She shrugged off my gratitude as if she bought dresses for people all the time. Maybe she did. “That’s a good color for you.” She nodded at the long, straight teal wig. “You want to wear her?”
“Her?”
“That’s Gina. I name my wigs. Don’t ask.” She pumped the bottom of her bob with her palms. “This is Jisoo.”
Aside from the caramel-colored highlights I’d convinced my mom to let me get in the sixth grade, I’d never colored my hair. My dad always told me how much he liked my natural color, so I never thought he’d like it if I changed it. I’d never cut my hair short either. Time after time, I’d go into my salon, set on chopping it all off, but my mother’s voice would play in the back of my head and change my mind at the last second.
“All the pretty girls have long hair.”
For the longest time, I’d thought she was right. If you looked around at my classmates, growing up, anybody who was deemed beautiful or popular were the girls with long hair. So, I jumped on that bandwagon, scared of standing out or being anything less than ordinary, and I guessed I never jumped off. Danny was the one to stand out in our family. The one to bleach his hair at sixteen and pierce his own nipples. That nearly killed my mom—the nipple part. The hair was less of a shock after that. My dad had passed before he got to see any of Danny’s defiant side, but it drove my mom crazy. And rather than have her pull her hair out with two rebellious kids, I’d decided it was easier to blend in.
Wasn’t that what society led you to believe anyway? To be like the rest?
Wearing Lexie’s blue hair wasn’t breaking the rules though. Just bending them. And the thought of that made excitement roll through me like electricity.
Lexie saw me light up and sat me in front of her mirror, beginning her work, covering my ordinary, long brown hair.
There was a lot of hair spray, bobby pins, and … hair glue? Apparently, that was a thing. And a wig cap that made me look bald. My eyes were watering from laughing when Danny’s voice echoed up the stairs for the third time.
“Lexie! Hurry it up, will ya?”
“Fuck off, fuckwad. I’ll be down in a minute,” Lexie shouted back, unfazed.
My giggles cut off the moment Lexie stepped out of the way of the mirror and I saw my full transformation.
“Okay, I’m totally making this permanent. Holy shit.”
How had she made it look so seamless?
She leaned in behind me, fluffing the hair over my shoulder. “I knew this would look killer on you. I just can’t believe you wear it better than me.” She gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “All right, I’ve got to run, doll. Take care of Gina and have fun, okay?”
I thanked her and told her to kick ass before she left, and then I went down to my room to finish getting ready. With silky blue hair down to the middle of my back, I kept it simple with a pink nude lipstick and a small cat-eye.
Nina pulled into the driveway when I was finishing tying my shoelaces. I wasn’t about to throw out all logic and comfort because I’d changed my look.
The windows of Nina’s car were up, but I could hear her shrieking the moment I stepped out the front door, all the way to the passenger side. To spare my eardrums, I waited to climb into the car until she stopped.
“Is this you finally losing your shit over the breakup? Because you make bad decisions look good.”
“Would dyeing my hair blue really be a bad decision?” I twirled a piece of hair with a smirk.
“Obviouslynot!” Nina beamed at me. “Zayn is going to lose it when he sees you.”
I wasn’t so much fantasizing about how Zayn would react when he saw me this way as I was about Liam. I wanted to prove to him that I wasn’t Little Fox anymore, and in doing so, maybe I’d prove it to myself as well. This disguise wasn’t me pretending to be something I wasn’t, but a way of showcasing the parts of me I often masked.
I was brave.
Confident.
I was sexy.
I was everything Liam thought I wasn’t. But would he even see me? And if he did, would he like me this way?
I shook my head clear of any thoughts of Liam.
This was forme.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the venue. There had to be almost double the number of fans, but it was also a larger venue. Nina and I tossed back a drink or two during the opening band, but she left me near the bar to watch the rest backstage with Nikko. I was fine alone, especially in a place like this, where everyone’s attention was on the band and while wearing a wig that gave me superpowers. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find Zayn in the tight crowd and began to think he wouldn’t show. About halfway through A Quiet Peril’s set, I found him in the center of the room, bobbing his head to the upbeat song Liam was throwing himself around to onstage.
