To Become Another

I walk up to Terry, the guy my grandma hired for me. He grins as if he’s excited for this project. While me on the other hand, I was feeling quite nervous.

“What exactly do you want done?” he asks once I take a seat, “I know to follow the picture and everything, but do want something specific?”

I stare at my reflection, “I need a complete and utter make over from head to toe and everything in between.”

He shifts his weight to his left leg and looks me up and down, “stand up,” I do so, “now turn.”

“I can honestly say you’ve been on my mind since I woke up today. I look at your photograph all the time. These memories come back to life and I don’t mind.”

“Hey!” I say, smiling. Not quite fake but not exactly truthful either, the smile that is.

“You noticed the cars, didn’t you?” he asks. NO hello, no welcome. Nothing, just the question. He must’ve known I was faking that smile. “You’re never that happy to see anybody.” He comments.

“Right. Yes, the cars. I did notice there was more than last time.”

“My parents and sisters are back from their trip.”

“That would explain it.”

He shoves his hands into his jean pockets and shifts from foot to foot, “so guess who you get to meet?”

My face drops. Torn jeans and an old concert t-shirt wasn’t exactly what I would wear to meet his family. Maybe to rehearse for the play, but not to meet the frickin’ Richards Family! “No.”

“It’s kind of mandatory.”

“Ryan! You could have given me some type of warning yesterday!”

He grabs my elbow and pulls me inside, “didn’t want to make you worry about more than one thing. Plus it won’t be that bad.”

“That bad? Yeah, I’m sure it won’t. It’ll be worse.”

“They’ve already heard about you from Sydney, so they’re like in love with you.”

“Until they see my ripped jeans.” It was then that he noticed my attire.

“Like I said, it won’t be that bad.”

He started walking to the family room near the back. I remember it from the tour I got of the house, but we hadn’t spent much time in there since we just watched the movies in the living room.

“Ready?” he asks as we stand in front of the double doors.

“No.” Ryan opens the doors and five faces turn toward us.

Silence filled the room. Wasn’t Ryan supposed to be the one to introduce us? He wasn’t if that was his job. A girl about thirteen steps forward “you must be Sky. I’m Scarlet.”

“Hey.” I say quietly, the shy side of me coming out. I wasn’t exactly the best at meeting new people.

“I love your jeans, where did you get them?”

“Um,” I try to think of some semi-expensive store, “American Eagle.”

“Cool, I’ll have to pick up a pair,” good-luck on that, “I’m Ryan’s younger sister by the way. That,” she points to a woman who looks about thirty, “is Lydia, our older sister. Her husband Rick. And I think you’ve met their kids Charlie and Sydney.”

“I have.”

“And these.” She motions towards the two older people in the room, “are our parents.” They had been studying me the whole time, I could tell.

After another silent pause, Mrs. Richards speaks up, “turn.” She says.


Terry taps his chin dramatically, “well, let’s start with the simple things.” He walks me over to one of the chairs and forces me to sit down. “Have you always had your hair long?” He asks me. I nod my head shyly.

“Okay, we may do some changes then.” I nod again and Terry starts to wash my hair. In the midst I ask to be turned around so that I don’t know what anything looks like. He doesn’t argue and spins the chair.

I feel inches of hair brush against my neck as they fall to the ground and hold my breath. Did I make the right decision? I slip out my wallet and glance at the picture of Ryan I had in there.

Terry noticed, “Oooh girl! You got a good one!”

I smile sweetly, “ex-good one.” I comment.

“Any chance he’s gay?” I laugh and ignore his question.


“I remember when we kissed, I still feel it on my lips.”

“come on! You have to admit that was an amazing shot!”

“it wasn’t bad.” I say, turning to face him.

“not bad?!”

I shrug and turn back to set it up. Ryan was behind me now and turns me to face him, “I asked a question.”

“it was a great shot. But not amazing.” I say. Our bodies were close and faces were closer.

He puts on his pout, “I’ll tell you what’s amazing and what’s not.”

I laugh a little, “fine. It was ama-“ I didn’t get to finish the statement because it was then that his lips pressed against mine. Short, quick, and defiantly amazing.

He pulls back and smiles down at me, “and that was. Sure that was your first kiss?”

“positive.” I glare at him, “you planned all of this.”

“what do you mean by all? Because the whole wedding thing defiantly wasn’t planned.”

“playing the game, having fun, spontaneously kissing me.”

“oh, yeah, that was planned. Well, okay, not really. I just came up with it when you were mad in my room.” He admits, “so? What did you think?” another shrug came from me. “oh come on! So many girls would kill to be in your position right now.”

“I know. I just don’t have anything to compare it to and I’m sure you already know you’re a great kisser. Why add to that thick head of yours.”

“I think you just complimented me and insulted me in the same sentence.”

“you’ll never know.” I say.

“oh, hey! We found out something else you can do with your mouth!”

I glare at him again, “you really need to stop saying things like that.”

Ryan drops his head back and sighs before looking back at me. “you’re supposed to say something like ‘I can show you more.’”

“but that sounds nasty.”

“that’s the point.”

“what? Are you giving me lessons on flirting now?”

“yes, I am.”

“fine. Start over.”

Ryan smirks victoriously, “oh, hey! We found out something else you can do with your mouth!”

“you really need to stop saying things like that.” I repeat.

Ryan looks down at me disappointed, and then smiles, “make me.” He says.

I reply the smile and then move my hands up his arms, wrapping them around his neck. His eyes widen a little, shocked. I stand on my tip toes so that I’m about two inches away from his lips, “maybe I will.” I whisper. I could tell that Ryan was trying not to react to this. I move my lips closer and pause right before our lips fully touch. I move back down and let go of his neck, “then again. I could also just ignore you.” I smirk and turn back around, pretending to be doing something.

“that” Ryan coughs, getting his voice back to normal, “um, was good.”

I turn back around and cross my arms “good? I didn’t think shivering meant it was just good.” I unfold my arms and run one of my hands up and down his arm. He bites his lip, holding back a sound of satisfaction. “yeah. Defiantly better than good.” I comment.

Ryan then crashes his lips back to mine, this time a lot rougher. I was surprised but my body quickly melted into it. My hands run through his hair while his get tangled up in mine. At some point during the kiss he lifts me and sets me on the table, stepping in between my legs to get closer. Everything seemed to come natural and after a couple more minutes, we finally pull back to breath. We were both out of breath and shocked. He was still holding me by the waist and my hands were resting on his shoulders.

“that was…” he takes a deep breath.

“spectacular.” I finish for him.

“yes. And every synonym for the word.” He kisses my forehead and then my cheeks and just as he moves in on my lips again the door opens.


“Okay, now that your hair is done we’re going to add some-”

I cut him off, “please, I don’t want to know. Just do it.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. This is going to be a total surprise for me.”

“Okay dear.” He takes me over to another seat, “I’m just afraid you’re going to have a heart-attack.”

“Trust me, I’ve been through way worse.”


“The time that you danced with me with no music playing.”

Ryan grabs my hand and pulls me off the dance floor.

I pout, “why’d you do that?”

He stops us and turns to me, “I wanted you all to myself.”

I raise an eyebrow, “I live with you Ryan.” I tell him.

Ryan smiles and kisses my forehead, “come on, let’s go for a walk.” I follow him out the side doors and we walk along the pathway, stopping at the gazebo.

“I have a feeling you planned all of this.”

“do you always have to ruin the moment?”

I laugh, “sorry. I’ll shut-up now.”

“Good.” He wraps his arms around me, “cause we’re going to dance.”

“There’s no music, Ryan.” I point out.

“that’s never stopped us before.”


“Okay, now that your hair is done,” Terry says, “we’re going to head off to clothes.”

I groan, “shopping?”

Terry grabs my hand, “yes, and you’re going ot enjoy it damnit.”

I smile and follow him out to the awaiting limo.

After hours of ‘no’, ‘yes’, ‘eh’, and ‘maybe’, I had about a bigillion new outfits. Though I had yet to see my new make-over. Which I was quick to learn, wasn’t finished.

“I woke up this morning and played our song. Throwing away my tears, I sang along.”

“Let’s go to the beach today.” Ryan offers, lying in bed with me.

I roll over onto my stomach, “sure, if you want to.” I answer, “should we invite others along?”

Ryan pulls me closer so that I’m on top of him, “I want you all too myself today.”

“So no?”

“No.”

“Okay, let me go chance.” He doesn’t move, “Ryan, that includes you letting go of me.” He pouts but releases me from his tight hold. I hop out of bed and walk over to the closet, digging out my swimsuit and beach clothes.

When I finished, Ryand I decided on taking the Jeep to the beach. The radio turns on when the car starts and Ryan pulls out of the driveway.

We stayed silent for the majority of the car ride, just listening to music. A song came onto the radio and Ryan didn’t waste a minute to start singing along. I recognized it as “Crazy for a Girl,” by Evan and Jason.

When it finished Ryan turned to me, “That’s gonna be our song.” He says.

“You’re kidding, right?” He shakes his head no, “that really only describes half of the relationship, unless you have something to tell me.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it. I’m a girl.”

I laugh, “you actually said that with a straight face!”

“Well, that’s because it’s true. Duh!”

“Fine, you win, it can be ‘our’ song. Though I must say that is way too cliché.”

“but cliché is the best!”

“We done yet?” I asked, bored out of my mind.

“We’re barely started girl.”

“So no?”

Terry laughs and shakes his head, “not even close.” I groan, “we’re going to get you a tan.”

“But that increases your chance of-” I start to argue my reasons against it but he just shushes me.

“Nope, don’t even think about talking about that.”

I cross my arms and start to follow him, “fine.”

“But I remember the simple things, I remember ‘til I cry.”

I was sitting at the lunch table alone today. My best friend, Zeal, has been home sick for the past week. She’s the only girl I’ll even think about talking to.

“Hey,” someone says, taking the seat next to me. I look up and recognize the person a Ryan Richards. Everyone who was anyone knew who Ryan Richards was. And Ryan Richards was not someone who should be sitting next to me.

“um, hi.” I was a first grader and Ryan was in third grade. A whole two years older than me. So why would he be talking to me?

“why are you sitting here by yourself.”

“I’m obviously not by myself. You’re sitting here.”

Ryan smiles and pulls out his lunch, “touché.” I look at him confused but don’t question it. “Want a soda?”

“um, sure.” He pulls out two sodas and hands one of them to me.

It was a Blue Sky


I look down at my skin and am still feeling surreal. My very pale skin is very not pale.

“What’s next?” I ask, focusing my attention now to Terry.

“Mani’s and Pedi’s!” He says excitedly.

“I’m so glad my grandmother is paying for this.” I mumble.

Terry smiles, “me too.” He says, “but before that, we’re going to get some lunch.”

Just on cue my stomach growls, “works with me!” I lighten up. Food sounded so good right now.


“My biggest regret, the one thing I wish to forget, the memory I want to forget, is goodbye.”

I packed up my suitcase with everything I could get into it. This was it, this was the end. I had to start over somewhere else where they couldn’t find me. Where no one could find me. With my parents in jail, and probably a couple years in prison, I was now in the hands of the government, and that’s now where I wanted to be.

I flick off the light to the apartment and lock the door, silently walking down the stairs. Everything was put into my car that I could fit and I drove off. Before leaving town though, I had to drop something off to Ryan.

Earlier I had re-wrapped the photo of us on his couch and tucked two letters in with it. I couldn’t face him, couldn’t tell him the truth. And beyond all means, he could find me. I parked on the street and walked up their lighted driveway, setting the package next to the door. A tear slipped down my cheek and splattered against the brown paper.

“Goodbye.” I whisper.


Terry guided me out of the dressing room, “so we’re not totally finished. I have a trainer for you to hire and then a nutritionist to help you with your diet. I also will give you a number for someone to teach you the ropes of being popular around school.”

“Who says I wasn’t popular before?”

“Popular by yourself, not by a boyfriend.” He stops me and I open my eyes, looking at the curtained covered mirror. “Okay, ready?” Terry asks. He was standing by the piece of cloth, that covered the mirror, waiting for me to tell him to pull it.

“Ready.” I say. I close my eyes and wait for thesound of the cloth hitting the floor.

When it dowst, I slowly open my and look at the stranger in front of me. My hair was short mid-neck short. It was blonde, bleached bright blonde, and curled. My skin wasn’t orange, but it wasn’t as pale as before. My clothing included dark skinny jeans, high heel boots, and an off the shoulder shirt. My make-up was light, but even that was more than I usually wore. I had on bright silver earrings that contrasted with my dark cclothes. My contacts were now blue colored, not just plain.

This was me. The new girl. The ‘perfect’ girl.

I was now the blonde-hair, blue-eyed, cheerleader that everybody either hated of loved.

Blue Sky Anastasia Reynolds didn’t exist.

Veronica Stilt did.