It's Hard to be Lee

3. First Date

Lee rushed home and into her room, closing her door. She did not want to be disturbed. She wanted to look extra nice for Mark tonight. She opened her closet and examined her clothes. She pulled out a short red and white set. She laid it out on her bed, gathering accessories, shoes, earrings, necklaces, all her good stuff.

"My hair!" Lee groaned, looking at her frizzy mop of hair.

The whole ordeal of the upperclassmen trying to make a fashion statement out of a ponytail bothered Lee. It was simple hairstyle anyone could wear, but Lee knew that anything that she did would more than stand out. She was not a follower, she would be the trend-setting leader.

Lee showered and washed her hair. She wrapped herself in a towel as she towels dried her hair first. Then she began to blow dry it straight, a task she had never done. It had been straight before on modeling assignments, but she never thought to do it herself. When it was straightened, it came halfway down her back. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail, letting the hair flow to one side, and come over her shoulder. She took a toothbrush and laid down her baby hairs with gel. It was cute, different for her, but if ponytails were in at Larkin High, she wanted to be in too.

She smiled. Oh yeah, incredibly unique. She would stand out.

She dressed and waited downstairs for Mark.

"Mom, I have a date, so don't worry about dinner."

"Well, tell me now. You rushed up to your room before I could even say hello," her mother said. "Wow! Love the hairdo."

"Thanks, mom."

"You should have let me do it for you," her mother said.

Lee's mother, Maria, was a hairstylist. Her mother told Lee that she had been doing hair since she could remember. Maria was the youngest of eleven, and she would even do her older sisters' hair. After she graduated high school she went to cosmetology school, but soon married Lee's father before she had a chance to start her career. Her father attended college to become a psychiatrist so he was the sole breadwinner. Her mother devoted all her time to being a housewife and then a mother.

Maria, only thirty-seven, decided now that Lee was older and going after her dreams, it was time to go after hers. Maria, with the help of her husband, opened a beauty salon when they moved to California. It had been two months and her business boomed. Styles for You was one of the few full-service salons catered to African Americans and Hispanics. Maria even received requests from Hollywood to do her hair.

"How'd I do?" Lee asked, modeling her hair for her mother.

"Pretty darn good," her mother said, smoothing out her ponytail. "You learned from the best. Was it hard to straighten?"

"Actually no. I like it straight."

"It's so cute. Wear it like that more often."

"I hope Mark likes it."

"Who is this Mark, excuse me Mrs. Thang?" her mother said. Her mother was like a best friend than an overbearing mother. She still mothered her, with parental rules and a little bit of nagging.

And her mother was a goddess. She could be a model as well, she got her looks from her mother for sure. Tall and lean, head full of thick curly hair, full pouty lips like her, and thick busy eyebrows. She was far from her mother's twin. Because she had his coloring and green cat-like eyes from her father.

"Mom, just...don't embarrass me or anything."

"Is he cute?"

"Of course, he's cute!"

"As cute as Troy Taylor or Russell Hart?"

She inwardly groaned at her mother. Troy was her first boyfriend that she left behind in St. Louis. He was everything. Gorgeous, kind, smart, but he also crossed the line when he unknowingly hit on her cousin Adina while they were on a "break." She didn't blame her cousin, or Troy when they eventually got back together.