3 Simple Steps

TWENTY-EIGHT: You Need a Haircut

TWENTY-EIGHT: You Need a Haircut

  In two weeks it was already December 5th. Every girl in our school was busy picking out a dress for the winter dance that was just around the corner. And Josh was scheduled to return the day after that; everyone was buzzing about it. Except Cas. He didn’t say it, but I knew he wished he would stay the hell away.

“Should I go for a more formal dress or a more awesome chick one?” Maribel asked as she browsed for dresses at the mall.

Dean had already asked her to go, of course. He had asked the principal for permission to use the microphone at lunch and he had asked her in front of half the school. If I could make a photo album with all the pictures of the girls who wanted Maribel dead so that they could take her spot, I would have more than one.

“Eh, something more formal. Or awesome chick. I really don’t know. I’m bad at this. I always showed up with jeans,” I said.

Maribel piled another purple dress onto her already huge mountain and shrugged. “It’s my first time, that’s why. Oh, Adriana what do you think?”

 Adriana barely glanced up from her phone. “Um, awesome chick.”

She would say that. Maribel nodded in agreement and went into one of the changing stalls.

“Has Cas even asked you to the dance?” Adriana asked once we were alone.

 Her dark hair was freshly cut to just below her chin in choppy layers, her bangs long. She was starting to look mysterious again. That bothered me, but I didn’t know why. It was selfish of me to not want her to look how she wanted to.

“Uh, no. He’s been avoiding me all week, actually. I’m starting to get worried. He hasn’t been going to lunch, Adriana. Even Dean came up with something,” I said. Adriana tapped her fingers on her phone like she was thinking.

“No offense, but, even I have gotten asked by a bunch of guys. Cas is falling behind. Do you think he doesn’t want to go or what?”

I shrugged. Part of the reason I hadn’t bought a dress yet was because I wasn’t sure if Cas was even going to take me. But I remembered him saying that his plan involved “showing up”, so I was uncertain.

“Ugh, sometimes guys are so pathetic,” she continued, pushing her hair behind her ears. I averted my eyes from her and patiently waited for Maribel to come out so the dress picking would begin.

Cas hadn’t even gone to see me at work anymore. He got to my house when I was already sleeping and would be gone early the next morning, leaving me a text with some excuse.

***

  “What are you doing in my room without my permission?” I asked James. He looked up from my computer and grinned easily.

“Your mom let me in. She seems to trust me.” Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t say the same about me. And he didn’t.

“Oh, and what do you want?”

He ruffled his dark locks and smiled sheepishly. “Just wanted to do research.”

 I pulled my homework out from my backpack and shoved him away from my desk.

“Yeah? Don’t the Gerris’ have a computer with all their richness?”

“Eh, no. They believe that I will look up ‘inappropriate’ things if I get my hands on one.” He shrugged. “Must be all the black.”

I couldn’t help myself from laughing. James looked satisfied that he was able to do so. Still, I wondered why he continued to hang around me if he liked Cas—or so I thought. Lately, I doubted that he did like him. He had stopped asking those personal questions.