Metmorphosis: Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Vixen

Susan had helped the golden blonde put her hair in a tight, perfect French braid that ran down her back until it stopped down to her mid back. There were no words to describe how amazing Stella looked at that moment- A trench coat covering a nice light purple dress, with black dark gray leggings, and faux ankle boots. Susan had lent her one of her leather purses to borrow for the occasion. The occasion, however, was a once in a lifetime chance.

Having coffee with Sophie and her friends at the regular café down the block. She was so pumped. She could barely sleep the night before. The thoughts roamed around in her head. She and Sophie becoming great friends, Stella as Wendy one of the popular gals, getting a boyfriend, getting a date to the Christmas dance in late December. If this brunch went well, all of her dreams would come true.

Stella entered the café fifteen minutes early. She ordered a coffee with cinnamon and cream, which looked liked a leaf in the cup. She fidgeted in her seat, the clock not moving any quicker. Did they see her through the window and forget the appointment? Was she overdressed for the rainy day? Was she too precise because she got there early and Sophie decided to leave, since she wasn't into suck ups that got there on time?

"Hey, Stel," the natural redhead said.

She turned around and saw Kairi sitting at a table in the far back with one of her friends. A guy friend. Her eyes bolted all the way open. "Kairi!!" she shouted.

The hipster got up to go talk to her but was cut off from Wendy's big bear hug. "Hey," she embraced back. "I see you're still here in this small ass town,"

"Are you kidding?" she let go. "I couldn't leave this place yet! It's so cool. And the high school, Oh, my God, the high school. It's…fabulous!"

"I wouldn't say fabulous," she admitted.

"I call it six hours of freaking torture," Kairi's friend said.

"You can say that again," she nodded. "Wen, this is Shane. My best friend," she told her. "Shane, this is Wendy. The cute blonde I met at the Halloween bash, remember?"

"Oh," he blushed. "Yeah, hi," he waved.

"Hi," she smiled.

"How long have you been here, in Kenton?" he asked.

"Wow, it's been a long time. Probably…a month, a month and a half?" she answered, unsure.

"Come sit with us," Kairi said, pulling her arm.

"Oh, um, I," she frowned, looking at the time. Sophie was going to be there in ten whole minutes. Maybe just for a little bit then she could hang out with her. "Okay," she nodded.

"What…is that?" she pointed to Stella's drink.

"Uh, coffee,"

"It has a leaf in it," Kairi kept observing it like it was an experiment in marine biology.

"It's cream," she said. "Here, try it," she pushed it in front of her.

"As much as I would love to, Stel," she said to her friend. "I'll pass. I've got my own caffeine. I'm good…for about four hours," he laughed.

"I'll give it a shot," Shane said, grabbing Stella's cup. He touched her hand for a second before the both shot back, like a shock of static. He took a slip, his eyes bolted up, cream on his upper lip.

They laughed. "Got milk?" Kairi asked, giddily.

"Smile!" Stella got out her digital camera and clicked the button, making a blinding flash.

"How do I look? Amazing?" he snickered.

"Ha-ha," she giggled. "You could say that," she nodded, with a slight flush on her face.

Shane was, oddly enough, beautiful just like his best friend, Kairi. Carmel, golden hair with a touch of honey. It was scruffy and shaded his eyes at times, and went down to his shoulders, and could easily be put into a ponytail to reveal those brown eyes. But those eyes, God, looked so perfect. They also had a shade of green in them. There weren't exactly a hue of hazel but were close to it. He worse a nice burgundy shirt that showed part of his shoulder. His pants had purposely made holes. He had on not too worn down but not exactly brand-new navy converse shoes.

He was an angel.

"So, how long have you guys known each other?" Stella questioned, making conversation.

"Oh, God," she said. "It's been too long. Like, since we were four or five-years-old."

"Wow," she awed.

"We're like brother and sister," Kairi stated.

"We could never be lovers," Shane mentioned.

"I, um," Stella blushed. "I would have never guessed you guys would actually, you know, go out,"

"Probably 'cause I'm not into disco sticks," she folded her arms across her chests, sipping her own drink that looked like it had too many calories.

"Excuse me?" she angled her head, confused.

Shane butted in, "Kairi's lesbo,"

"Oh," Stella said. "I never knew," she said.

"Yeah, people aren't sure at first since we're always together," she put her arm around his shoulders.

"I think it's so cool that you guys are friends. Best friends." Stella admitted. "It's hard to have a guy friend you can actually call friend, not your lover…or crush." She reddened.

"God, I know, right?" Kairi nudged her. "There was a rumor last year that we slept with each other,"

"Really?" she asked. "That must've been horrible. I mean, you guys are just friends. You'd never do that, right?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Kairi sounded frustrated.

"C'mon, Kai," Shane scowled. "Don't be cold,"

She rolled her eyes. "We wouldn't do that, Stel, trust me. I've always made sure of that," she twitched. "Crap. I'll be right back. I need a smoke," she got up and left the café, leaving them there.  

"It's not that I don't find her attractive, it's just that I could never see us together," he said to the blonde.

"Okay, I think I get it now," she smiled. "It sounds like my family, a lot to be honest,"

"Really?" he was confused, majorly.

"Oh, ha," Stella had to remind herself that was an orphan again. "My brothers and sister and I aren't related. We're orphans, so you'd think we'd have that attraction toward each other but we don't. We just look out for each other, that's all," she explained.

"I'm sorry," he confessed.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's no big deal," she half-smiled. "I like my current family than my last one,"

"Oh," he looked down into his lap. "Does Kairi know that?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "This is the second I've seen her. We met at that Halloween party. I didn't actually think I'd see her again. But, you know, here we are,"

Shane blinked. "I see," he touched his chin. "So what did you think of that party, by the way?"

"It was awesome," she nodded. "I don't go to parties like those often, so it was fun to go to one of them. Plus, it was one of my brother's birthday and we couldn't say no to Jesse," she laughed.

"So I've heard," he grinned, hearing about her brother.

"Did you go to the party?" her golden eyes shined.

He gawked, and then came back to reality. "Uh, for, like, an hour. It wasn't one of the best parties of the year hosted by Sophie and her 'friends.'"

"Really?" Stella asked. "It was amazing. The music, the costumes everyone wore, the…games," she blushed.

"Games?" he tilted his head in misunderstanding.

"I played my first game of spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven," she beamed with joy, still remembering that night like it was yesterday.

"You don't say?" he stopped drinking his coffee, it almost coming out of his mouth.

"It was pretty cool, if you ask me," she took a loose piece of her hair and twirled it around her finger. "The guy I landed out was really nice,"

"Uh-huh," Shane was extremely nervous, for some reason.

"What did you go as?" she inquired him.

"Huh? Oh, I was, uh, myself," he answered, jumpy.

"That's…cool?" she wasn't sure how to respond. "Well, it might be a cliché, but I was a princess. A dress, glove, tiara, the whole shebang,"

"She looked like a million bucks, dude," Kairi kicked his chair, coming back inside.

"You think so?" Stella was anxious. "'Cause if Sophie saw me there, I'd just die,"

"Why? You looked great,"

"My make-up was a wrong shade of fuchsia and it clashed with my dress," she hid her face.

"But…your dress was pink," she stated. "And what does it matter if Sophie doesn't like your make-up? She's a bitch,"

"Oh, ah,"

Kairi's gaze grew strong, trying to dig into her eyes and find the truth. "You're here to be accepted by her, aren't you?" she wasn't happy.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out like she had planned. She nodded yes, in defeat. It was all over now. She knew it.

"She's the cruelest person alive, Stel," Kairi clarified. "If she wasn't student president and have 'people' we'd probably be the coolest and the great. Okay, I know I sounded a little conceited right now, but it's the truth. Or at least I think it is."

"You're just pissy 'cause you didn't win the presidency, riiiight?" Shane snickered a bit.

"You seem to forget about the rumor, dumbass,"

Stella pieced all the clues and evidence together in a snap. She had always been good at problems and, of course, gossip. "Sophie started the rumor, didn't she?"

"Yep," he answered. "The jocks kept giving me high-fives for a whole two weeks. It was so weird to hear that I banged my 'sister.'"

"I'll say," she agreed, moving a large clump of red hair out of her face.

Even after all of the craziness she encountered, the ten minutes were up. It went by fast, but she was having fun so that was a legitimate reason why. She was with friends, people she wanted to be with in the first place. Now that Stella go the real info on what really does happen in the interior of Kenton High, thanks to the lovely Sophie, she knew one thing for sure.

"So when are they showing up, Stel?" Kairi asked.

"Any second now," she nodded. "Um, well, actually, I was thinking, if you guys aren't busy we could-?"

"Bail? Please tell me you want to bail," she was all up in her face.

"You read my mind," she laughed.

"I'm up for it," Shane smiled, gathering his satchel.

"Who's game to go to the park?" the hipster got up, grabbing her phone and cigarettes.

"Right behind you," Stella said, while dumping her empty cup into the trash can.

They exited together, interlocking their arms together. Kairi in the middle of them, Stella on the left, and Shane on the right. They were ideal to some of the people passing by. They looked like perfect beings that even Sophie couldn't take the place of. Stella's pale skin and golden blonde hair was irreplaceable. Kairi's hyper, crazy attitude and punk rocker chic couldn't be found anywhere else in the entire world. And you couldn't forget Shane. Even though he was the quiet one, he still made an impact. Boy or girl, it didn't matter. What did matter, to them, was the shocked and horrified expression on Sophie's airbrushed face.

"Hey, Soph," Kairi put an arm around her, giggling. "Whassup?"

"What's up?" she was infuriated. "Wendy, I thought we had plans?" her hands were on her hips.

"Yeah, ha, funny story," she grinned, showing her pearly whites. "So I heard that rumor you spread about my friends here, and how it pretty much destroyed their reputation as friends. I know, crazy, right?"

"Wen, it's a little more complicated than it seems," she touched her shoulder. "Come with me to the café. We can talk about all of this,"

"I'm not falling for any of your word tricks," she scowled at her. "You're nothing but a lifeless, heartless, harsh…witch!" she shouted.

Sophie had a look of emptiness in her aqua eyes. No one ever stood up to her like that, expect Kairi. Now, it was that hipster spreading the disease to the blonde. And what a blonde. She had nice, perfect, straight hair that shined in the sun. Pretty golden eyes that made you smile when you glanced at them. Pale skin that regarded to be so delicate. And what did she have? Nothing. Nothing but frizzy black hair if not flattened for an hour and a half. Blue eyed contacts, which veiled her boring, icky hued brown eyes. Her skin wasn't exactly the greatest either. She got a spray on tan every other week; overlook doing natural tans in the sun. She burned easily.

"You'll regret saying that," she turned around, her voice sounding scratchy.

"My girl Wendy isn't afraid of you!" Kairi announced. "She's the bravest person I know,"

"You don't know what I can do," she warned them. All of them.

"Trust me I've seen some scary things, Sophie. You're not on the list. You're harmless, really,"

"Harmless? I'm not harmless. I'm a heartbreaker, a dream crusher, a…a…"

"Bitch," the red head murmured. "Oh, sorry, I really shouldn't mumble. Do I need to repeat myself?"

Stella realized that Sophie was no different from her other mortal enemies. Cold, heartless, lifeless. It was just another challenge she had to face in this angel mission. Thankfully, with the help of her new friends, the friends she came to love in the matter of ten minutes, she conquered the trial. With flying colors. Sophie learned something that day. She was a joke. A joke that didn't deserve the spotlight or the friends she had earned with the popular gig…or the boyfriend. That she stole from her very best friend, in the entire world. But she let Kris slip out of her hands.

And for once in her so-called beautiful life, she knew how Kris felt. It was a surprising feeling, but at least she understood what she was going through. The loneliness, the solitude.

Wendy was going to pay for this. One way or anything. Mark Sophie's tactless, tear causing words.