1 Traven Malik

"Is he staring at her?"

"I don't know but he's creeping me out like so much."

Two girls in school uniforms whispered to each other as they eyed a young teen who was gawking in front of him. His green eyes were narrowed, and the features of his gentle face were strained as if he was in deep thought.

It was completely understandable that they thought he was creepy as right in front of him was Laila Gray, she was the daughter of famous superstars Charlee Gray and Jane Gray. With money, status, and pretty looks she was the perfect girl for every boy in Flintwood High. However, Traven didn't care about her at all.

He was simply calculating his finances.

'I have around 150 dollars left from my last session. Considering that I need to save up for college and that I need new brushes.' Traven stroked his chin as he pondered, 'I have around 50 dollars that I can spend freely. I'm pretty rich'.

He chuckled to himself, which further made him look creepy to the others around him. Laila noticed his gaze and frowned.

"What are you looking at weirdo?!" she said,

Traven stopped his mental calculations and actually focused on what he was looking at, a pretty face with an ugly frown etched onto it.

Traven responded with a frown in return. This lady was thinking too much of herself. Laila may be a beauty, however, he was immune to such things now. He had seen all kinds of pretty ladies before, in fact, he had just not seen them, he also had a chance to observe them up close and enhance their beauty.

Luckily, she was standing right in front of the blackboard.

"I apologize, I'm trying to understand that math equation but your body is blocking the whole thing. I'm not so bored to be looking at you."

Laila paused, then went red in embarrassment. She wanted to retort back however she really was blocking the blackboard and she could only march away in defeat.

Traven smiled thinly and put on a show of understanding what any of the equations on the blackboard meant.

"You think just because you act as if you're disinterested in her she'll suddenly like you?" Jayden, the self-proclaimed alpha of the school, scoffed,

"You think if you rebuke me in her place she'll even look at you?" Traven replied with a calm demeanor but his eyes were asking for a fight.

"You fucker!" Jayden charged at Traven from his desk and yanked Traven by the collar. They glared at each other eye to eye, their classmates could feel the sparks of tension within their gazes. The class went quiet and they looked on with anticipation of a brawl.

"Cut it out, you two!" A dainty voice coming from a petite girl cut through the intense silence. She swaggered towards the two and stared at Jayden. "Let him go."

The sight of her little physique glaring at a boy much taller than her couldn't even be called intimidating, and yet Jayden let go.

"Tell your friend to keep his mouth shut or I'll shut it for him, permanently."

Traven rolled his eyes at Jayden's words and smiled at Abby, the petite girl. "Even when we're grown up you take care of me like I'm a child."

Traven joked as Abby sat beside him. She bonked him lightly in the head and scolded him with a pitiable attempt of an angry tone. "You're so hopeless you know! What would you do without me?"

"That won't happen cause I'm sure you'll always be by my side." Traven laughed and shook his head while Abby tried her best to hide the blush forming on her cheeks.

As break time ended and the class started they both remained to learn, with Traven only speaking to Abby for the rest of the day.

The skies went orange as the sun threatened to sink into the horizon. The class started to all head out of the classroom. In such times, gossip was always abundant, and Traven found himself listening for anything useful regarding the beauty industry as he cleaned the room.

"Did you watch Lady Cynthia's interview?" a female classmate said excitedly with her hand rapidly tapping at her friend.

"Oh my gosh, yes! Did you see how pretty she was?"

"I know! Who's her make-up artist again? Dazzle?"

"Yes! Dazzle! Like all the local stars hired him recently and each and every one of them had like the most amazing transformations!" Their gossip continued, and Traven couldn't help but smirk with pride.

"He's smiling by himself again..." The female classmate said,

"Abby let's just go! He creeps me out..."

"Go ahead guys, I'll wait for him."

"Suit yourself!" One of them said and paced away happily chatting with the group. Abby waved goodbye as she entered the classroom wherein Traven was cleaning all by himself. She picked up a broom and started sweeping the floor.

"They all left you to clean by yourself, again," Abby muttered,

"Yeah, those lazy sh-- turds get on my nerves," Traven replied as he arranged the desks.

Abby giggled, with the dirt she accumulated being gathered in a dustpan, "I'm glad you held that curse word in, as a member of the disciplinary committee I would have scolded you."

"If you're going to scold anyone, you better scold the guys that ditched me to clean this room by myself." Traven let Abby put the waste in the garbage can before taking the garbage bags as he strapped on his backpack.

"Even if you don't tell me, I'll do that you know," Abby mumbled and followed Traven who was already on his way to the dumpster. She hesitated for a bit before speaking. "Hey, Traven, are you free anytime later?"

"Nope."

He had plans, more specifically, a client. It was a lady who dubbed herself as Miss Teafi which was obviously a fake name. He had no problem with that, it's not the first time that he had met clients who didn't want to reveal their identities. Usually, they were the ones that really needed the makeup, and Traven quite enjoyed the challenge and the money.

"Oh, okay," Abby said,

"Yeah, it's really urgent." Traven tossed the garbage bags onto the dumpster and proceeded to jog away, "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, bye!" she waved at Traven who had already disappeared beyond the school gates.

Traven quickly ran home, cutting through dark alleyways, over the fences of private properties, and into the backdoor of his father's gym which was also their home.

Silently, he crept into his room and changed into his persona Dazzle. Dazzle's clothes were all black, black jeans, a black shirt, and a black coat which covered most of his body. For a guy named Dazzle, he seemed more like a man with a vendetta. However, that didn't matter as what would truly be dazzling was his face. He paced beside a mirror and with his magical makeup, he disguised his features.

His soft gentle features turned into shapes that were completely unrecognizable from his own. His lips appeared fuller, his nose seemed taller, and his chin looked as if it was chiseled. He wore a wig to hide his black hair and covered his green eyes with brown contacts. It was such a transformation that Traven couldn't help but admire his work, he was now the exact definition of a handsome man. Not, that he was ugly before, he was just above average looking.

He indulged his vanity for a while in the mirror before packing his makeup kit and leaving his house as quietly as he came.

It was time to go to the client's choice of meeting. A mansion. When Traven went out of the taxi and peered at the majestic building he couldn't help but gulp. This client was going to be a big source of income. Traven chuckled as he pressed a button by the gates.

"Good evening, this is Dazzle, I have an appointment with Miss Teafi?"

A slight pause, then the gates opened up to reveal a wide courtyard filled with what could only be described as peak gardening. Grass statues were all over the place, statues of women and men, various flowers were planted along the pathway, and there were several trees lined up neatly on the side. Despite the abundance of trees, not a single dead leaf was on the marble pavement. Perfectly natural and modern.

Even Traven who thought of such things as a waste of money and time was impressed.

Due to the beauty of the garden, he didn't notice the short butler who had been calling out to him for a while now as he was marveling at the courtyard.

"Excuse me, sir?" The butler said, "If I have you're attention, may you please follow me as I will guide you to the mistress' room.

Traven flashed an embarrassed smile as he followed behind the tiny butler. Traven was tall for a boy who was only 17 years old, in front of him this old butler seemed like a child. However, even though the butler was tiny, his bearing possesses a sort of grace and elegance that Traven couldn't describe.

He was led through long hallways, passing through a multitude of rooms that each had their own functions. A tv room, a gaming room, a storage room, a dancing hall, a dining hall, a gym, a theater, and many more rooms that made Traven's eyes go wide.

'This is what it means to be rich!' He thought,

Soon he was led to a door with 'LG' engraved on it. The butler knocked, and Traven looked on with excitement to see this rich client that he could suck money from. However, his excitement quickly turned to dread when a familiar pretty face greeted him.

"What took you so long?!" Laila yelled,

"I apologize, young lady." The butler bowed,

"Nevermind," she opened the door wide and revealed the insides of her room, "Well, what are you waiting for? Come in!"

Traven smiled as charmingly as he can despite the fact that he was screaming inside. He entered and the door shut behind him as the butler closed the door. Now he was left with her, in her room full of little pretty things which were rather intimate for a guy to see.

Traven calmed himself.

'It's impossible for her to recognize me! I just need to do the job, get paid, and leave.'

She sat in front of a mirror with her eyes closed. Her dainty little lips were parted slightly, and her long eyelashes moved from her trembling eyelids as she kept her eyes shut. She looked angelic, a face that could soothe the eyes. Sadly, her personality didn't reflect her appearance.

"Well!? What are you waiting for?" Her eyes opened.

"You want me to just start? You didn't even tell me what you wanted me to do?"

"I want you to make me as beautiful as possible, to the point that every man will gawk at me with adoration!"

"You're already beautiful, so this is going to be quite a challenge you know?"

"Don't flatter me, sister, just do the best you can." Laila harrumphed and closed her eyes once again.

'Sister? Me? This handsome face? You blind little rascal!'

"As you wish Miss." Traven smiled and pulled out his makeup kit from his bag. It was better to be thought of as something he was not, rather than be discovered as Traven. "I'll need you to face me now."

She listened and rotated in her seat. He pulled out lotion from his bag and squeezed a bit of it on a brush.

"I will begin now. Let me moisturize your face first."

Traven's brush made contact. Even without the lotion, her face was already soft and smooth, the feeling of brushing it all over her vulnerable face had Traven feeling like a pervert. Still, he had done this many times before, he was able to focus on the job completely.

Making her beautiful wasn't a challenge, the challenge was to make her see that. He had to change her features in a subtle way that won't completely change her already beautiful appearance but still make it appear foreign to her.

For a good 15 minutes, he was modifying her face, brushing with attention to detail that he had to get his face right in front of hers. He could feel her warm breath as he made the finishing touches. A slight brush here and there and then he was done.

"Finished. See for yourself how beautiful you are." He said with a smirk.

She turned to face the mirror fast, and for a good couple of minutes, she just stared at her reflection as if she was paralyzed. Traven's smug smirk devolved into a nervous chuckle at the sight of it.

"Is it not to your liking?" Traven gulped,

"Its..." she gasped, "Is this really me?"

Traven heaved a breath of relief in his heart as he laughed smugly, "Of course that's you! I told you you're beautiful!"

"Amazing..." she said as she caressed her face as if to see if it were real. Traven couldn't help but swell with pride.

"It's only natural for me Miss Teafi."

"No, call me, Laila. Thank you very much sister Dazzle."

Traven laughed out loud, "Alright, Laila, may I ask where the restroom is. I got a bit of lotion on my clothes."

Laila pointed to a door on the left side of the room and Traven swaggered towards it. He entered but not before flashing a smile at Laila. As soon as he closed the door, he held both of his knees and chuckled.

'Holy shit, that was nerve-wracking.'

If she found out then he would have been screwed. If she wasn't satisfied with the makeup he would have still been screwed. It was a damn good thing that he was a makeup god. She couldn't recognize him, and she was speechless with his work on her face.

He couldn't help but savor his success as he washed his hands. In the mirror, his face was plastered with the sweet sweet smile of victory. The only thing left to do now was get paid and never come back.

He took a deep breath as he clutched the doorknob and opened it, "About the pay....."

His victorious smile quickly faded and was replaced with wide-open eyes. On the floor were textbooks, notebooks, and a few pens, all of which had his name on them. Laila was pouring everything in his bag onto the floor, and on her beautiful face was an expression of rage that even his makeup couldn't mask at all.

"Traven Malik!"