Hiding Beauty

"Finish it by tomorrow." an obnoxious voice spoke. I looked at the source and saw Brit looking down at me. "Also make sure they're correct! Last time you got one wrong!" She continued in her high-pitch voice. I simply nodded and she walked away. I was pretty shocked. She didn't insult me this time.

"Ariah?" I looked up and saw the teacher looking straight at me.

"Yes?" I asked quietly.

"Come to the office please." And with that she left. Am I in trouble? I've never been in trouble before. I got up and left the room aware of the stares from the other students.

"Thank you for joining us Miss. Janeiro." The principal said as I walked into the office. She motioned to one of the chairs in front of her. "Please have a sit." I saw that there were two seats in front of her desk. A student was sitting in one of them so I walked over to the other one and sat.

"So before you came Ali and I were talking about his grades." She started. I glanced to the other chair to see Ali Montenegro sitting there. I just died a little inside. Ali was one of the bad boy of the school who would flirt with girls just to get into their pants. If I were to do something related to him then my life would be made into a living hell.

I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't too happy about what was about to happen. "I noticed how your grades have always been exceptional so I'm here to make an offer for you two." I nodded given her my full attention.

"If you, Ariah, would tutor Ali to help raise his grades until he's at the average point, then I will let you guys take a day off from school and you will be excused from all school work." She looked back and forth from me to Ali.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ali's eyes filled with annoyance. He obviously doesn't want to do this. I on the other hand definitely doesn't want to do this. If I were caught with Ali anywhere, even if it's just tutoring, then Brit and her popular group will probably beat me up and make my school life worse than it already is.

"So what do you guys say?" The principal pressed.

"I'm fine with whatever." I said looking down.

"I don't need a-" Ali started but the principal cutt him off.

"You might need to take consideration about what your parents will think." Ali stayed quiet. After a long pause he finally gave in. "Fine."

"Great!" The principal beamed and clapped her hands together. "You guys will have two weeks." Two weeks!

Eventually Ali and I were excused from the principals office and we both stepped outside.

"What day do you want to help me?" Ali asked lazily and obviously not interested.

"You don't have to. It's not like you care about your grades." I responded not making eye contact.

"I have to bring them up or else my parents will-" He stopped talking. "Never mind."

I looked at my watch to see what time it was. I'm supposed to be at my photoshoot at 1:45. It's 1:00 already! I still have to dye my hair back to brown! I started rushing out of the building. My parents are going to kill me if I'm late. I was about to run out of the doors when someone grabbed my wrist and pulled back.

"Why are you running away?" A male voice asked from behind me. I turned around to see Ali staring into my eyes intently.

"Let go. I have to go somewhere." I said urgently trying to get out of his grasp, but his grip was firm.

"I asked where are you going?" He said still calm. I didn't respond, but still tried to get out of his grasp.

"I said... where are you going!" he yelled in my face and tightened his grip on me. I let out a yelp and he instantly let go of my wrist. "Will you answer me now?" He asked me again, but with a hint of guilt in his eyes. I got up and before I knew what was happening, my palm collide with his cheek and his face was turned to the side.

"You shouldn't care." I said glaring at him and I ran out of the building shaking my hand trying to get rid of the pain.

I finally arrived at my house and luckily my stylist, Lea, was there.

"Help me dye my hair please." I said while yanking off my glasses and smearing off my fake freckles with the back of my hand.

"Yes, Ma'am." Lea said without questioning me. After she got the solution lathered into the roots and tips of my hair I scrolled through my phone. I looked through my twitter account - the one about Ariah Lim. I don't have any social media accounts for my other half, Ariah Janeiro. That would be just another way for my bullies at school to insult and harass me. I scrolled through the comments on my latest picture I tweeted. I saw many comments saying I love you so much! and You're so cool! and it helps build my self esteem. This is how I change my attitude from Ariah Lim to Ariah Janeiro. One of the comments caught my attention though. It said I love you because you're not fake. Something inside me kind of broke. I'm not fake, right? This is just half of me. The half that is actually presentable to the world.

I shut off my phone and started to walk to the bathroom, but nearly tripped on something. I looked down on the floor and saw a piece of paper laying on the ground. I picked it up and examined it. It was a picture from five years ago of me and Ali. Those were the times when Ali and I would hang out with each other 24/7. It was the time where Ali didn't care that he wasn't popular. We were inseprable. That is until he thought popularity would be more important and would bring him more friends.

Every since then, he's been a cold-hearted player. He's now one of the most popular boys in the school. He walks around with a smirk on his face so I guess he's happy now.

"Miss, Ariah! You have to rinse out your hair dye now!" Lea called from downstairs. I threw the picture onto the floor and rinsed out my dye. When all the dye has been rinsed out, my hair was a warm chocolate brown color.