I'm not a popular girl | ✔️

Eleven - A whole new person

Zoë

Zoë stared into the mirror of Taylie's Salon, willing herself to not cry. As much as she trusted Carden, she couldn't bring herself to tell him the words that Alec had said. Words that pierced her heart. Words that made her not believe in herself.

You're such a disappointment, Zoë. I'm ashamed to be your father.

A lump of tears formed in her throat, threatening to choke her. She tried to swallow them but her emotions were going so crazy, they wouldn't let her.

Hormones caused problems.

Her emotions wanted to bubble over like a volcano and just explode.

But she couldn't. She had to be strong for her mother. She had to be the strong one.

The woman who was fluffing her hair, Taylie, met Zoë's eyes in the mirror. "Are you sure about this, Miss? I mean, I love your hair! It's super pretty."

Zoë nodded. She had been told to not make rash decisions her entire life. Rash decisions could hurt her and she couldn't undo them, but this.

This was showing Alec up.

If he didn't want to be seen as her father, then she was more than willing to be seen as just her mother's daughter.

"Do it, please. Do it before I change my mind."

The woman stared at her skeptically before grabbing the pink bowl on the counter filled with really light blonde hair dye. She raised the brush, dripping with dye, and asked one more time, "Are you sure about this?"

"Do it."

The woman grabbed a strand of brown hair and brushed the dye through, piles of tin foil crackling on the bench next to her.

Zoë closed her eyes. There was no going back now.

*****

People gasped as Zoë walked down the hallway at school. She looked like a completely new person and she was proud to be. She wasn't Alec and Amelia Flynn's daughter anymore. She was just Amelia's.

Her white blonde hair sat in beach waves that reached halfway down her back. The extensions were a good idea, they made her look older and more mature. She wore a white summer dress with pink and yellow flowers that dotted it. The dress reached to her knees to show off her natural tan. A brand new white backpack matched her white vans as she walked confidently into the commons.

Conversations paused for a moment as she walked by. Good. People were staring in shock and awe.

Even Chloe and her friends stopped to stare for a moment. The jocks on the stairs took a double take as she walked toward them.

"Okay, whoa," Andrew and Derek exclaimed at the same time. They gave each other side eyes that said why are we talking at the same time? We aren't friends.

Amber and Cal ran up to her, eagerly touching her hair.

"Since when?!" Cal exclaimed as she stared at Zoë's new attire. "You look...gorgeous? Beautiful? I don't even know what word to use to describe the beauty!"

"I think you mean she looks like a Queen!" Amber smiled. "You look absolutely beautiful! What made you decide on the change?"

"Umm, just a decision. I was tired of the brown hair. I needed a change." That was half true. "Where's Carden?"

Amber smirked. "So that's what this is all about."

Zoë pushed her playfully. "Hardly!"

Cam interrupted their argument before Amber could fire back with some sort stupid Zarden retort. "I think he said he was going to be late today. Today, well, lets just say it isn't going to be a good day for him."