Envy

1. Feel envious towards; admire enviously

2. A feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another

Cheryl Jones had always been the kind of girl that fades into the background. She was practically the embodiment of plain. Straight brown hair, brown eyes, a normal skin tone, no visible features that set her aside from anyone else, not even a slightly large nose or thinner lips then would be usual. She was simply ordinary. She wasn't the type of person to be asked to go on a date with the Jock, or asked to work on a project with the smart boy. She had actually never had a boyfriend or ever been kissed. Well not in anyone else's sense of the word, but in Cheryl's mind she had. She had once been on a trip with her year in school and stayed up all night just waiting until everyone was asleep. There was a girl, Sofia McKenzie, whom Cheryl had always just loved looking at, she was sleeping two beds away, her thick red hair seemed arranged around her wonderful head, creating what Cheryl saw as a crown. Her full pink lips were opened slightly, she was pouting in her sleep. Cheryl crept silently to the side of her bed her fingers extended longingly towards the girls features, she heard another student cough lightly in their sleep and froze. Sofia took a deep breath, still in slumber, Cheryl waited for a few minutes before slowly reaching down towards the girls face. She brushed her fingers along Sofia's lips, treasuring the soft, moist feel before giving one last longing glance and departing to her bed. She lay back down in the comfortable bed; she was quite surprised at first at how comfy the bed was at first, this place was hardly a five star resort. She regarded her finger in the moonlight, she could faintly see the sheen from Sofia's lips still on it, her eyes closed as she softly ran her finger across her lips, savouring the feeling before falling into a sleep where she was Sofia, looking at herself in the mirror and regarding herself with wonder. Cheryl vowed one day to have the girl.

This trip was now three years ago, Cheryl was in her final year of sixth form, about to leave, she had only joined the sixth form because she knew that Sofia was going. Cheryl made sure that she picked all of the same classes as the girl, and often watched her from afar, marvelling at her and looking on in awe as other people tripped over their feet whenever they saw the flame haired beauty. She had never received one of those looks, that still was a gripe but she used her fascination with Sofia to block it out. It was the Thursday before the final week of school, Sofia and Cheryl had often chatted, Cheryl trying her hardest not to come across as strange and let something slip that may make Sofia think badly of her, and being the girl she was she often catered to Sofia's ego, lightly complimenting the girls hair or striking green eyes. As these conversations went on Sofia got more and more comfortable around Cheryl, and on this particular Thursday asked Cheryl something the plain girl had only dreamed of her saying.

"Say, Cher, what are you doing tomorrow?" her musical voice lit up the room.

"Oh, nothing that I know of, why?"

"Well, my uncle is over and I really don't want to see him, he is super strange, and I was wondering if I would be able to stay over at your house? Only if that's not a problem of course." Cheryl felt her heart beating faster, she steadied her hands underneath the table in the English class they were sitting in.

"Of course that's no problem, but why don't you stay in Peter's, or Tabitha's?" Peter was Sofia's latest catch, the star of the swim team, and Tabitha was her closest friend.

"Oh, I can't really be bothered with them, besides you're better than them anyways." Sofia gave Cheryl a sweet smile, Cheryl noticed that she had changed the colour of lip-gloss, and found herself thinking that the old colour suited the girl better.

"Well than of course, I'll write my address down for you." Cheryl scribbled her details down on a sheet of stationary paper just as the school bell sounded, ringing off the school day. Sofia gladly received the sheet and gave Cheryl a friendly hug before rushing off. Cheryl had taken a slow sniff of her hair, it smelled of cherries. Cheryl also rushed off home to start preparing for Sofia's arrival.

Cheryl's room was a reflection of her personality, her true personality. The walls were white; a large white canvas was above her single bed. Cheryl has painted the picture on it herself; a huge green eye leaped from the canvas, however, there wasn't a black pupil instead a round mirror lay in the centre. Cheryl often thought this helped her see her true self through another person's eye. The only other thing in her room was a bookshelf of all of the books she had ever read, from horror novels to medical journals. Cheryl's parents had died when she was four, now she lived with her spacey aunt, who was currently on a business trip a couple of hundred miles away. Cheryl straightened her green silk bed covers for the thirteenth time that day. It was the Friday Sofia was coming over and neither Sofia nor Cheryl had to go into school on that day, Sofia had rang saying she would be there at around one o'clock. Cheryl nudged the small bundle she had concealed under her bed further under. She had set up the blow-up bed in the corner of the room but she was going to make sure that she was the one staying there, letting Sofia stay in her own bed. Cheryl brushed down the green dress she was going to be wearing, she quickly towel dried her hair and pulled it into a ponytail, pushing an emerald hairpin she had from her mother into her hair. She slipped on the halter neck dress, the frills of the hem reached slightly past her knees. She decided on flat black pumps and looked at herself in the mirror of the painting; it wouldn't be long before she completed her look. At around five to one Cheryl heard the door bell trill and she swiftly went to answer it. She greeted Sofia and received another hug before they went into the living room. They watched the widescreen television for a couple of hours, Sofia in charge of the remote with lots of flicking of channels, Cheryl didn't actually take notice, she was watching the girl lounging on the opposite couch, her hair was wavy, she had a distinct Kate Beckinsale look about her, if Kate had flame red hair, it slinked off her slender shoulders onto the powder blue babydoll dress. Cheryl clenched and unclenched her jaw thinking over her plans for later on, she thought after they ordered and ate their pizza she would set things into motion. At around ten o'clock the girls moved upstairs to Cheryl's bedroom.

"Cheryl, would you do me a favour and brush the knots out of the back of my hair, I can never get it right, they always get worse," Sofia laughed her twinkling laugh, Cheryl smiled, it seemed things were playing out much better than Cheryl had first planned.

"Sure, I have my own brushes that are super for that kind of thing. Sit on the edge of my bed please." Sofia did as her friend asked, looking up at the painting over the bed. She tilted her head as she inspected it, deciding it made her feel slightly off, she did however note the beauty in the painting.

"Hey, Cher, who painted that?" Cheryl had reached under the bed for the zip bag she had placed under there earlier in the day.

"I did." Sofia's eyes widened, she didn't know that Cheryl was an artist, she was studying more academic things at school, it seemed a waste but Sofia didn't say anything. Cheryl gently fingered things in the bag, brushing her finger against cold steel and pushing past it, at the bottom of the bag was the soft hairbrush she wanted, she also took out a scalpel she stole from biology class and hid it in the folds of her dress. She smiled into the sheen of Sofia's hair and genially started brushing the wondrous locks. She would tangle her fingers into the strands and revel in the feelings of electricity that coursed through her.

"That feels so nice, Cher. Thanks for this."

"No problem." Cheryl smiled slowly and she retrieved the scalpel from the folds of her dress with her free hand. "You know something Sofia? I have always been jealous of you; you may not have known it."

"Ha-ha, Cher, now why would you be jeal-"

"Look at you Sofia, you're perfect, outstanding in all crowds and then I... fit in, too much. I've wanted to be you for so long." Sofia swallowed uneasily.

"Cheryl..."

"And now, I'll get my wish." Cheryl stabbed the scalpel the back of Sofia's neck, Sofia didn't even scream, she couldn't move anymore. She fell forward onto the floor, blood spraying the walls and ceiling of the room, still however aware and still alive. Cheryl's mouth trembled as she touched the blood that had sprayed her face, her eyes closed as she rubbed it into her skin in ecstasy. She eventually stood and turned Sofia onto her back so she was facing the ceiling sodden with her own blood. Sofia could just make out the drips that landed on her face, the pain of the scalpel that was still in the back of her neck, now being pushed further and further into her body ebbed at her, she felt herself fading. Before everything turned black she saw Cheryl's face in front of hers, she noticed it was getting closer and closer as Cheryl leaned in for her first official kiss, her mouth delicately mashing with the dying girl, until she was roughly smothering a dead girl. Cheryl stood up, finally feeling like she could finish off her look. She tilted Sofia's head up and yanked the scalpel from her neck with a crunch and a spurt of hot blood. Cheryl's adrenaline pumped body made her hand shake as she licked the girl's blood off her hand.

"Now I can be noticed." She sliced into Sofia's forehead, just below her hairline and cut all of the way around her leaden head in the same manner, taking due precision and care not to get the cuts wrong. After the reached the place of the first incision her partially trembling fingers carefully squelched under the skin she cut and little by little she pulled the skin backwards, taking the scalp from the dead Sofia McKenzie. Cheryl walked to the bedside table and opened the drawer, cautiously laying the dead scalp on her bed cover the dark red blood forever staining the green silk. Cheryl salvaged a black swim cap from the drawer, removed the emerald hairpin from her hair and placed the cap on her head hastily wanting to complete her look right away, she quickly made sure all of her hair was beneath it and stood in front of the mirror holding the scalp in two hands. She slowly raised the dead skin up, the red hair tickling her face and she passed in behind her, her eyes closed, and placed the scalp on her head, making sure all of the excess skin she had cut was pushed down. When she look into the mirror she cried in joy, she looked truly beautiful. Blood ran down her face like tears would from the dead girl's family. She would finally get noticed.