Ashleigh's New Attitude Pays Off

Ashleigh immediately switched on the light in her bedroom and drew the curtains open to let the sunshine in.

"There, much better!"

Her satisfied smile soon turned into a frown as she scanned her bedroom and took in how bleak the decor was.

"What was I thinking? This place is so gloomy. No wonder I was miserable all the time" Ashleigh placed her hands on her hips and sighed to herself for a moment, before brightening up "Never mind though, it will be a fun project to make this place look pretty and girly!"

She then went to her assess her wardrobe and was even more appalled by what she saw.

"Honestly, what was going through my head when I bought all of this stuff? Where is the colour?" she complained "Oh well. I guess it is going to be the charity store's lucky day today. And I get to go on a shopping spree at the mall!"

As tempting as that sounded to her, there was the small matter of how she was going to afford to replace all of the clothing she currently owned. This was going to take some serious sweet talking.

Ashleigh skipped downstairs to the kitchen, where her parents were sat at the table enjoying a cup of coffee together.

"Hey Mom, hey Dad!"

"Ashleigh?" her mother asked in shock "Why are you dressed like that? Is it supposed to be ironic?"

"No, of course not! I'm honestly not even sure what that word means" Ashleigh, whose intellect seemed to have taken something of a hit due to the wording of her wish, giggled "I think what you were saying about the whole goth thing just being a phase was right all along, and thankfully I've snapped out of it now!"

"In the past half hour?" her father asked in bemusement "Since you gave me the finger when I asked if you could turn your music down?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Daddy, that was really mean of me!" Ashleigh scampered over and threw her arms around her father's neck "But I've seen the error of my ways now, and I'm not going to act like that anymore. But, I do need some cute new clothes to match my cheery disposition, and I don't have that much cash for them"

"That's because you refuse to even look for a weekend job" her Dad reminded her.

"Yeah, I know" Ashleigh took a step back and began twirling her hair "But I can go and find one now. Maybe I can wait tables at TGIs, or it might be fun to work in a clothes store at the mall. But I think I need something cute to wear first. Potential employers might assume I have a bad attitude if I show up dressed like it's Halloween. So maybe I could get an advance?"

"Of course you can" her mother decided "You know how much I hate your wardrobe. I could never understand why someone as naturally pretty as you would want to make herself look like a zombie"

"I know, right? I think I need a spray tan too until I've spent enough time outside to get a natural one. That costs money as well, though"

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that this sudden change of heart is genuine and just give you a thousand dollars so I can have a respectable daughter again" Ashleigh's father told her "But if this turns out to be a scam and you spend it all on ****, you are going to pay me back every penny and be in a whole world of trouble"

"That's amazing Daddy!" Ashleigh hugged him tightly again "And don't worry, I'm never putting anything illegal or unhealthy in my body again"

She then practically ran to the front door to get outside and actually begin living. She would hit the mall first, and, once she had perfected her new look, she hoped she could use it to find herself a handsome football player to get laid by.