May Fever

May 1st 2014

BIG CHOICES:

in which a natural disaster occurs

~

Change.

I wanted to change.

It's never a bad thing to change, but it felt so strange to say that. I want to step out of my comfort zone and stop being so closed off, but how?

It was only midnight when I made this decision. I ran to my mom's washroom as she was at work and grabbed her red hair dye, which she bought but never used because she ended up hating the colour. I sluggishly walked to my washroom, doing jumping jacks to make sure that I was fully awake. I stared at my tired face in the mirror, grabbed my large scissors and one by one I watched the clumps of hair fall to the ground. After that was done, I started doing each step carefully before washing stray hairs and hair dye.

~

Today I told Joyce to go straight to school. I wanted her to be surprised by my new look.

The rain started to fall faster and faster, but it was fine by me because it helped me think less about myself and more about the May weather. I heard honking and ignored it until they were shouting my name.

"Masie! Masie! Masie!" I walked faster until they revved up beside me. The window slid down and the door swung open, Darius' eyes meeting mine.

"Come in!" He shouted. I sighed, closed my umbrella, and hopped in.

"Thank you," I muttered.

"You're-" Darius paused and stared at me for a long time. His eyebrows were furrowed as he moved his head to look at my short, dyed hair.

"You cut and dyed your hair?" He asked curiously. I nodded and did my most classy hair flip. I saw him stare at me for a while before nodding his head swiftly before starting to drive again.

"It looks good," he complimented. "You look very fresh." I laughed.

"Thanks," I said calmly. It was silent until he began speaking again.

"Why are you walking in this rain?" He asked. I shrugged and leaned my elbow against the window, watching the rain fall.

"I wanted to walk to school today," I told him. "I'm trying to figure something out..."

"What is it?" He asked. I bit my lip.

"I'm just trying to get out of my comfort zone and do things I usually wouldn't do..." I said. Darius nodded turned the radio on, Drake causing the entire car to vibrate slightly.

"That's why you changed your hair?" He wondered. I nodded my head. I watched Darius mouth the words and laughed quietly, watching a wide grin form on his face. I smiled, singing Just Hold on We're Going Home with him.

~

Five minutes later we were in the school parking lot, watching students and teachers run into the school, protecting their heads from the massive rainfall. Darius and I sprinted inside, watching everyone walk in a steady motion as we parted ways.

I walked towards my locker and wrapped my umbrella in a bag and hung my things in my locker. I heard laughing and turned to see Anastasia in Wayne's embrace, giggling as he held her close, his head pressed to hers. I watched him whisper words in her ears before he lifted his eyes up to look at me. My stomach dropped as I felt my cream cheese bagel moving up my esophagus. I felt my shoulders slumping down as he froze and stared at me intensely. Anastasia looked at him worriedly and traced a path from his eyes to me. She kept her lips in a straight line and turned back to Wayne, kissing him on the cheek softly to wake him up from his trance. Out of nowhere, the ring of the bell caused me to jump in terror. I grabbed my math textbook and binder, and walked steadily. I watched an eighth grade student slip and fall and forced myself not to laugh.