Most girls would have cried at the thought of leaving town and starting fresh for their senior year, but Sharon wasn't most girls. She had always felt she was destined for better things, and yet she was always one step behind. She blamed her parent's salaries. Blamed the out of style clothes that were all they could afford. Blamed the hand me down car. Blamed the neighborhood.
Well, all that was going to change. Her dad had a new job for lots more money. And the job required that they transfer. Of all places to Beverly Hills - 90210. Well, her zip code wasn't that - it was technically 90213, but it was close enough. And the school was the same one from the TV mini-series. She was ready for her new life. One that was made for TV.
Now, Sharon had a new wardrobe - stylish - pretty. Her dark brown hair now had highlights and was styled in an Jennifer Anistan. Her glasses were replaced with colored contacts to bring out the blue in her eyes. She had the same car - an older Honda, but she hoped no one would notice. Just to be sure, she parked in the back of the parking lot. It was a new start...or at least as close as she was ever going to get for a long time.
However Beverly Hills High wasn't like the high school she attended in Kansas. Everything was shiny. Expensive. Her idea of hanging out with the pretty people was going to be harder than she imagined. They were all pretty people. All tan with gleaming white teeth. She felt even more out of place than she did at her last school. The social stratus here was even harder to crack. At her old school there was a similar social stratus, but it wasn't obvious. You had to grow up there to know who was in and who was out. At Beverly Hills, it was obvious who was in and who was out. She knew it when she first walked into school. The popular kids hung out at the top of the stairs. The less popular hung out on the stairs themselves. The nobodies hung out at the bottom. The bottom feeders.
Sharon was sure she wasn't going to be a bottom feeder. She started off at the top of the stairs. But no one even looked at her, much less talked to her. It was as if she didn't exist. Not even a bottom feeder - but a ghost - a nobody. She began to work her way down. She tried different things to fit in. She tried another hair style. She sprayed on the fake tan. She started using Crest Whitestrips. After a week, and now down to the bottom quarter of the stairs, she was almost ready to give up.
"Hi, I'm Nikki," the petite blonde with the cute upturned nose said.
"I'm Sharon, it's nice to meet you." Finally. Maybe this could be her chance. She had hoped to find someone a little more in - but by now she was happy for anything. As a matter of fact, she had butterflies in her stomach.
"Well Sharon," Nikki said. "We were just wondering-"
Glancing behind, Sharon saw a group of girls wave and then start laughing.
"If you were from Florida."
"No, actually I'm from Kansas."
"We figured you must be from Florida - " Nikki laughed as she filled in the punch-line. "Because your skin is so orange."
Blushing and blinking back tears, Sharon regretted spraying on so much fake tan. But, she had been following directions, and she was no where near as tan as these other girls. She thought a little more wouldn't hurt, but it had, and had been noticed. Now she was history. She would never fit in here. She might not even be able to fit in with the bottom feeders.
The girls laughed and pointed then went back to their clique. But then Sharon felt a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"Don't mind her. She's a bitch."
"Thanks." Could this be it? Maybe this was her chance. The girl wasn't from one of the groups on the second floor. But she was above the halfway point. Sharon had given up on half-way three days ago.
"I'm Paige."
"Sharon."
They shook hands and Sharon sized this girl up. Stylish and pretty. Polished teeth and blue eyes. If this girl couldn't make it to the top of the stairs, Sharon never could. The girl's only fault was probably her nose - her nose was normal, not the narrow pixie nose of the girl's on the top stairs.
"You're the new girl right?"
Sharon nodded.
"Trying to fit in?"
"Yes." God yes.
"I could help, you know."
"Would you?" Sharon's heart soared with joy.
"That's what friends are for," Paige said.
They shook on it and Sharon had her first friend in Beverly Hills.
That very night Paige stopped by Sharon's house and picked her up. Even Sharon's parents were excited. Sharon was thrilled about the move to Beverly Hills, but now that she was here, she seemed to be getting more and more depressed. And nothing her parents did seemed to help the poor girl.
And for Sharon, it was almost heaven. Paige had a shiny new car. A German car. She was on her way to the top of the stairs or at least the middle level. Nothing could stop her.
"The first thing we gotta do is get you a makeover," Paige said. "At this point that is the only thing we can do about that weird tan thing you got going on."
Sharon blushed at the comments. What had possessed her to try the instant tan stuff? It was all those tan girls at school, and there was no way she could get a real tan fast enough.
So they headed to the mall. Paige was in charge. The headed to the makeup counter and Paige directed while the makeup girl followed orders. $150 later and the end result wasn't what Sharon would have picked out. She felt it was a little too much. But she looked more brown than orange, and both girls said it was "Hot". The situation made Sharon think about the movie she had watched with Freddie Prinze, and how the geeky girl had been made over and lived happily ever after. And this was her happily ever after, and she was going to do anything to make it happen, even if that meant wearing makeup that looked a little - slutty. Besides, it was Beverly Hills, most all the girls around here looked a little on the slutty side.
"Now on to the Salon!" Paige said.
"Ah Paige," Sharon said. She hated saying it, but there was no help for it. "How much do you think the salon is going to cost? I'm running a little low."
"Small change. Five - six hundred tops."