Adanic: Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke up just as groggily as I did every morning, but today I had a sudden awareness about me that I did not make my mom resent waking me up or do anything that would cause painful headaches. I didn’t even drift off for a few extra minutes. I felt like I had more energy than I’d expected.
I did my usual routine. After I got dressed, I’d glanced in the mirror.
I just stared at it for the longest time. Of course this was me; there was no doubting it, but I looked subtly different. I searched the reflection for anything that had appeared to change. As I took in my features, one by one I found more subtly different but clearly noticeable things altered in the process of sleep.
First of all, my hair was no longer dirty blonde in color. It proudly stood in defined, perfectly golden curls. The new unmistakable, solid color could never be called borderline-brown again. The curls were as full of light and perfect as any I’d seen on a doll’s head.
Next, squinting slightly to catch it, I’d noticed that my eyes weren’t the simple, dull brown that they were yesterday. They were now a starry hazel, shining like diamonds as I tilted my head. They were almost green. My eyes had been this color once (although it wasn’t quite as intense a color it was now) a few years ago, and when they had been exposed to extremely bright lights or heat, they would turn a bright green. But for whatever reason, they had disappeared and appeared today. This case was actually similar for my hair, which had once been a solid, very light blonde, except without the curls.
I picked out each change; I kept noticing small things, such as the blemishes disappearing from all over my skin…even the crimson splotches in my cheeks were faded to an almost pleasant rose color. It felt like I’d been moved into another body.
Realizing in a second that nothing had to be done this morning, I dashed down the stairs.
“Mom!” I nearly shouted at my poor mother, who was cooking pancakes. “Did you do something to my hair last night? Or Sally?” I said, frantically pointing to the new golden curls atop my head.
Turning her head, and staring confusedly at my hair, and then my face as a whole, she said, “No. I didn’t dye your hair. I doubt Sally did either. It must have just changed color overnight. It looks like your eyes did too…you must be growing!”
I didn’t believe her theory. “Will”, I called to my brother at the table, shoving a stack of pancakes down his throat. “Did you by any chance dye my hair last night? Or this morning?”
He stared at me and practically gagged on his pancakes as he laughed.
“Did you?” I demanded, immediately suspicious.
“No!” he managed to say through bursts of laughter. “But I almost wish I had!” He stood up then to ruffle the golden strands on top of my head. “Hey, I must have grown!” he said. There was a new height difference between us. My mom came over to see for herself.
“Did I grow, too?” she asked, comparing herself first to Will and then me.
“You both must have, somehow. You look much taller than me today”, I said bitterly. This didn’t explain my new skin.
I stormed my way angrily to the bathroom. I was going to put this hair up into a ponytail and hide it from further notice. I noticed that the sink was closer than it usually was. Could it be?
“Mom, where’s the tape measure? I need you to measure my height”, I said, stepping out of the bathroom doorway.
After we found it, I pressed my back against the wall and felt the tape measure slide along the extent of my body.
“It says that you’re five feet and half of an inch”, my mom said, confused. She checked again, smoothing out the tape measure. After checking twice more, she came to the conclusion that this measurement wasn’t false.
“But I was five foot two just yesterday!” I choked out. What happened to me?
We said no more. Whatever did happen to me wasn’t going to change back.

First period was the nightmare I’d fully expected. I heard so many people ask, “Did you dye your hair?” or “Did you do something with your hair? What’s the special occasion?” or “Are those contacts?” in just that small amount of time that I began to wonder if I could survive the rest of the day.
In second period, I received the same treatment. I took notice of the suspiciously satisfied look Topaz gave me. At least she wasn’t asking questions. I’d do anything to be free of this embarrassment.
As if in answer to my pleading, the most obnoxious sound came from the door. A red light flashed across each face in the room, revealing numerous surprised expressions. The fire alarm wasn’t exactly my idea of a savior.