Chapter 3:

During dinner, Kari told Rachel about her encounter with Peter and Kasha. Kari still hadn't seen Kasha anywhere which was nerve racking. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Kari tried to forget Kasha, but then thought about Peter. Wonderful Peter would truly never like her. She glanced around the dining hall, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Rachel, I think he wanted to ask me out," Mumbled Kari with a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Are you serious?" Rachel questioned concerned. She was busy tying her long red hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, I think so, but before he asks me I need to make sure that I look like one of the other girls he's dated. I can't go out with him the way I am!"

"Oh, you're right! Listen, my mom taught me some makeup tips and stuff like that, so maybe we could, oh, I don't know, give you a makeover?"

"Wow! You'd do that for me?"

"Sure! It's what best friends are for, right? Meet me in my room at twelve tonight after soccer tryouts." Rachel said excited.

"Oh shit, Rachel! Soccer tryouts, I completely forgot."

"Don't worry they are at seven."

Kari finished eating deep in thought. She secretly doubted Rachel could make her as good looking as everyone else. Her medium brown hair was split at the ends and so curly you could barely tell that it had been brushed.

When Kari entered her dorm room to get ready for soccer, Whitney was there with a guy she recognized as Connor Roy. They were flirting madly. She quickly grabbed a sports bag she had hidden under her bed and went to go change in the public restrooms. As she was getting changed, she heard two girls enter whispering. Kari wasn't paying attention until she heard her name mentioned. Immediately she stopped putting on her shin guards and froze. It was Kasha and some other girl. She peered through the crack in the bathroom stalls and saw them with soccer gear on, loading makeup on their faces by the mirror.

Suddenly Kari began to shake. She hadn't played soccer for a few years. What if she was horrible compared to them? Worst, what if she didn't make the team?

Luckily, the two girls left. Kari knew they had been talking about her. She tried to brush her hair by the mirror. No luck, there was knots and tangles everywhere. Sighing, she hastily threw it up into a ponytail.

A few hours later, Kari ran crying into her dorm room, and locked it. She quickly took out her journal from the desk drawer beside her bed.

Dear Journal,

Today has been absolutely horrible, even worse than yesterday. It took me the entire lunch period to scrub that horrid "L" off my head Kasha and Whitney drew on. Now my forehead is bright red. Besides that, I accidentally told the dean on Kasha today. She has a month's worth of detentions which I guess is a good thing. The bad thing is she's pissed at me.

I noticed this today at soccer tryouts. We were scrimmaging and she deliberately tackled me three times. I know it was on purpose, because we were on the same team. I still don't know if I made it or not. There were sixty girls who tried out. The Varsity team has room for fifteen, and J.V. twenty five. The results are going to be posted tomorrow during lunch. Oh I sure hope I make it.

Yours Truly,

Kari

Kari had no clue what Rachel was planning for tonight. When twelve finally came, Kari quietly crept out of her room hoping she wouldn't get caught.

On her way to Rachel's room, she spotted Kasha and one of Rachel's dorm mates kissing a kid named Tyler Booth, and a few other guys; Connor included. "Who would want to kiss them?" Kari wondered to herself.

Kari saw Rachel's room and very quietly knocked on the door. Rachel opened it as she pulled Kari gently inside.

"Kari, you must be very quiet, all right? I really do not want to get in trouble for not being in bed when we're supposed to, so please, like I said, be very quiet."

"All right," Whispered Kari.

"Now, Kari, I hope I don't offend you with any of these statements, but remember this is for your own good."

"I don't care, as long as I look like a normal person tomorrow." Kari replied honestly.

"Kari, these glasses are horrid." Rachel motioned to Kari's face. "Do you have contacts?"

"Well, yeah, I do, but-"

"Wear them. Now my next question is do you have any nail clippers?"

"No, I bite my nails." Kari shrugged.

"Here, take mine. You can keep them; I have about a million pairs."

"Thanks."

"Now, Kari. What can we do about your freckles?"

"I like my freckles."

"All right, then, you can keep your freckles. Kari, now you need to go get your contacts on."

Kari reluctantly left the room. By the time she got back, Rachel had makeup products and hair solutions all over her bed. There were so many, that Kari couldn't count them all.

"All right, Kari, just close your eyes and leave the rest to me. If you totally hate me later, you have the right to kill me." said Rachel laughing.

The night quickly passed. When Kari finally looked at herself in the mirror at five A.M. she was amazed. Kari could barely recognize herself. Her course, dull, ratty brown hair had been dyed dark brown with medium brown highlights. It looked very natural and also had been straightened. Rachel accented her green eyes with mascara and green eye shadow. Her lips were the color of peaches and her skin slightly tanner.

"Rachel, how did you do this?" asked Kari amazed. Rachel handed her a black mini-skirt from Bebe, a dark green short sleeved shirt, and flip flops to match.

"Well you know it's mostly simple stuff like basic makeup techniques and knowledge about hair. It was no biggie."

"Rachel! I owe you one, I really do."

"Just don't leave me hanging in the dust, Kari. I don't want you to become a popular clone. Also the major thing that you can do for me is to make sure that you don't let anyone take advantage of you, all right?"

"Rachel, I'll try not to. I really owe you a lot more than just that. When I had no one, you were there for me. I'm truly grateful of that."

"Kari, I've been there before, I know what it feels like to not have anyone there for you. I really hated it, so I swore that I wouldn't let it happen to anyone else. Now listen. My room mates usually come back about this time, so you'd better hurry up and leave! You want everyone to be shocked that it's you."

"Thanks so much again, I really owe you one," said Kari happily. She gave Rachel a quick hug and left.

Unexpectedly, Kari was spotted in the hallway on her way back to her room by Kasha.

"So Kari, I see you've tried to look more like one of us, probably to get MY Peter to like you. But let me tell you something, HE'S MINE and no one, not especially YOU can take him from me. You understand that?" Insulted Kasha infuriated.

"I understand perfectly, but I sense a little jealous over here. You can't be jealous of me, can you, because you know you're better than me?" replied Kari.

"Well um, you know you're just a loser and you'll never be anything but that…" Kasha replied storming to her room.

Kari quickly left to her first period class. She walked in to her seat. She didn't see Peter, but she did notice some of his friends checking her out. Kari decided that she needed to be confident and sat up straighter in her seat. Mr. Scotch walked into the classroom finally. His lateness was getting to be a continuous pattern.

"Peter, it looks like you're tardy. Please take a seat while I mark you down," Mr. Scotch said.

"All right," Said Peter after staring at Kari. She felt his eyes on her the entire time while he walked to his seat. Kari pretended not to notice, but she did.

(A/N:

Thanks to: asonglight and Chris Kelman for reviewing!

I hope you liked the chapter. I tried to make it longer than the previous one. The next chapter has a surprise in it. What do you think is going to happen next? Please review)