Struggle!

Chapter 9

Peter’s POV

I was seated in an armchair in Hannah’s living room, still waiting. ‘Are you guys done?’

I felt like an idiot talking to the door for the past two hours. Each time I got the same reply. Jess was surely taking her time in doing whatever she had in mind. I even heard Alene squeal excitedly once or twice. 

I smiled to myself, I was really glad that Alene wasn’t being indifferent anymore. In fact, I would often see her smiling and talking to Jess enthusiastically as if they were already planning on something big. I never asked her what she had on her mind. I just wanted her to relish the fact that she had people she could rely on, people who will avenge every bit of torture she had to go through.

The bedroom door suddenly banged open and I jumped. I quickly got up from my armchair, waiting for the girls to come out. Jess walked into the living room first, she was practically bouncing up and down apparently very happy with what she had done. She stood by the door and moved her hand welcomingly as Alene glided out of the room gracefully. It took me about 5 seconds to register the change.

Her brown hair was now cut and fell beneath her shoulders. Layers of her hair were now flowing outwards around her face. Her hair was now parted sideways and a fringe of hair fell across her eyes which she was now tugging nervously behind her ear even though they were too short to stay. And the brown had changed to golden brown. She somehow looked even prettier with her new hairdo. It made the green in her eyes stand out on her pale face and made her skin glow. Or maybe it was Jess’s contagious excitement which was making her eyes sparkle and her cheeks shine. She looked beautiful.

‘Um… wow!’ I exclaimed. Jess looked at me with her eyes wide open. ‘Wow? This is all you could come up with? A wow?’

‘No… I mean… She looks great! Barely recognizable! Even if the people working under Ben have her photo or something they’ll probably look for a brown head but now I doubt that anyone will be able to spot her. Good job girls!’

Alene and Jess exchanged happy glances at my words. I knew they were worrying about anyone recognizing us, mainly Alene, in Philadelphia but now with her new look the threat seemed to have faded a lot.

‘Okay guys, let’s go through our things once more. It’ll really blow up everything if we leave something behind. You brought the IDs, Peter?’

I held them up for the girls to see. They hurriedly grabbed them from my hand. ‘How did you manage to change my hair in my picture?’ Alene exclaimed. I laughed at the look on her face and raised my brows. ‘You doubt my skills, huh?’ She rolled her eyes at me and then sat on the sofa, crossing the IDs from the list she was holding. Jess, however, had a frown on her face. ‘You named me Jesslyn?? Jesslyn Bellend? Dramatic much?’ 

I tried to keep a straight face. ‘Jesslyn is a nice name. We can easily call you Jess as it seems a good enough nick for someone named Jesslyn.’ Jess glared at me while Alene quickly picked her fake ID to see what her new name was. 

‘Now don’t freak out at your name too, it’s Alex Campbell and mine is Adam Styler.’ Alene shrugged. ‘I never have issues with names.’ 

After about another hour’s session with our checklist, we were finally ready to go. Alene had insisted that her makeover should be one of the lasts things to do before leaving West Chester so that no one from the town would see her that way. She didn’t want the word to spread or fall onto wrong ears.

Soon, we were in a cab on the way to Philadelphia. I could sense the burgeoning tension between the three of us as we were heading towards danger. I was still pondering over our plan, but my more pressing issues were to reach my dad’s apartment. My dad had been grateful enough to lend me his car for the time being too but it was waiting for us in a parking area in Philadelphia.