Amy's POV

My PONY TAIL is in full view! I'm freaking out even if they can't see my physical features besides my hair.

They can't get a full view of my face thanks to my mask. Next thing I know though, I'm falling.

Thump!

Pain fills my tail bone. I groan as realization hits me. The stupid idiot dropped me. I'll have to get him back at that, but right now is not the time for seeking revenge. I have to get out of here.

Everywhere I turn, everyone has their mouth open in horror. No one is able to comprehend that I'm female.

Sexist idiots. Ya, I'm a damn girl, so what?

Ryder staggers back a few steps. "Y-you're a g-girl!"

I roll my eyes, which he can now fully see. "No shit Sherlock."

His face turns bright red in what I'm guessing is humiliation. "I-I got beat by a girl!" Yup. Humiliation.

His face turns redder, but from anger this time.

"How the hell did I lose to a weak female like you?! How the hell did we all lose to you?"

I smirk, he can't see my mouth though. Nor will he be able to hear what I say next. "Like this."

I pick myself up and roundhouse kick him on his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and knocking him out.

I pull my hood back up and run. I continue to run through the familiar hallways until I reach Lucy's office.

She's already there, waiting with the door wide open. She was able to see everything from a monitor in her office. We had a procedure planned something like this ever happened. This is step one.

She hands me a backpack and I immediately start stripping, stuffing my yoga pants, hood and mask into it. Not caring that she has full view of my scars. I'll worry about her quesrions later.

I quickly change into the clothes that were in the backpack, light wash jeans and a red crop top.

These are the tightest clothing I have ever worn. I take the tube of concealer that was also in the backpack and use it to cover up the scars on my arms.

I let my hair fall from it's pony tail, quickly making two twin braids.

I clip my sneakers on and run, thanking Lucy on the way out.

I once again take the back door out, texting Emily while running. Time for step two.

"Hey!" I turn around in horror, quickly pocketing my phone. I thought no one followed me! I come face to face with a chest.

I look up and meet Alexander's eyes.

His eyes widen in surprise, mine widen in fear. I took longer than I thought if he's already awake.

"W-what do you want?"

He shakes his head. "Sorry, thought you were someone else." They're already searching for me. I need to get out of here.

"Alex! We found her!" I turn and see a boy, well, more like a man, who looks exactly like Alexander, maybe his brother? Looks too young to be his father. I send a silent thank you up above. They've mistaken someone else for me. Although I feel bad for the poor girl who's about to get interrogated, I'm glad to have an escape.

Alex nods at him and turns back around to face me. I freeze, thinking I'm gonna be questioned, but what comes out of his mouth surprises me. "Get out of here grocery girl, don't let me ever find you back here again. Understood?"

Once again, not needing to be told twice, I ran. I thank my lucky stars that he let me go.

I didn't stop running until I came upon a park. Now, it's time for step two.

I grabbed my phone and called Emily since I never fully finished the text I was going to send her. She pickes up on the third ring.

"Is your fight done already?" She asks surprised.

I sigh. "Em, I'm at the park."

If she was in front of me, her eyes would have widen. Lile I said, we have everything planned out in a case like this.

If anyone, and I mean anyone ever found out my identity by accident, I was to leave the building immediately. I would change into some clothes that I specifically bought for the occasion, and then put my hair into braids or whatever hairdo I didn't have on in the ring.

That time to use this is plan is now. The only thing that ever changes about the plan is where I would go. Every month I decided to change it to avoid being compromised. This month, it was the park.

"T-the park?" I can hear the fear in Emily's voice.

"Yes," The line goes silent. "I'm on my way."

She hangs up. I sigh putting away my phone and walk over to a swing. I sit down, swining back and worth. Back and worth.

This place holds so many memories of me and my family.

There used to be a time when my parents didn't argue, when everything was perfect. We used to be that cliche loving family that everyone loved.

That all changed the first day they started fighting.

They always fought for petty things. The first day, they were arguing about the dinner my mother had cooked.

So stupid really. She had cooked fried chicken and rice, but my father didn't like fried chicken. He got angry and started to yelled at her. That fight eventually died down, but another took its place.

The day before we had come here to the park. We had a nice time, we even went to get Ice-cream afterwards.

My parents played a game of soccer with us, it was supper fun. I just wish my siblings still had that type of fun in their lives.

I myself have gotten over it, it's been 5 years, but I hate the fact that my siblings need to be stripped at their childhood. I was 12. They were way younger than me.

I feel a tear slide down my cheek. I just wish everything could go back to the way it was. No fights, no yelling, no abuse. I wish everything would be perfect again.

But it's not. I just need to accept that and live my life the way it is. I need to start accepting that my siblings won't have a normal childhood.

I look up as a honk snaps me out of my thoughts. Emily's car slowly rolls to a stop.

I wipe my tear and stand, walking over to her, taking one last look around the park.

It's times like these that books always say it's raining. When readers or English teachers asks their class, why is it raining? They say it's raining because it shows in a more clear perspective what the author is feeling. Raining usually means sadness.

That answer doesn't apply for my current setting.

It's not raining, it's sunny. A sunset is happening. The yellow orange light is landing on the fall leaves, making everything a golden color. It's beautiful.

To me, gold represents accepting. When you get a gold medal in the Olympics, it's because your performance was accepted by the people who watched you or were judging you. They accept you as the best.

That's what my answer would when readers ask why the setting is golden at a time like this.

It's because I'm finally accepting my life. I'm finally accepting that my siblings won't have a normal childhood. The only thing I will be able to do, is try and improve it.

--------

"What happened?" That's the question I'm asked the minute I'm strapped into Emily's car.

"Nice to see you too." I try and joke with her. She gives me a deadpanned look in return.

"I saw you barely an hour ago. Now spill." I sigh, but tell her everything from when I entered the underground till I got to the park.

"You mean to tell me that ALEXANDER BLACK REAVLED THAT YOUR A GIRL IN FRONT OF EVERYONE?!" She screams at me.

I slowly nod my head. She groans and slumps in her seat.

"Good thing it's the weekend tomorrow."

I shake my head at this, a small smile creeping onto my face. Emily is known for thinking in the bright side, I'm known for thinking of things how it is, not how they could turn out. I'm no longer a hopeful person. That part died the day I realized my life would be drastically changed. It died the day I saw my mother dead in front of my own eyes.

"Em, every gang member that was there now knows that I'm a girl. For get males for a second, they will keep an eye on every single female in this town until they find in that matches my hair description or until they find me." Her eyes widen as the seriousness of the situation sets in.

"What are we going to do?!"

"I don't know Em, if I knew what to do, I wouldn't be stressing right now."

The car ride is silent for a couple of minutes, but of course Emily has to break it.

"Make over." That all she says, no sign of continuing her sentence, leaving me confused.

"What?"

"We give you a make over." She says that as we pull into a grocery store.

I narrow my eyes. "What are you talking about Em?"

She looks at me, her face blank of emotion. I already know I won't like what she's about to say.

"We will cut your hair, and then dye your hair."

I immediately try to shut that idea down. "No, nope, no way, nada. Not happening."

My hair is my utmost prized possession. It's the thing that reminds me most of my mother. There is no way in hell that I would ever cut it.

"Amy, listen to me. In order for the gangs not to target both you and your siblings, you need to change your appearance."

I groan. I can't believe I'm actually considering this. "Fine, but nothing to... Big."

She just smirks at me. I already regret my decision. "Stay here."

"Not like I have anywhere else to go." I mutter.

After 20 minutes of waiting for Emily in the car, she comes back holding a bag of who knows what.

"Ready?" She smiles at me.

"We aren't gonna do this here, let's go to your house."

She rolls her eyes at me. "Did you really think I would risk my precious getting dirty?"

She's talking about her car. She loves the car as if it were her daughter. Probably loves it more than her own mother.

"Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there." I retort.

The car comes to a stop and I look up and see we have arrived at her house.

I wait for her to get out and then follow behind her.

After saying hi to her family, we went upstairs. I still have yet to know what's in her bag.

"Alright, Ames, try to relax. This is going to take a while."

-------

It's been almost two hours since we started on my make over. I've been plucked, pulled, yanked, poked, ect. ect. I mean, how much work does it take to do a make over?!

I hear Emily heave a big sigh. "Done!"

About time. I look up into the mirror. I gasp at my appearance.

My brown hair is no longer just brown. It's brown with golden streaks and it no longer reaches my waist. It now reaches my elbow.

My eyebrows are no longer all over the place. They are now neatly staying in place. My eyebrows have always been naturally thick, so they're not filled in right now.

I feel tears in my eyes. I finally see something in myself which I've never seen before. I see a broken teenage girl. I see a girl who was stripped away from a childhood.

Above all, I see a girl who is still fighting. I see a girl who is beyond mature for her age.

I see a fighter. More exact, a streetfighter who's been broken. I see a Broken Streetfighter, who's finally found herself.

I see a new start for me. Changing my appearance won't change who I am, but it will change my perspective. The gold in my hair represents a new day.

A new day, A new beginning. A new beginning, more people you need to accept for their flaws.

A new day, new opportunity. An opportunity for change, and that's exactly what I plan to do. Change in my life starts now.

Alexander POV

I drop Black Rose in surprise.

"Y-you're a g-girl!" I exclaim I'm shocked.

I never would have expected him to be a her. I never thought he is actually a she. I never thought that that 'male' was actually a female.

I guess that's where most of my problems are. I didn't think.

I feel my face flush red in embarrassment. I fucking lost to a fucking girl!

"No shit Sherlock." That immediately makes my embarrassment turn to anger.

"I-I got beat by a girl!" I murmur to myself, still not able to believe it.

"How the hell did I lose to a weak female like you?! How did we all lose to you?" I shout question after question to her. I feel pathetic. Everyone here should feel pathetic too.

We all thought Black Rose was a male. We were wrong. Black Rose's identity was always stragistically kept hidden.

I don't get an answer verbally. Instead, she picks herself up and kicks me on the chest.

I black out, listening to her say something which I can't understand. The darkness swallows me whole.

--------

I wake to the feeling of someone shaking me.

I open my eyes, met with a scene of chaos. Everyone is running all over the place, yelling, screaming, people are getting tripped, pushed, shoved, I can't remember what caused all of this. I don't know of anything that could have caused this. The underground is usually very well organized to avoid exposure to the police.

I sit up and see that my gang members are the only ones who are calm and seated.

"What happened?" I manage to groan out.

"Black Rose." It's Alec who answers me. He's standing next to me, I'm guessing he's the one who shook me awake.

"Ugh. What did he do now?"

Alec looks at me as if I'm crazy. "Do you not remember anything?"

I shake my head no. "I only remember a foot hitting my chest, that's it."

Alec shakes his head. "No time to explain, long story short, Black Rose is a girl. Search for a girl who looks frantic and has a light brown pony tail."

I nod and run out, making sure to grab a gun on my way.

I motion for my gang to make round inside and out, leaving no space unchecked. We have to find Black Rose before anyone else does.

She could be a valuable new addition to our gang.

I myself run out with the group who will search the perimeter of the building.

While walking I spot a girl with two braids walking out the back doors.

"Hey!" I shout at her. She visibly tenses. Could she be Black Rose?

She turns around, I don't bother to hide my shock when I see Amy there.

"W-what do you want?" She stutters. Pain stabs my chest. She's still afraid of me. Then again, this is our first encounter since the incident two weeks ago.

"Sorry, though you were someone else." I tell her while shaking my head.

She couldn't be Black Rose, she's too fragile to be dealing with an illegal sport like this.

"Alec! We found her!" Alec screams at me. I give a nod, giving him the go ahead to grab her, before turning to look at Amy.

"Get out of here Grocery Girl, and don't ever let me find you here again. Understood?" She nods and quickly turns around, running to only she knows where.

It's only then that I get a good view at what she was wearing. Skinny jeans and a crop top. Two twin braids to match the look.

She looks beautiful, the jeans sticking to her hips, the crop top lining her curves. Those braids bouncing up and down with each step, she's an angel sent here from heaven.

The only question I have though is, what was an angel like her doing in a Hell like this?