Alright…. Let's do this. New chapter! And this will (hopefully) get the ball rolling! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Happy Tree Friends… Let's see if we can remember that.

Lammy's POV

The next day, I got a call from Giggles begging me to hang out with her at the mall for the day to make up for absence the other day. I accepted without a thought, mostly for two reasons: One, I knew she was going to bother me about it until I said yes, and two I was actually planning on going shopping today anyway.

It wasn't even two seconds the moment we met up with each other that Giggles had started talking non-stop, still apologizing for yesterday. After two hours of telling her that it was fine, did Giggles finally stop.

Currently, we were browsing through an impressively big shopping mall considering the size of the town.

"Hehe… Careful there Lammy." Giggles warned me out of the blue, or at least it felt out of the blue to me.

"Huh? Careful of what?" I asked. Giggles just pointed to the object in my hand giggling. I didn't realize what was so funny until I saw what I was looking through: Bright red clothes.

"If you're not careful, people might think that you were doing shopping for Flaky!" Giggles said, taking the item, a bright red, ruffly blouse, out of my hands and back on the rack.

"Well is it really so bad to go out shopping for her?" I asked, even though I knew where Giggles was going with her comment, it was still a question that was nagging at my mind. Well it was NOW at least, since I seemed to have blanked out while browsing.

"Oh, no, no, no, no… Of course not! Flaky is a really sweet girl, and does all that she can for everybody, even though she's so shy and frightful… If anything it's a bad NOT to go shopping for her!" Giggles explained.

"It's just that… Well you're sort of looking for the wrong clothes in the wrong section." Giggles said, pointing to the sign above us that labeled it as the women's section, and then pointed another finger over towards the men's section, as if it would explain my mistake. If anything it just further confused me.

"I still don't see what you're implying." I said, putting the blouse back, as well as placing my hands on my hips. What I said was a half lie. I mean, I knew that Giggles was saying that Flaky probably never shopped in the women's section, but I wasn't exactly thinking strait at the moment. For some reason, the image of Flaky wearing these clothes wasn't so farfetched, with that kind of body she hid from everyone…

Giggles just sighed and rolled her eyes; had I not been a woman of high society breeding, I would've scoffed at her and this would've ended in a very nasty argument. But I was better than that, so I just Giggles continue.

"Lammy, I thought we discussed this: Flaky just isn't into this sort of thing. She never wears anything that girly, and I doubt that she ever will." Giggles explained to me gently, like I was some child hell bent on doing the impossible.

I guess the defeated expression on my face said more than what I was thinking.

"Come on Lammy, let's get something to eat. My treat! Ohh! Let's get some ice cream, yeah?" She said, going back to her usual bubbly, girly personality, lightening up my spirits.

"Yeah! That sounds delicious right now!" I exclaimed.

We looped our arms around each others, talking livelier with each other, cracking jokes and laughing at them easily till we made it to the ice cream parlor.

"Ohh! Why don't you go get us some seats Lammy, and I'll get the ice cream! What flavor do you want?" She asked me?

After a miny debate in mind over which flavor to get, I finally decided on grape and Giggles left to get our scoops.

I choose a booth that was near a window, over-looking a wonderful view of the town, while several of the towns folks walked by idly. Some of them waved at me, recognizing me, and I waved back just as friendly.

But as I waited for Giggles and the ice cream, a though came to mind on what she said earlier…

"She never wears anything girly, and I doubt that she ever will…"

Was that really true? Did Flaky really never wear anything that girly? Or is it because Giggles said that, because she never saw Flaky dress like that? Was Giggles even aware of the beautiful form that lay just beneath all of the layers of baggy, boyish clothes? Did Petunia know?

"Hey! I got the ice cream!" Giggles said, breaking me out of my thoughts. She just giggled her signature giggle as she placed my ice cream in front of me as she sat down across from me.

She took a big bite of her ice-cream (I guessed that it was probably bubble-gum flavor but the pink coloring and the white pieces), somehow not developing a killer brain freeze.

I figured I might as well follow suit and eat my own ice cream before it melted away.

"Hey Giggles," The words spilled out of my mouth as the ice-cream covered spoon was just inches away from my lips.

"Hmmm?" She asked, sorta, her mouth full of ice cream, and her spoon still halfway in her lips. She pulled the spoon out of her mouth, with a slight pop and a giggle from the noise. "Yeah Lammy?" She properly asked.

"I… I was just wondering…" My mind started stalling, finally placing that spoonful of ice-cream in my mouth. But the sweet/tart flavor of the icy cold treat could only stall me for so long. Why was I bringing this up in the first place?

"Wondering about what?" Giggles asked, taking another bite of her ice cream, licking her spoon clean.

"Wh… Why does Flaky wear the clothes she wears?" I finally decided to ask.

Giggles just sighed again, and I knew that I was going to get lectured again, if it wasn't for the fact that she looked a bit thoughtful right after, and it took her a moment before speaking.

"Actually… I have no idea why she dresses like she does. All I know is that she just… does." Giggles said, scooping another spoonful into her mouth.

"Well there has to be a reason..." I tried to pull from her. Now I was more curious than ever!

"I'm sure there is too… But while Flaky is really friendly, and very sweet… remember she is still pretty shy, and sometimes a bit reserved. Me and Petunia tried talking to her about that sort of thing, but she always looked so lost and confused… It was like she wasn't aware that girls talked about that sort of thing." Giggles said, taking a break from her talking for a breather and another bite of ice-cream.

I took two bites of mine throughout her speech, but paused to get a word in.

"So you and Petunia have no idea why Flaky dresses like that?" I tried to get some clarification… Maybe I could get some information from Petunia…

"I couldn't speak for Petunia, but yeah, that pretty much covers it. However, I do recall the two of us always debating the real reason why Flaky dresses like that." Giggles said.

"Oh? And what would they be?" I said, taking a bite of my ice-cream.

"Well… We like to see it as a glass is full or empty situation." Giggles said, but that only confused me even more so.

"Huh?"

"I mean, it's either the fact that Flaky has really low self esteem issues, or has really high self esteem. We even came to the conclusion of her not even having a self esteem." Giggles explained, waving her spoon around.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand." I told her, hoping for some more clarity.

"See, the way we see it is that, if she were to have the low self-esteem, then she wears all of those baggy clothes because she doesn't feel she's pretty enough to wear pretty clothes, so she hides her body underneath all of those loose baggy clothes. But if she were to have a really high self esteem, then she probably feels confident enough that she doesn't need to prove her looks with pretty clothing and can wear whatever she wants." Giggles explained, and I admit, it did make a lot of sense… But I could mostly lean towards the low self esteem side, seeing as how shy and timid she is.

"And the no self esteem theory?" I asked, intrigued, taking a few more bites of my ice cream.

"It's kinda tricky, and Petunia explains it a whole lot better than me… But the bottom line is that we feel that most of her fears are way too great in her mind for her to ever spend a second thought on something like hair or nails."

"Seems logical to me." I said out loud, thinking it through in my head.

But then another thought came to mind… Had Petunia and Giggles even seen her form? Would their opinions have varied if they've known what they were basing it on?

"So… Uhmmm…" I tried to verbalize the question out, but found it very difficult.

"Yes?" Giggles asked, before placing another spoonful of ice-cream in her mouth.

Finally the right question popped into my mind.

"So why would you and Petunia come to that conclusion? I mean you two probably have seen her plenty of enough times to know what she really looks like huh?" I said calmly, actually thankful that I was the new girl in town. Mostly because it meant that I could bring up topics like this without people looking at me weird like I should already know that kind of information.

"You know… Now that you mention it… Me and Petunia have never really seen what kind of figure Flaky has, so I don't know how accurate our theories are." She said around another bite full of ice-cream.

"You… You haven't..? But I'm sure you must've seen her in a bathing suit at least before." I tried to pry from her.

"We have, sort of…"

"Sort of?"

"She was mostly wearing swim shorts and a tank-top over it, which she soon covered up with her surfer contestant sign. Actually… Thinking on it… It was like the moment she went into the water we lost sight of her." Giggles explained, but in the end I got my answer, I just couldn't fathom it. I was truly the only person in town to see Flaky's figure!

"Lammy? Are you okay?" Giggles asked me, snapping me out of my shock.

"Hmmm? Oh, yes. I'm fine, I just…" I tried to wave her off like this was nothing, but I couldn't contain myself, thoughts and idea ran through my head a mile a minute. It was actually quite scary.

"Sorry Giggles. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this girls date short, there's something important I have to do." I said in a rush, standing up abruptly, about to make my way out the door.

"Uhm… Alright, bye I guess…" I heard Giggles call out from behind me, and I waved good bye to her real quick before heading out the door.

It never even crossed my mind what that green spot near Giggles head was when I stepped out.

Flaky's POV

Today was all around a really nice day.

Work was quick, yet enjoyable. Though any day that passes where there are no "incidents" happening around or to me was an enjoyable day.

I had just gotten home and changed out of my uniform and into some nice, comfortable clothes. Like my fire red cargo pants, a black tank top, and my scarlet color, off the shoulder t-shirt. It was a little baggy on me sure, but it was comfortable.

Though, for some reason, after wearing one of Lammy's dresses, which I had folded away nicely just in case, my clothes felt… Loose. It kinda scared me since I never felt that way about my clothes before, and now I felt a tiny self conscious about if they would fall off of me or not. This was a ridiculous of course, I wore these clothes all the time, but still.

And then there was my uniform, true I had to hide it all underneath an apron smock, but even those felt a little more secure and was a lot less baggy. How did I never notice before?

Knock, knock, knock…

The answer never came as I heard someone knock on my door.

Quickly dismissing those thoughts from my mind and I raced to go answer the door.

I was shocked to find Lammy standing there; a giant grin plastered on her doll-like face and a bundle of red clothes in her outstretched arms. It took me a moment to get what this situation implied.

"Oh, thank you Lammy! I didn't think you would be able to clean my clothes that quickly!" I said in a cheery voice.

"Oh it was no problem at all Flaky." She said, brushing back one of her purple/white curls behind her ear.

"Oh, I have you dress here too! Come inside and I'll get it." I said, taking the bundle of clothes from her arms and invited her in: Hoping beyond hope that she didn't bring any pickles with her. That, and that she left "Mr. Pickles" at her house today…

Once I burst into my room I dropped the clothes onto my bed and quickly grabbed the nicely folded purple dress in my dresser and raced back out into the living room, where Lammy was sitting in a weird, out of place, elegant sitting position.

"You don't have to sit like that here Lammy." I said, handing her, her clothes.

"It's quite alright, thank you Flaky."

"Sorry that they're not all cleaned up like you did my clothes. But I doubt I would've done a good job at it, and I probably would've ruined it." I said, glad that my bangs covered my face so my blush wouldn't peep through from the embarrassment that Lammy went through so much trouble for me to not even meet her criteria. I started twiddling with my fingers, looking away from her, hoping that she wouldn't be too disappointed.

"That's alright. It's the thought that counts." I heard her say. She didn't sound angry or disappointed, but there was most defiantly something off about her tone of voice.

"Y-you're not mad?" I asked.

"No of course not! We're friends Flaky, we're suppose to do this sort of thing." She said, though it made me bite my lip.

"S-s-st-still…" I said, sitting next to her, risking looking her in the eye.

"I-I-I want to repay you for your kindness." I said.

"Oh Flaky you don't need to…"

"Y-y-yes I do!" I said stubbornly, hopping I didn't sound so pushy. "Y-you did something nice for me… I… I want to r-r-retun the favor." I finished.

She shifted her eyes down to the floor.

"Well…." She said in a long, drawled out tone, like she was thinking it over. This immediately made me regret my words as several different outcomes came rushing towards my mind. I knew she was crazy, probably more so than Petunia, but I knew it was probably less than Flippy, but still… Crazy was crazy, and I was willing to look past it because she was actually trying and did show remorse in the middle of her loosing it. She was a nice girl once I got over her being just as crazy as Flippy, yet more girly than Giggles and Petunia combined. But i was nothing if not nice and friendly and gave Lammy and chance.

But what if Lammy wasn't as nice as I thought she was?

I started shaking in fear, my dandruff flakes falling in a little circle around me.

"Flaky?!" I hear Lammy shout at me, realizing that she was shaking me.

"Wh… Huh?!" I say a bit confused.

"You were having a panic attack." She said in a calm, yet worried tone.

"S-s-sorry…" I mumbled, going back to twiddle with my fingers.

"No need to apologize…. But about that favor you were talking about…" She said in an unsure voice.

"Y-y-yes?" I said a little bit worriedly.

She didn't answer me right away, she just reach a hand out towards my face. I felt myself tense up immensely as I felt her hand cup my face.

"Hmmm…" I heard her hum to herself, deep in thought.

She brought another hand to pull the messy bangs out of my face, but I flinch when she did so on a natural impulse. It did give me a better view to see her face though, and she seemed deep in thought, like she was studying every point of my face… Like she was checking for the softest point to cut.

My breath started coming in and out a little quicker and I was just wishing that she would finish this up and just forget the whole thing.

"Flaky?" I finally heard her say?

"Y-y-yeah..?" I said shakily, trying to smile through the fear of what she has planned for me.

"How would you feel if I said I wanted to give you a little make-over?" She asked, finally lowering her hands.

Every thought in my hand ran to a dead stop.

A… Makeover? That's what she wanted?

"A makeover?" I asked, not sure that I heard her right. "As in… M-make-up and fancy out fits?" I asked, seriously hoping that Lammy seriously wasn't suggesting that.

Then again… Lammy DID grow up in a high class world and was used to that sort of thing. Every time I saw her, no matter how casual, she always looked like she was going to some sort of fancy get together with her clean and conservative dresses. When I first saw I actually thought that she was a model for that kind of lifestyle.

Then there's me; dressed in clothes that I know are a bit big for me, but fits. Messy, dandruff infested hair that I TRY to cover up with a million berets. I haven't even touched anything relating to make up ever. The ultimate tom-boy in town.

Giggles was the girly-girl with the up to date clothes, ready to party.

Petunia was the hard worker who knew how to mix fashion with comfort.

Lammy was high class.

And I… I was mistaken for a boy by a lot of people half the time. And she wants to make me over?

"Well… Not exactly to those extremes… More of a… A boost to your looks!" She said hesitantly, like she was wanting to choose the right words.

"A boost?" I said unsure.

"Yes! Flaky, you do look beautiful underneath all of those baggy clothes and messy hair, and I want it to show!" She said, but she kept talking before I could give my own input.

"Why I bet I can even find the perfect outfit for you to wear while still keeping your tom-boy look!" She said excitedly, and I knew that this was getting a bit out of hand.

"Wait! So you mean I can make it up to you for cleaning my clothes and lending me your dress by getting me a new wardrobe?! That doesn't make any sense!" I try to explain to her, not wanting to feel like I owe her any more.

"Eh… Try…" Lammy said, looking like she was avoiding eye-contact. "But let's just give it a try. Like a little trial period, and I won't force you to enjoy it; I just want you to give it a try." Lammy tried to argue with me, and I couldn't help but think that it was really a good argument.

Sighing, thinking that there was probably nothing else to do I made up my mind.

"Alright Lammy, you can give me a make-over." I said, really hoping I wouldn't regret those words.

And thus… The story begins with new clothes, hair complications and the humor. Wish I could warn Flaky right now. xD