The Change of a Lifetime Chapters 1-4

                        The Change of a Lifetime
                    A Story of Nonsense and Immaturity

                                  Chapter One

  Maria is a fourteen year old, funny, Josh Groban loving girl. Today had been a busy day for her with school, piano, and just living her life. She was completely exausted, so she decided to take a nap. About an hour and a half  later,  she was awaken by her mother. "Maria, get out of bed or you'll be late!" she yelled up the stairs doubting Maria would hear her. But she heard her alright. In fact, she fell out of bed due to the scare from the random yell.

  "Where are we going?" she asked her mom.
  "To goodwill, of course. Come downstairs, we're about to leave right now."

  Maria hurried out of bed and went downstairs into the car. When they arrived, her mom dropped her off at the door and drove away. "What was that for?" Maria asked herself. She walked into the store and walked to the back to see if her friends Aaron and Nate were there. But only Nate was. She went to talk to him anyways.

  "Hey Maria, did you clock in?" he asked.
  "Say what??" she replied in a questioning manner.
  "Did you clock in? I couldn't be any clearer than that."
  "Why in the world would I do that?"
  "Because you work here."
  "I do not! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
  "Yes, I'm positive."

  Maria didn't know what to say in reply. She asked him the first random thing that popped into her head. "What's today's date?" she asked.

  "Uh, it's May 15th."
  "OK, random question: of what year?"
  "2009, of course."

  Maria couldn't believe her ears. Did he just say 2009?? Now she was unbelievably puzzled.

  "2009? Are you sure? Because last time I checked it was only 2007."
  "Maria, are you alright?"
  "To tell you the truth, I really don't know."

  She didn't know if this was true, or if Nate was just very convincing. She decided to ask him some questions to try to get the truth out of him---that is if this wasn't.

  "OK, it's random question time. Did Aaron break-up with his girlfriend?" she asked.
  "Yeah, the other day. Don't you remember?"
  "No, I don't. But wow, they lasted over two years! That's amazing considering the longest he's ever had a girlfriend was seven months."
  "What are you talking about?"
  "He stayed with Adrienne for two years. Isn't that what you told me?"
  "Adrienne? Aaron broke-up with her a long time ago."
  "Figures. So he obviously got another girlfriend. I can't even count how many times I told him to get a friend that's a girl and move on with his life for now."
  "But he did."
  "He took my advise? Then who is it? Someone that I know?"
  "Yeah---you."
  "Me, huh? Sweet--but wait, you said he just broke-up with his girlfriend a few days ago. Now that's not what I told him he should do. So he had me and a girlfriend then."
  "No, he didn't."
  "So that's when he broke-up with his girlfriend?"
  "No."
  "You mean we stopped being friends? Man, that girl must've been mean! I thought he would've treated the situation like he did the time Adrienne did that."
  "No, I mean you became his girlfriend."

  Maria stopped talking to laugh out loud. "Yeah right! Me being Aaron's girlfriend? Good one, dude." she said trying not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. Nate wasn't laughing, though. "Why aren't you laughing?" she asked him.

  "Because I'm not lying." he replied seriously.
  "OK, I'm a little freaked-out now. But we broke-up, right? What happened? What did I do?"
  "It wasn't that he broke-up with you, you broke-up with him. Don't you remember?"
  "Refresh my memory."
  "You broke-up with him because he said you were ugly."
  "Aaron say WHAT??!!"
 
  Maria stomped into the bathroom to look in the mirror as if to prove a point. "Oh my GOSH!!!" a loud scream erupted out the bathroom door. The whole store could probably hear that shriek. "My face is covered in like a ton of make-up! Disgusting!" she said to herself. She was embarrassed enough from the other scream to yell anything else out. She drenched her face with water until it was completely clean. When she walked out of the bathroom, Nate walked over to question her about the scream. But then another question came to him.
  "Weren't you wearing make-up two seconds ago?" he asked her.
  "Yes I was, and way too much. Turns out Aaron was right, I did look ugly. I looked like a circus clowns hair."
  "Well, that's an interesting way to put it. Are you positive you are feeling alright?"
  "I can't say that, but I can say that I'm feeling better than I was."

  Just then, Aaron walked in. "Hey Nate, Mar---what happened to you?" he said.

  "Turns out you were right about me looking ugly. If you never told me that, I would've never looked in the mirror. Now I actually look normal."
  "Telling you wha--I mean sure, I guess." Aaron replied.
 
  She had an idea to see if Nate was right about it being 2009. "Hey Aaron, what's today's date?" she asked.
 
  "Uh, it's May 15th, 2009. Why do you want to know?"

  Now she was confused. "OK, I'm a little freaked-out right about now."

  "Why are you?" Nate asked in a surprised tone.
  "Because, just two hours ago I was in the year 2007. I think, uh----"
  "What do you think?"
  "This is going to sound weird, but I think I've time-traveled."
  "What? That's impossible. There's no such thing as time-travel."
  "I don't know, this seems quite strange. I need more information. Aaron, can I use your cell phone? I need to call someone."
  "Why don't you use your own?" he replied.
 
  Maria reached into her pocket and pulled out a black RAZR. It had a picture of Josh Groban for the background. "Now this is officially the coolest phone ever!" she said to herself. She opened it up to call her best friend Becky.

  "Hello?" Becky said.
  "Hey, it's Maria. I have a question: was there a point where I just changed?"
  "Define 'change'."
  "I really need to come over, I just need to leave here. See ya."
  "Bye?"

  Maria hung-up quickly. "OK, all I have to do is leave. When is break?" she asked them.

  "It's not for another three hours." Nate replied.
  "Darn, that's not good."
  "I have an idea." Aaron told her.

  The three of them went to the manager's office. "Can I get off early today?" Maria asked.

  "How early?" she replied.
  "Considering it's 4:30---like now?"
  "I don't know."
  "But you see, this is pretty urgent." Aaron said to her.
  "OK, but you'll have to work on Saturday."
  "That works for me." Maria replied.

  They went back up to the front. Maria got ready to leave. "Hey Aaron, thanks for covering for me." she told him.

  "No problem, hope you get this straitened out." he replied.
  "Thanks, see you later, guys."
  "See ya, have fun." Nate told her.
  "I'm outta here."


                              Chapter Two

  Maria finally got to Becky's house. She ran right into Angie, the popular wanna-be-never-gonna-be on the street. She had changed a lot. Her hair looked so different, and by different---I mean strange. It was all poofy and wrong-looking. "Gosh, Maria, get out of my way!" she complained.

  "Well sorry, poofy-puff. Nice hair! Who cut it: Brittany Spears? You might want to get a brush to that. But be careful---it looks mutant." she replied. Maria was the queen of come-backs---well, in her head she was.

  Angie left after many huffs and puffs. She knew she couldn't beat Maria's come-backs. "No one messes with the master!" Maria said to herself. She went upstairs to go find Becky. She was sitting on her bed doing nothing.

  "Maria, is that you?" she asked.
  "Who did you think it was: Gwen Staffani?" she replied.
  "No, you just look so different without any make-up on."
  "Well this is how I always used to look before. But we have more important things to discuss. Was there ever a point where I just totally changed?"
  "Changed how?"
  "Like wearing make-up and going out with *blech* Aaron."                                                                                                                   
  "Well, you started wearing make-up when you started going to Brunswick High. But to tell you the truth, I don't really know about Aaron, and I don't think I ever will."
  "Yeah, neither will I. But I do know what will have all the answers: my diary. I'm gonna go get it right now."

  Maria ran up to her house to get it. It wasn't long before she got back down. She passed Angie in the house again. This time, Maria covered her face and hurried away. When she made it back to Becky's room, she opened the diary up. She began to quietly browse through it. When she found what she wanted, she started reading it out loud.
 
  "Alright, here's what is says. 'Dear Diary, today I'm going to start 9th grade at Brunswick High. I'm pretty nervous, but I'll write all about it when I get back. Bye!
  Dear Diary, this was the worst day ever! Everyone picked on me because of the fact that I had been homeschooled for eight years. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm gonna change my image. I am under a lot of pressure, and I don't want to have to undergo this again. Ttyl. Love, Maria.' "


  Maria was shocked! How could one measly day ruin her whole life? It had to of been pretty darn bad. "Well," she said, "the only thing left to do is face my problems at school . Not everyone can hate me, right?"

  "No, I guess not. You can do it tomorrow. I'm glad I'm not going there until next school year." Becky said trying to cheer her friend up.

  Maria had an idea. "You know what? Maybe I should call Aaron. I mean, he was once my---well, you-know-what. He might have been around me a lot during that strange time. He can probably help." she told her. So she picked up her cell phone and called him.

  "Yeah?" Aaron asked.
  "Hey, it's Maria. I need to talk to you. I think that when I started going to Brunswick High that it had an impact on my all-of-a-sudden change."
  "Why do you think that?"
  "Well, with some of the kids there, you can't tell what they can get you into. It must've rubbed off me and I started acting like them."
  "I'm really busy now since you left early today. Can I call you back later?"
  "Yeah, it's cool. See ya."

  Maria hung-up her phone. She decided to go back to her house. So much was bothering her that it was making her exhausted. When she made it up to her room, Aaron called her.

  "Hello?" she said answering her phone.
  "Hey, it's Aaron. So you actually found out why you did a 180?"


  "Yeah, now all I have to do is stop this maehem dead in it's tracks. It'll all start tomorrow at school."
  "Sounds easy enough. But the question is: will it work?"
  "Of course it will. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."
  "OK, I have to get back to work. Later."
  "See ya."

  Maria was tired of thinking about it for one day, so she decided to go to sleep. She had a hard day ahead of her---or did she?


                Chapter Three

 
  When Maria woke-up the next morning, she went to get ready for school. To her dismay, all she could find were very girly clothes, not what she was so used to wearing. "This is ridicules, I'm a dude! This stuff won't do." she said to herself. She dug deeper into her closet and fibally found a Josh Groban shirt and a pair of jeans. She actually still had all her cool clothes---well, er--not so much. But at least she had something to wear. She threw her clothes on and ran downstairs. She scarfed down her breakfast in record time and ran out the door. She got out just in time to catch the bus.

  Her whole way there was spent thinking about what it would be like. How would she know which classes to go to? What were the people like there? Would she have any friends? She would just have to find out for herself.

  When she got to school, everyone there seemed to know and like her. It was almost as if she was popular. Something was wrong---or was there really? She had to learn ore about this.

  "Hey Maria, what up?" some girl said.
  "Uh, nothing, um---"
  "Adrien, my name is Adrien, remember?"
  "Right, of course. Sorry about that. Hey, isn't Aaron's old girlfriend named Adrien?"
  "Yes, but I'm not that Adrien. Are you alright, and what is that you're wearing?"
  "My favorite shirt! I haven't seen it in ages. It's Josh Groban: the best singer ever."
  "Yeah, whatever. Speaking of Aaron, I heard about you're break-up with him. What happened?"
  "Oh, nothing important. We were just better as friends. Besides, I don't even like him, anyways."
  "Hi Maria, how's it going?" another random girl said.
  "Fine, but if you're here to ask about Aaron---don't."
  "Girl, you're good! Well, class is starting."
  "Where am I going first today?"
  "Algebra, dud." Adrien replied.

  Maria started walking away. "Uh, Maria, where are you going? It's this way." Adrien said. Maria turned around. When they made it to the classroom, Maria went to sit down. She started searching through her back-pack. Just then, this dude came and sat next to her. "Maria, what are you doing?" he asked.

  "Planting a garden. What does it look like I'm doing? And you are?"
  "Zach, my name is Zach. That's strange that you didn't remember my name.  Anyway, I heard you're available now."
  "Available for what?"
  "You broke-up with Aaron."
  "Yeah, so? Can you just be quiet about Aaron?"
  "Hey, I totally understand. I also understand that you are looking for a new boyfriend."
  "I do not!"
  "Well, if you ever do---I'll be here."
  "Uh, well I won't. EW!"

  Maria got up and moved to another chair. She was too freaked-out to sit by him anymore. This was all too weird. "I wish I was still homeschooled." she said to herself.

  Finally, it was lunch time. Some girls flagged her down to come sit with her. So she walked over. Adrien and that one girl were sitting there with some other random girls. They were talking about boys, of course. Maria didn't engage in their conversation. "Why don't we talk about something else besides boys?" Maria asked.

  "OK, let's talk about Aaron." that one girl suggested.
  "Uh, last time I checked, Aaron was a boy."
  "You shouldn't talk about him to her right now, Stef. You might hurt her feelings." Adrien told her.
  "Yeah, Stephanie." Maria said.
  "It's Steffahney." she replied.
  "Whatever, I'm going to sit by myself today, See ya."

  Maria walked away. Those girls were too much for her tom comprehend. This whole school was. She couldn't wait until the day was over.

  Finally, after much suffering and talk of Aaron, school ended. Maria rushed out the door to go to work. She really wanted to tell Aaron and Nate what she found out today. But the day wasn't over yet. So much more could happen. Things that might even be worst than what happened at school.

  All the way there, she thought about what it seemed like she'd become. She had become a victim of the disease she called the Generic Teenager. It was horrible! She had to find some way to stop it. The only people that could help her were her friends. They were her only hope. Only they could help her  through.


                          Chapter Four


  When Maria got to work, she went to the back to tell them the news. "So, what happened?" Aaron asked.

  "Well, turns out I'm like one of the most popular kids in school." she replied.
  "What's wrong with that?"
  "They think I'm one of them---one of the "teenagers"! An inhabitant of Stupidville, population: EW!"
  "That's an interesting way to put it. Well, what are you going to do?"
  "I'm gonna act like myself, the old me from before this all happened."

  Just then, Adrien and Steffahney walked in the door. Maria wondered why they were there, but she was right---it would get worse.

  "What are you guys doing here?" Maria asked.
  "We wanted to see you." Adrien replied.
  "Well you saw me, now go."
  "Wait, did anyone ask you to the dance yet?"
  "What dance? There's a dance? Well, no, no one asked me. Hopefully no one will."

  Right when she said that, Zach walked in. "Oh great, more trouble." Maria complained. "What do you want?"

  "I was just in the neighborhood, and I decided to come and ask you if you wanted to go to the dance with me?" he replied.
  "Absolutely not! I'd rather go with Aaron. By the way, that's an insult on your part."
 
  Nate walked up to the front wondering what all the hooblah was about. All of a sudden, about six boys walked in to ask Maria to the dance. "Nate, help me out here." Maria said to him.

  "Listen people, she doesn't like any of you. So you should probably just leave her alone." he told all of them.
  "You will be mine someday." Zach said as he and the other dudes walked out the door. 
  "Wait, you can go with me!" Adrien cried.
  "Yeah, me too!" Steffahney said as well.

  The two girls went outside to catch-up to the boys. "See what I mean?" Maria asked them.

  "Yeah, I do. Nice insult about me." Aaron said sarcastically.
  "Sorry, that's all I could think of at the top of my head."
  "Are you really going to that dance?" Nate asked.
  "I don't know. I'll have to think about it."
  "OK, now go get to work." Aaron said to her.
  "Gosh dude, I'm going."
  "But you still have to tell us what you're gonna do."
  "Right, I just have to act like the crazy, real me all the time. If I do that, they'll stop liking me. It's so simple, yet so sneaky."

  So Maria got right to work. But just when she thought it was safe, Adrien and Steffahney came back in. "What is it now? go back to chasing the boys!" Maria told them.

  "Can't," Adrien replied, "they got ahead and we lost them. Why did you blow them all off?"
  "I didn't, Nate did."
  "You asked him to, though."
  "True, but I wouldn't go to a dance with any of them if they were the last boys on earth. Especially that Zach dude. He creeps me out."
  "But I thought you like him?"
  "Heck no! If you think that, you must've had one too many sips of grandpa's cough syrup."
  "What is that supposed to mean?" Steffahney asked.
  "Never mind. Besides, that boy is so dumb that he could use one hand to calculate his IQ."

  Aaron and Nate started laughing. They thought it was hilarious! "I can't believe you hang-out with these weirdos!" Steffahney said in a snobby way.

  "Hey!" Aaron and Nate said at the same exact time.
  "Let's go," Adrien said, "it's getting too weird here."
 
  When they left, Maria was so glad. "That was step one of making myself unpopular. Now you see why I hate girls like them." she told them. The three of them went back to work. Now they're troubles were really over for the day.