One Way Love Lane

[four] Sour Sunshine

Katya

Clair and I walked to school together each day. But today I had to walk an extra fifteen minutes to meet her at the large red stop sign at the top of the hill.

For the first three days of the week, every morning I had to make that fifteen minute walk because from Sunday night to Wednesday night I stayed at my dad's. Not with my mum and brother who lived ten minutes away from the local high school. Clair had offered many times to adjust our meeting place but I refused.

I fell into step beside her and we headed forwards along the streets, our school bags jostling.

For the past five years of high school and even the ones in primary, we never left for school without the other. Except from on sick days when we would curse the other for the betrayal. Though a lonesome Clair would survive the day with chatter- she had an easy nature which contrasted too much with me. I remember a lot of hardcore working on lonely days, impatience eating away at me as I just wanted to go home and visit the fallen Clair.

"So how are you this fine morning?" she asked me breezily.

"It's raining. Hardly fine." I replied bluntly, gazing out at the soft Monday drizzle that fell over us.

"I see." Clair nodded and pursed her lips. "How's things at home?"

I sighed. "Fine really. You?"

Clair kicked a grey stone in her path, scuffing her black flats, as she said, "Fine really."

There were people from our school walking in front of us.

Clair and I just kept strolling past them.

"You're hair looks so good today by the way," Clair complimented me. "It's all wavy and soft."

I snorted. "Thanks. I didn't even condition it this morning so this rain might just fuck it up." I brushed some of it away from my face. "You're hair looks pretty good too. How long does it even take to get it like that? You wake up at like five to do it don't you?"

Clair flicked her thick ringlets over her shoulder. Her hair was a mixture of frizz and puff and swirling curls. It was bouncy and large and it took forever to manage, having grown past her shoulders.

"Thanks... It takes me like a thousand years but better the effort than coming in with a bush. You're lucky your hair can be so low maintenance," she said. "Natural hair probs number one is the expense and the needed patience." Clair was sighing but she seemed pleased as she shook her hair.

It was up in a bushy pony tail, the curls round her ears and the explosion of tight ringlets swishing at her shoulder blades. She walked with a bounce in her step.

Her near afro was one of the prettiest things about her. But it had taken her ages to really be comfortable with it.

She had gone on for months about getting it straightened and cut once and when she finally did it, though she looked as great as ever, she had bit her lip at the smooth texture and looked at me uneasily in the salon mirror.

"Your hair looks nice today," I told Clair, just making sure she knew that morning. "You look A plus," I said with a smile and she returned it gratefully.

"Thanks, Kat."

And then on we went, and every minute or so I caught Clair gazing at me curiously as we walked to school, flickering back to my face over and over.

"What?" I finally asked her, exasperated. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just looking at that," she lifted a finger and pointed to the cut above my eyebrow. Clair frowned. "I feel really awful looking at it. Where did you fall to end up like that?"