Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. - Leo Buscagila

Penny Proud stared at the remains of her hair, and tried very hard not to throw up.

It wasn't even that she liked her hair. She didn't. The style was too young on her and there was no real way to get it to do anything. It wasn't particularly shiny or beautiful. But it had a standard way of looking that her parents expected, long and pulled back and orderly. Uniformly conservative and boring, but bearable. A part of everyday life she didn't think about for more than half a second as she pulled it back in the mornings. She had given up the fight for changing it at around ten, when she realized her parents were never going to give her an inch of control over her life.

Her glossy black hair lay in chunks around her. Lacienga couldn't help snickering even as Dijonay turned and exploded on her. Dijonay was shouting, something about this going too far and being backstabbing. Zoey was saying something about knowing a guy who could fix it up, make it even. But all Penny could do was stare at the wisps around her, and the purple scissors, and feel the floor fall out beneath her emotionally. Her parents were going to kill her. Her parents were going to chew her out, ground her and call her a liar. And then she was going to face the gauntlet of girls at school, who would know the cool prank Lacienga pulled over on that loser Penny.

Tears were falling down her cheeks, but she didn't say anything. She simply stood up and walked out, shoving her feet in her shoes sans socks on her way out of the home of her hated enemy. So much for patching things up. So much for maturing in high school. So much for her dignity. She had no idea where she was going other than 'not home', bolting when she got past the first block. Years of being scolded and unished and restricted meant that now, when she saw her parents or heard their voices, her stomach churned. She didn't want to even begin to face them. Even if it was prolonging the inevitable, she was going to find some way to keep away, if only for a few hours. The yelling and grounding wouldn't be any worse or better because she was gone for a little bit. She was alway in trouble anyway.

Six blocks down, she began to realize the futility of continuing to walk in the cold morning in a tank top and gray pajama pants. The unreasonably early chill was setting in. She needed to go back. She couldn't. Lacienga's grinning face was still burned into her mind. This is what you get for giving people extra chances, she thought bitterly. This is what I get for trying to make things right. I just wanted us to be kind-of-friends like before. I didn't even do anything... She shuddered out a cold breath and kept walking. Lacienga could find a way to explain two angry girls, a pile of hair and a missing friend to her parents. Penny was done trying to explain things to her own parents and she was done trying to convince Lacienga's that anything was wrong with their little angel. They could have the evidence to look at and other people to talk to, but Penny was officially out of the scene.

Eight blocks in, there was the renewal of horror inside her. Her parents wouldn't believe what really happened. They never took her side. They never believed her, even though she tried so hard to be good and do right. She tried to be honest, she made good grades, she didn't mess around with boys and she wasn't doing anything illegal... and she was always in trouble anyway. Work hard, do right, get nothing. She snorted bitterly, rubbing her cold arms absentmindedly. I don't even know what lie could cover this. I might as well just not say a thing to 'em, let them make up their own story about what happened. They will anyway.

Somewhere around ten blocks away, she'd stopped crying and was sort of walking around in a daze when a car slowed beside her, a semi-familiar blonde face staring up at her. "Penny Proud? Is that you?"

"Do I know you?" she asked the other girl flatly, expression bleak and blank.

"Um, kind of. I'm in your Algebra and English classes. Andra Braithe," she supplied helpfully when she got a further blank look. "Do you need a ride? Or to borrow my phone, call your mom or something? What happened?"

"Lacienga happened."

Andra's eyebrows soared. "What?"

"Nevermind. Leave me alone." She didn't feel like answering questions, but Andra told the driver - a similar looking blonde haired boy named Finn - to stop the car. She got out and shrugged off her jacket, holding it out. "I don't need your charity," Penny said irritably. "I've got enough 'friends' on my hands already."

"Just take it," she insisted, placing the orange-dyed denim into Penny's hands. "It's too cold to be running around like this. I don't know what I did that pissed you off, but it's not worth your health."

There was a pause as Penny sucked in a breath. She didn't want to be weak and cry over something as nonessential, as shallow and vapid as hair. She didn't want to have anyone else make fun of her. But she was also very alone, very cold and very low. This semester was a series of lows and it wasn't even October yet. She thumbed the smooth fabric of the jacket and sighed, allowing Andra to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. This ain't about you. It's just... Lacienga cut my hair in my sleep... and my parents are going to freak and I... I just need a break." She choked back tears unsuccessfully. "I just need a break from all this."

In the following awkward pause, the ash-blonde girl bit her lip. "You could come hide out at my place. No Lacienga there. I promise." She smiled reassuringly. "And Finn won't say anything."

"I see nothing, I hear nothing," he agreed loudly from the front.

Penny smiled weakly, shrugging on the jacket. "That sounds good. Really good."

On some level she knew better than to get in the car with strangers, but she was already in trouble anyway. She always was. It was easy to throw caution to the wind and sink into the backseat with Andra, where everything was warm and smelled of suede and oranges. It was easy to let the other girl ramble about how evil Lacienga was and how petty high school could be while watching the familiar streets blur away behind her. With every foot they gained away from Lacienga, it was easier to breathe. Finn flipped on some upbeat techno-sounding music and asked Penny if she wanted to stop at Starbucks on their way over. His treat. They were mellow, laid back people, and somehow it was possible to see a light at the end of the tunnel here.

By the time they reached Andra's house, Penny was smiling again. That was how it all started. Not because Penny wanted to find new friends, or because she was being a teenage rebel, or anything like that. It was all based on the simple random act of kindness that the other girl had bestowed on her. Very few people ever gave an ounce of sympathy to Penny Proud. Several girls hated her and thought she had a perfect life. There wasn't a lot to look forward to with four years of high school hell staring her down and the same backstabbing friends lurking in the background. Penny didn't want a perfect world, she just wanted someone to tell her it was going to be alright.

And that was how she began to fall in love.