Unfortunately Not

Summer: 2016

{Before I start every chapter I'll try and include a song for you to read with and maybe even a quick clip (if I can find one) that goes along with the chapter. Enjoy!}

   Where do I start? I could put us where the action really begins, walking into Hueytown High on the first day, but to understand the build up and the way I felt about the whole situation we need to start at the beginning.

   I had decided to stay at my aunt's wonderful estate for the summer, well if you consider a 70s built trailer which was partly renovated, partly pile of paint cans, dry wall, and rotted wood to be a wonderful estate. After I think about it, maybe it was a nice house considering the circumstances, this is Alabama after all. This was the point in my life I consider the lowest. Why? There was absolutely no cell service and I was forced to listen to the same Nick Jonas and Troye Sivan songs over and over again since I hadn't thought to prepare myself beforehand and download more songs onto my otherwise decent android phone at the time. My hair, life, and mental state were a complete mess because of this.

   While I was listening to Close by Nick Jonas for at least the thirtith time that day (whenever that song plays now I actually get PTSD back to this week) in the back un-air conditioned room of their home, in came my cousin, Hanna, giving me news that was particularly nerve wracking, Vacation Bible School was this week. Now I don't know if you've ever been to a "VBS," but it certainly isn't a vacation. It's generally kid centric and teaches the bible around a theme. This particular church's theme was the ocean - this will be important later - now I'm not usually the one to attend a church service or really be associated with a church for that matter, but since I was under the will of my aunt I had no choice but to attend, ironicly, virtual hell.

   At this trailer was also my first encounter with a straightening iron. Getting ready for VBS one day, I noticed something that would change my bathroom routine for years to come. I was ugly as hell. I wanted nothing but to be pretty so I took a few extra steps during my general ~beauty guru voice~ morning routine.  My hair was an absolute monstrosity, it was dry, extremely thick and wavy. If you need a comparison type into Google "dog with thick fur" and there you go! I had tried everything to fix it but in my final desperate moments before I had made the decision to kill myself, there it was, the straightener.

   I turned it on and began to slowly burn my hair to a crisp. But despite all the smoke, and honestly probably deadly fumes (no one and I'm mean no one's hair should smell that bad) my hair actually sort of looked decent? I was shocked but also pleased at the outcome, so that's what I did every single day that week. Slowly, unknowingly, damage my hair beyond repair.

   In the meantime, VBS was moving along at an extremely boring pace. One thing though - this is where the ocean theme becomes important - was hallowing out my insides, the skit my VBS group had to put on infront of all the parents. What character did they give to the emo kid who hated church? Jesus Christ of course. Who else?

   It was the last day of VBS and the day of the skit, and getting tired of having to apply heat to my hair I though it was high time for a haircut. So I called parents the next county over and asked them if they could take me to Great Clips, a salon chain for the financially challenged. So an hour before the performance I left. I traveled back to Jefferson County and to the salon. I stepped into the building a normal teenager but left as an advanced emo kid. My parents had no idea what was coming once I stepped out of that salon chair. I asked for a cut similar to youtuber Daniel Howell's but left with more of a Justin Bieber post arrest kind of look.

   I had never felt so confident in my entire life, the look wasn't complete yet though. I rode back to Tuscaloosa County just in the nick of time to show off my new fresh cut on stage infront of at least 50 rednecks. Let's just say they didn't get it. Let's also say that I left my aunt's house that day and haven't been back since.

   You might be asking though, "Tyler what does your hair have anything to do with starting high school?" Well my friend, the real question is what doesn't it have go do with high school? Confidence is key right? Well my hair at this point in time boosted my confidence by a lot. Let's just say though that at the end of the day and by the end of this book my hair will determine the way my life runs. What I do, where I go, who my friends are, and some say, even predicts my future. 

   The white people in Alabama weren't the only ones to experience my hair though, before I fled the scene at Davis Creek Babtist Church my best friend and I were planning something over the phone that I knew my parents would never agree to, a vacation without my family to Oklahoma.

{If you enjoyed my first chapter then please check back tomorrow for chapter 2. It would help me (and my hair) a ton if you would stick around and see what's next! I'll try and update daily but of course school happens so I might get cut short some days. Thank you!}