Afflicted

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I scolded her as my heart leapt. I think the raccoon attack had left me feeling skittish and the last thing I needed was another fright.

Tara's face, arms and stomach were an angry pink colour which she had attempted to cover with pale makeup. Her light blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail which just showed that the sunburn extended to her ears too.

"It's bad isn't it?" she moaned as she caught sight of my face.

"Ummm..." I had thought it would be bottom of the pyramid bad but this looked bad enough to get her cut from the team if Demi was in the wrong mood.

"Should I put more makeup over it?"

I eyed the patchy foundation around her jaw and shook my head. "Maybe just try not to draw attention to yourself. With a bit of luck she won't notice." I shrugged apologetically; we both knew she'd notice.

"I can't believe I fell asleep in the sun," Tara said sadly as we headed for the locker rooms.

"Did you enjoy your holiday? Sun damage excluded," I asked.

"Yeah, we had fun. I mean my sisters were totally annoying, stealing my stuff all the time. And my mom forced us to go on all of these excursions, but I guess some of them were pretty cool." The closer we got to the changing rooms, the more Tara dragged her feet.

"Last chance to run for it," I said with a smile as we reached the door.

"Let's just get this over with - I mean, she can't kill me... right?"

"I hope not, 'cause you know she'd make the rest of us dispose of the body," I laughed as I pushed the door wide.

The rest of the squad were already there and my eyes landed on Demi. She was standing on one of the benches while the other girls looked up at her. She had platinum blonde hair which hung loose around her face in gentle curls. As usual she had flawless makeup and the perfect tan (thanks to her mom's sun bed which none of us were allowed to use).

Demi spotted us and her mouth dropped open, she had clearly been in the middle of talking to the rest of the squad but her attention zeroed in on Tara.

"What the hell is that lobstrocity?" she asked angrily, pointing at Tara.

"It's totally going down," Tara said defensively as I ducked aside. "When I'm out of direct light you can barely even-"

"Oh so you're telling me that you look better in the dark?" Demi asked, stepping off of the bench and moving towards Tara. "Because that was true before you turned yourself into a goddamn tomato."

"I swear, in a few days it'll be back to normal, I'll probably even be left with a tan," Tara said placatingly.

"You can sit out tonight, change out of your uniform and don't wear it again until you look human. And if you start to peel like some sort of gross lizard then you're out for good." Demi turned her back on Tara and looked at the rest of us. "That leaves us with an uneven number." She pursed her lips as she thought about that. "Chloe you're out too, don't think I haven't noticed you need your roots dying. I don't need people thinking we have a skunk on the squad."

Chloe opened her mouth to protest but Demi stared her down. Her roots were getting a little noticeable but it was hardly a reason for her to be benched.

"Great, now the rest of you can stop staring at me and head out to warm up. We don't have all day here and now we need to adjust the routine to make up for these two letting us down." She swept out of the room and I hurried to join the others as they follow

ed her.

"I'm so glad I don't dye my hair," I muttered as Lacey fell in next to me.

"I swear she's getting worse," Lacey replied. "She's enjoying having all this power, she really puts the itch in-"

"Bitch?" Ella offered from behind us.

I turned towards her with a vague smile, hoping she didn't feel the need to tell anyone what Lacey had said. Ella was nice but she had a big mouth and loved to gossip far more than I deemed natural. She had developed a knack for sneaking up on people which I figured was because she was trying to listen in.

"I heard you were attacked by a raccoon," Ella said with a giggle as she pulled her long, black hair back into a ponytail.

"Yeah, that thing was huge," I replied.

"You should have seen Reese's impression of you at lunch. He's so funny." She smiled a little too widely and I fought to keep my anger at my brother to myself.

"Reese never saw the raccoon," I said, fighting to keep my tone neutral. "So I don't see how he could do an impression of me."