The Pretty People

CHAPTER 20

     After what happened at the party, I couldn't fall asleep. Melanie and I were the only 2 to sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags. Melanie mainly agreed to sleep in a sleeping bag so that I wasn't alone. Melanie was fast asleep already, her wavy hair in a side ponytail. I started feeling clausterphobic rolled up in my sleeping bag, so I quietly put on my North Face fleece over my pajamas and went out on the balcony to get some fresh air and hopefully fall asleep by the time I came back inside. I looked through the glass door and checked the time. The clock read 2:06 AM. I was awake for 2 hours now... and 6 minutes. It was only the tiniest bit chilly outside, but the wind felt nice. It blew my frizzy brown hair to the front of my face. Everytime I sleep, whether my hair's straight, curly, or whatever, it always ends up poofing up and getting frizzy when I wake up. Suddenly I heard a door slide and close. At first I thought it was the same porch door as mine, but it was the porch door to my left, which was Justin's room. Crap, I had to get out of there before he saw me, but my legs wouldn't move. I got myself to turn towards the door when a voice said, "Rachel, stop. I need to talk to you." I froze. Then, I turned around. Surely enough, Justin was standing there. "Sorry about tonight with Jessica and everything. I can explain." "You don't need to," I said. It really wasn't that big of a deal anyways, but a small part of me said it was. "It's okay, really." "Well, even if it is or it isn't okay, I just wanted to let you know that Jess is my ex. I dumped her a month ago, but she still kinda has a thing for me and won't accept that it's over. I wanted to explain at the party but it was really hard and Jessica kept on talking me into giving her another chance but I still said no." he explained. His voice was pleading and it was hard to ignore it. "Sorry..." he said. There was a big pause. Then I finally said, "It's fine. And thanks for clearing it up." But it doesn't make a difference. I wanted to add. I wasn't going to have a "spring fling." But I didn't want to lie to myself. I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore. "...I gotta go." I said, heading towards the door. "It's late." "Yeah, I know. But do you forgive me?" "Sure." I smirked and slowly slid the door open, stepped in, and shut it.

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     The next morning, Melanie announced that she heard of this great hair salon just a few blocks down and wanted us to all come with her. We all agreed, especially me. My dirt-brown hair color needed a change, anyways. We went downstairs to the breakfast buffet at our hotel. I was a little cold and I was only wearing a thin, cobalt blue burnout tee, so I said I'd be back and ran up to our hotel room to get a sweater.

     I fumbled through my side of the dresser and found my black J. Crew hoodie. I put it on and zipped it up, then closed the door to our hotel room. When I turned around, Justin was standing right behind me. "Why?" was all I managed to say. "I was thinking the same thing." he said, smiling. "We always bump into each other! And I know, it's weird." "Definitely." I nodded, smiling back at him. "Are you sure you're okay?" "Yeah! I'm fine. We're still friends. It's all good." I said. When I said "friends" a little flash of dissapointment crossed his face, but it soon disappeared. I was about to say bye when Justin said, "Hey, do you wanna go to the Miami Spring Fair tomorrow?" he blurted out. I smiled. "Just the two of us?" I asked. "Just the two of us." he said. "Cool." We worked out the details and exchanged numbers. As we parted, I felt butterflies in my stomach; too much butterflies.

     "Sorry I took a long time." I told Melanie and the girls as I sat down to finish my frosted cheerios. "It's fine!" Melanie said. "What happened?" she whispered to me. "What?" "I know something happened!" she said in a singsong voice. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you." I whispered back. I told her everything that just happened with me and Justin the night before and just now. "Oh my god! That's awesome! Jessica would be so jelly. And I didn't know that they were having a fair here! I love carnivals! When is it?" "Tomorrow." I replied, eating my last spoonful of cereal. Melanie gave me an 'I'm so happy for you" smile and dabbed the corners of her coral, glossy lips with a napkin.

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     "Hey! How's it goin? I'm Macy, your hair stylist for today!" said a girl with red braids and a southern accent. "Hi." I gave her a little wave in the mirror. "So what do you have in mind?" she asked. "Well... I was thinking of dying my hair." "Mhm." "Do you have any suggestions?" I asked Macy. "Hmm... I think you'd look really nice with auburn colored hair, or maybe even red like mine." she said. I wasn't willing to dye my hair fire truck red, so I went with auburn. Then, she got out a huge book with a hair chart and flipped to the page with all different shades of red and brown. I pointed to the one that said "Light Auburn," which was a pretty purply shade of reddish, copper brown.

     "Ahh! It looks amazing!!" Tiffany gushed as she saw my reflection in the mirror after Macy finished dying my hair. "Do you like it?" Macy asked. "Yeah! It looks really nice." I said, grinning; it did look nice and it was a nice change, too. I'm sure Kelly would've liked it as well, since her hair was red. I missed Kelly and I just realized that I haven't called her since we came to Miami for vacation. After I payed Macy, I strode out of the hair salon with a brand new look, and it felt great. Melanie was standing to my right, and she dyed her hair, too. It was now barbie blonde with layers. Tiffany and Sadie got matching chesnut highlights. The rest of the day was spent shopping at the nearby mall. When we stopped at Pinkberry to get some frozen yogurt, I called Kelly while I was eating mine. She picked up at the last ring. "Hey Rachel!!" she said happily. "Hi!" It was great to hear her voice again. "Sorry I haven't called since I came." "It's fine," she said. She paused, then said "How's Miami?" "Great." I replied. "And guess what?" "What?" "I dyed my hair auburn." I heard Kelly dramatically gasp. "That's so cool! Send me a pic later today, ok?" "Sure." I said, eating another spoonful of my frozen yogurt. "I never thought you would dye your hair." she said. "Well, I felt like I needed a change." We talked and talked and talked until it was time to go. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" I said, before hanging up. "Okay, bye! Don't forget the picture!" "Of course." I laughed.

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     I decided to call it a night at 11 PM. As I crawled into my sleeping bag, my phone beeped. It said I had one new text message... from Justin. I smiled as I looked at it under the covers.

See you tomorrow @the fair! Remember, we're meeting outside our hotel rooms at 1 PM. ;)

~Picture of Rachel's new hair color on the side~