The Arrangement | Completed | Wattys2020

49

I squint my eyes closed, trying to keep ahold of the little sleep that I have left.

"Candace, wake up." Megan whispers loudly, causing me to open one eye and look up at the girl standing over my spot on her couch.

"What are you doing up? God, what time is it?" I groan, rolling over on my back and opening my eyes to see that the sun is barely up. Actually, it's still pretty dark outside. "Is it even seven in the morning yet?"

"Nope. It's 6am. I'm going to cut my dreads off." She tells me.

"You're what?"

"I'm cutting my dreads off and I need your help." She says, pulling me up by my arm.

"Meg, I don't know the first thing about cutting hair. Plus, you're going to cut it off and instantly regret it." I tell her.

"No I won't. I have had these dreadlocks for five years. It's heavy and kind of unprofessional. I just want a change."

"Does this have anything to do with what happened last night?" I ask her quizzically.

"Nope. Not at all. Fuck Kyler. I don't need him. I only need myself." She says, looking away. She is clearly lying, but I'm just going to leave it alone.

"Okay...so your hair. How do we do it?" I ask.

"Well, I have brushed them out a bit. So, we will be able to get a clean cut. I am going to cut the ones in the front, I just need help cutting the ones in the back." She says, grabbing a pair of scissors.

"Megan, I really don't think this is a good idea." I say with warning. Right when the sentence leaves my mouth, she brings the scissors up to the first dreadlock by her face and cuts it off. Her eyes go wide as she touches the now short hair on the head. "Holy fuck! I love it! Look how long it is!" She exclaims.

"Yeah. I mean...it's kind of short, but it will be a pretty good length." I tell her.

She runs into the bathroom and begins to cut at the hair again, I jump up and follow her into the small room, watching the girl smile like a school girl at her new hair.

"This is crazy. I never thought I would be doing this." She giggles, cutting the hair more and more until there was nothing left to cut off. Well, except the back. She hands me the scissors and I hold them cautiously. "Don't puss out now. You only have like three to cut off." She laughs.

I cut one of the pieces off, eyes going wide when I hold the heavy piece in my hand. "Oh my god." I say with a laugh.

"Keep going!" She urges me with a smile. I cut the last few pieces away and place them on the counter with the rest of her hair.

"It's so short." I say with wide eyes.

"I know!" She says with a smile.

"Do you want me to trim it up some? You know, make it all even?" I ask her. She smiles widely and nods her head ear gently. I begin to section her hair and trim the uneven edges. Honestly, I'm surprised it turned out this good. Very surprised.

"I love it." She exclaims at the finished product. Almost instantly her face goes from excitement to sadness. Her eyes fill with tears and she wipes away at them quickly.

"Meg..." I sigh, pulling her in for a hug. She hugs me back and cries into my shoulder again.

"What's wrong with me? Why does Kyler have to be such a dick? He didn't even try fighting for me. He just agreed when I told him it was over. He just said we would figure out the living arrangement when he got home. He didn't even fight for me. He just accepted it." She cries again. "And I just cut off my fucking hair in hopes that he will see that I can be what everyone else wants me to be. I can be what he wants."