Punks Don't Wear Prada

My nose itched from all the chemicals in the dye; my head ached from holding it steady as to prevent my soaked strands glumped together from falling. My ears rang from the horrible music still pounding out of the speakers.

"How much longer?" I whinned at Jane, who was reading some vampire romance; I could tell from the cover of the book. There was a tall, handsome man with white fangs hanging out of his mouth, and a beautiful, midevial woman with a hand to her forhead, looking at the vampire from the corner of her eyes.

"Two minutes," She said, without looking up. She turned a page.

I sighed. I've sat on the back of this toilet for nearly an hour now; did I mention that my butt was even sore?! My stomach was fluttering. I've never dyed my hair before -and why would I? I have -had- the prettiest blond hair ever! I had the color that some women only dream about; or that some women paid thousands of dollars on in the course of a lifetime!
These thoughts basically got me through the now whole hour. While applying the dye, Jane had hardly said anything, other then saying that no, she didn't have a cosmetology licence but she did have a tattoo licenses and a piercing licenses. She doesn't work at any tattoo parlors, though, because her mother didn't think that it was a good career to get into, which she didn't say until after she finished school. She's twenty-two years old and she lives with her boyfriend, Richard. Oh, and, if you laugh and say, "Dick and Jane!" She'll probably accidently tug at your hair. So don't say that.

"Has it been two minutes yet?" I sighed, tugging at a loose thread.

"Yeah." She stood up and stretched her legs.

"Thank God!" I exclaimed, and smiled happily before hopping off the toilet.

"Where are we gonna rinse my hair off?"

"In the toilet."

" What?!" I exlcaimed, this time not happy.

"Just kidding. Over here," She gestured to the sink.

"Ha, ha."

"Flip your head," She instructed me, and I flipped it upside down, hitting my cheek on the faucet.

"Careful!" She bossed, not out of concern, but probably just because she wouldn't want to be held responsible for an injury. Then she turned on the water and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Her long fingers ran through my hair, trying to get out all the stinky dye.
I could see some of my strands; they were a murky brown color.

"Looks like we might have to apply another coat," She sighed.

"NO! This'll do," I said, firmly.

"Fine," She agreed.

After a good ten minutes she allowed me to flip my head back up.
She took a vibrant pink towel and started to dry my hair, rubbing it fiercly.

"Here, I'll do it," I took the towel from her and rubbed gently, ignoring her scoff.

I lifted the towel to see some dark water prints on it. She handed me a hairbursh and I tugged it through my hair.

"Do you have any mouse?" I asked her; she rolled her eyes.

"I'll take that as a 'no'", I smiled.

I handed her back the hairbrush and turned to the mirror.
I gasped.
My hair was only a few shades lighter than Janes; under the top layers were a few strands of electric blue high lights.

"When did you put in the blue?!" I shrieked, tugging at the strands.

"I had it in my hand all along," She shrugged, and exposed a blue coloring bottle.

"...Oh..." I didn't really know what to say.

"You know, it doesn't look too bad!" Jane said.

"You're right, it... it doesn't" I agreed, then said, "I wonder what other colors I could pull off!"
Jane rolled her eyes.

"Okay, sit back down," she said, and pulled out a pair of sissors.

"Heck no! Cutting wasn't on the co- wasn't part of the deal!" I almost told her about the contract!

"So?" She shrugged, and smiled evily.

"NO way," I shook my head.

She gave up. "Fine."

"It's time for wardrobe," She said bossily, trying to cover up her listening to me.

"Okay," I agreed.
My Abricombie and Fitch shirt did look kind of strange next to my new hair.

"Hang on," I said, "I"ve got to...use the girls' room."
Jane nodded and walked out.
Locking the door behind her, I whipped out my cellphone and started texting a message to Emma.

Me: where r u guys?!

Emma: we r at the food court. did u get some help?

Me: yeah, no thanx 2 u!

Emma: srry! so what did they do?

Me: u'll see!

Emma: when? josh says hi

Me: hey bby! soon!

Emma: fine.

Me: bye!

And I snapped my phone shut.

Jane was helping a costumer, so Jared walked over to me alone.

Damn!" he exclaimed, and shoved a knuckle in his mouth to hold back laughter.

"Stop it!" I giggled, and punched him in the shoulder. He held to it as if I really hurt him, his eyes flashed playfully under his bangs.

"Do you ever get sick of your hair falling into your eyes?" I asked, and almost melted when he flicked them casually back with a large hand.

"Nope," He smiled, and watched the costumer exit the store.

"Ready Jane?" He asked her.

"I guess." Jane said, and walked over to the band tees.

"AC-DC or the Used?" She asked, holding up two black shirts.

"AC-DC!" Jared cried. I remembered the shirt he was wearing when I first saw him.

"The Used it is," Jane said, and tossed it to me.

"Black or white?" She asked him again, this time comparing converse shoes.

"White," I said.
"Black!" Jared said, and pointed to his own black high tops.

"White it is," Jane said, and tossed the shoes to me.

"Wow, you listened to me!" I giggled.

"No, I didn't. Black's getting to be too common." She growled.
Wow.

It went like this for the next two hours: Jane would compare two things and for the most part, ignored Jared and mine's input.

Then I was shoved into a dressing room and I had to try on everything.
They hissed and booed whenever something looked bad; they clapped and wolf-whistled whenever something looked good.
For the rest of the day they decided that I should wear this black tanktop with "Weezer" written over it, acid washed and destressed skinny jeans with the white chucks (which Jared took outside and 'broke them in', so they were now a sort of off-white color), a bright green headband, and this dark grey messanger bag. They took my old clothes and threw them away.
The new bag held all the things from my old purse, though.
Jane used my brown eyeliner to thickly coat my top and bottom lids, giving me a 'cat eye' (as she said) look.
"You'll need to buy some black," She told me, and then tossed the liner in the garbage.
I didn't tell her that the liner had costed me nearly twenty bucks.

"Uh...Jane?" I asked after she was finished wiping away my pink lipgloss.

"Yes?"

"Could you pierce my face?" I asked, timidly. For the first time since I'd been here, she laughed. It sounded like little bells were being rang. I started to laugh, too, and Jared quickly joined in.

"Sure," She agreed, and went to the employee's room. She returned with a little kit filled with needles.

"What do you want?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "Something on my face, but I have to be able to hide it from my parents."

"Well, that basically leaves a septum piercing."

"What's that?"

"Right here," She squeezed the flap between her nostrils.

"A bull ring?!" I Shreiked.

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"...Does it hurt?"
"I don't know. I've been told that it itches," She shrugged again.

"Just...whatever. I'll be able to flip it up, right?"

"Right," She agreed, and layed the pink towel on the bathroom floor.
I layed down on it, and Jared sat down cross legged next to me. Jane put on gloves.
Then she cleaned my nose with some sort of stinky smelling stuff, then got out a large needle. Jared looked at it aprehensively.
It was very odd having Jane's fingers in my nose.

"I've got to make sure I don't hit a nerve," She explained, massaging my septum.

"What if you do?"

"You could die instantly," She informed me, before picking up the needle and shoving it through my nose.
It hurt -really bad, and tears started to drip out.
She quickly pulled out the needle, leaving some hard plastic tube in.
Through the tube she pushed through a pink metal ring, then she rolled a ball onto one end.
Jared looked away the whole time until Jane declared, "Finished!"
I wiped away the tears, then ran to the mirror.

And finally, I was done.
I wasn't me anymore.

I paid them for helping and I paid for the clothing.

Then I exited the store in search for my friends.