By Ken Kumo

“Come on boys, we are leaving in 30 minutes.”

Uncle Ace hollered at us from the hallway, god he’s so pushy. Claus and I were getting ready as fast as we could. However, for some weirdo reason, something was off about the air that morning. My freaking hair wouldn’t stay down. I tried brushing it, wetting it, putting some soap on the ends, etc…nothing helped. I looked over at Claus who was brushing his teeth, his hair was sticking up a lil on the top too. Also worth pointing out, he was also shirtless. I guess dental hygiene comes before public decency for some people.

“I’m almost done. Claus however isn’t even dressed.” I called back.

Claus glared at me, pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth, and jabbed it into my upper arm. JESUS CHRIST! Guess he doesn’t take kindly to snitching.

I wanted to swat him back but I knew my time was limited. My hair needed TLC and fast! I grabbed my trusty red elastic hair tie, guess it’s gonna be a ponytail day. I reached my hand up to put it on and…

*snap*

“Aaaaaaaaaah!” I screamed out, the broken band lying dead in the sink.

Uncle Ace raced in, “What’s wrong?” He saw me curled up in a ball on the floor.

“My hair tie broke. It was my only one. And I really really needed it today.”

“You only brought one hair tie?”  Uncle Ace looked at me like I was a freaking moron.

“Well, it’s not my fault. I was so rushed to move out of Mom’s house to here that I forgot to grab them.”

“I wish I had something to help you out. However, I gave up long hair years ago. Claus and Shine have short hair, so I doubt they have any.”

“Oh god, I…I can’t go to school looking like this tho. We need to run by the store and get some more.”

“We can grab some after school.” 

“No, we need to go before! LOOK AT MY HAIR!” I pointed at the mess sitting on my head.

“We don’t have time to go before. Besides, you don’t look that bad.”

“Mom would have taken me.” I glared at him.

“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you burned that tool shed and gave her a mental breakdown. You are in my house now, so my rules.”

***

I sulked the whole car ride to school. I wanted Uncle Ace to know how much of an asshole he was.

Tho, maybe I should have been thinking more about my arrival. Because when I walked into the school, everyone was definitely staring at me. God, I’m going to be the laughingstock of the school!

I spotted Bertie from across the hall, I fret what he would think of this. He was distracted by a conversation with Mr. Blueberry. Unfortunately, he turned around and looked at me, as if he sensed I was there. His eyes were bright pink. He locked eyes on my hair, his eyes wide. He stared at me with his large pinkish eyes, my heart pounded in my chest. I pulled my jacket over my head and ran off. This was so embarrassing.

I used Claus as my human shield as I crept down the hall. I don’t think he minded much. However, I wasn’t as invisible as I hoped because Zanna easily spotted me.

“Is everything OK?” Said Zanna, giving me a confused look.

“I’m…having a bad hair day.”

“Oh, yeah I get that. Today I woke up with a killer headache.”

“Hey, you are always doing stuff with your hair. You have a hair tie, right?”

“Nah,” she flipped her hair with her hand, “I’m more of a hairband girl.”

Damn it! I should have known. I have never seen her with a ponytail.

“Tamara might have one.” Zanna suggested. She’s so right, Tamara always wears her hair up. Zanna and I raced down the hall towards Tamara, and Claus followed close behind. Tamara was mostly just standing there staring off into space. She does that a lot.

“Tamara, can I borrow a hair tie?” I pulled down my jacket revealing my messy hair.

“Oh no, poor Kenny!” Tamara grasped her hands over her mouth. “Don’t worry, I always carry extra!” She pulled up her long baggy sleeves to reveal both of her arms covered in colorful scrunchies.

“Uh, these are too girly. I can’t wear them.” 

“Scrunchies are not too girly! Boys can wear them too! They are for everyone!” Tamara protested.

“Well, they aren’t for me!” The last thing I need right now is to look like a girl. Claus grabbed one of the scrunchies and attempted to make a ponytail from his short hair. It wasn’t fair, he could do something like that and still look like a boy. Yet, I could dress like a macho lumberjack and still be accused of looking like a girl.

“Doesn’t Mr. Blueberry always have his hair tied back? He might have a manny one.” Zanna mentioned, not sure if she was trying to help me or mock me.

“OMG! He does!” Tamara chimed in, “We should go find him.”

The four of us raced to Mr. Blueberry’s office. Tho, when we got there, a sign was on his door that said.

OUT BE BACK SOON

“Goddamn it!” I yelled.

“Something the matter?” Zap spotted us from the nurse’s office next door.

“Where is Mr. B? We are having a hair-mergency!” Tamara yelled.

“I dunno. He had a bit of a rough morning, so he might not be back until after lunch.” Zap responded.

“Wait, I just saw him. He has to be still in the school…I hope.” I said.

Tamara stared off into space. “Yeah, I see him. He‘s behind the school.” 

“Maybe you should leave him…” Zap started but we ran off before he could finish.

I let Tamara take the lead. I didn’t really question her, just hoped she was right. She led me to a side door that went outside.

“I’ll spot you.” She said, pushing the door open and winking at me.

I snuck through the doors and followed the wall. Strange, the school seemed much longer from this angle. I sort of wondered for a while why we weren’t allowed on the backfield. The backfield was something I used at my old school, so it was odd that Frostpeak West wasn’t the same. But after seeing it, it made sense. It was patchy and overgrown, it would be difficult to run around or play soccer on it. I continued to the edge of the wall and turned the corner. There he was! He was just sitting there. He had a cigarette hanging out his mouth and was holding a small crystal ball.

I jumped out and confronted him. “What the hell are you doing?”

He jolted, “Good god! You scared me.”

“You’re skipping work to smoke and play with your ball-thing. That’s illegal. However…if you let me play with your lighter, I won’t snitch on you.”

“I ain’t skipping, Ms. Rasa knows I’m back here.” He pointed up at a camera mounted on the wall. “Anyways, I light my cigarettes like this…” 

He flicked up the pointer finger on his right hand, and lightning sparks formed around it. He brought it up to his cigarette and lit it. My eyes were locked on his glowing finger, it was so beautiful, I couldn’t look away. I felt the stress from that morning leave me, replaced by euphoria. He then closed his fist, the sparks disappeared and my dread came flooding back.

“So did you come back here to blackmail me or do you got something more on your mind?”

“I’m…” my mind raced, trying to find the best way to say things, “…stressed.”

“Oh?”

“I…had a bad morning. My hair is a mess. My only hair tie broke and…” I took a deep breath, “I miss my mom.”

“Do you want to sit down?” Mr. Blueberry patted the spot next to him.

I took his invitation despite the secondhand smoke. It might get me off the hook from skipping class.

“I like coming back here when I’m stressed and looking out at the mountains.” he looked off over the overgrown field. Or at least that is what it seemed. Beyond the grass and the fence and the trees, you could see mountains, Mt. Frostpeak. Strangely I have been going here for months and this was the first time I noticed them. I guess they were always beyond my field of vision.

“Mr. B, I get that you want to smoke and stare at the mountains and all but like, I mostly came back here to fix my hair problem.”

“Oh, here I thought you were just trying out a funky new do.” He smiled.

“Nah, the air today is messing with my hair and my only hair tie broke. Do you have one to spare?”

“You were going to blackmail me over a hair tie?”

I didn’t know how to respond, because yes, that was exactly what I was going to do. I don’t know if he understood that this meant a lot to me. I hate the way people look at me, judge me. It makes my insides crawl. And you know what Mr. B did? He just looked at me, silently. He might have been just waiting for an answer but he wasn’t looking at me normally. It felt like a deeper look, like an arrow that pierced into my private thoughts. Like he was digging through there looking for something.

He finally broke the silence, “I don’t have a spare tie, but here...” He grabbed his ponytail and pulled the tie out. His hair didn’t fall as expected. Instead, it stuck out in all directions. He held it out in front of him, “...take mine.”

“What about your hair?” It looks like the bad air also got to him.

“It’s fine. The dad in me is saying you need it more.” He blinked at me or maybe it was a wink. It’s hard to tell with his eyepatch.

I took the hair tie. I didn’t put it in my hair right away, just stared at it. I got what I wanted, so why do I feel guilty?

“What’s wrong? My hair’s not dirty, I swear.”

“It’s nothing. Thank you.” I then tied up my hair.

“Do you want to talk?”

“No, I just want to go back to class.”

Suddenly a door next to us swung open. A man stuck his head out.

“God f****** shit! Daddy, ya out here?!” He yelled. He looked over and saw Mr. B and me. “Holy shit, a kid.” He quickly retreated inside.

“Who was that?” I asked completely confused.

“That’s Ash, the janitor. He’s a bit shy.”

“Why did he call you Daddy?”

He winced, “Uh…I will tell you when you’re older.”

The door opened a sliver and Ash peered through the gap. “Whatcha doin’ with a kid?” 

“Counseling session.” Zom responded quickly.

“Counseling session?!” The door opened a little more, “While ya smoke? God damn! If my therapy were like that, I would have actually kept going.”

“Oh, don’t tell me that.” Mr. B said concerned.

Ash peered out a little more. I finally got a good look at him. He had two large stitches on his face, forming a large X that crossed through the middle of his eyes.

“What happened to your face?” I asked. Come on, like I really wanted to know!

“Vietnam.” said Ash in a flat voice.

“You told me it was a traffic accident.” Mr. B responded.

“Yeah, a traffic accident in Vietnam. Was there tryin’ to catch a dream. Never been the same since. Felt like I lost my face.”

I noticed his hair was wiry and sticking up, “Are you also having a bad hair day?” I asked.

“Nah, my hair always looks like this.” Ash giggled. “Tho, the air ain’t right today.”

“Yeah, I hear yah. Bertie had a bad morning.” Mr. B.

“What’s wrong with Bertie?” I asked.

Though he didn’t respond, he just stared out into space.

“Yah ‘kay Daddy?” Ash chimed in.

Mr. B looked at me and said, “Be nice to Bertie for me, OK?”

It was sort of an odd response. I am always nice to Bertie, he’s my friend. Tho, I could sense that the statement was loaded. There is something deep there but he’s probably not going to confess even if I needled him.

“OK.” I simply replied.

“Thanks,” he smiled, “Are you ready to go back to class?”

“Yeah, smells like ass back here.”

“That’s good. Probably helps you stay away from tobacco. Don’t ever smoke, son.” Mr. B threw his cigarette on the ground and squashed it with his shoe.

We walked together back to class. He dropped me off at my second-period class. I took a seat next to Bertie and pulled him in for a hug.