The Silence

14

I'm getting ready for school. My hair are a bit long, during the winter break, which starts this Thursday, maybe I will go to the hairdresser to cut it.

I try to take them out of my eyes but they keep returning to their previous place.

I decide to leave them alone and put on a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants. I take the books for school from my desk, put it in my backpack and run downstairs because I don't have much time.

"Mom I'm going to school!" I scream while I put on my shoes.

"Will you make it? Should I give you a ride?" My mom asks from kitchen. "Do you want to eat something?"

"I don't have enough time. Plus Jasmine is already waiting for me in her car."

"Oh, okay. Have a nice day, Harry." The adult woman emerges from behind the door, walks over to me and runs her hand through my hair. "You could use a haircut."

"Yeah, I know. Bye, mom."

I give her a quick kiss on the cheek, grab my things and run to Jasmine's car.

"Hi, Jas."

"Hi, curly. I didn't notice before that you had such long hair."

"Yeah. Today something is wrong with them. That keep falling into my eyes."

"Wait." Jasmine looks into her backpack and pulls out a dark green bandana. "Put this on. Your hair won't bother you so much."

I smile. "Thanks."

I tilt the passenger seat mirror so I can see what I'm doing and put the cloth over my head, while the redhead turns on the car and drives away from my house towards the school.

I look in the mirror for a moment and smile to myself.

"How do I look?" I turn my head towards the girl.

Jasmine glances at me quickly and then looks back at the road, but after a few seconds she glances at me again, this time for a longer moment, and turns her head again to look at the road in front of her.

"Damn Harry. You look really good. You can keep it. It really suits you." She smiles.

"Wait really? You sure?"

"Yeah, you look better in it than me. If Jake sees you in this, he'll probably turn gay." My friend laughs.

I laugh too. "Well, he's already gay for me. Katie is just a front for our relationship."

Jasmine hits the steering wheel lightly with her hand. "I knew it!" And she laughs again.

*

We enter the school and I see Jennifer and Katie at the wall opposite the entrance.

"Damn Harry, you look great in that bandanna. You have to come like this more often. Seriously." Says the girl with light brown hair as soon as we approach them.

I smile nicely. "Thanks Jen. I really like it too. I was going to go to the hairdresser during the holidays, but I think I'll refrain because I really like this hairstyle with a bandana."

"Good." The other girl, Katie, lifts her hand and curls her finger around a strand of my curly hair. "You should grow them out." She lets go of my hair and turns her head slightly to the left and looks at me, the rest of the girls join her.

"What's going on?" I ask, slightly embarrassed by the way they are watching me.

"Shhhh, let us think." My best friend raises both of her hands and positions them at the height of my face so that her index fingers and thumbs form a frame. "What do we think, girls?"