Mr. Sims, the principal and also a very close family friend, stared at me, mouth slightly agape, after I had finished my proposal. "You're saying that you want to be taken out of the school system and to re-enroll, pretending to be someone else?"

          I nodded, as if it is simple and could cause no harm, "For research purposes of course. My grades could go under my name but all the students would merely not know it was me."

          He nodded, as if processing this information, "How do you plan on pulling it off?"

          I shrugged, aiming for nonchalant, "I'll tell my friends I have to go to my dad's place up in Seattle. Then I'll get a new look and adopt a popular girl attitude." I bit my finger nails as I went along, "The only part left is getting into school, which I was hoping you could help me with."

          He stared at me, long and hard, before replying, "I suppose you could do this as it is for a project. Make sure you keep your grades up and do not cause any disruptions. Remember though, it's your classmates you will have to deal with if you mess up. I didn't hear a thing about it."

          I squealed gleefully and tackled him in a hug, "Thank you!"

          The middle aged man unpeeled my fingers and straightened his navy tie, "Remember I'm still your principal so no hugging. Now get to class, Kali." I felt ecstatic as I strode down the long, dull colored hallways, practically jumping with joy. Calculations that would make all my algebra teachers proud flew through my brain. I analyzed every piece of information; I would have to make sure everything was perfect if I was to pull this off. 

          I hadn't even realized I had reached my history class before I was standing face-to-wood with the door. All necks snapped up from the movie they were watching as I slipped silently through the room and to the teacher. Whispers broke out when I handed my teacher my pass. I didn't bother to question what they were talking about; I wouldn't be surprised if the whole school knew about my brawl with Brianne at lunch. The joke's on them though, they won't even realize what hit them.
 

*

          “Ugh, I’m really going to miss you, Kali.” Jackson mumbled into my shoulder.

          “Bring me back a t-shirt.” JB pointed at me, a small, sad smile creeping onto his lips. I finished hugging the guys, adding in promises of texts and calls every day, before waving halfheartedly. It was hard to lie to them but if they knew they would talk me out of it or mess up the secret.

          My next stop was the mall. My current look is what you would probably call some-what tomboyish. I wore jeans or shorts and baggy tees with hoodies if it was cold, matched with sneakers. That isn’t exactly a style the popular people go for. To be one of them you must have perfect long hair , a flawless face (skin cream and makeup is always helpful) and girly clothes. Being a cheerleader was thankfully optional, though that seems to be just as stereotypical as the other requirements.

          With help from all the years of saving all my birthday money that I knew I would need at some point in my everyday teen life, I had just enough for a new wardrobe and hairstyle. My car is booked for a red paint job and it’s having the license plates switched tomorrow. This was happening to ensure that no one would recognize it, even though I would restrain from using the actual car. The last part is putting the plan into action. I pulled my cute, convenient car into an empty parking spot, a thing that seems to be extinct at this time, just outside the shopping center’s entrance.

          For the remainder of the school day I had checked out everyone’s clothes and wrote up a mental list of shops to go to. Hollister seemed to be high up on it so that was where I headed first. I had only gone in there a couple times when the guys wanted stuff from there; it sort of annoyed me the way it was so dark that you could barely see what you were buying, mixed with the loud music which pounds into your head. A brunette girl my age greeted me at the door, folding items neatly onto the wooden display tables.

          On instinct I headed to the sale items at the back of the store; the cheaper the clothes, the more I could get. Shuffling through the fabrics on the racks, I deemed some of the stuff not too bad, but maybe it was the lighting fogging up my mind. I piled things high in my arms ranging from casual to formal, a few bikinis thrown in the stack, and then marched toward the dressing rooms, careful not to send the clothes flying. A cute guy, not much older than me, winked and led me to one of the small stalls.

          I tried my best to ignore my usual sense of style as I denied and accepted items. By the end of it all I had more clothes than I’ve had in all my life. The employee working the checkout counter attempted to hide his smirk as he scanned the mountains I had dumped on the surface, “Did you find everything okay today?”

          I nodded absentmindedly as I raked through my purse for my wallet, “Yeah, thanks.” I had to resist shrieking out with joy when I finally located my money. The total bill came to about two hundred dollars and I gawked while handing him my debit card. This grade really better be worth it.

          "Have a nice day." I nodded and mumbled something unintelligent in reply before exiting the store. It felt like I was a vampire in the daylight when I emerged into the sunlight. Dumb, dark store.

          I shopped for a little while longer and by the time I was heading for the hairdressers, I was practically dragging along bags from Areopostale, Forever 21, American Eagle and several other shops I'd come across. The bell at the top of the see-through door dinged as I pushed it open. It was small in a cozy way and looked very modern. I stared at a weird looking cat statue on the desk while I waited for someone to come. 

          "Kind of creepy, isn't it?" I jumped when a voice rung out in front of me. The woman laughed at my startled expression, amused she had caught me off guard. I nodded after I recovered from the fright. "What can I do for you, Little Lady?" 

          I smiled at her easy way of talking, "I need a new hairstyle."

  "What type of style? I should be able to do it now seeing as its pretty empty in here." 

          I mumbled off a couple of things I might want as the lady led me to a little station, for with a TV was hung above the mirror. 

          "Alright take a seat and I'll start once I go get my supplies." I sat gingerly on the leather chair as she hurried into the back somewhere. My legs were aching; walking a lot and I don't exactly get along well. 

          She stood behind me, inspecting my hair. "Have you decided what you want done?"

          I thought back to nice styles I've seen before, "Okay how about layers, it thinned out and dyed dirty blond?" I tried to vision myself with that hair and subconsciously nodded, confirming to myself it would look okay.

          She smiled, lifting a chunk of hair. "All right. Good choice, blonde would look good with your amazing eyes." The woman sprayed my heavy nest, brushed it and started snipping and chopping, pausing every few seconds to check if it was even. Before long she was whisking me off before I could look at the result to wash my hair in a sink and pouring chemicals onto it. 

"Voila!" She exclaimed, shoving a mirror into my face.

          I felt my jaw drop to the floor. She was right, blonde looks good on me and the layering framed my face nicely. I looked almost.... beautiful. I shook my head unbelieving, that was the point wasn't it? To make me fit in with their type. "Thanks so much. It looks great. How much?"
The lady punched in some buttons on the cash register and the total flashed on the little bar. "One hundred and five dollars, twenty cents."

          I counted the bills which had been folded in my pocket before handing her one hundred and twenty, "Keep the change." She smiled at me as I gathered my bags, five on each arm.  She waved while I pushed the door open with my hip, ducking out of the small room. 

Step one complete.