Cleo Edison Oliver in Persuasion Power by Sundee T. Frazier

Author:Sundee T. Frazier [T. Frazier, Sundee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Thursday morning (picture day!), Cleo was up early to take out the curlers and twists the stylist had put in the night before at Salon Go Natural, the place Mom took Cleo to for occasional conditioning treatments, trims, and in this case, the twist-n-curl style that Cleo loved. One, it was more mature-looking than braids, and two, it was how Fortune wore her hair!

Cleo practiced her smile in the bathroom mirror. Outside of the last day of school, picture day was her favorite day of the year.

She made eyes at herself, trying out different expressions. Could she look as radiant and successful as Fortune did in her poster? She raised her eyebrows, opened her eyes wider, showed more teeth, less teeth, no teeth. More teeth made her look like she’d eaten one two many Kit Kats; less teeth made her look like her pants were too tight; no teeth made her look as if she were plotting world domination. Nothing made her look as carefree and confident as Fortune.

Mom knocked. “Ready to unveil those gorgeous locks?”

Cleo cracked the door. “I guess.”

“What’s up? You’ve been begging me for a twist-n-curl since school started.”

Cleo shrugged. She slumped on the toilet lid. Mom unsnapped the perm rods at the ends of Cleo’s twists and gently unrolled them one at a time. The lines between Mom’s eyebrows made her look mad, but the way she was holding her tongue between her teeth told Cleo she was just concentrating.

At the salon, Cleo had thought that if her birth mom were her mom, they’d be sitting side by side getting their hair done, instead of her mom sitting in the waiting area reading a magazine. “I wish we had the same hair,” she said.

“That’d be kind of awkward, wouldn’t it? We’d have to take turns wearing it.”

Cleo scowled. “Mom.”

“I’m sorry. Bad one.” She started to undo the twists. “Why do you wish we had the same type of hair?”

“It would just be easier. Don’t you think?”

“Easier in what way?”

“Well …” Cleo wasn’t sure how to put into words what she was feeling. “We could get our hair done at the same place, instead of you going to that other salon.” That wasn’t even her biggest concern, but she didn’t know how, or whether, to say what was.

“Ah, yes … Ruby-Do’s. They’re pros with boring, straight hair like mine.” She looked in the mirror and fluffed her short, brown “practical mom bob,” as she called it. She finished undoing the last twist in Cleo’s hair, then put her fingers deep into Cleo’s thick mane and scratched at her roots to loosen everything up. “You know, I never really thought about it, but now that you bring it up, maybe I can get my hair done at Salon Go Natural.”

“Do they do hair like yours?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to ask Miss Merlean. It sure is kind of her to display Passion Clips at her front desk.”

Cleo got as perky as her new hairdo. “I know! We’ll get more orders for sure.

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