"Mr. Matthews, Miss Black, Mr. Hunter—" Their teacher stops when Topanga turns around and he sees how uneven her hair now is. "Ooh. What the heck happened to you?"
"Mr. Feeny, I've cut my hair in an attempt to show Cory that physical appearance is secondary to inner beauty." The blonde tells him, and then Cory holds up the lock of his girlfriend's hair in his hand.
"Aha. Well, in that case, Miss Lawrence, I applaud your attempt at teaching a very valuable lesson during these extremely vulnerable teenage years." He tells her.
"You think I'm ugly!" She cries before running for the bathroom.
"Yeah, uh..." Letty shakes her head. "Cor, those scissors?"
"You're not gonna cut your hair too?" The Matthews boy asks.
"No, that lesson's already backfired once. I'm gonna go help Topanga."
"By cutting more?"
"Would you prefer I glued it back on?" She asks, and he points at Topanga's bag to tell her that that's where the scissors are. "Gracias."
"How bad is it?" Topanga asks as Letty walks into the bathroom.
"Who said it was bad?"
"The mirror."
"Oh, kid, those lie. Never listen to those." The brunette shakes her head, and Topanga offers her a small smile. "Little advice, girl to girl — the good ones don't care what you look like. And I'm talking boyfriends and friends. The only thing that matters is exactly the point you were trying to make to Cory." She tells her.
"I know, but..." The younger girl sighs as she takes the ends of her hair in both of her hands and looks at the different lengths.
"There's no such thing as perfect, Topanga." She says. "There are too many differences in the world to call any one thing perfect. Take you and me, for example."
"What do you mean?"
"Come here." Letty leads her over to the mirror and pulls her hair back so the different lengths aren't showing anymore. "Nothing about us is similar. About the only thing we have in common is that we're both girls."
"So?"
"So... Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, my skin is darker than yours, and while my hair obviously doesn't look like this without a curling iron, our natural hair is still different." She describes herself. "You — dirty-blonde hair, blue-green eyes, lighter skin, straight hair. The height difference is obvious... And there isn't a single ugly girl in this bathroom."
"Yeah, I guess." She says as she pulls her hair forward again.
"Topanga, Cory liked you even after you drew all over your face in red lipstick." She reminds her, and the younger girl starts laughing. "I have your scissors, and I can even out your hair until you can get to a salon or somethin'."
"Really?" Topanga asks, and she nods.
"As long as you realize that you're not beautiful because of your hair. You're beautiful because you're unique. There's no one else in the world like Topanga Lawrence." Letty tells her, and she smiles.
"Thanks, Scarlett."
—
"Hey, gorgeous, how was your day?" Eric asks as Letty walks into the living room where he's sitting on the couch with a gallon of milk and a huge bowl of cereal.
YOU ARE READING
Looking Up | 4
FanfictionIt looks like the toughest of life's challenges are finally behind her, but now Scarlett has to deal with the aftermath. Her childhood trauma is still weighing her down, and she's beginning to feel like she'll never be free of it. Relationships are...
