Maura and Wendi were best friends. One could say they were best friends because no one else wanted to be friends with them. They were both rather depressing and morose girls in their early twenties - an age when girls should be anything but depressing and morose.

Why? Well, for one thing, they weren't exactly what society would deem "beautiful," or even "half-way pretty."

Maura was quite overweight - at least fifty pounds overweight. Topping the scale at 195, she wore size 20 jeans, but really preferred those pants with the stretchy elastic waist like her mom wore.

Wendi, on the other hand, was quite petite. Well, petite is being polite. A better way to describe Wendi would be emaciated - or perhaps gaunt. She weighed about a hundred pounds less than her best friend, and had medium length fly away hair that was died jet black - a color that looked quite harsh when paired with her thin face.

Both Maura and Wendi had jobs at a credit union, where they had to contact people (or "deadbeats" as Maura liked to call them) looking for late payments on their credit cards.

Maura and Wendi actually met at the credit union, and ended up rooming together in a sleazy apartment with a fairly cheap rent. The one thing they had in common, besides their depressing job and no prospects for anything more rewarding, was their love of complaining - mostly about other woman.

"Look at that bitch's hair!" Wendi was moaning one Friday night, as her and Maura watched a movie about twenty-somethings flirting at a 10 year high school reunion.

"Totally fake!" Maura put in. "Look how it hangs on the bottom. It's like - a whole different color and texture! Give me a break."

"I can't stand these girls they use these days," Wendi huffed, popping a kernal of unbuttered microwave popcorn into her pursed mouth. "They all look like plastic dolls. I swear, I want to boycott TV."

"Yea," Maura agree. "We should stick to older movies - back when they used just ordinary looking woman."

"Oh my GOD, look at that SLUT!" Wendi cried. "She is so ANNOYING!"

"Ugh!" Maura agreed, stuffing a handful of Butter Lover's popcorn into her greasy mouth. "These women make me SICK!

Maura and Wendi were both young and single, and should have been out on the town having the time of their lives on a Friday night. But instead, they chose to moan and groan and feel miserable. But at least they had each other to do it with. After all, misery loves company.

Besides, they both felt they were taking an important stand against the growing shallowness of overly botoxed and hair-extension clad women desperately trying to attract men.

Until one of them decided she was tired of feeling so miserable all the time...

The next morning, Maura decided to sleep in, while her roommate went to Walmart to "pick up a few necessities." At noon time, Maura had just settled in with a huge meatball sandwich, a bag of Clancy's Cheese Curls, and a cream soda. That was when Wendi burst through the door carrying a small pink bag from Tristan's Beauty Supply.

"There are three meatballs left over if you want them," Maura said, by way of greeting. "But there's no more rolls. Sorry."

"That's okay!" Wendi replied, in a strange new sing-song voice.

Why was Wendi acting so happy? Maura found this suspicious. Usually her skinny roommate would slink through the door and proceed to complain about some mini-skirt wearing bitch at Walmart.

"Wait till you see what I got!" Wendi exclaimed.

"Oh my God," Maura said, eyeing what Wendi was holding up so triumphantly. "I think I just lost my appetite."

In her roommates clenched hand was a clip-in hair extension of thick curly dark hair with pink streaks in it.

"ISN'T IT CUTE?" Wendi shrieked.

"No, it's ridiculous!" Maura sneered, staring at the hair extension as though it was a poisonous snake. "I thought you hated hair extensions! It's like you're not even YOU any more!"

"Maybe that's the point," Wendi said in all seriousness, as she carefully placed the offending hair extension back into it's pink bag.

That night, Wendi insisted the girls go out to a bar. She had been preparing for this big outing all day - coloring her hair, whitening her teeth, experimenting with different make-up, and then dressing up in a tight magenta top, short striped skirt, and patterned tights with boots. Maura didn't want to go, but Wendi insisted.

"It'll be good for you!" Wendi cheered. "Maybe you'll meet a cute guy!"

"Guys are all pigs," Maura spat.

"C'mon, Maura - just forget about guys then," Wendi said. "It'll be just us girls. We'll get something good to drink and some good food, and just chill. What do you say?"

Maura reluctantly agreed - mostly because her stomach was growling and she was starving, and she had no desire to eat yet another one of those pasty boxed pasta meals her and Wendi existed on. But she almost changed her mind after Wendi clipped in her new hair extension.

"THIS LOOKS SO ADORABLE!" Wendi cried, practically kissing herself in the smeary bathroom mirror. "It's not exactly the same color as my hair, but so what?"

Instantly, Maura felt jealous. Standing behind Wendi, looking at her chubby greasy face in the mirror, Maura's hair suddenly looked even more limp than usual.

In truth, the hair extension did look good on Wendi. It added a whole new dimension to her roommate's normally plain, gaunt face. Indeed, Wendi did look sort of cute, and even a little... sassy.

But would Maura admit this? Would she be happy about her friend's new-found confidence? Hell no! Instead, she felt infuriated, as though Wendi had become one of the very girls they complained about on TV or at the mall. In Maura's petty miserable mind, her thin roommate with the newly whitened teeth and the chunk of fake curly hair framing her small face had suddenly turned into a hypocrite.

"Well, I for one refuse to be a victim to the pressures of society!" Maura exclaimed.

"Suit yourself!" Wendi chirpped, still smiling at herself in the dirty bathroom mirror.

Maura stuck two plain gold hoops in her ears, and changed into different jeans. She felt frumpy and boring, but convinced herself that was okay, She was taking a stand! She was not going to bow to the media's image of "sexy" like SOME people. She would stay true to herself.

The girls decided to go to Mike's Cafe, which was rumored to have the best chicken wings in town. While Maura chowed down on chicken wings, Wendi giggled and flirted with some guy named Josh who wore a gold beaded hat.

As Maura sat there alone, buffalo sauce streaming down her pimply chin, she stared at her formerly mousy roommate flirting and suggestively twirling her long curly chunk of pink streaked hair around her finger.

The more Maura stared, the more evil the hair extension became in her mind... like it had some sort of weird magic that gave it the ability to change people into someone else.

By the end of the evening, when Wendi left the bar with Josh's phone number, Maura was convinced that the hair extension was evil.

That night, Maura couldn't sleep. She kept tossing and turning, thinking about that long curly hair extension with the stupid pink streaks. Suddenly, she sat bolt upright. Then, due to some paranormal force, she was suddenly off the bed, walking out of her room and down the hallway as though in a trance... and then, straight into Wendi's room.

In the dim light, Maura saw it. It was laid out on Wendi's dresser, like a prized pet. The evil hair extension.

Maura wasn't sure what exactly she was planning. But something had to be done. She picked up the soft silky synthetic tresses and, without meaning to, starting stroking them.

They felt so nice.

Oh no, Maura thought. I'm under it's evil spell!

The logical part of her mind realized this was a ridiculous thought. Nonetheless, the emotional side believed it to be true.

Still, as though she was in a trance, Maura carried the hair extension into the small bathroom at the end of the hallway. She flipped on the harsh overhead light, and then... she clipped the extension into the side of her limp dark brown hair.

The wavy flirty shiny curls tumbled all around, sliding softly against Maura's cheek. Maura experimented with the feel of the new hair, moving her head this way and that... posing in the mirror for pretend head shots; smiling and looking sassy.

Amazingly, she felt... happy!

"I have to get one of these things... tomorrow!" she decided, carefully placing the extension back on Wendi's dresser. "Maybe I'll even get a whole bunch of them!"

Maura yawned and made her way back to her bed. She closed her eyes and thought of other changes she could make. She could buy some new make-up - maybe try a new perfume. She should start an exercise program... lose some weight. Maybe take up tennis again. She loved playing tennis when she was younger. Perhaps she'd join the "Y".

Maura's mind was a happy sleepy jumble. Suddenly, she wanted to find out about that photography class she saw advertised at the local college. Maybe she could do photography on the side... if she got enough clients and built a name for herself, she could quit her dreadful job.... also, they should fix up the apartment... pick up cute artwork and brightly colored pillows at second hand shops...

So... was the hair extension evil? Was it causing Maura to yeild to the pressures of society and become a fake and sexy woman who's only goal was to attract a man?

Or was the hair extension simply a catalyst for a change in the roommates that was long over due?

Maura wasn't exactly sure... but one thing was definitely different. For the first time in a long time,she was actually looking forward to tomorrow.