window again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"We're here.", Eliza announced, driving up a driveway of a small, white house.The door of the garage was open, and I could see figures moving inside.

I stepped out of the car, smoothing my clothes, and started to walk up the driveway to the garage.
The girls moved one step ahead of me, making me partially hidden.

"Hey girls!", I heard Gerard's voice say."Who's that with you?"

Looking around me in confusion, I noted that there was no one but Jami, Eliza and myself..

"What do you mean?", Eliza stole the question right off my tongue.

"The lady in red...", Frank trailed off, walking to stand beside Gerard, gesturing toward us.

Red? I was the only one wearing red.I looked around me once again.

"There's no one but us, Frank."

As soon as I said this, Frank and Gerard's eyes bulged.

"Kendra...Is that you?", Gerard asked in disbelieve, inching toward us.