The Beginning: A Novel of Crossed Paths

Chapter 3: New Girl - Scarlett

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Chapter 3

New Girl

Scarlett

Over the next couple of weeks, the Lowells took me to all the vacation spots in town, including two different spots on the lake where I could sit and be alone.  They were not very far from the house, and I could walk there or ride Jeanette’s old bike if I wanted.  The Lowells offered to help me get a driver’s license, but I refused.  I did not need one, and I did not like the idea of having my face in the national register in case I needed to go to a different foster home.

On the first day of school I woke up bright and early.  Jeanette had told me it did not matter what I wore on the first day, and since it was warm out, I decided to wear my “Actions speak louder than words.” T-shirt and denim shorts.  When I exited my room after making my bed to go take a shower, I figured out that Jeanette was already up and occupying the bathroom.

It looked like she had already showered – she was wearing a towel wrapped under her arms.  She was looking at her reflection in the mirror and applying her make-up.  She glanced at me without turning around when I came in the bathroom.

“Need to take a shower?” she asked.

I nodded and she set her eyeliner down to go get dressed in her room.  I quickly stripped off my pajamas and climbed into the shower stall.  My shower lasted five minutes and I was out, dried, and dressed before Jeanette came back in the room.

“You can borrow my make-up if you want, just until we can go and get you some of your own,” she offered.

I declined.  I hated wearing make-up.  It gave guys an excuse to stare at me even more than they already did.  Instead I raised my hand and started mimicking painting my nails with an invisible brush.  I blew on them to dry the invisible polish.

“Nail polish?  At this time in the morning?”

I nodded.  I always put my nail polish on in the morning; that way the fibers of my sheets would not imprint it when I went to bed at night.

“All right,” Jeanette said uncertainly.  “I have some in my room.  I’ll show you.”

I followed her back to her bedroom and saw a messy floor and walls covered with posters of famous actors.  Good grief.  She led me to a nightstand beside her unmade bed and pulled open a drawer.

“Help yourself,” she said as she left her room to finish her make-up.  I rifled through the colors trying to find something that was neither dark nor filled with sparkles.  I found two that did not look as if they were used much and chose to use both.  I took them across the hallway to my room and started painting.

The first color I smoothed over my nail beds was a bright yellow.  It reminded me of the sun in summertime.  Once two coats of that had dried I picked up the other color and started to paint with it.  It was a metallic red-orange so I decided I would make my nails flaming.  I started to carefully paint the curving lines on my left hand first and found I really liked the design.  I added a few sparks when I was finished with the flames by dotting the edges and yellow beds of my nails with the red.  I then switched hands and did the right.  I was very glad I was ambidextrous.