𝐈𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Old Friends

"Okay, how much again?" Julie asked tentatively as she hesitantly held the scissors up to my hair. I sat in a chair right in front of Julie who had been nervous about cutting my hair for the past ten minutes.

"Like, right here," I said, holding a hand up to just below my jaw. "Dylan said it needs to be different enough so no one recognizes me so all you have to do is just cut it in an even line across. You can do this, alright?" I tried to reassure Julie who was slightly freaking out at cutting another person's hair.

"Okay, okay," she said, holding the scissors close to my hair again until she pulled them back. "Are you sure about this Nora? I don't want to mess it-," she started to ramble until I used one hand to snatch my own hair into a low ponytail and the other to quickly grab the scissors from her hand. With one swift slice of the scissors, I cut through my wet hair in a semi even line. I was getting frustrated with Jaiden's uneasiness and thought it would be better if I just got the hard part out of the way. Julie watched with wide eyes as the hair I cut fell to the floor.

"There, done. Just please make it even now," I said and turned back around in the seat with my wet hair now reaching just below the bottom of my neck.

I looked at myself in the mirror while Julie finished cutting the last few pieces of my hair. She was now cutting the front pieces of my hair in an attempt to 'frame my face' and 'add layers' which I allowed her to do because: one, Julie was really starting to enjoy it. After I had handed the scissors back to her so she could make the rest of my hair even, Julie had gotten more confident in her hair cutting abilities. And two, it was kind of fun having someone try to make me look pretty. I had spent a lot of time wearing dirty, oversized clothes and running from bad guys, so I never got the chance to even take a second look in the metaphorical mirror, but having someone cut my hair for me made me feel slightly more like my old self.

Which is ironic because I'm literally cutting my hair so that I can escape my old self.

"There! All done!" Julie grinned and clasped her hands as she admired her work. "You look great, Nora! I mean really, the short hair, the color, it all suits you."

I smiled shyly back at her. "Well, you're the one who cut it, Jaiden. You did a great job." I looked back in the mirror while Julie kept talking about how nervous she was to use the scissors at first which I drowned out as I looked at my reflection. The hair in the back, behind my ears, reached somewhere around the bottom of my neck and rested in soft dark waves, while the pieces from my ears and forward started to get shorter and shorter until the very front pieces reached my jaw. Jaiden had cut a couple of strands in the front even shorter so that they rested around the middle of my cheek which she said 'gave me some more effortless framing'.

I turned back around to smile at Julie and pick up my stuff before we walked back to the fountain.

When I found Dylan sitting by the fountain, I stopped in front of him.

"Unrecognizable?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. Dylan looked up and his eyes widened a little. Oh, no. It's bad. Just as I was about to open my mouth, Dylan blinked a few times and cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah. Totally. No one will recognize you," he said, smiling lightly, but continuing to stare at me. It must be because the dark hair makes me look so different.

I gave him a thumbs-up before I plopped down next to Sebastian by the fountain who made a silly comment about my hair that made me laugh. A few seconds later, Ty came strolling into the room and his eyes widened when he saw me talking with Sebastian.

"Damn, Nora!" he hollered. I smiled uncomfortably. I was trying to be polite. It was barely working. Ty always had a thing for me, but I guess the asteroid didn't change that. "The party has officially started," Ty said, smirking as he placed a cooler down on the rim of the fountain. He winked at me and I scrunched my nose in confusion and discomfort from the wink. Ty opened the cooler and pulled out several cans, tossing one to Sebastian, Evan, Julie, and then Jordan. He held out a can to Dylan who gave him a quick nod.