Behind the Mask - Book One [Editing/Re-writing]

(25) Shared Secrets and New Faces

Chapter Twenty Five

"Hold still!" Nadine hisses in my ear while digging her hand through my hair; looking for one of the many bobby pins that got tangled in my hair last night. I guess that when Nick and I finally got home last night I was too tired to even take my hair down or even change. When I woke up this morning I woke up to a rat’s nest of hair and I was still wearing my dress, which by the way, is completely disgusting. The poor thing looks like it went through everything and back last night.

The fabric is stiff with dried blood and mud is—for some odd reason, though I seriously do not remember rolling around in mud last night—caked to the hem of the dress. There are a couple long tears in the fabric that run the length of the dress and overall, it is ruined. Thankfully, I’m not wearing it any more. The first thing I did was rip it off and throw it into a corner of my room and change into some grey sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt.

And that was when I noticed my hair. At first I tried to get the bobby pins out myself but it was no use. The dang things just did not want to leave my hair! I almost had a heart attack when I thought I might have had to cut it but then Nadine came to my rescue. She came walking into my room like it was her own and when she saw me she scowled and pushed me down into the chair in front of my mirror and went to work.

So now, I’m trying not to cringe every time she yanks one of the things out of my hair. I kept pulling away from her the first couple times but stopped after she smacked me with my makeup bag. Surprisingly, it hurt more than I thought it would. So now I’m kind of just sitting here awkwardly while she works. So far she has gotten out about four. I don’t really remember how much Shay put in last night; maybe five? Six? Personally, I didn’t even think she put any in.

"Bethany! Hold still !" Nadine half yells and it’s easy to tell she’s getting frustrated.

I cross my arms over my chest and say stubbornly, "No one asked you to help."

Instead of saying anything Nadine just yanks out a bobby pin and I bring my hand up to my head with a cry. I turn in my chair and give her a look of venom as I gently touch my fingers to my scalp. It feels like she yanked out a big chunk of hair, "oh, don’t be such a baby!" Nadine snaps while waving the bobby pin in front of my eyes. My eyes narrow on it and I snatch it out of her hand and bring it up close to my eyes; inspecting it for hair. With a sigh I throw it over my shoulder when I spot no long blonde hairs.

As I wait for Nadine to plunge back into my hair I turn back around in my chair and whistle quietly; laying my feet on the edge of my vanity table and closing my eyes but as soon as I do an image of my mom burns into the back of my eyelids. My eyes fly open and I make a face in the mirror at myself, "don’t think about her."

"Don’t think about who?" Shay asks as she throws herself down onto my bed and looks at me with her big hazel eyes. I turn around in my chair and don’t really feel that surprised that Nadine’s not in here anymore; though it is kind of discouraging considering I didn’t even hear her leave. Just think, she could pop up anywhere. Though, technically she actually can do that. Actually, there’s no technically about it. She’s done it before. With me.

"Heeelllooo! Bethany! Earth to Bethany!"

I blink once and look at Shay with a small apologetic smile, "I’m here. What’d you ask me?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes but there’s a small smile quirking up the edges of her lips, "I asked: Don’t think about who?"

I make a face at her for a second and am about to ask her what in the world is she talking about when realization dawns on me, "Oh!" I say while sitting up straight, "my mom. I was telling myself not to think about mom."