Chapter 7: The Full Package

My morning classes went by in a blur. I repeatedly thought about Riley’s kiss on my cheek, which forced me to keep reaching my hand up against my slight bruise in disbelief. We had hugged all the time, sure. Riley was one of those types of people who didn’t really have personal space. However, she had never kissed my cheek before. I knew it meant nothing because we were best friends, and Kyle was still completely in the picture, with my help. It still made my day go by a bit easier. I didn’t even care what anyone said to me or about me. I felt happy.

I arrived at lunch, a bit more calmed down and ready to act as I usually would around Riley. I was the first out of the two of us to arrive in the cafeteria, so I grabbed a tray and began dishing myself a meal. A few minutes after I had sat down with my tray at our usual table in the corner and began to eat, Riley sat down next to me, not entirely smiling. She asked, “How are you doing?”

Covering my mouth, which was full of food, I grumbled out, “I’m alright, Riley. Really.” I wanted in the worst way possible to move past this incident. Sure my face was still bruised a bit and I hated the deal I made with Kyle, but I just wanted to get back to normal with Riley.

She gave me a flustered look before saying, “I still want to have words with Seth about this… It’s just hard to see you look like this.” She gently brushed her soft hand against my face, and brought it back by her side.

“Well I don’t have to see myself, so I’m okay with it.” I tried to lighten the mood and make her forget about talking with Seth. I thought I made a fairly nice cover earlier to the whole situation by saying it was an accident, so I believed we should be able to just move past it.

She giggled. “Oh….Marcel. If you’re really sure.” Riley then rose from her seat and walked up to the lunch line to grab a tray of food for herself. I began eating from my plate again, waiting for her to return. A few minutes later she plopped back down. “Ugh… Marcel… Please tell me when you are all big and famous and I visit you, we will have better food then this.” She pointed down disappointedly at the dried piece of meat on her tray.

I laughed at her slight discomfort. “We probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.”

She giggled along with me. “Well… we should at least stay positive.” There was a brief moment where we just smiled at each other before she began to speak again, a bit more cheery. “So let’s talk about tonight!”

“Yes, what about tonight?” I asked a bit jokingly, only because I knew how excited she was for it.

“Marcel Sty! You know exactly what I am talking about mister!” she stated half seriously and half sarcastically.

I chuckled at her concern. “I know, I know. You want to see me in full ‘Harry Styles’ character. You’ve only told me about this a bunch of times.”

Her lips twisted up into a smirk, “It has not been that many times, like twice! …But I am excited. I just have a really good feeling about it.” She then stabbed her fork matter-of-factly into the piece of meat on her plate and began to chew, looking straight at me with a smug little face.

I shook my head slightly at her adorable goofiness. “Like I have said before… if you’re excited… I am too.”

Her mouth full of food made her cheeks puff out as she tried to smile politely with her lips closed. The rest of lunch passed quickly while we talked about our morning and homework assignments that we would work on together sometime later in the week. At some point we also reminisced about our childhoods. Somehow this was a usual topic for us to discuss and laugh about. We had just had so many memories together because of living right around the corner from each other. It was unfathomable to think about how long we had been friends, how close we had become.

The school bell rang, signaling that is was time for the afternoon classes to begin. Riley and I stood up from our chairs, both in rather high spirits, as we parted ways.

“See you after school, Marcel. Meet me by my locker so we can go straight to your house?”

“Yeah, sounds great, Rils.” She gave me one last wave before turning down the proper hallway. I returned to my locker to grab some books, feeling rejuvenated about everything. I don’t know how, but talking to Riley just always made my day better. I entered my next class, History , ready to sit down and soak in whatever knowledge my teacher had to offer me. I was surprisingly unbothered by any classmates for the entire hour, for the entire day for that matter. It was a nice, yet odd feeling. When the final bell rang for my last class, I walked out with confidence, ready to spend an evening with Riley.
I grabbed by bag from my locker, and headed in the direction of Riley’s, to find her. I rounded a corner and there she was, standing perfectly her locker concentrating on which books she should pack in her bag. Before I could reach her, Kyle swooped in and placed a kiss on her lips, making her smile at him. My heart immediately sank. I couldn’t stand to look at that, although I continued to walk towards them slowly and with caution. They were whispering in each other’s ears as I finally stood right in front of them. Neither one noticed me at first, so I cleared my throat to make my presence known. “Eh-uhm.”

They both looked to me with very different faces. Riley’s smile grew larger than it was when talking with Kyle, putting a small sense of joy back into my chest. Kyle gave me a stern and serious look. I could still tell he didn’t trust me. However, I liked the feeling of knowing I had a little something over him to protect myself and Riley. Although I absolutely despised the deal we made because it forced me to keep a secret from the ones I cared most about, I had to admit it had a few perks. Kyle had to treat Riley with respect from then on, and he couldn’t really do anything to harm me anymore if he wanted to be with Riley.

I faced strictly to Riley, “Are you ready to go then?”

“I sure am!” She looked at Kyle whose eyebrows were scrunched together. “I’ll talk to you later then?”

I could tell it still aggravated him that she spent so much time with me, but he smiled faintly at her, “Yeah. Sounds good, babe.” He kissed her roughly on the lips, causing me to look away with discomfort. I knew he couldn’t resist throwing something in my face at least. When they pulled apart he shot me a quick devilish grin, knowing he had gotten to me. He looked back to her with a sincere smile and said, “Have fun. I definitely talk to you tonight.” She nodded her head as he turned on his heel and began walking out the school doors.

Riley finished packing her bag, and we began the walk to my house. It was a nice walk, even though it was a bit on the cloudy side. No gloomy weather could dampen a day spent with Riley. We stomped up the steps to my porch, and waited for me to unlock the door.

From behind me I heard Riley giggle and ask, “So when am I getting my own key again?”

I turned the handle, allowing for the door to open. “Oh, it’s in the process of being made, you know. Sometimes that takes a while.” I jokingly stated. I stepped aside so she could enter the house ahead of me. “Ladies first.”

She joyfully strolled into the house. “Right you are, Marcel.” I entered the empty house, closing the door behind me. She turned to me with a pearly white smile. “Let’s get started!”

A bit taken aback by her impulse I stated, “Right away? Don’t you want to relax a bit?”

“No way! I’ve been waiting all weekend and half the week to finally put this all together! Let’s go!” She grabbed my arm and swiftly pulled me up the stairs behind her. We entered my room and she looked around frantically deciding what to do first. “Let’s do your hair first!” Her face fell a little looking at my current hairstyle. “Oh Marcel… go wash out that gel again!” She became jokingly dramatic and threw her hands up in the air, “Ugh... I can’t work like this!”

I laughed as I entered my bathroom, grabbing the shampoo from the shower, and placing my head under the sink. I turned the faucet allowing the water to come pouring out over top of my head. I scrubbed my hair, making sure all the gel was out. When I was done I quickly threw a towel around my head, rubbing against my scalp to dry it. When I removed the towel, I checked myself in the mirror. My hair just looked like a giant, wet afro. It seemed like it would be extremely bipolar if I didn’t style it every day.

I peered out the door to find Riley sitting impatiently on my bed. She smirked at me, “Are you finally ready?”

“Yes, but I think somebody is getting a little too anxious.” I teased her.

“I will admit that.” She stood up and entered into the bathroom. Like the other night, I sat on the toilet as she found the brushes and hair dryer again. She began combing through my locks, making the natural curls come lively again. It was weird, but for some reason I really enjoyed the feeling her hands running through my hair. When she turned the hair dryer off and began fluffing my hair for final touches she spoke, “Gosh Marcel, I can’t believe how curly your hair can get!”

“I know.”

“It’s hard to believe this is all natural. It just looks nothing like how you usually wear it.”

I laughed at her serious statement. “Isn’t that the point, Rils?”

She nudged my shoulder gently and then snapped her fingers in front of my face. “No need think like a smart-ass, Marcel!”

“Hmm… I think I am just getting into character though.”

Her face lite up with a light-bulb moment. “Oh! That’s another thing! We will need to work on your new personality!”

“My personality?”

“Mmhmm!” She ran her hands one last time through my hair. “Harry needs to look different, but he also has to have a personality all his own. Don’t worry, we will work on it.”

I laughed, “I will just leave it all to you.”

“As you should.” She stepped back examining her work. “Perfect!” She clapped her hands together looking extremely proud of herself.

“Okay, now what?”

“Now… put your contacts in and put on one of those outfits we bought the other day. Then you should meet me downstairs.”

“Why downstairs?” I questioned.

“That’s where all our equipment is. I want you to sing a song for me, I can act like a judge and we can work on ‘Harry’s’ personality and characteristics.”

“Oh jeez. I wasn’t expecting to put on any sort of show for you tonight…”

She grinned, “Well, I told you the full package, didn’t I?”

“I guess you did.” I smiled back in return.

“Yes!” She huffed. She slapped my knees, wanting me to get up. “You better hurry. The judge doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” She flipped her hair back dramatically and walked out of the room, heading for the basement.

I shook my head, still amused by her. I stood up and grabbed my contact case from the counter. I twisted of the cap to the right eye and splashed it with solution. I held my eye open and attempted to stick it in my eye. It took a few tries, but I finally got it in. I then proceeded to do the same with my left eye. This time, I got it in on the first try. I blinked a few times at the mirror, feeling proud of myself because it usually took me at least a few minutes longer to get them in. At least I was getting that part of this whole charade down. I put away my glasses in their case, and walked back out into my room to search the back of my closet where I kept the new clothes. I pulled out a white t-shirt and a new pair of jeans we had bought over the weekend. I checked the mirror and decided it probably needed a little more to it. I added a thin green cardigan and a scarf to make it look more like what Riley had envisioned in the store. I checked the mirror one last time, and I had to admit. I really did look like a whole new person.

I headed down the steps to find Riley. I knocked on the door, letting her know that I was ready. I heard an eager voice sound from behind it. “Oh my gosh, Marcel, get in here!”

In a cheeky attitude, I stated, “That’s not how you call a contestant.”

I could sense her eye roll as she began, “Okay, now we have contestant Harry Styles. Age 16. Ready to perform… I have no idea.” She then pretended she was the crowd then and began to cheer and scream softly. I opened to door, and looked her straight in the eye. She was sitting in a chair across the room. Her icy blue gaze was caught with mine as her mouth fell open in some sort of disbelief, speechless.

I blushed a little because I had never been stared at quite like that before. I walked to the middle of the room, trying to stay serious in all of this. I stated, “Hello… my name is…uh… Harry Styles… and I am going to perform, ‘Isn’t She Lovely,’ by Stevie Wonder. Riley’s mouth clasped shut before turning into a wide grin as I knew that was her favorite song. I shot her a confident wink as I closed my eyes letting the world around me drift away and the song take over my body.

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can't believe what God has done
Through us he's given life to one
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she lovely
Life and love are the same
Life is Aisha
The meaning of her name
Londie, it could have not been done
Without you who conceived the one
That's so very lovely made from love


I opened my eyes again slowly only to find a tearful Riley sitting in her chair. My heart which had been beating rather rapidly fell as I didn’t know what could be wrong. With a concerned voice I asked, “W-what’s wrong? Didn’t you like it, Riley? Does it all not work together?”

She shook her head and wiped the few tears that trickled down her face. “No… I don’t know why that made me like this… but it was so perfect Marcel. You are the total package. There is no way you aren’t going to become something someday. I mean that.”

Notes

Sorry it took a few days longer than anticipated to update. I have been super busy! I really hope you like this update, with your first official glimpse of Harry Styles!

Do you think Kyle will keep his promise? Will Kyle continue to leave Marcel alone? Will Riley confront Seth? What do you think of the alternate ego? Do you think Marcel will make it big?

Like always, thank you so much for reading!
I would love it so much if you guys commented and told me your thoughts and what you liked/didn't like/what you think is going to happen.

Also, make sure to rate and subscribe if you haven't already! :)