My curls fell down again in a single wave and completely blocked my view, like a curtain. I let out a startled sound and immediately tried to push them out of my face. But when I had a clear view again, Marlon had already disappeared.

Had this suddenly become a new national sport and I just didn't notice it, or why did people keep stealing my hair ties? That was the last damn hair tie I ever wore. What a bummer!

A loud moan from the direction of the teacher's desk suddenly caught my attention and I just caught Mr. Roberts saying to the two girls: "If you screw this up, you'll be getting tutoring instead of cheerleading in the future."

Then he left the room shaking his head, leaving behind two neat-looking heaps of misery in matching checkered outfits.

I somehow felt sorry for the girls as they stood there frowning and staring intently at the homework in their hands as if they were trying to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphs.

I didn't know why. Maybe it was because of the blow to the head I had just received, but I wanted to help them.

I quickly slipped on my coat, grabbed my bag and walked up to them.

"You said earlier that you would like to swap places with me. To be honest, I feel the same way..." I said shyly as I stepped next to her.

They turned around and looked at me in surprise. I couldn't blame them. Normally I always stayed in the background, didn't get involved and made myself invisible. I couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Huh?" Tara said, frowning.

This unsettled me a little and I almost stuttered as I said: "I mean... you always look so great, I would love to be as pretty as you one day."

Mona held up her punishment and said dejectedly: "Well, unfortunately that's no use to us here. We're really completely screwed..."

I grabbed the stack of paper and looked at the homework more closely. Sure, there were a lot of them. But difficult was something else entirely. Mr. Peters seemed to want to reinforce his lessons through mere repetition. With an encouraging smile, I gave the homework back to Mona because I had a spontaneous and completely crazy idea.

"I have a suggestion, a deal so to speak. I'll do the punishment for you and in return you'll help me get rid of my sloppy look," I suggested with a sudden and unexpected euphoria in my voice and looked at the two girls expectantly.

They both stared at me wordlessly for a second and I was afraid that I had gone too far with my suggestion.

But then Tara's face almost sparkled with joy. She jumped up and down excitedly like a rubber ball, threw her hands in the air and screamed: "We're doing a makeover!"

Mona burst out laughing and shook her head at her friend's exaggerated reaction, but her face also brightened up more and more by the second and she said with a smile: "We have a deal, Cindy. This happens to be one of our easiest exercises."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't even noticed that I had been holding my breath out of tension and a smile crept onto my face.

Then Tara put a finger to her lips and looked at me with a conspiratorial grin: "Is there a particular reason for your sudden desire for a change? Is there perhaps a hot guy involved?"

I raised my hands defensively and at the same time felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment: "No, it's not like that."

Mona looked at me expectantly, so I added by way of explanation: "It's just that tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday and I just want to feel special once on that day. That's all."

Both girls' faces fell and Tara's mouth even dropped open.

"Your birthday is on the same day as the Stirling triplets?" Mona whispered in disbelief.

Tara shook her head and looked at me with pity: "Fuck, that's really bad luck."

She left it unspoken that Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving could all fall together on that day and no one would notice because everyone would only be thinking about the future Alpha Triplets' birthday.

And this year it was even worse. The big party to mark the takeover was the mega event that the whole pack had been looking forward to for over a year. After all, you only experience something like that once or twice in your life.

Tara and Mona exchanged a brief glance and then nodded encouragingly at me, as if they wanted to adopt an abandoned puppy at the animal shelter.

"Rely on us, sweetie, you help us with your homework and we'll turn you into the hottest bitch at the whole party!" Tara promised me solemnly and Mona nodded in agreement.

A smile crept onto my lips and I was suddenly full of anticipation.

Hopefully that went well...

"Where are we going?" I asked Mona and Tara curiously as we walked through the school corridors towards the exit.

"You'll see," Mona replied and made our way through the crowd of students.

Tara gave me a friendly look over her shoulder: "Just trust us."

I swallowed, not used to relying on anyone but myself, but then I nodded hesitantly and followed them. After all, what else could I do?

I was also really happy not to have to drive straight home after school. After all, nobody would miss me and I was happy with any opportunity to escape the Stirlings for an afternoon. Last year I even signed up for the advanced maths course in the afternoon for exactly this reason.

When we reached the large double entrance door and went down the stairs, many of the students were already milling around in the large parking lot in front of the school. Small groups were standing everywhere, chatting animatedly. But I noticed that some of my classmates had fallen silent or were whispering and were casting curious glances at the two girls in front of me.

Mona and Tara, however, were completely unaffected. They strutted across the parking lot with a graceful self-assurance, as if each of them was wearing a small crown on their head.

But that was only logical. Mona's parents, the Thornes, were filthy rich. As was Tara's family, the Greenwoods. Both girls belonged to the werewolf high society and, unlike me, had grown up with a silver spoon in their mouths.

A few of the hot guys from the football team were leaning against a big blue pickup truck, watching us. One of the guys whistled at us and Tara winked at him teasingly, while she swung her hips in a sexily manner with each step, making her short pleated skirt sway back and forth. Mona simply ignored him as if she hadn't heard anything.

I looked down at the floor in embarrassment and avoided looking at anyone. I was incredibly embarrassed. I didn't like being the center of attention, even though all eyes were probably only on the two girls in front of me. I also felt totally clumsy and out of place in my outfit.

Finally, Mona stopped in front of a shiny metallic red Volvo EX90. The two girls got in the front and I sat in the back seat. To my surprise, the Volvo only had two seats in the back, but like the front, it had a center console that I could use as a table. I was amazed at how luxurious the SUV was and breathed in the heavy scent of the dark leather seats. It was simply unbelievable that such a car belonged to a high school student.

When Mona started the engine and drove off, I wasted no time and immediately started to do their homework. The tasks were not challenging at all and I completed them one by one with ease. I was just worried about my sloppy handwriting and the extreme smearing that I didn't normally display. However, a few mistakes, even if they were just from copying incorrectly, would make things much more believable for Mr. Robins.

Math was just totally my thing and I took pride in my academic achievements. It was something I did for myself and that no one could take away from me. Although most werewolves would prefer athleticism, muscles and a good appearance to intelligence. In our culture, much to my chagrin, the right of the strongest prevailed, not the smarter.

When Mona parked her car in the underground car park of the Lakewood Shopping Mall after about twenty minutes, I had reached the very last task.

"Just a moment, I'll have it in a minute..." I said, fully concentrating, and quickly scribbled the rest of the calculation on my notebook.

Then I held up my results and grinned contentedly: "Done!"

Tara took the pad from my hand and glanced over my scribbles in amazement: "I don't understand anything at all, but I'm totally impressed!"

"You were in the advanced course last year, weren't you?" Mona asked with a serious face and I answered in the affirmative. Then she smiled kindly: "Well, then nothing can go wrong."

After Tara had stowed the stack of papers and the corresponding answers in the glove compartment of the car, we got out and Tara squeaked excitedly: "After work comes the fun!"

She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the elevators. Strictly speaking, only I had the work and the two girls the fun, but I was just as excited as they were. When the elevator opened the doors to the shopping aisles with a ping, I was almost overwhelmed. The mall was packed on this Friday afternoon. The first people were probably already doing their Christmas shopping.

I hadn't been to the Lakewood Mall for a few years and a lot had changed. Colorful advertising signs were hanging everywhere, the shop windows were already decorated for Christmas, and from a distance I could see the decorated Christmas tree, several meters high, next to the escalators.

"What's wrong, Cindy? Are you not feeling well?" Mona asked, looking at me worriedly as we moved with the flow of the crowd.

I quickly shook my head: "No, I just haven't been here for a long time."

Somehow, all the people and the hustle and bustle around us made me feel good. I couldn't really explain it myself, but it was just nice not to always be alone and just sit in my room. It felt good to get out for once.

Tara sighed deeply and squeezed my hand sympathetically: "Oh, I know what you mean. I haven't been here for a long time either."

Mona giggled next to us and gave Tara a reproachful look: "Have you already forgotten that we were at the "Coffee Pup" on Monday after school?!"

Tara shrugged apologetically and answered her friend: "Three days can be a damn long time for a shopaholic like me..."

They both started to giggle and I grinned too. Strangely, I felt more and more comfortable in her presence.

Suddenly Mona turned into a classy-looking boutique called "La Luna". From the inside, the shop looked incredibly huge. The walls and floor were white, large, bright, round lamps that resembled moons hung from the ceiling, and the clothes racks and other decorations were gold. What were we doing here? It looked so incredibly luxurious.

We were immediately greeted by a nice blonde employee in a simple black dress: "Hello Miss Thorne, Miss Greenwood. Nice to see you both again." "

It's nice to see you too, Julia. Is the private cabin free right now?" Mona asked with such a confident attitude as if the shop owned it.

Apparently my classmates really felt at home in this boutique, even if the saleswomen called them by name.

"Of course, I'll reserve it for you this afternoon. Would you like to look around a bit or are you looking for something specific?" Julia asked incredibly politely.

Mona shook her head: "Thank you very much, we'll have a look around ourselves. Please bring me a wardrobe, we'd like to try on a few things."

Julia nodded eagerly: "Of course. One moment, Miss Thorne."

Then she quickly disappeared into a room behind the white marble counter. When she came back, she pushed a golden clothes rack on wheels in front of her, handed it to Mona with a smile and left us alone again: "Please call me if you need anything."

“Let’s have some fun!” Tara squealed and started looking around the store.

I was still so overwhelmed by the decor and the friendly courtesy of the staff that I was almost startled when Mona said next to me: "If you see something you like, you can hang it on the clothes rack here."

That was really nice of her, but somehow I had no idea what to choose. Let alone what would suit me. I was hopelessly overwhelmed and sighed loudly.

"Don't you like anything?" Mona asked after a while, when half of the clothes rack was already full and there were even a few shoes on the lower shelf above the wheels.

I shook my head and admitted in frustration: "No, that's not it. I'm such a fashion grinch, that hasn't been my world until now. I just have no idea what to take..."

A second later, I heard a strange, strained noise and Mona laughed so loudly that I jumped and looked at her in confusion.

"Fashion Grinch? That's really good and hits the nail on the head, sweetie. But don't worry, if anyone can un-Grinch you, it's me," she giggled and wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye.

When the clothes rack was so full that I was afraid it would collapse under the weight, Julia appeared next to us again. She accompanied us into a hidden side room with a classically elegant white sofa, a coffee table, a large, floor-length golden baroque mirror and a changing room that would surely pass as a communal changing room in a swimming pool.

Julia pushed the clothes rack into the changing room and closed the curtain while Mona and Tara sat down on the sofa. In front of them on the table was a generously filled bowl of strawberries and three champagne flutes with orange juice.

"Come on, get into the cabin and let off some steam!" Mona ordered with a grin and reached for a champagne flute.

A few minutes later, as I slipped into the first dress, I heard the two girls chatting happily in front of the changing room. It was a short, tight-fitting, pine green fine knit dress that really accentuated my curves.

I felt a bit strange because I wasn't used to wearing tight and tight clothes. At the same time, I had to admit that I liked it quite a lot on myself. When I saw the price tag, however, my breath caught in my throat and my initial joy waned a little.

"Are you wearing something yet? Come on out, we're really excited," Mona called out curiously and Tara agreed.

I gathered all my courage and hesitantly stepped out of the cabin.

Both girls stared at me in surprise. Tara had apparently just taken a bite of a strawberry, because as her mouth opened in amazement a piece of strawberry fell out.