"You ae so dead!" Sara said still shocked over Dani's hair.
"Dani, what possessed you to dye your hair?" Kayla asked also shocked.
"I saw it in a magazine. It looked so cool and I decided I wanted to be different. How much different can you get?" Dani asked motioning to her hair.
"Not much," Kristen whispered. "Pat is goihg to kill you."
Everyone was quiet during the drive to the warehouse where the shoot was taking place. They were all imagining Pat's face when she saw Dani's hair. It would either be hilarious or scary.
"We're here," Sara said breaking into everyone's thoughts. "Dani, I'm sure Pat's going to want to talk to you herself."
Dani nodded slowly. She had been brave up until this point. But now that she had to face Patricia, she was scared. She loved her hair and she wouldn't change it for anything but she didn't want to fight with Pat over it.
THey all, once again, followed Sara into the warehouse this time. The first person they saw as AJ.
"Hey girls! Dani, the hair turned out great. Doesn't it feel great being the oddball?" AJ asked smiling.
At the confused looks she was getting from her friends, she explained. "AJ helped me with my hair. SInce he's dyed his hair many times, I went to him with the idea."
"And it was a great idea," AJ said nodding but nobody heard him. Pat had just noticed them and the fact that she had dropped her cell phone and looked like she had been hit by a truck, didn't bode well for Dani.
"WHat did you do?" Please tell me that is a wig," Pat said glaring at Dani.
"Um...I can't do that, it's permanent," Dani said shrugging her shoulders. "Well, until my hair grows out at least."
"WHy? It's a rainbow?" Why?" Pat asked becoming speechless.
And a rainbow it definitely was. There was a mixture of red, green, blue, orange, yellow and purple throughout her shoulder length hair. It looked cool but definitely different.
"Because I wanted to be different," Dani said truthfully.
"Different? Well you are that but Dani this is too much. You have to chagne it. Carpe Diem is suppose to be a clean-cut group. This isn't the image I want you guys to portray," Pat lectured.
"Hold on a minute. The image you want to portray! What about me? This is my image and I choose to portray it. And what the hell is a clean-cut group? If that's what you wanted, then you made a mistake because we aren't going to act a special way. We're going to be ourselves," Dani argued.
Pat sighed. "Dani, I meant that you are going to damage your record sales. I've worked with groups who made drastic changes and they didn't make it. Nobody looks like that in real life and they can't relate to you if you look like that."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, because you are wrong. Now excuse me, I have a photo shoot. I don't have time for this," Dani said walking away.
The rest of Carpe Diem watched her walk away. Sara wanted to follow her but she was a bit annoyed at Dani. She should have talked to the group before just making the decision. But Dani never thought ahead.
"THey're mad at you," AJ said walking up behind Dani who was standing by the snacks table.
"Yep," was all she said.
"And you are mad at them," AJ said grabbing a cookie.
"Yep," she said again.
"Well, care to explain why," AJ said hopefully.
"They should have supported me," Dani started and then she couldn't stop. "Pat was saying all this crap, which you heard, and instead of being 'friends' they agreed with Pat. They didn't understand and it's pissing me off."
"I can tell but can i say one th9ing," he said but continued before she could say anything. "You didn't really explain your actions. I understand why you did it but they didn't. How could they? I remember the first time I dyed my hair, the guys were angry until I explained."
Dani stared at him for a moment. "I understand that but they still should have stood up for me against Pat. She was wrong and they should have realized that."
"I don't think it's a matter of agreeing with Pat as much as it's hurt. They are hurt too Dani. They feel like you want t obe different from them and they don't understand. It comes to that, understanding," AJ said giving her a hug.
"I don't think I can talk to them all at once," Dani said quietly pulling away.
"Then don't, start with one. But talk it out," AJ advised.
Dani smiled. "You're a good friend AJ."
He smiled back and gaver her another hug.
Dani pulled away and then took a deep breath before making her way to Sara her best friend, she needed an explanation first.
"Sara, I'm sorry I didn't explain this before," Dani said after they were alone. When Sara didn't say anything Dani sighed. "I needed to feel different Sara. I can't explain it Sara. You get to express yourself through words, I don't have that ability. SO I expressed myself through, well in this case, my hair."
"I understand that you need to express yourself but you should have talked to us first," Sara said softly.
"I don't agree, this was something I needed to do for myself," Dani said just as softly.
"Then this is pointless," Sara said standing up.
"Don't walk away Sara. We need to talk about this. Your my best friend and I hate when your mad at me."
"Your best friend huh? Was I your best friend when you didn't tell me about this?" Sara asked seriously.
"That's not fair Sara," Dani said getting angry.
"Whoever told you things were fair lied," Sara said angry already. "I've realized that in the past couple days. Life isnt' fair. My boyfriend dumps me, my best friend keeps things from me and did I get a choice in those two things. No, I didn't."
Dani watched her walk away and realized that Sara was angry. More angry then Dani had thought. And she had no idea how to fix things.