Journal Entries

Best Hair

"Students we have only three weeks left here at Westing Garvey High, and we want to go out with a bang. Surprisingly we have two finalists for best hair category in the yearbook. Mr. Alex Konsufa and Mr. Brian Sung, you two boys seem to have your work cut out for you these next couple of weeks. Let's see who ends up with the slot as this years best hair award winner. That's all the announcements today, let's have a good start to the week on Monday." After the principal was done the class turned to look at the two boys who sat opposite of each other in the corner of the room. It was no surprise that even though they were boys, Alex and Brian had some of the longest hair in school. Longer than some of the girls' even, and throughout the year they showed no hesitation in expressing pride in their manes respectively. Alex was of Native American descent and Brian was originally from Thailand, so hair was seemingly in their blood. The two boys looked at each other and, with sarcastic smiles, they exchanged good lucks to each other and packed their book bags so they could leave. The battle was on and everyone was eager to see who would win and get the slot in the yearbook. So Monday, Alex waltzed into class with all of his curly hair down except for two braids on each side of his head with feathers intertwined in them. Brian came in soon after and he had his silky black hair pulled into a sleek bun with cherry blossoms behind his left ear. It was a nice simple way to start off and everyone chuckled at the competition. The next day Alex walked into the room with a messy bun of his own and a red bandana. Brian followed up his cultural appreciative look with a braided ponytail. Again the class chuckled at the competition and went on about their days. Wednesday, Alex walked into class with a big puffy fro almost mimicking those of the 1970s. Only difference was that his was curly and damp. It didn't take Brian five minutes before he came in with his own version of a wet hair look. All he did was simply wash his hair and left it wet though. Nothing major. Thursday, Alex showed up with a curly half up-half down ponytail. Then, Brian proudly walked in with another bun but instead of a little doughnut at the top, his hair was in a bow. You know like those little red bows that Minnie Mouse wears? It was actually quite nice, causing Alex to let out an approving laugh. When Friday rolled around they both (coincidentally) opted for high ponytails. Nodding in each other's direction the class started to question what was gonna happen when Monday rolled back around. They had two whole days to change their hairstyles and who knows what ideas they could come up within the next 48 hours. When the weekend passed, everyone In the classroom (the teacher included) awaited the arrival of the so called combatants. First came Alex and boy did he look different today. The natural dark brownish color that was in his hair before was replaced by an orange, ginger like hue. He also had it pulled back into six boxer like braids. Everyone in the classroom stared at him for about ten minutes until Brian walked in, who looked drastically different himself. Instead of the silky, black, geisha like hair that he was born with; he was now donning fire red curls. "Color change?" Alex asked with a fake smile across his face. "Got tired of the blandness," Brian answered with an even more forged grin than Alex's. Tuesday the two boys didn't do that much to their hair. Just ponytails again, but Brian's looked like it had been slept on over night. Wednesday came around again and so did another competition of hairstyles. Brian walked in with highlighted tips on his three day old dyed hair and it was slightly trimmed to compliment his head shape. Alex came in with straightened hair and two mini buns on top of his head with chopsticks sticking out of them again. Thursday the two boys went all out since it was getting nearer to the last day of school. Alex walked in with three Viking warrior like braids on his head and an Indian feather hat, hinting at more of his culture. Brian soon followed with with a floral crown and a bun with cherry blossom twigs forming an "x" inside of it. Alex frowned when he saw the sight, it was brilliant. Brian caught his gaze and gave him a small smile and shrugged. The class looked at both of them with keen eyes hoping that they'd start an argument with each other. Nothing happened though, just a plethora of disgusted glares from Alex. At the end of the day, Brian made a show of flipping his hair all around when he was talking to some of the girls in class. He knew that Alex was watching him and made sure to only make a big deal out of his hair when he felt him staring from across the room. "Don't worry girls, when I win this award you all will be the first to sign my yearbook. Hell, maybe I'll let some of the guys sign it too," he cooed while glancing at Alex over his shoulder. Looking at him, Alex seethed in jealousy. He wasn't quitting just yet but if he didn't do something quick, he'd for surely lose and Brian really would be asking him to sign his yearbook just to mock him. So he went home and told his mom to take him to the mall. When she dropped him off, he asked for $40 and her hair salon card. Although she was confused, she forked it over. She had a knowledge of the little hair battle the two boys had going on and quite frankly, she was amused by the whole thing. Alex told his mother to come back in about an hour and he walked off into the mall and disappeared. Flustered but intrigued, she agreed and drove off to the nearest doughnut shop. Brian meanwhile, was in his bedroom seemingly on cloud 9. He'd never really cared about any yearbook awards but this one, was the one where he actually had a chance. His hair had never been short and his Asian origins gave him a slight edge. Although his father wasn't too thrilled about any of the dying, and braiding, and things like that, he did support his son. It showed tonight when Brian asked his dad to help him braid all of his hair and intertwine each braid with a gel bamboo stick. He obliged and now Alex looked like a Christmas tree that had been decorated too early. But if that's what it was gonna take to win, then so be it. The next day (which was about three days before voting for best hair would conclude) the boys came in with more eccentric hairstyles. Brian's hair was braided with gel bamboo sticks and he added a miniature bed of magnolias at the top of his head. Alex however, came in with supreme confidence which was something he hadn't done all battle long. Somehow, he had managed to dye about 20 different parts of his hair a totally different color. The class could only stare as a spectrum of colors almost blinded their teenage eyeballs. Hues of red, orange, green, blue. purple, and yellow filled his head in straight tresses. It almost looked like a unicorn threw up on top of his scalp. So you know what Brian did the next day? He did the very. Exact. Same. Thing. He had asked his mom to get the dye and he virtually stayed up all night trying to at least mimic what Alex had done. When he returned the school the next day and Alex caught a glimpse of his new style, he frowned. "Wow you fucking bitch, you stole my idea!! I did that first," he blurted out not caring if the teacher heard him curse. Brian chuckled and shot him a fake smile. "I didn't copy your idea, I just made it better," he replied sarcastically. Alex could only sit there stewing in in his own anger. "So that's how you wanna play huh, okay let's see how you like it when I steal your stuff," he thought to himself with a smirk. When the last bell rang, Alex almost sprinted to his mother's car and begged her to get more hair dye. "Alex I think you should leave your hair alone or it's gonna fall out," his mother said uneasily. Her words went through one ear and out of the other. "I know mom but this is really important," he pleaded and she reluctantly obliged. Snatching the two bottles of dye from his mother's hands, he raced upstairs to his room and began mixing the liquid color with water. Tomorrow sure was gonna be....interesting. So the next day, Brian proudly came into class with his rainbow hair in three boxer braids and a bun in the back to match. Alex however....boy oh boy. When Alex walked into the classroom, the students almost gave themselves whiplash from doing double takes. Alex's hair was now black, jet black, and was straightened to the point that it was almost like fine silk. He maneuvered it into 5 braids at the top of his head and donned a flimsy Japanese cherry blossom branch wrapped around like a poorly twisted pretzel. Brian could only stare angrily as his classmate had not only stolen one of his ideas, but he had also stolen his culture. Looking over to him, Alex blew a kiss and laughed heartily in an "anything you can I do I can do better" way. So now it was Brian's turn to beg his mom to go to the hair supply store. He chose two bottles of deep red and black hair dyes, thanked his mom and ran down to his bedroom in their basement. The corresponding day, Alex trudged into class with his hair in a half up half down ponytail displaying numerous curls. This time, Alex made his arrival to class so overly dramatic that not even the lead role in the school play could pull off what he had done. Playing Indian tribal music through a speaker connected to his phone, Alex danced into class with a plethora of feathers hanging off of his book bag. He hooted and hollered with the crazed shouts of the men in the music and even hopped from one side of the class to the other. His hair was a deep auburn color, almost brown, and was in Dutch braids that reached well past his spine from hair extensions. Alex looked on in horrid disgust until Brian was in front of him, face to face. Giving him a smile and a glance at his curls, he patted him on the shoulder. "You had a good run, not bad for second place....bitch," and once he finished, he spat in the boy's face. Alex was stunned for a couple of seconds before slapping Brian hard and suddenly across his face. The two started fist fighting and the rest of students watched eagerly as they exchanged blows. Each punch that connected sounded like hard thuds across their bodies and was heavy enough to cause blood to trickle from both of their knuckles. They ended up on the floor, kicking and cursing at one another as they continued to hit each other. Brian (being that he was the smaller of the two) began to pull Alex's hair causing him to scream and draw attention from other teachers. He grabbed ahold of Brian's braids and tugged hard at them before they were finally separated by a male teacher from across the hallway. When they were stood upright, the two boys stared at each other through tear filled eyes. Something was very...different. Alex's anger changed to confusion when he looked down at Brian's hand. It was filled with an abnormally thick patch of black hair......his black hair. Looking down at his own hands he saw large clumps of reddish brown hair and immediately realized what happened. The other students looked on and some even giggled at the sight of the two boys. They were escorted to the office but they were allowed to stop by the bathroom (one at a time) on the way there. Alex was first and once he walked in to look into the mirror, a blood curdling scream escaped from his lips. Brian could only sigh as he knew the he too would probably blurt out the same scream of terror. Taking his turn into the bathroom, Alex shot him a gleeful glance as if to say "I'm sorry". The two boys were walked to the office and were told to explain what happened. After they both explained what led up the big fight, the principal fought back the urge to burst out laughing. With a smirk he told the two boys that they would have to serve a five day suspension for the first week of the next school year. They both nodded in agreement and walked out of the office. "Oh and boys," the principal started, "you might want to get a hat for your heads." They dropped their gazes to the floor and listened to the dismissal bell ring for them to go home. Neither one of them were enthusiastic about letting their mothers see what had happened but they had no choice, they couldn't hide forever. The next day (which was consequently the last day of school), both Alex and Brian walked into class with black beanies over seemingly freshly shaven heads. Turns out all that hair dye and styling had made their hair so weak that whenever they pulled it, it basically just shedded and left them looking like a pair of poorly skinned gerbils. So they were forced to shave their heads to try and repair the damage. Neither one of them won the best hair award anyway. It was given to Makayla Wilson, a freshman who had recently dyed her hair pink to celebrate her newborn baby sister's birthday. But look on the bright side, Alex and Brian have a whole year to grow that long hair back and think of ways to outdo each other.