One [Revised]
Like usual, I had placed myself as far back in the classroom as I could. This meant I was almost directly next to the door and massive cabinet the teacher kept for some reason, probably filled with supplies. I looked around the classroom at the people casually chatting with each other, and then my gaze drifted to the book in my hands.
I'm a loner, I know that much. I don't ever talk unless I have to, and none of these people are interesting or willing to speak with someone like myself. Every time I made an effort, they just nodded and waved me off. School itself wasn't bad, per say. I did my best to get decent grades, but... I never felt school, public school, was worth it.
I lowered my head back down, and hid myself with the hood of my jacket as I removed the old phone from one of my pockets. I tabbed through a few of the apps quietly. The phone itself had once been my mother's, but she had given it to me after she purchased her new one. She at least made sure I had minutes and data at all times... This phone is one of very few freedoms I was allowed to partake of. Other than that... I never bothered coming out of my room unless I otherwise was forced to, or for some necessity.
It wasn't going to be a good day, not that I have had such a thing in ages, but today in particular, I had a feeling it was going to be much worse than it usually was. Maybe it was my stepfather's usual explosive attitude, or maybe it was my usual dose of daily depression, but today just felt gray, colorless, to me. As such, I just couldn't enjoy myself. I gave a heavy sigh like I typically do and looked at everyone warily as they passed me to enter the room. No matter how much I protested and argued, my family had forced me into doing school instead of my GED, or HiSET. The issue wasn't something like bullying or anything like that, in fact, I was experiencing something like that unknown gray. I was unnoticeable.
I looked towards the front of the room as the bell went off and the teacher moved up to the front of the room, booting up the old smartboard. The school itself wasn't particularly great, nor was it really terrible. However, there was a slight issue with money so all the computers and such were behind by a fair number of years. As had been commonplace for years, the board revealed a paused News video. A swath of grey, almost like nothingness and everything was coexisting, was stretched through the air. Where this was, well, that wasn't all that clear as there were only trees nearby.
"The latest tear, thankfully in a non residential area, is a remarkable size. We've seen a fair few tears within the past couple of years, but they aren't usually this big. The Tear Research and Quarantine Science Division is arriving now, back to you in the studio, Karen."
I unfocused from the video as it continued, just back in 2002 was when this mess had started. The very first event that brought these tears to the attention of the world was when over 3,000 people were killed in the destruction of the World Trade Center. At first, there was only disbelief. Then, several city blocks of Chicago were leveled by one on national television. Thankfully, no riots broke out and scientists across the world got together to study these events, forming the TRQSD. They had already discovered startling facts about the tears, mostly that a fair amount of them had caused different disasters. Chernobyl? A tear in the cooling. The Bermuda Triangle? Tears spawned like crazy there, the whole population of the islands had been evacuated. The only questions really left were WHY and HOW.
I myself had never seen one in person, you weren't allowed to. People that came into contact with them were put through a rigorous sterilization and quarantine process. The tears were, in fact, apparently radioactive. My thoughts wandering, I noticed the room had gone silent and looked up to the screen. Another tear, this time it had cleaved a skyscraper in two. Wincing, I looked down to the app I had finally opened.
ReyaBoopsNoops: Ayyyyyyy, Guys, my hair is freakin WHITE.
I blinked, white? Why would she dye her hair such a bizarre color?
Alloftheflops: Prove it GURL
The resulting selfie wasn't that surprising, Reya, real name Rena Yaxley, had always been a tomboy. However, the shock came from how vibrantly white her hair was. I squinted.
OraOraMuda: ...Did you dye it?
ReyaBoopsNoops: Ah yes, because dye can get THIS color.
OraOraMuda: Feck, ur right
What a bizarre turn of events, I couldn't help feeling she had been messing with them. Of course, she mentioned it changing in the middle of class so I wasn't really all that believing. The news at the back of my mind, I rubbed my eyes and leaned in towards my phone. Ok so, it definitely was a bit too white for belief but I was fairly certain she of all people could have dyed it and forgotten. I shook my head with a sigh, what a-
I literally froze mid-thought as a strand of hair entered my vision. Normally, brown was to be expected because that was the literal color of my hair. However, this strand was a bubblegum pink. I stared at it for a moment. I tugged it. The result was a sharp momentary pain in my head as I realized that my hair was now pink. Taking deep breaths to keep the oncoming panic attack back, slowly raising my hand I kept my breathing even as I waited for the teacher to notice. After a few, painful, moments she nodded at me and the video kept playing. Slowly as to go unnoticed, I exited the room and, once the door had shut, full speed bolted to the bathroom.
I got inside and took deep breaths as I slowly removed my hood. The face in the mirror was most certainly mine, though if anything it looked less masculine than it typically did, not that it really was in the first place. However, the hair was definitely not. Bright and vibrant almost neon pink graced my head. If anyone saw me now, they'd certainly think I was a girl, an average one at least. I grasped the sink and held myself up as my breathing cut off and my vision started to fade out. No no no no. This couldn't be me, someone had pulled a prank on me, extensions or something! Dyed my hair pink in my sleep!
I pulled out my phone and tabbed open Messenger, the service loaded up and I hastily jabbed open Rena's account. My hands shaking violently, I barely managed to start a video call. What happened next felt like an eternity of waiting before Rena's face appeared in front of me.
"Hey sup! I thought you were-" her eyes widened, "Oh cool! You had it happen too! The pink is bit odd though, but cute! Course I didn't think you were into that, though."
I caught myself and barely managed to speak audibly, "Rena, please, I need you to come get me. I can't handle this. Please."
She nodded, "I'll be there asap, you get yourself outside for some fresh air."
I nodded and the call blinked out, my breathing calmed. Rena, for some reason, could always get me to calm down even if she was rude. Not that it was anything she said anyways, it was just... I don't really know how she helped, but she did. I slowly, with deep breaths, pulled myself away from the sink and walked out the door. The halls were silent and empty, thankfully, so I pulled my hood back up. The front door of the school opened and cold wind whipped past me and into the empty halls.
The courtyard was just as empty and the small trees scattered in it rustled lightly in the soft breeze. I took a deep breath and immediately felt better. Somehow, this worked every time. Whenever I was stressed, or whenever something was going terribly wrong, just sitting outdoors seemed to calm my troubles. The sky was bright blue with bare whispers of cloud cover, the birds were all chirping merrily across the roof of the school and in the trees. There was an almost melodic tune to the chirping and I found myself whistling along as I closed my eyes and relaxed.
At some point I lost myself and felt someone poke my side, "Dude..." the rather tall, slim, and athletic girl I called my friend whispered, "How are you doing that?" Her eyes, an intense amber as always, were wide and the white hair only served to compliment them further. Rena was finally here then.
I blinked and frowned, "Doing what?"
She gestured around me, "The birds were singing in tune with you. And just look around us!"
Across the courtyard, birds of varying sizes were huddled and surprisingly still chirping the tune. Even owls had come out from their nests, as nocturnal as they were, and had apparently joined in on the singing. I blinked again, "...What." I looked at Rena again.
"That was..." she bit her lip, "I don't know, I've never seen anything like it. Breathtaking, amazing, impossible." My face flushed, I could feel the heat in my cheeks, and she grinned.
"Glad you're feeling better, let's go. I have something to show you," she said, moving towards the exit of the courtyard as I followed behind her. She waved her hand at me, "Take off the hood, it's just you and me anyways." I gulped and pulled it down, Rena was unlikely to hate it or make fun of me, but yet... I couldn't help feeling nervous. What if someone else saw too?
I winced as she looked at me. Her eyes went wide and she squealed loudly, "YOU'RE ADORABLE."
I blinked, trying to process what she just said. Then, I blinked again. And again. "I'm... adorable?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. She nodded rapidly, and then grabbed me. Her eyes glittered, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something was about to go wrong, and horribly so. Whatever it was, it would be better than explaining my hair to the teacher especially when she had she it the typical brown not twenty minutes before I realized it was pink.
Dragging me her car, she hopped in the driver's seat and I clambered in to the passenger, "Where are we going?"
She pulled out of the school parking lot, and we started down the road. "To my place, where else?"
I felt my face go hot again and nodded, "Right..."
Her car coasted into the parking spot in front of the apartment complex, I'd been here before. Only on the rare occasion that Rena held a party of some sort, or when I helped her move in. Her parents had left town and sent her living expenses so she could stay in town, something which baffled me, sometimes my parents didn't even pay all of the rent and I had to work around the neighborhood to match it up.
She got out of the car and shut her door, and I followed. The car chirped, now locked, and I followed her past the front of the building and up the outdoor stairs to the second floor. She pulled out her key and something struck my mind, "...How did you get out of school?"
"I told them I had a family emergency, which this qualifies as, kinda, I guess?" She said as she opened her door and I frowned. Now I was more confused, kinda? Shaking my head, I walked into her small living room and she shut the door behind us. "Okay, it's loaded up on my phone just give me a second."
She swiped something on her phone and the TV powered on, YouTube on the screen. A split second later, a video started up. Some sort of news station and the woman next to the reporter had... my eyes went wide. Her hair flowed even though the wind seemed nonexistent. "So, miss...?"
"Tonalli," the woman answered, "But for now, I guess you could call me Celestia."
"So you claim to be transforming into the fictional character Princess Celestia from the Hasbro TV Show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic?" The reporter asked.
"While this should land me in an asylum or ward," the woman joked, "Yes. I have enough reason to believe that, the first of which being that I myself have met other people like myself. Though no one from the show easily recognizable, one of them called me Celestia and I responded to it as naturally as my own."
"What do you suggest others like yourself do?" the reporter pointed the mic back to her.
"For now, keep an eye online. At some point someone, possibly myself, will make a statement and inform everyone of events that will be coming up in regards to this situation," the reporter nodded.
"Well thank you, Miss Tonalli, or should I say Celestia," the reporter laughed and the video cut off. I stared at the screen. Logically, it would make sense there would be others but I couldn't help feeling so relieved. Rena and I weren't the only ones. Rena returned from wherever she had been, with a box in her hand.
"Sasha, I know you won't really like this, but I know how you feel about people seeing you do anything weird. So..." she opened the box. Makeup. Of course. I winced and nodded.
"You've done it before, so go ahead. I trust you," I gave a nervous smile.
It took a good half hour for her to finish, don't ask me what she did, I don't know much about makeup. She nodded, "Okay, open your eyes." When I did, she had a mirror about the size of portrait in front of me. As I registered what was in the reflection before me, my eyes went wide.
Pink hair framed my face, wide almost blue eyes stared back, pale skin without a blemish in sight. I blinked, "...This is me?"
"Yup!" Rena answered cheerfully, "I'm not super great at makeup but I know your face," she went a little red, "so I had an idea of what would work best."
I nodded slowly and touched my cheek, I looked... definitely not average. Rena smiled again, "Like I said, you're adorable. You finished the video, right?"
I nodded, my cheeks still pink, "What do we do?"
"Well, I figure we should see what My Little Pony is in the first place, and then probably go see this Tonalli person, right Shy?" She gave me another cheerful grin and I smiled back.
"It's been awhile since you called me that," I said, "A really long while, actually."
"Back when we were kids," Rena laughed, "You were so quiet and nervous, worse than you are now. That's why I always called you that, and you're name is Sasha, so it's not that far of a stretch, is it?"
Something loosened in my shoulders and I laughed, "No, I suppose not."