SHELLY
Shelly started up her car, Mindy in the passenger seat and George in the back, looking confused and innocent. A couple miles away from the school, there was a store that probably no one in the world had ever heard of them. It was inexpensive, but money was never really a problem for Shelly. She could hear George mumbling to himself in the back. “What the hell are we doing here” and “we should be in school” Homeschooled kid. She stifled a giggle and ended up having a coughing fit and swerving in a zig zag on the empty road. George froze.
“Jeez, Shelly, be careful!” Mindy scolded her. She ignored her friend’s complaint and pulled into the miniature parking lot of the store. She led her two friends in, tattoo designs lined the far wall, and there was a man getting a tattoo on his back of an eagle. On the left wall there were pictures of models smiling with rainbow hair and multicolored lips. There was a shelf with millions of dyes. On the right side of the shop, two people were getting designs shaved on the sides of their heads.
Shelly looked at George and winked, and his eyes grew wide as he looked at the decorative walls. She led them through a doorway and grinned and the man leaning against the desk. He had long black dreadlocks with beads braided in. His arms were laced with intricate tattoos, and his face was covered in piercings. He wore pale blue, almost white contacts, looking to be in his early twenties. The way he looked over the three students seemed to intimidate George, and the boy cracked a tiny smile and looked at his feet.
“Hey Jess,” she said, trying to sound casual but getting flustered in her attempt. This time it was George who snickered and tried to cover it up. Jess smirked and looked over George.
“This one?” he asked.
“Yeah, I was thinking this,” Shelly handed him a notebook. George tried to get a glimpse but Shelly stepped on his foot that he had been so carefully staring at. Jess smiled and looked over George. Shelly looked at him dreamily.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Jess said, breaking the awkward silence that Shell had created. “New haircut to start off.” He grinned evilly at George and smiled sweetly at Shelly. Embarrassed, she followed Jess through the doorway.
“Um… see, this sounds, um, great, but I think I like my hair now,” George complained. Nobody listened, and Shelly almost felt bad for the kid, but then, she needed this and so did he.
“This one’s on me, m’lady,” Jess flirted, pulling up a chair for Shelly. She giggled and saw Mindy from the corner of her eye grumbling and pulling up an identical chair. Jess got to work on George’s hair, snipping of split ends and shortening by a few inches. He ended up spiking up the front and soaking his hair with bright purple dye. Then he did something unexpected, picking random things off the walls and shoving them in a bag with the store logo: four purple hair dyes, three pink, one blue, two pairs of purple contacts, and a coupon from behind his desk. She grinned and grabbed three twenty dollar bills from her purse. George’s eyes widened and Mindy rolled hers. She stood up and marched over to Jess looking him in the eyes, (having to stand on her tip toes because he was so much taller), and handed him the money. He shoved it away and said,
“You know my favorite customers get special discounts, and since you brought me a new customer, you get all this free.”
“Uh, yeah. No way mister,” she said, rolling her eyes and putting the money in the cash register.
“Oh come on! Business is booming! I can afford this-” she cut him off, putting her finger to his mouth. “And so can I,” she shouted back, flashed a flirty grin and strode out the door.
“Wow!” she gasped, pulling out of the parking lot. She really liked what Jess had done with the boy’s hair, who now sat up front instead of in back. He looked better, less geeky. She couldn’t wait to see how he looked with the contacts on, it would completely tie together his look. Hope it boosts his confidence as well, he’s got a big weekend ahead of him, she thought nervously, then realized she’d told George nothing about the party she’d planned.
Shelly was a forgetful person, she had been for all her life. She looked over at George to tell him, but he was gazing out the window happily, looking at the lake in front of the mountain that was so close to their tiny little town that had been home ever since her parents dumped her at the orphanage at age 4. She decided she’d surprise him, buy him some nice clothes while he was asleep. She focused on the road. Technically, she shouldn’t even leave the school on weekends, much less a Friday afternoon. Damn prison, that’s what this is. Even though she got into lots of trouble at school, the principal seemed to like her, and let her get away with a lot of things. But, even so, she hardly ever got caught.
They pulled up in the parking lot and walked over to the back door of the dorms. Shelly shoved George and Mindy through the door and slipped in behind them. Mindy came into their room with them. Shelly flipped open her laptop and clicked on a playlist. Music blasted her ears, and she frantically punched the volume button until it didn’t feel like her ears were bleeding. George slowly removed his hands from his ears, and they started laughing uncontrollably. They talked for awhile, and Shelly and Mindy told George about the school.
“The classes aren’t terribly hard, but the teachers are strict,” Mindy said.
"Well that depends on if you're a freaking genius or not," Shelly corrected, shooting a playful glance at Mindy, who responded by rolling her eyes,
"Oh come on, Shelly, you've manage to get C's every... once and awhile"
"Shush Mindy!" The girls bickered, and Shelly snuck a glance at George grabbing a book from his strangely colored suitcase. Long day for him, she supposed. After a while Shelly sent George with directions to the lunchroom. Shelly would've liked to come with him, but after all, she and Mindy were "sick", of course.
Once the door creaked shut, Shelly and Mindy sat opposite each other on the carpet. Shelly clasped her hands together and blinked at Mindy, "Got the list?" Mindy glanced up from examining her fingernails,
"What li- oh! Yeah, I've got it here..." she dug around in her ever-present gray bag, pulled out a crumpled up piece of notebook paper and presented it to Shelly. She flattened it out in her knee and scanned it thoroughly.
She had invited some of her friends and potential friends for George to a welcoming party. She knew it was unnecessary, they got new students often, but she wanted to make a perfect impression. She wanted this roommate to like her, and for him to feel comfortable- she'd heard about his dad a few days before he arrived.
She drummed her fingers against the floor, then gasped at the name she saw on the paper.
"WHO INVITED RANDY?" she gasped.
"I did," Mindy squeaked.
"Oh my god. OH MY GOD. Mindy! You know I can't talk around... GAH!" She blushed furiously.
"Well I could always, you know, take back the invitation, crushing his dreams of seeing you..." she taunted.
"Oh come on, he SO doesn't like me. But I wouldn't want to be rude..."
Mindy giggled and cupped her hands into a heart shape,
"Then it's settled. I'll send out an email to him and everyone else to RSVP tomorrow. Won't be that exciting of a turnout, but we don't want to scare the poor boy."
"Great," Shelly breathed, just as George pushed the door open and stepped into the room holding three brown paper bags. She hid the list behind her back and casually waved at George.
"Find your way okay? That took you awhile," Mindy broke the silence awkwardly.
"What? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, fine," he smiled nervously and handed each of the girls a bag. They sighed gratefully and started to eat. Not too long after, Mindy left just before Becky patrolled the hall screaming "LIGHTS OUT!"
Shelly noticed George flipping through his book. He looked nervous.
"You okay?" she whispered. He rolled over to look at her, smiling and assuring her it was just that he was tired, but his eyes said otherwise. She shrugged but couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened.
