Together through it all

2.Chapter one: Rihanna Hernandez

Rihanna stood in the middle of her closet the size of a smaller room. Amelia, El and Benji were sitting on the bed in her room. They watched Ria try on outfit number ninety. "I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely sick of it. I've probably tried every possible variation of what I have in my closet," she said as El, Benji, and Amelia eyed her in a striped skirt and black long-sleeved top sleeve... "I think you should let me in there to see what you're hiding from us. Or should I ask who?" Benji spoke up. "Fine, but if you come across something weird, I'm probably not wearing it..." Benji didn't hesitate and started searching Rihanna's closet. He looked like the day he walked into the Coco Channel store for the first time. "So," El began, "how are you feeling about your date?"
"Eleanor, it's not a date, it's a meeting I have to go to because of Theo..."
"I have it! I found something that Lucas will love!" Benji shouted from the closet. He walked back into the room with a huge hat on his head and a feather sash around his neck and a designer belt around his waist. He threw a black knee-length dress and designer burgundy heels on the bed full of clothes. He quickly ran back into the Dressing Room and returned with a burgundy purse and a statement fake necklace. "So dear Ria, get dressed quickly so El and Amelia can help you with your hair." He said. "What's wrong with my hair?"
"Nothing, it's just your hair and neither of us wants you to have a bird's nest on your head..." He stuffed her clothes, shoes and accessories into her hands. She reluctantly closed herself in the wardrobe so she could finally change out of her pajamas into something else. "Which idiot invented a dress with a sewn-in corset???" she mumbled so that it echoed throughout her room. After about five minutes, she put on her outfit and a completely different woman came out of the wardrobe. She no longer looked like Rihanna, but more like Rhiannon. Because that was one of her many nicknames. "Whew," Amelia said in surprise. "What's wrong?" Ria asked.
"No," El began, "you just look different than we're used to. Most of the time you wear jeans and t-shirts or baggy pants..."
"Guys we only have an hour until her date!" Benji shouted in alarm. "You better get moving if I'm not going to be late."
El pulled Ria's hand, sat her in a chair, and together with Amelia, they started working on her hair and a little diet makeup. So just some matte lipstick and mascara. Rihanna was constantly fidgeting in the chair and the ladies who were doing her makeup and hair were rather annoyed... "Okay, and we're finally done. You can go look in the mirror," said Amelia, wiping the old pink lipstick from her white t-shirt. Ria stood up to get a better look at her friend's work. "WOW," she said, stroking herself in the mirror in the middle of the closet. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was her, but in a slightly different version of herself. Better? Not even close. Prettier? Maybe a little, but even so, natural beauty is the most important thing for her, and that's why she uses almost no make-up.
And in addition, it causes quite serious skin problems for her. "Still, I think it would be better to go to the meeting in jeans and a crop top," she said after taking a moment to soak in her new temporary visage. Suddenly her cell phone lit up. She got a message from Lucas: "Hey, I'm on the way. I'll come for you in about ten minutes." She read it out loud to her friend before adding, "If anything goes wrong, just be there. Hang out at the bar across the street and if you see things going very badly, please come to my aid." They all nodded in unison. "Have a good time!" she ushered them out to go forward in case of emergency. "Don't forget to put on that expensive perfume!" El shouted after her, but it was too late because Ria slammed the door right in front of her face. She did as El advised her. She borrowed the three hundred euro perfume from her mother. She didn't know what to do. Her hands were throbbing like jelly from the stress.
Why was she so knocked up when she didn't like him? Maybe she was just afraid that something would go wrong and she would embarrass herself like that in front of the whole school. She was pulled from her thoughts by the screeching of a motorbike braking. A few seconds later she heard the doorbell ring.
"I'm going!" she shouted. She quickly adjusted her hair in the mirror. Its cherry-red strands fell in her face. (And yes, she has dyed her hair red...) She opened the door. In front of them stood Lucas. A six-foot-tall guy with with black hair and brown eyes. He is considered the most handsome boy in their entire school. He was holding a huge bouquet of burgundy orchids. BEAUTIFUL BURGUNDY ORCHIDS. "It reminds me of your hair. It's just as interesting," he said with a smile on his face. He handed the bouquet to her. "Wow. Thank you, I really appreciate it. Give me a moment to put them in a vase of water,"she said with a sweet smile on her face. Until now, she thought that this kind of smile she has on her face is fake, but it is not. It's actually a real smile. The one she can't control.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she almost forgot what she was doing and almost put the flowers in the pot on the hot plate. She quickly turned it off and placed the flowers in an empty vase, which happened to have water in it. She turned back to Lucas. She went out on the porch. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He smiled and said, "Can we go?"
"Sure." They walked closer to the motorcycle parked in the driveway. He helped her put the helmet on her head. He sat down first. He waited for her, but she just stood there like a total primitive idiot. I mean, she didn't know what to do. She quickly sat behind him, so it wouldn't look weird. She held him around the waist. He might have been wearing a helmet, but deep down she could feel how much he smiled. After a few interestingly awkward minutes, they left in front of her house. They probably drove all over town until they stopped in front of the most famous bar in England. Rendy's bar. Through the glass window of the bar, you could see that it was almost full. "Don't worry, I managed to book us a table," Lucas said as he took off his helmet.
He shook his head from side to side like a horse to air out his hair. Ria only now realized that she was looking directly at him. She quickly looked down at the ground and stepped forward straight to the bar. Lucas followed her. He hurried past her to hold the door open for her. "Up to you," he said with a smile on his face. She walked through the door. She found herself in the middle of a loud room. "Hello. You must be Mr. Salinger. Follow me, please," the waiter walked up to them. He led them through the entire bar to the most beautiful table. Different from the others. It was not metal, but wooden. In the middle of it were three roses. One red, the second yellow and the third pink. Ria and Lucas sat down. The waiter placed an offer of drinks in front of them. "So, what would you like," he asked, pen and notepad in hand. "I'd like a Long Island Ice Tea," Lucas and Ria said at the same time. "So it's going to be Long Island Ice Tea for both of you?"
"Yeah," Lucas said before Ria could open her mouth. The moment the waiter left, Lucas spoke up again, "I didn't know you liked relatively stronger drinks."
"And I didn't know that Theo is an even bigger idiot than I always thought."
"What?"
"Sorry, I thought we were just saying the first words that came to mind."
"OK. So, if we're just saying the first words that come to mind, you look very different today..."
"For better or for worse?" she asked.
"I don't even know myself. I have a feeling that this visage doesn't really suit you..."
"Tell me one reason why?" her pressure slowly but surely began to rise. It was because she had been choosing this outfit together with her friends for perhaps three hours. She was brought out of her thoughts when the waiter brought their drinks in front of them.
"Hey Rihanna, don't take it bad, but you look better going to school every day. You are you and that's just the way it is, but this is definitely not your real self. It seems to me just like a mask, forwhich you hid so you wouldn't feel weird because they think I'm the most handsome boy in school."
With these words, he cornered her.  She almost choked on her drink.  All the alcohol burned her throat as she coughed.  It sounded similar to the cough of an old smoker.
"Ria? Are you okay?"  Lucas asked.  He had never called her Ria before.  He always called her only Rihanna or only occasionally Hanna.  She was quite surprised. She was quite surprised.  "Yes I am, I just didn't expect you to be able to read minds..." He laughed. "You're not. I just noticed that you don't feel comfortable with it.
“Hmm… My aunt was right when she told me I couldn't shapeshift.
"But on the other hand, you're honest, but in a good way." A smile crept onto his face. She smiled too as she sipped her drink through a straw. At first she thought this so-called date was going to be a total flop, but in the end she quite liked it. They gradually found their way to each other and talked about typical things, but also about philosophical questions.  One hundred percent it was because Rihanna drank four glasses of the same drink as at the beginning.  It lasted a total of three and a half hours, and poor Ria was drunk under the image of God.  "Hey," she hiccupped for a moment, "yes you. I'd like one more drink," she said pointing to the empty glass. "Ria, don't you think you haven't had enough today?"
“No, why is Theo here?  He's not here!  He's the only one who doesn't always let me drink properly..."
"I think I understand why..." He looked at her worriedly. She tried to stand up but fell to the ground. She was too numb to know what to do with herself. Lucas took off his sweatshirt with a t-shirt underneath. He helped her stand up. "Put it on please. I can't bear to see you wearing a summer dress in the winter..."
"But I'm not cold!"
"Then that's your problem," he said as he explicitly dressed her in his sweatshirt... "Sit down for a moment.  I have to go pay."
"And shouldn't we have split the bill?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
"Rather not.  You would probably buy shots for the whole bar."
Within five minutes they were out of the bar.  They found themselves in the middle of the parking lot.  Lucas didn't know what to do because he already had too much alcohol in his blood to drive a motorcycle.  He took out his mobile phone from his pocket.  He dialed Theo's number.  "Hello?  Is something wrong Lucas?" came from the other end.
"Nothing, just your best friend got drunk again in my presence."
"I get it.  I'll be there in ten minutes.  Bye.”
“Bye.” They both hung up at the same time.