Becoming Beautiful

Chapter 3

“Is that you, Kennedy?” Marissa asked out into the yard as I stood on the pathway.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I called back as I trudged up the stairs.

Marissa sighed. “Hurry up and get inside, we have food in the oven!” she instructed me. I walked up the steps to the house and sighed once the door closed after me. “Why didn’t you just come in with Noah?”

I wrinkled my nose while she giggled. “You’re the one that said you wouldn't mind communicating with him.”

“In theoretical terms,” I replied as I stood in front of the three girls, one of which was blonde, Chloe, and one of them had thick black hair, Dana. I recognized them from some of my classes. The other girl, being Marissa, had long brown hair. Dana offered me a smile while Chloe was full on grinning. If I'm being honest, it scared me slightly. “Where do I put this?”

“Can you show her to my room, Dana?” The girl with the thick black hair and dark skin nodded and motioned for me to follow her. I also noticed that all of the girls were taller than me.

“Can I call you Kenna?” she asked me and I shrugged.

“Sure.” I avoided telling her that my mother calls me Kenna; it'd sound like I was completely antisocial and my mother was my only friend.

“Well, Kenna, you can put your stuff in this guest room," she informed me as she pushed open the door to the room. I nodded; placing my bag down and she walked to the room across from it and grabbed a sticky note. She scribbled Kenna onto it and placed it onto the door. After she branded the door as my own, she smiled at me. “I don't understand why you want a makeover, you’re pretty already.”

“Thanks… but I just want a new start,” I told her and she smiled.

“I understand.” Leading me back downstairs, we saw the other girls taking food out of the oven.

I noticed that they were brownies and when the doorbell rang, Chloe quickly hopped up and ran to the door with the money in her hand. She walked back with three boxes of pizza and I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn’t target them as girls who ate pizza carelessly. I pegged them at girls who complained about their weight when they were extremely skinny. I guess I was wrong for judging them.

“Do you mind going to get Noah?” Marissa asked me. I began to stutter and she laughed. “Come on, you can apologize now.”

I sighed. What’s the worst that could happen? Other than the fact that he could toss me down a flight of stairs because I hit him in the face with a volleyball. I sighed as I stood up, maybe I can apologize now. “Where is his room?”

“It’s at the end of the hall, to the left," she replied and I nodded.

“You’re going to get me killed,” I muttered and she smiled.

“I wouldn't tell you to do it if it weren't safe.” I rolled my eyes.

“Doubt it.” I walked towards the staircase and began walking up the steps, counting them as I went. There were twenty eight in all. Their house had very high ceilings. I walked towards the end of the hallway and turned to the door on the left, raising my fist to knock.

I slowly dropped my fist when I heard an acoustic guitar. I listened intently and heard an unfamiliar song playing. I was standing there for about three minutes before the guitar playing stopped. I sighed and knocked on the door. I heard footsteps and Noah opened the door, coming face to face with me. Or face to chest, in actuality. He was a lot taller than me, just like everyone else in this house.

“Dinner,” I managed to mutter as I took a step back. There goes saying sorry. His intimidating eyes were narrowed into slits as he glared at me before he pushed past me and walked towards the staircase, jogging down them. He definitely recognized me, that’s for sure. I muttered some unkind words as I followed behind him, praying that he hadn't heard me. I wasn't that far behind him but I managed to keep a distance of at least 5 stairs just to be safe.

“Hey, Marissa?” Noah’s deep voice called to his sister and she turned away, a piece of pizza hanging out of her mouth. “Next time, can you not send someone creepy up to my room to fetch me for dinner?”

He had attitude problems. That was something that was clear. I couldn't help but feel happy that I managed to sock him in the face with a volleyball. Turning his back as he opened the fridge, I mocked him, making faces behind his back. This caused Chloe to laugh loudly and he whipped around, his eyes narrowed into slits again as he glared at me. Although I’m known to find the good in people, I struggle to find good traits within him, which angers me.

My face went from mocking to straight as he tilted his head sideways, a look of curiosity and anger pasted onto his attractive face. A moment later, he turned around again. I’m sure my eyes were wide as I took a seat at the table. He just stared me down again.

Once he exited the kitchen, I let out a sigh of relief and the other girls laughed. “You should have seen your face.”

I groaned. “That was pleasant."