Differ

I wonder if this sort of thing happens to everybody. Well, now that I really think about it, I guess that it does. But for some strange reason I can't figure out why it would happen so often.
Why is it that things turn out to be so different than we once thought that they would be? How is it that we can get past them and like something different?
Things that I felt so sure about only months ago are comepletely different than what I think now. It's strange, though- my old thoughts are still there, but they're...twisted, somehow. The same thought, just mutated into something else. Is this supposed to happen often?
When I ask myself what I find different, my answer is that nothing is different, yet I know that somewhow it is. My problem is just trying to find out what I'm really looking for now.

Adanic: Chapter 11

I was silently miserable the rest of school. I robotically went through the movements of chatting with Taylor, Jake, and Jenna in band, moving my airstream in sync with my fingers while playing the flute, and was so into geometry that Akiko was starting to believe Courtney’s theory of Will and Sally playing a prank on me overnight. They wasted their time worrying about me; really, all I was thinking about was how I had changed in a matter of hours from yesterday to today.
It wasn’t just my physical appearance, either; when I did talk, I wasn’t the only one to notice that my voice had a new edge to it. Not a bad edge. Just a sign that I was growing an actual opinion, or something like that.
The comments continued to flow until the final bell rang. Classmates and teachers alike wouldn’t leave me be. The only exception was Mrs. Lisa, but I knew that if the fire alarm hadn’t gone off she would even out the score. I said my goodbyes to Akiko, Diana, and Ella a second before the bell rang so that I could fly out the door when it did.
I was so thankful to be inside my house with no curious inquirers. I felt free from everything, like the past two days hadn’t happened. But then I looked in the mirror, and I was forced to believe it all again. The ring, miraculously still in place on my hand, felt like it weighed fifty pounds. Before I gave myself time to forget, I dashed upstairs and dug out my thin gold chain from my jewelry box. I carefully slipped the ring on it and clasped the chain’s ends together at the back of my neck. For curiosity’s sake, I glided over to the bathroom mirror.
In the glass before me was a girl of golden spirals, porcelain skin with roses in her cheeks, and an aura about her that even stunned the feeble girl that dared to stare in her face presently. Her small hand slid down her doll skin throat and found the gold band and mystic fire topaz hanging off the matching chain. Its beauty was worthy of the reflection; it might have been even more intimidating, if that was possible.
I noticed that I looked still more different from this morning. I wondered how much longer and more drastically I would change before it all stopped. Could it even be real? Was I still dreaming? Had all of this never happened?
I carefully brought my hand to a rosy cheek. But it felt so real. And unbelievable and impossible as I knew it was, I couldn’t help believing Topaz. No…maybe I just wanted to believe it. To think that I could actually be pretty when I’d been so average just last night. My beauty still couldn’t compare to Topaz’s, but then again, she was the school’s new goddess.
I sighed and slowly walked back downstairs. I felt different, that was for sure. But I didn’t feel particularly blissful. I felt more burdened than anything.
I would be alone for a while because my mom went to get Sally from school and then take her to her bass lesson afterward. Everybody else was at work and wouldn’t be home until later. Maybe I’ll get started on my homework, I thought.
Well, I honestly expected that I’d be alone. Until I heard the doorbell ring.
I was well trained in not letting anyone in the house when a parent or Will wasn’t there. Sally knew this well; when we were home alone in the mornings on weekends, I would fly into a massive panic even if it were a neighbor at the door. I felt my heart beat wildly in my chest now as I cautiously peeked through the blinds out the window. All in vain. Of course, I should have expected this. Topaz stood on my doorstep.
I opened the door with hesitation. If Topaz was what she claimed that she was (and what I half was), then I had no doubt that she could break in my door if I didn’t answer, and I wanted to save my parents another bill and myself an explanation.
“Uh, hi, Topaz”, I said as politely as I could.
“Hi. Can I come in?”
“Um, sure…” It took me a while to decide this, but Topaz was in my house before I even finished answering.
“I like your house”, she complimented, looking around her with satisfaction. Her pink eyes glimmered. “It has a very homey feel to it. Like you know that you’re safe”.
“Thank you”, I said. “It does”.
She continued to gaze around her, smiling gently at the pictures that marked memories that went back to my great-grandmother. We stood in silence for a while.
I suddenly broke the delicate air and finally asked, “Umm, Topaz, why are you here, exactly?”
“Do you want to go to the mall?” she asked in her cheerful, light tone.
I wasn’t expecting this. After the surprise wore off I said, “No. I have loads of homework to do, and besides, I have family that I’m expecting in a few hours”.
Topaz raised one eyebrow and wore an amused expression. Then she laughed. “Oh yeah? Loads of homework, huh. Have you started it since you got home? I’ll bet you anything you’ll finish it in no more than twenty minutes”.
“Yeah, right. I’ve had this kind before, and it takes me hours. Are you done with yours?”
“It took me ten minutes. I’m not joking”, she said, smiling, but I could tell she wasn’t lying. “Have you tried this out this morning at all?” She pointed to her silken brunette head.
I stiffened. Maybe that was why it was so easy to work in class today…
“Try”, Topaz insisted.
I was done in twenty minutes, but I insisted on reading everything over, and of course, seemingly found no errors. Meanwhile, Topaz was taking her own tour of the house. When I finished, staring dumbfounded at my homework, jaw hanging, Topaz’s head peeked from around the corner in the kitchen. She was smirking in her own personal amusement. “Ready for the mall yet?” she asked.

Adanic: Chapter 10

Our group at lunch that day included Topaz. I was distant, though still in touch with the conversation, because I didn’t want to attract more attention than my new skin needed. I continued to receive various comments about it throughout the day, and being one who does not indulge herself in vanity often, prefered to ignore it.
“Wasn’t that fire drill this morning weird, April?” Taylor asked me.
“It was”, I answered distantly.
“I heard that it was lit in the girl’s bathroom by an arsonist. Probably as a prank by the seniors”, Courtney said, munching on some Sun Chips.
“It’s rare that fires ever do happen on this campus. Usually, someone just pulls the fire alarm or it’s a regular drill”, reasoned Ella. Ella was another of my good friends.
“That’s true. But at least we got out of class for a while”, brightly agreed Diana.
Topaz had been silent the whole time. She finally spoke in the middle of various theories. “Really, girls, I think that you’re over-thinking it. Fire drills really aren’t that big of a deal; and besides, if it were something serious I’m sure we would have heard by now and been evacuated. It was probably just a harmless prank”, she said quietly.
With that making perfectly logical sense, the group returned to regular conversation. Questions stopped relating to my appearance and drifted closer to the topic of Topaz Cinada, the newest, most outstanding student in every possible subject.
“You’re so pretty”, said Diana in complete admiration.
Topaz blushed. “Thank you, but I’m really not that pretty”.
“No, you really are. You’re really pretty this morning, too, April. What did you do overnight? You can’t tell me that you didn’t do anything. Stop persisting that these are natural changes.”
“But they are”, I insisted. Everyone still looked unconvinced, which wasn’t a surprise. “How can my height have changed like this otherwise?” I stood next to Diana, who was just barely shorter than me now. We were about equal height.
“I’ve heard of strange changes like this before”, Topaz added suddenly in her clear voice. I knew that she hadn’t, but it was nice of someone to back me up, anyway. “Teenagers typically get them because they’re growing. When you’re in your teens as a human, your body has no definite shape. It could be one way one day and another the next.”
No one could counter against that. Topaz had a talent of ending things that should be ended. For the first time since I’d met her, I was actually grateful for her presence.