The Wrong Way Home by Kate O'Shaughnessy

Author:Kate O'Shaughnessy [O'Shaughnessy, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

19

She looks totally different.

“Your hair,” I choke out. “What did you do?”

Her long brown hair is now cut short, up to her ears, and she’s got bangs, too, short little bangs that hit halfway on her forehead. But the biggest change of all is the color—her hair isn’t brown anymore. It’s black. So black it’s almost purple.

She touches it self-consciously. “I thought I could use a change. I guess I’m trying to find my way back to myself. And before you start, I didn’t use chemicals. I used an all-natural dye, so don’t worry.”

She seems to be waiting for me to say something else about it, but I don’t. We start the walk back to the motel together. Thankfully, it’s dark out, but even so, I can barely look at her.

“Babs gave me a job,” I tell her stiffly. “Organizing the second floor of Birdie’s. There’s a ton of stuff up there. She wants to expand the shop.”

Mom stops walking and stares at me. “She gave you a job? Was that her idea?”

“No. It was mine.”

“Why do you want a job?”

“You have one. Why can’t I?”

Mom thinks about it for a moment. “Well, I suppose that’s fair. But I don’t want you spending all your time there. No more than an hour a day, okay?”

“What?” I say. “Why?”

I was planning to do at least two or three hours a day. One hour a day means it’ll take me thirty days to make enough money.

“I don’t want it to interfere with your schoolwork. And we have a lot of catching up to do. Together.”

“What about the days I don’t have school? Can I do more then?”

“I want you to use the days you don’t have school as days off. Not working. In fact, I don’t want you working every school day. So it’s an hour a day, four days a week, or nothing.”

Four days a week! I almost shout. That means…that’ll take me almost two months!

But she means it, I can tell. And I have to admit it, she’s right about the catching-up part. I still have all my subjects to do for homework today, except for science. Or we do, because there’s no way I’ll be able to do it on my own. Plus, if I can get the address in two months, I’ll still have enough time to get us home before the spring equinox. It’s not ideal, but it’s enough.

“Fine. One hour a day, four days a week.”

We start to walk again. I keep stealing glances at her hair, and she notices.

She tugs lightly on a newly black strand. “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”

I can tell how much she wants me to like it.

And if I’m being one hundred percent honest, the strange thing is that I do. Somehow it fits her face better, and it makes her green eyes pop. She looks beautiful.

But I know Dr. Ben isn’t going to like it. He says it’s important to embrace the natural way our bodies were meant to exist in the world, which means no piercings, no dye, no tattoos, no pills or medicine.

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