Mood: swipe left and tap the media box above to listen to Secrets by The Wkend.

Lydia

"Jake, hurry up!" I yelled behind the bathroom door.

"I'm coming! I had to find a brush."

There he was, standing by the doorframe with a blunt pair of scissors, a scrunchie, and a hairbrush. He walked into the bathroom, and we shut the door.

"Quick, let's do it!" I was so excited! I found a YouTube video on creating a new haircut that I loved.

"You sure you want me to do this? I mean, you've got beautiful hair," Jake raised his left eyebrow.

"Jake, just do it!" I replied with an excited grin.

I had the how-to video on my phone and waved the phone at Jake.

Thirty minutes later, I opened my eyes in the mirror and screamed! What I saw was truly atrocious. My hair was horrible! The haircut looked nothing like the video, and I had these weird, jagged bangs.

"Crap, Jake!" I cried.

He just stood there, frozen. He had a guilty look on his face. No, it was more a look of defeat.

"Missy, I'm sorry. I really tried my best." He was genuinely sorry.

I stared in the mirror and couldn't believe what I saw. I looked like a clown.

Then it happened. I started laughing, and I couldn't stop. I had tears in my eyes. Jake smiled at me. Then he erupted into laughter. We kept laughing for the next few minutes until my mom knocked on the bathroom door.

"Are you guys all right in there?" She sounded concerned.

"Yeah, Mom. Jake cut my hair, and it looks da bomb! Awesome!" I yelled out.

"WHAT?"

Fifteen minutes later, we were standing in the living room downstairs, facing the wrath of Mom. She was shaking her head and visibly upset about my new hair.

"Why on earth would you both do something like this?" she questioned us. "Jake..."

"Mom, it's not his fault. I asked him to cut my hair. I made him do it."

"I'm still very disappointed in both of you. Lydia, you had beautiful hair. Why did you do this?"

"Because we can't afford anything these days, so I have to do things myself if I want something."

"Missy, you can always ask me—"

"Jake, stay out of it," Mom warned him.

"Tomorrow, you are going to get your hair fixed." Mom fetched twenty dollars from her handbag and gave it to me. "Here, this is the best I can do. You can combine it with any money you have leftover." Her eyes looked sad and weary from a hard day's work.

We remained silent as I took the money. Jake's eyes were downcast.

"At least you weren't having sex. Thank goodness!" Mom quipped and walked away. "And clean up your mess in the bathroom," she added.

We cleaned up the mess, and Jake went home. He received a text message from Reggie, who was waiting for him at his place.

I told her earlier that Jake was coming over this evening and asked if she'd like to come by too. She said, "Nah, I don't want to gate-crash your party of two." Strange that she would rock up at his place when she knew he'd be with me at mine.

The next day, which was a Saturday, Carrie, Jake, and I met at my place. Jake arrived first, and Mom pulled me aside.

"Don't let him pay for your hair. You don't owe him anything." Mom was worried Jake was paying my way through life. His parents helped us out by organizing a charity dinner drive when we had no money for food. Dad was still jobless and hunting for jobs.

I knew what the guys at school thought. A few of the jocks approached me and offered to help me financially if I provided them with a few sexual favors. It was the likes of Devon and Elsie, who told everyone I was poor.

I was upset and thought Reggie was in on it. However, she responded she wouldn't stoop that low. Yet, she treated me like a fiend rather than a friend as she grew closer with Jake. Carrie said Reggie was jealous of me and had personal insecurities. Carrie stood by my side.

When Jake, Carrie, and I were at the mall, we stood outside the salon. I had a scarf on my head to hide the bad haircut. Jake had cut my waist-length hair to just past my lower shoulder blades, so the long hair—albeit shorter and choppy with front bangs—was still salvageable.

When it was my turn to sit on the stool, the hairdresser asked me to remove my scarf. Carrie and Jake were standing beside me. As I took the scarf off, the hairdresser, Trudy, gasped. Carrie screamed, and Jake averted his eyes from everyone.

"Holy smokes, Jake! What have you done to Lydia's hair?" Carrie looked as if she'd just watched a bad horror film.

An hour and a half later, my hair was looking good. Trudy did a fantastic job fixing my hair. My newly set bangs looked terrific with the rest of my hairstyle. When we went to the counter to pay, Jake stepped in and paid the damage before I had the chance.

"Jake, you can't! My mom would kill me!"

"What happened here stays here," he grinned. "You don't owe me anything." He looked so amazing. He wore a crisp white polo shirt, which was a nice contrast against his deeply tanned skin. He looked like a model who stepped out of an ad for clothes.

Carrie was on the phone with her mom, complaining about a yacht club dinner her parents asked her to attend. Her parents were both lawyers. They were wealthy, like Jake's parents, but she never cared about those things. She said a good friend was worth more than all the fake friends that came and went.

On Monday, Max Roberts came up to my locker while Jake and I were talking.

"Hey, beautiful. I love your hair!" Max put his arm against my locker while I leaned back against it. His body was achingly close to mine. Jake gave him a warning look.

"Somersby, good swim last week. Impressive," Max said. Jake had won a medal at a local inter-school swim competition.

Elsie Richards turned up and greeted us. "Hey, Jake, you're looking good as always," she complimented him with a coy smile. Her golden blonde hair was in perfect waves. She must have gotten up at 5 a.m. to fix it before school.

Jake smiled at her, and they started to flirt together. Max looked at me.

"Jake's just a friend. Like a brother," I said.

"Oh, yeah. I figured that." Max smiled as he leaned against my locker.

Jake and Elsie were walking away towards their next class. They were both in advanced math together.

"So, listen, I've got these tickets to the Cougars game this Thursday night. Do you want to come?" Max's gray eyes looked into mine.

"Hey, didn't you and Elsie have a thing?" I asked.

"That's ancient history," Max said and stared at me. He was persistent.

"Max, I don't know what you heard from the others..." I trailed.

"I don't listen to gossip," he said. "So, are you in or out?"

"I'm in."

"Good girl. I'll pick you up at six. The game starts at seven-thirty. We'll grab a bite when we're there."

---

Jake

Hell yeah, I was pissed when I heard Missy was stupid enough to go on a date with Max. She liked all things that glittered and shone, but it ain't gold.

No guy knew Missy the way I knew her.

A month ago, after a swim meet, Darren Todd confessed he had the hots for Missy and was going to ask her on a date. He came to me because he had no fucking clue who exactly Missy was.

"What's her favorite movie?" Darren asked.

"Slapstick comedy. The crasser the jokes, the better," I replied. Missy hated slapstick comedy.

"How about her favorite food?"

"Anything with onions. She loves onions. Says they're healthy." Another big, fat porky pie lie. She couldn't stand onions. I'd watched her pick onions out of salads and pasta, and she'd leave them on the side of her dishes.

"What's her favorite flower, man? I'm thinking of buying her flowers or something like that and leaving them by her locker." Darren rubbed the sweat off his forehead with his towel.

"Pink carnations." Pink carnations reminded Missy of her grandmother's old nursing home. She loved red roses.

"You got any good first date ideas? Does she have any hobbies?" Darren looked desperate.

"Yeah. Take her bowling. She totally digs heavy balls, you know?" I smiled at the confused fucker.

"Bowling?"

"Yeah! She's a pro." My pants may as well have been on fire. I was a liar. Missy sucked at bowling.

Long story short, Missy said no when Darren asked her on a date after our little conversation. The pink carnations he left at her locker didn't go down too well, either.

Like Darren, Max was clueless. He and Missy weren't going to last. I could guarantee that. There was a certain kind of power that came with knowledge. That was where I had the upper hand when it came to Missy.

Was I feeling cocky? Yes. Was I pissed off? Yes. Hurting? Tick all the above.

A/N: Please vote and/or comment if you like this chapter. ⭐️