It was right before school. I was getting used to Rockwood, and I’d made friends. We were inseparable from the start; Me, Sylvia, Tony, and LuLu. It all started when LuLu came over to show-off her new haircut.
“Whatdaya think?” she said twirling. Her copper hair was cut short, and the ends were jaggedly-styled.
“It’s short.” I said, not sure what to think. Back home, all the girls I knew had long hair and never cut it shorter than their shoulders.
“Well DUH! It’s called a ‘pixie-cut’, cowgirl. It’s super stylin’. At least that’s what my mom said.” LuLu explained. And that’s when Sylvia got an idea.
“We should ALL cut our hair like that; we could start a trend!” both of them squealed with delight as we ran into Sylvia’s kitchen to ask her mom to take us.
“Not today honey, maybe later this week when I can get an appointment.” Was the final answer. We all trudged back to Sylvia’s room, feeling deflated. That’s when Sylvia got another idea.
“Hey, what if we saved my mom some time and just cut it ourselves?!” Sylvia quietly snuck into Tony’s room (who was playing with LuLu’s older brother outside) and retrieved a pair of scissors.
“Who’s gonna cut it?” I asked cautiously.
“LuLu since she’s the one who got hers cut first.” Sylvia decided placing the scissors delicately into LuLu’s hand. LuLu had already pulled a chair over, ready for the first customer.
“Who’s gonna go first?” I asked, hoping to distract them.
“I think Summer should, ‘cause she’s new and needs to look SUPER stylin’ for her new school.” Sylvia commanded.
I froze; not wanting to say yes because I was scared but not wanting to say no because LuLu’s looked so good. The two took my silence as gratitude and pushed me hurriedly into the “salon chair”. I shut my eyes as LuLu raised the scissors and-
“WAIT!” LuLu cried out stopping with the scissors held high above her head and me breathing a sigh of relief. “I almost forgot; we’ve gotta wash your hair first!”
She dragged me into the bathroom, with Sylvia slamming the door behind us. She turned on the sink, put my head under the water, dumped some shampoo in, and rinsed it out. She sat me down on the closed toilet, ready to begin again, only this time with my heavy curls drenched with water. She raised the scissors up again, I shut my eyes as tight as I could until I heard the first clean SNIP of scissors. Tons of my curls began to fall to the ground as LuLu worked away at my soon-to-be-stylin’ hairdo. When she was done, she began blowdrying it.
“Can I see it?”
“Not ‘till it’s all ready! I’m stylin’ it!”
Finally, she was done, and I was handed a mirror.
My hair was basically gone.
She had cut all of my long curls off, up to my chin in a zig-zagged, uneven fashion. Some of the curls were still stubbornly bunched up, making the “stylin’ hairdo” look lopsided.
“Why’s her hair so curly still?” Sylvia asked
“BeCAUSE she has natural curls; they’ll never go away. Ok; you’re turn.” And just as LuLu was about to begin work on Sylvia; Mrs. Devito walked in to ask why her blow-dryer was on.
And she screamed.
My mother cried, and took me to fix LuLu’s lop-sided mess fixed as soon as Mrs. Devito called. Sylvia wasn’t allowed to get her hair cut. And we were all punished. The next time we all played together, Tony teased me about my now curly-bob.
“You look like a boy in a dress!” he teased. I kicked him jokingly and we all chased him around until we fell into a heap of laughter.
“Do the world a favor LuLu; NEVER become a hair-cut lady.” Tony laughed as she swatted him on the arm.
“It really doesn’t look that bad! Besides, it’ll grow out. At least she didn’t get at MY hair.” Sylvia giggled and LuLu began to chase her again. Tony tugged at one of my short curls.
“I don’t REALLY look like a boy, right?” I worried.
“Never; you’re too much of a cowgirl. Besides Sylvia was right; it doesn’t look bad at all. Maybe you could keep it like this?” Tony commented.
“Nu-uh,” I promised “I ain’t EVER cutting MY hair off. Not unless I go crazy.”
***
I stood in the bathroom, fading in and out of memories and reality. My hair was darker now due to the lack of sun in these past few months. But the curls were still there. The long, once perfectly-bouncy curls, hung down my back. I hadn’t cut my hair since (except for a trim here and there to keep it healthy).
“Nu-uh,” I promised “I ain’t EVER cutting MY hair off. Not unless I go crazy.”
I measured the length to see where to begin cutting.
“I ain’t EVER cutting MY hair off. Not unless I go crazy.”
I reached for the scissors, watching myself carefully in the mirror.
“Not unless I go crazy.”
Still watching as I chopped my long curls off.
“Not unless I go crazy.”
It was dark, and hit my shoulders jaggedly. I smiled darkly as I said to myself;
“I suppose I’ve gone crazy, huh, Summer?”