Free On Raven's Wings by Isobel Lucas Page B

eyes.”
    I complied but asked, “How will that help? Don’t my eyes need to be open to put on eyeliner?”
    Triniti didn’t say another word. Crinkling fabric told me she was reaching into her bag for something. Probably base. That’s what always went on first, right?
    With a quick tug on the ponytail, a metallic shushing noise brought me to attention. My head suddenly felt five pounds lighter. “What did you do?” My eyelids flipped open and I grabbed the back of my head.
    My hair was gone, lying in a dismembered ponytail on the floor.
    “What did you do?” I squealed again.
    Triniti placed her hands on the side of my head so I couldn’t jerk again. “Hold still. I still have to cut the rest.”
    “Have you ever cut anyone’s hair before?” Dread poured into my chest. My mom was going to kill me.
    Triniti shook her head. “I’m going for the choppy look anyway. No one will know it wasn’t done in a salon for a stupid amount of money.”
    She happily snipped my hair. It floated to the floor like feathers falling from a torn pillow in a slumber party fight. The mirror showed a girl with funky hair and a sour look on her face. The corner of my mouth lifted. Maybe it was just the look I needed to break free from Virgin Mary.
    When Triniti finished destroying my good girl cut, she spun my chair around and grabbed a tube of liquid black eyeliner. Her thumb tugged on the corner of my eye, stretching it until I thought it might tear, and then she layered on the makeup.
    “Wow, Raven, you actually look like your nickname now.” She placed her hands on my shoulders. “Do you want to see?”
    I sat still, not answering.
    “You’ll love it. I promise.” Triniti turned the chair around, without my permission again. “Have I ever led you astray?”
    My lap still had a few chunks of hair lying on it. I said a quick prayer for the death of my old look and glanced in the mirror.
    The girl looking back at me wasn’t someone I recognized. She was a hardcore rocker. A troublemaker. A girl who’d never said ten Hail Mary’s every night before nodding off to sleep.
    I reached out, touching my fingertips to hers. The old me had one thing in common with the new me – black nail polish. It was my only rebellious change after leaving Catholic school. Turns out it was just the first step to turning into this new person.
    I cracked a smile, which was all it took for Triniti to jump up and down, screaming. “I knew you’d love it! You’re gorgeous and it totally fits in with the band’s look. You’re dangerous and sexy now, Raven. It’s been hiding inside, clawing to come out. Good thing I had the right key to set it free. You’re going to kill it tonight. Now put this on.”
    She tossed me a tiny black dress. I stripped out of my jeans and sweater, pulling the dress over my head. It shimmied over my body, falling over every curve I never knew I had.
    “Take off your underwear!” Triniti ordered. “It’s hideous.”
    True. I wasn’t expecting to change clothes and had worn an old, ratty pair. “What? No! Did you bring extra clean underwear too?” The mirror agreed with Triniti. The bunches and folds in my granny pants were creating bulges in the dress.
    “No. Just go LiLo.”
    “I am not going on stage without underwear. I’m playing the drum set, Triniti! I can’t even keep my legs together.”
    She tapped a long fingernail against her cheek. “That’s a really great way to get publicity…”
    “No!”
    “Well, you can’t go out there with the dress like that.”
    I glared at her, and then shimmied my underwear down my legs. I kicked them on my pile of discarded clothes. The old me shriveled up like the Wicked Witch of the West when she had the water dumped on her.
    “Hopefully no one will see anything through the drumhead. I’m so glad we went with the black logo instead of the white one,” I said.
    Triniti threw her arms around me. “Welcome to the world of hot girls, Raven. I knew you were