Jiyong watched the small girl’s back disappear into the crowded cafeteria, her slim shoulders visibly shaking. He sighed to himself and plastered on fake smile before turning back to his table. The boy next to him began grumbling, going on and on about the girls in their school.

            “Oh my god, Kangin,” Jiyong sighed, “Shut up and go find yourself a girl to !”

            Kangin blinked at the fustrated blonde before huffing and stomping away from the table. A few of the others at the table turned their attention towards Jiyong as he swiftly stood up from his chair. He made his way through the crowd hoping to catch sight of the girl’s short hair.

            Minzy turned around the corner at the end of the hall and slammed into the bathroom door. She whimpered and pulled her glasses away from her eyes, the hard plastic rims digging into the bridge of her nose. The bathroom was mostly empty save a few girls caking on makeup who quickly left once she’d shuffled into the room.

            Stepping up to the wide mirror Minzy slowly dragged her glasses from her face and placed them on the counter. She balled her hands into a fist and dug them into her eyes hoping to stop the flow of tears.

            Why was he so mean, she hiccupped to herself and glanced at herself in the mirror, I know I’m not pretty but… I wasn’t asking him to go out with me. She blinked at her reflection, her eyes were turning red, she didn’t want to leave the bathroom for the rest of the day.  

            A good ten minutes after the late bell rang Minzy wiped away the last of her tears and poked her head out of the bathroom. Hopefully all but the troublemakers had made their way back to class and she could sneak away. But like everything else in her life, she had no such luck. A blonde roughly grabbed her hand and pulled her into the small corner of the hallway.

            “What do you want?” She whined and tried to pull her arm away, “leave me alone… I’ll stop bothering you.”

            The blonde growled and yanked the girl towards the school exit ignoring her protests and odd looks from teachers behind their classroom doors. Jiyong continued to pull Minzy until they made their way out of the school to his car. Minzy was pushed up against the cars sleek door as the blonde glared at her and motioned for her to get in.

            Minzy glared back at Jiyong and swiftly kicked him in the shin, “I am not a victim and you will not hurt me!” The short haired girl clenched her teeth at the blonde clutching his leg beside his car before running down the street towards her  house.

            Pushing the front door open with full force she stomped into the house and stopped in front of Seunghyun lazing on the couch. The older man stared up at her with his brow slightly raised as Minzy huffed until she calmed down.

            “You,” she breathed, “I hate your friends! You owe me… I need you to take me somewhere.”

            Seunghyun blinked at his sister and remained silent, Minzy stomped her foot impatiently prompting him to halfheartedly stand up and retrieve his keys.

            “Where are we going, baby girl?”

            “Don’t call me that,” Minzy snapped, “take me to that friend of yours… Kibum?”

            Seunghyun pouted, “you mean Key? Why?”

            Minzy furrowed her eyes and an evil expression swept across her face, “I need his help with something.”

            Seunghyun glanced sidelong at the young girl smirking beside him; it’d been a while since he’d seen his sister look so determined about something. He sighed and rolled his head back towards the front of the car trying to ignore the creepiness his sister was oozing.

            “You’re grossing me out,” Seunghyun grimaced.

            Minzy pursed her lips, “Shuttup. It’s all your friends fault. He’s a .”

            “Jiyong? What did he do?”

            “Can you not hear?” She glared at him, “He. Is. A. .”

            “Ooookay. I wont ask anymore… But he’s really not what he seems. You should try talking to him.”

            Minzy’s eyes narrowed into slits, she held the gaze until Seunghyun awkwardly broke contact and pulled into Key’s driveway.

            “Go away. I’ll call you when I need you to pick me up.”

            “Don’t you want me to at least introduce you…. And shes gone…” Seunghyun leaned back into his seat as Minzy slammed the car door shut. Minzy stepped up to the one story house and knocked on the door. A young, slender, blonde haired man opened the door and blinked at the small girl at his doorstep before raising a suspicious brow and glancing around.

            “Oh, you’re Seung’s sister?” He grinned spotting the man in the car at the end of his driveway. Key waved tentatively as the car backed out and disappeared down the street.

            “So,” Key smiled warmly, “what can I help you with, darling?”

            “I need you to change me. Well, my appearance.”

            Key rocked onto his hip and stared the girl up and down, “Sure. Mind my asking why?”

            “People are evil, insensitive little flesh monkeys…”

            “Boys… people of the male persuasion?”

            Minzy sighed and nodded, “I’m tired of being insignificant. I don’t want to be popular I just want to feel pretty and important. At least to myself.”

            “I understand,” Key stepped aside and let Minzy into the house, “how old are you now? I haven’t seen you since you were itty bitty.”

            “I’m sixteen.”

            “Ah, you’re the same age as my step-brother. I’ll introduce you to him later. What do you want to do first? Hair, clothes, make-up?”

            “Uh… Hair?”

            Key gently pulled on a lock of Minzy’s hair and pursed his lips, “Do I have full reign?”

            Nodding lightly Minzy was lead over to a small chair with a low back, “Alright, relax, it wont hurt… much,” Key grinned, “Kidding.”

            The blonde pulled out a sharp pair of shears and leaned down even with Minzy’s back. Key examined her hair; it was already pretty short and it suited her. He trimmed her hair slightly above her jaw and angled the cut slightly, moving around to her face he brushed a portion of her hair over her face cutting a messy length of bangs.

            Holding up a small mirror Key showed Minzy her new haircut, “Color?”

            “Whatever you think would be best.”

            “This way, my dear,” Key smiled and pulled her towards a large sink. Once the blonde had worked his magic he admired his work. The girls hair was dyed black with the faintest streaks of purple scattered throughout.

            The front door clicked shut and a boy with reddish hair skipped into the room. He scrunched up his nose, “ew, smells like peroxide.”

            “Well, yeah,” Key scoffed, “I did just dye someone’s hair.”

            The boy stared at Minzy, “you look familiar…do you go to school with me?”

            “Yeah, you’re in the drama club, right? I saw that play you were in last month. You were good.”

            “Aw, thank you,” he beamed, “I’m Taemin. You should come find me at school sometime.”

            He grinned and hopped into the next room only to pop his head back into the room, “your hair looks great by the way. Key’s amazing, am I right?”

            Taemin waved and disappeared into the back of the house. Smirking Key tapped the tips of his fingers together, “now, let’s teach you how to put on make up.”

            Minzy stifled a laugh, “you’re enjoying this more than I am.”

            He shrugged and plopped her down next to the kitchen table; “stay here. I’ll be right back.”

            Key shuffled out of the room and began banging around in the closet; he returned with an armful of makeup and the like. (first things first… I don’t know a lot about make up…. I know how to put on foundation, eyeliner, and eye shadow so forgive me if I mess up. I’ll just skip concealer in a very NON noticeable way -___^)

            “Okay,” Key sat down in the chair in front of her, “normally we’d put on concealer first but your face is very clear. You’re so lucky.”

            (See totally not noticeable.)

            “Next is eyeliner, then foundation and last eye shadow.”

            Minzy pursed her lips and stared at her reflection in the mirror; Key really was amazing. Her face was pale and clearer than normal, a thin line of smudged eyeliner pulled into a point at the corner of her eyes and very light purple eye shadow.

            “I like it,” she smiled at her reflection, “but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it this good.”

            “Just takes practice,” he winked at her, “why don’t you go grab Taemin and we’ll go shopping. If Seunghyun’s been buying your clothes you’ll need a whole new wardrobe.”

            Minzy snickered and wandered down the hall, “Taemin?” She paused in front of the living room door, “Key wants to know if you want to go shopping.”

            The red haired boy tipped his head over the arm of the couch, “sure- wow, you look great!”

            Minzy blushed, “thanks. So, shopping?”

            “Mmmm,” Taemin sighed, “I guess. And I say that with great reluctance, but I don’t want Key decking you out in something weird.”

            Minzy blinked, “T-that would be bad, right?”