"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I question Lane as the three of us walk towards Stars Hollow Beauty Supply.

Rory looked toward Lane who was walking between the two of us. "Yeah, if your mum finds out she'll kill you."

Lane had an ingenious idea of dying her hair as a form of rebellion against her strict mother. After she had realised that her life was slowly slipping out of her control, she had decided she need to do something about it.

I adjust the dark blue jacket on my shoulders as Lane responds to our pessimism. "I need to do this," she tells us with a nod of her head as if convincing herself. "If I don't, I'll be stuck with her choosing what underwear I wear in the morning."

Rory scrunched her nose up at her words. "Hopefully she doesn't choose the Spongebob ones," she adds in.

With a quick glance towards me, Lane shushed Rory. "That was supposed to be our secret," she whispers to Rory while looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"You guys keep secrets from me?" I ask, slightly hurt. I didn't realise they did that, I mean I never kept anything from them. Well, the whole Yale or No Yale thing was a very different kind of secret. A big secret.

"It wasn't a secret," Rory rephrased with an apologetic glance my way.

"Yeah, it was more of a 'we will never speak of this again' kind of thing." Lane agreed as she pushed her thick framed glasses up the bridge of her nose.

I rub my left hand up and down my right arm awkwardly. "I know, I just thought you'd tell me. You know as a 'Hey, guess what just happened' thing." I tell them with a shrug. This wasn't a big deal, they just did something funny without me. It's all fine, it happens sometimes.

"It's just that every time we hang out you're usually busy with Jess," Lane continued on truthfully.

"No I'm not," I say defensively. "I'm hanging out with you guys aren't I?"

"Yeah," Lane said with a nod. "For the first time in two weeks." She adds the last part with a raised eyebrows.

I turn to Rory who was unusually quiet as the three of us kept on walking. Rory with her gaze trained on the sidewalk. "So?" I direct my question to her. "Is it true?"

She looks up at me with a grimace. "I mean kind of," she begins as I groan as the fact that she agreed with Lane. "I only ever see you in school anymore."

"Let me put it this way," Lane piped up. "Remember when Rory first went out with Dean?" She asked me as I nodded in response, not knowing where she was going with this. "And she completely ignored us for a while."

"Hey!" Rory exclaimed in protest.

"Not now," Lane and I told her simultaneously. Rory let out a huff of air exaggeratedly as Lane continued.

"That's you now," she tells me as I feel a frown creep on my face. I began to protest but Lane stopped me. "Exactly you."

I began to think about how maybe she was right. Maybe have been spending a lot of time with Jess. I wouldn't say too much time but a lot of time nonetheless. So, they might have a good point.

"Am I really like how Rory was?" I say distastefully as I remember how neglected Lane and I felt at her lack of contact. It wasn't a nice feeling if I was honest. So it made sense if Lane and Rory weren't feeling too happy with me either.

Rory looks toward me with a scoff. "I'm right here," she shakes her head at the way I say her name.

"You're doing what she did," Lane ignores Rory and answers my question.

The three of us come to a stop in front of the only cosmetics shop in Stars Hollow. Lane and Rory wait for me to say something with interested looks as I gather what to say to them. Apologising was probably best.

Sending them both apologetic smiles I began to apologise. "I'm sorry," I say. "I don't really know how to work this whole boyfriend situation thing."

"Ain't that the truth," Rory mumbled to Lane making the three of us laugh lightly.

"I swear I'll spend more time with you guys," I promised as I look between the two to see their reactions.

The two of them share a look before turning back toward me with a sigh. "It's all right," Rory says with a smile.

Lane nods in agreement. "Yeah, just don't forget us on your wedding day."

"I'll be sure to send you a post card," I plat along with a smile. "Now, come on. Let's go get you a new look." I add as the three of us head inside the store.

~~~

It was messy. So messy that it looked like the inside of my mind.

Lane sat on a stool inside the bathroom of her house as Rory prepared the bleach for her hair. There was newspaper covering the entire floor to make sure that the dye wouldn't stain it. There was various empty bottles of bleach strewn across the tables.

According to Lane, three bottles weren't too much. Personally, I thought she was gonna go bald with the amount of chemicals that we were gonna put in her hair. I was standing by the CD player on one of the cabinets by the door. I had a very easy job, pick good music. It was easy since the only music I know is good music.

"Now are you sure you wanna do this?" Rory asked Lane for what felt like the hundredth time. She finished mixing up the bleach in one big purple bowl.

Lane looked up at Rory from her seat. "Will you stop?"

"Hey," I called out to them as I inserted a cd. "We're just making sure."

"I'll even sign a waiver if you want," Lane tells me. "Hit play," she gestured toward the CD player as I did as told. The music filling the room faintly.

I walk over to Rory to help apply some bleach on Lane's hair. "Shouldn't we open a window?" I ask with a clean brush in my hand.

"But it's freezing outside," Lane argues as she adjusts the towel that went over her shoulders. 

"The bleach is gonna stink up the whole house." Rory says with the bowl in her arm, her brush already coated in a think layer.

"Let it," Lane says wildly, high on her adrenaline of doing something that void potentially get her disowned. "Let it be the first clue that somethings happened, for when my mum gets home."

"Let the thick smell of bleach meet her at the doorway like a force that will usher her into the next chapter of Lane Kim's life!" She exclaimed excitedly, moving slightly in her chair. "The smell of bleach is the smell of freedom!" She stand up from her seat with a grin wide grin, really feeling the pride in herself.

"That's what George Washington said," I comment as I dip my brush into the bowl of bleach.

Rory smiled at Lane. "You're very dramatic today."

As if to prove Rory's point, Lane kicked the newspapers that covered the floor. "To hell with the floor," she shouted with a grin. She took a deep breathe before composing herself. "That felt good to say."

"You done?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as she sat back in her chair.

She nods her head, careful not to let the towel drop from her shoulders. "I'm done."

"Alright, you ready?" Rory asks with an excited grin. She lays the bowl down on a nearby table as we each take the brush in our hands.

"I'm as ready as Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible," Lane answers.

"Which one? Cause he wasn't ready in the first one." I say as I take her left side while Rory takes the other.

"The third one," Lane replied. "Or maybe the second."

Rory nods her head at the answer. "He was ready in those two." She starts before applying the bleach to her hair. "Here we go."

Rory and I began to work on applying the bleach on the outer layer of her hair first. After a while one of us had to check in on Lane. "You feeling good" I asked in between strokes of my brush.

"Feeling great," she corrects as I see her hands fidget in her lap. "This is such a catharsis. I have never felt so naturally high in my life."

"Well then I wonder what you'd be like artificially high," I commented with a smirk. I made sure not to leave any part of her hair untouched.

I felt Lane move slightly in her seat agitatedly. "Stings a little though," she murmured for us to hear.

"Yeah that happens," Rory says from before me as she accidentally elbows my side.

"It's just a little, no biggie," Lane downplays it. She was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "More than a little actually. It's kind of a big little."

"Well, just keep us posted." I tell her as I reach over to the bowl to dunk my brush in more bleach.

"In that case it's kind of a lot," Lane says again, her voice sounded strained as if she was gritting her teeth. "Yup, a lot of sting happening here."

"Think of the band," I tell her trying to get her to focus of the pain. "You know, the band Sting."

"God, this smells awful." Rory said under her breath, the bowl of bleach now in her hands and under her nose. "Yeah, try to think about something else," she adds.

Lane nods, throwing her hair all over the place. "Thinking of Vin Diesel and how he got his name," she says before going on a journey of thoughts that ended somewhere along the lines of how much the bleach hurts.

"Ok now this hurts really bad," Lane says with her voiced laced with pain. Rory and I both immediately stopped applying any more bleach in her hair when we realised how serious her pain was.

"How bad is it?" Rory asked as I took the bowl from her hands and put in on the table.

"Ever lit your head on fire?" She says quickly. "Now I don't have to since I know how it feels!"

Rory's eyes widen at her statement and immediately dashed for a jug of water that we had kept next to the cd player, probably not the best idea since it was a fire hazard. "I'll rinse it out," she said with the jug in her hands.

Lane jumps out of her chair, nearly knocking me and the bowl in my hands, down to the floor. "No!" She exclaims. "Then we'd have to start all over again! Now that I know how much pain there is ,I'll chicken out for sure!"

"I'm getting dizzy from the smell," I comment as I put a hand on the table to stabilise myself. It felt like my nostrils were burning from the smell alone, poor Lane had the stuff on her head.

"Let's focus on the pain now," Lane tells me as Rory rushed over to open a window. "Read the box what does it say?"

I pick up the box on the table and began reading out the disclaimers. I could hear Rory take deep breathes from behind me as she stuck her head out the window.

"Blah, blah blah," I skim the words until I found some that could actually d of some use to us. "Do not apply on a broken scalp." I say loudly to be heard over the music.

"Is your scalp broken?" Rory asked as she appeared beside me.

Lane paced around the room worriedly as she threw up her hands. "I don't know my scalp that well!"

"There's nothing else about pain!" I say hurriedly as I reread the box again.

"Oh!" Rory exclaimed as she put her hand on her forehead. "I remember that your supposed to drink Seven-Up! It has something to do with the bubbles."

I turn to Lane who still hasn't stopped her pacing. "Great! I'm sure you have Seven-Up somewhere."

She stops her pacing to looks at me incredulously. "This is the Kim Household," she clarified. "We got Holy Water, would that help?"

"God can't help you now," I comment with a groan.

"Oh, what do we do now?" Rory asks frantically as her head still sticks out the window.

"I have an idea!" I snap my fingers together. "Run around the block!" I point at Lane.

"What, why?" She questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

Rory takes her head back inside and stalks toward me. "I thought you said you had an idea!" She exclaimed at me suggestion.

"I never said it was a good one," I retort as Lane shrugs.

"Works for me!" She yells before dashing out the door.

Once she was gone, both Rory and I scrambled back toward the open window. We stood side by side with our elbows pressed together on the windowsill. Looking down, we saw Lane run around the block with the towel still on her shoulders. Her hair still had a thick layer of bleach over it as it flew behind her shoulders.

~~~

"Open the door, we wanna see!" I shouted through the closed door. Lane was inside drying off her hair that had been dyed purple. The bleached had stopped hurting her head after the fifth time around the block.

Beside me, Rory stood with an excited grin on her face as the door opens. The two of us walk inside to see Lane with bright purple hair. The evening light from the open window reflecting off her hair.

"Woah," Rory gasped as she took in Lane's new look.

"Woah is right," I say with an open mouth. I had to give it to her, she looked good.

Lane walked towards us with a wide smile on her face, her dark eyes conveying the same excitement. "It's everything I hoped it would be!"

"It's very rock and roll," Rory says, leaning against the wall.

"We have to take a picture!" Lane said as she twirled a strand of purple hair between her fingers.

"Go get the camera!" I exclaimed before the three of us ran towards her room.

We entered her room, the version her mum made for her. Lane handed me the camera from off her sofa as she sat on the chest against the bed. Rory stood in front of her, fixing her hair and glasses to make them picture worthy.

I ushered Rory out of the way. "You ready?" I ask Lane.

"Should I smile or scowl?" She asks me before crossing one leg over the other.

"You do you," Rory says as Lane smiles and I take the picture. The Polaroid comes out of the camera and I wave it around, hoping to get the picture to appear faster.

The door from below opens as my head turns toward the sound. "That must be your mum," Rory tells Lane with a grin.

Lane's entire face pales and she freezes up, her eyes trained on the bedroom door. I walk towards her and wave my hand in front of her face. "Lane?" I asked as Rory stood beside me.

"You're turning really white," she stated before turning to me. "What should we do?" She whispers.

"Why are you whispering?" I asked just as Lane snapped out of whatever trance she was in.

"I can't do this!" She exclaimed. "I can't dye my hair!"

"It's kind of already to late," Rory tells her softly.

Lane doesn't move from her spot. "This will kill her!" She shouts, her eyes looking like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"It will only shock her," I correct.

"Then the shock will kill her and it will be a bloodbath!" Lane gets up out of her seat and closes the door. "We have to go back!"

"Back to what?" Rory asks, confused.

"Back to black!" Lane explains quickly before taking a towel and wrapping it around her head like ET.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Like the album? AC/DC? Oh wait, that's Back in Black, never mind."

"Now is not the time to talk about how good your music taste is!" Lane exclaims frantically. She shoves us toward the door, "Go buy the black dye! Go!"

"Lane, but-" Rory began to protest but Lane shuts us up.

"Out!" She shouts at full volume while pointing toward the door. Her outburst resembling Mrs. Kim by a lot. I wonder if I told Lane that would she cry.

"We're going," I quickly say as we head out the door.