Finding Nemo

Dumb-ie

I started giggling too, then I asked "You look pretty in those, too."

"Huh? I'm not wearing a skirt. These are cool jumper shorts we bought at the mall after eating at Wcdonald's. My mom even got me their limited edition toy. It's amazing!" Danni says and it makes me giggle how she boasts at this situation.

"I meant your hair." I clarified and I still couldn't hold my giggles.

Danni started touching and looking at her hair till she finally realizes what I did.

She looked at me with teary eyes as she tries to pull out the gum from her hair but it's stuck already. I started laughing out loud.

"Serves you right for bullying me!" I scoffed and mocked her.

However, she seemed really upset because she started crying quietly while she still tries to pull out the gum.

My laughs started to mellow down. I kinda felt bad for her because she's not retaliating. She was just crying quietly and trying her best to fix her hair.

Danni sobs, "My hair. How to remove this. Please help me, Neil."

So I started trying to help her.
Oh no. It's stuck.

I looked at Danni again and oh no. She really looks upset. I feel so guilty now.

"What happened here?" my mom and her mom asked.

Danni stood up and hugged her mom while she bawls out heavily.

"I- it was just- she was bullying me." I stuttered and my eyes are also beginning to tear up. I was so young then, so my emotions got the best of me. I started crying too.

I ran to my mom and hugged her too while crying. We were both crying now.

I hear our mom's sighs.
Then, I turned to look at Danni.
She also looked back at me.

I decided to say, "I'm sorry."
And she cried even more.
So I cried harder with her too.

What a mess.

I never saw her again during summer break after that. The next time I saw her was during the start of our school again.

I was busy pulling out my pencil case from my bag, when suddenly I heard her familiar voice, "Can you move? You're in the way."

As I was looking up, I felt irritated already because her tone sounded condescending.

Readying my savage throw at her, I said "It's not my fault, you're too fa-"

I suddenly stopped talking.
Stunned. Surprised.
Mesmerized?

Danni cut her hair.
And she looked even prettier than usual.

"What?" she asked and I think I left my mouth open a little. So I sipped my saliva back and puckered my lips.

My body just moved on it's own to give her more space.

I'm feeling a little nervous. Why is that? It feels hot? Is the room's fan turned on?

I couldn't help but steal glances at Danni. What the hell? She just cut her hair. Nothing special. She looks normal. Psh. It's okay. Just fine.

So fine.

I shook my head hard.
No! That's the self-absorbed spunky seatmate you always fight with.

"You look handsome." I decided to tease her.

She began pulling hard on my hair after saying this and I groaned in pain.