The ring seemed to get shinier for a couple of seconds, and then went back to normal. Anna was confused, but realized she'd probably just imagined it. "Ah, whatever. Like magic's real to begin with, Papa..." she said, feeling at least a little better. In fact, she felt like she could skate a little now...
After an uneventful night of skating and tolerating her overly-chipper stepmom & stepsiblings, she had an average rest and woke up a half hour earlier than usual. That felt nice. "Guess I can try to make myself look less ragged with more time..." she mumbled groggily. She showered, singing old 90's punk songs to steel her against the usual experience that was high school. Afterwards, remembering she'd lost hers long ago, she borrowed her stepmom Jessica's hairbrush and painfully straightened out her messy hair. It did look better, though. "It's either time I started dealing with it, or time I get it cut, and I put 4 years into getting it this length, so..." She nodded. Her outfit today consisted of another white belly-tanktop, a black flannel shirt over it, a ripped up tartan skirt with the Dropkick Murphys logo on it (iron-on decals were useful like that), and her trusty kicks. There was still time to quickly fry and eat an egg, and grab her backpack and a can of Monster for the ride to school (she didn't like or need coffee as much as her dad and Jessica).
She realized after getting to the school parking lot that there had also been time to brush her teeth. "Eh, I did it last night. I'm good for now. Maybe I could bum some gum offa' somebody..." she rationalized. As she tried to look for someone she kind of liked, she quickly felt the presence of superiority, vindicativeness, and a overpriced "slutty" style of fashion. Oh, and its guy counterparts (pride, jealousy, and frattishness, maybe?). Quickly sitting on a bench and pulling out an assigned reading book to hide her face, she could hear that it was, in fact, Barbie Samson and her "beau" Ollie O'Rourke, the top of the pop-ular kids in her grade. Barbie's ego and shallow behavior felt odd for only the 5th best cheerleader at the school, but that was due to the other 4, as well as the rest of the squad, being actually decent people. Ollie O'Rourke, however, was justified slightly in being an overly-macho hair-gelled bro by being gianormous AND probably the best high school linebacker in the state. Anyway, Barbie was non-stop blathering as usual about drama, gossip, & occasionally herself (cough) while Ollie grunted, as any sane person would after listening in for 15 or so seconds, during her pauses for air. Anna liked that about Ollie. He at least tried to put up a caring front. Barbie on the other hand...
"OOO! Heeeey, DiSilva! Whatcha reading?" her sweet as syurp voice rang out as she pulled the book down from Anna's face.
Anna was caught. There was no way this could turn out well. She cleared her throat. "uh, i was just reading slaughterhouse-five for school. it's pretty good." Barbie's smirk tilted to a frown. Clearly, she wasn't expecting a response. "Jeez, DiSilva! Always obsessed with such violent shit! Ollie, can you beelieeve it?" Ollie had been taking the moment to chug some coffee out of the Starbucks cup in his right hand, and Barbie's mood only worsened the longer he took. "Well, yeah. I mean, baby, I didn't think that book was a waste like the usual school shit. I mean, the hero gets forced fo have sex with a movie star! That's pretty out there, right?" Barbie's face had began to flush with an unatural purplish shade that oddly complimented her hot pink "yoga pants/low-cut Lulu Lemon shirt" ensemble. "Oh. That's...totally...interesting, Ollie. Thanks for taking my side." Ollie shrugged. "Babs, I'm a man of principle. I gotta say what's true to me." Anna was really wanting to be somewhere else at the moment, no matter how nice it was that Barbie's boyfriend defended some skater chick he barely knew. "um, can i go to my locker now, Bar-". The force of Barbie's quick term was enough to cause wind to whip Anna somewhat hard in the face. "NO. YOU SIT YOUR LITTLE, RETRO, POOR, SKANKY ASS DOWN ON THAT BENCH. I AM NOT DOWN WITH LITTLE SMARTASS PUNKS LIKE YOU WHO THINK THAT THEY'RE HOT SHIT. NOT AT ALL...*hiccup*!" Barbie's tirade just seemed to come to a abrupt stop at first, but then something happened to her hair.
Barbie Samson had cute platinum blond hair done up into a high, hairsprayed & braided updo tied with a pink ribbon in the back (the girl liked her pink). However, if one were to really look at her hair's roots/eyebrows, they would see that Barbara Samson, in fact, had ebony hair like Snow White. Instantly, her hair once again became majorly dark, but she kept a stripe of almost white down the middle. Her hair then exploded out of her Pintrest-approved hair crown, leaving her with hair only slightly shorter than Anna's. It started to shift and rebraid itself into more of an attractively feminine pompadour with a mullet-style waterfall of excess hair hanging gleefully in the back. Barbie's excessive bright makeup was erased, and smokey eyeshadow and blush appeared instead, with bruise-like lipstick giving her an edgier look. Her tight pink clothing loosened into more of a faded and punkish, yet still pink, dirty tracksuit, with the slender "top of the pyramid/no, I don't have an eating disorder" body inside it bulking up to a level that made you think its owner enjoyed going to the gym daily. The result was an actual "pink nightmare" of a girl, whose body language became much more loose, to say the least
The girl that now stood in the place of Barbie Samson blinked a couple of times, coughed loudly, and pulled out a pack of Virginia Slims. "Hey Anna, you finally wanna drag, or are you still saving yourself for uncertain death?" To Ollie and Annie's awkward looks, she returned a half smile. "OK, takin' that as a no. Still up for skating later, beyotch?" Anna nodded slowly, amazed that magic apparently did exist. "Cool!" She patted her pockets. "Ollie, can I get a light?" Ollie pulled out a Zippo from his letterman's jacket. "Of course...Barbara?" The girl looked a little confused now too. "Yeah, that's my name, Big Man. Don't forget it again, I guess." She giggled menacingly. "Better get going to our lockers then..." stated Anna as she stood up an walked away. "See you later, Godiva Junior!" shouted Barbara, smoke drifting out of her mouth. Anna stopped, smiled, then slowed down to let Barbara catch up. "Jeez, I like Rapunzel better, Barb. That way, I can sing stupid shit, y'know?" Another harsh giggle. "You and your ideas of "singing" and "having a voice"...I'll never understand." Anna giggled too, and started to wonder, "What else could happen today?"