“Elizabeth Coppley? That
cannot be you.” I glanced behind me as I heard the high surprised voice of my
sometimes-best girl friend and most often nemesis, Vanessa. She wasn’t alone.
Aaron looked at me with a
dazed expression on his face. I couldn’t tell if he was pleased with my new
look or not.
I smiled as I noted the
surprised look on Vanessa’s face as her eyes flitted over me from head to toe.
I’d gone all out for the makeover. I’d almost lost my lunch when I saw the
colour Pauline wanted to put in my hair but as soon as it was finished along
with my new-layered cut, I knew I would make a statement. There weren’t many
people in my school with copper coloured hair.
After getting a new look
from the head up, I had to do something with my clothing. We had a dress code
so I couldn’t do anything crazy but since I’d always been more jcrew than Guess
anything that wasn’t a sweater and sneakers would be surprising. I pretended
not to notice as Aaron took in the low-slung dark jeans, the high heeled boots
and the inch of visible skin before my tight draping top began.
“It is me,” I finally said,
a small smile on my face.
“Is this for a play?” Aaron
finally asked. They were the first words out of his mouth and they weren’t what
I would call complimentary.
“What? No,” I said.
“I hope that’s a wig.” He
motioned to my bright hair.
“Uh, no.”
“What the hell, E? You look
like something out of a rap video.” By the tone of his voice and the look on
his face, the comment was not supposed to be flattering. At all.
I narrowed my eyes and
ignored the tears that had filled them. I had gone through all that trouble for
this? For this kind of horrified reaction from Aaron. How could he be so
insensitive? I’d wasted my whole day at the salon, spent most of my money on my
hair and new clothes and this was the reaction?
“Aaron, you don’t have to
like it but I do and that’s all that matters. I don’t need your approval when
it comes to what I do. Now, I have a class so if that’s all, I have to go.” I
didn’t even wait for him to react to my comment. I turned on my heel and walked
away.
I was hurt, really hurt by
Aaron’s comments. I should have known that he’d react that way. My fantasy had
him dropping to his knees and pledging his eternal love for me. The reality was
that he couldn’t see beyond who I had always been to him: Best friend and
neighbour, Elizabeth Coppley.
I walked to the end of the
hall and pretended to look out the window. I didn’t want to cry but I felt like
at any moment the waterworks would come. I needed to get a hold of myself. I
couldn’t face anyone feeling this unstable.
“Just so you know,” a voice
whispered in my ear behind me, “I think you look great.” I didn’t have to turn
to know that it was Jake but I did anyway.
I gave him a small smile
but my eyes were still downcast. “What you don’t think I’m making an incredible
fool of myself?” I looked up at him. "Going so far as to change my look
for a boy who is completely oblivious to my affections?” I said this quietly
even though no one could hear us, as we were somewhat alone in the farthest
corner of the hall.
He leaned against a wall of
lockers, watching me under drooped lids. “You could never be a fool, E. You do
some foolish things when it comes to Aaron but I hear love makes you do some
pretty messed up things.”
“You think this is messed
up?” I asked, gesturing to myself.
The corner of his mouth
lifted and he said lazily, “If it is, then you need to be messed up all the
time.”
I blushed and looked at
Jake with confused eyes. Was he flirting with me? No that was impossible. Jake
didn’t flirt.
He pushed himself off the
lockers and walked up to me. He looked at my hair, a thoughtful expression on
his face. "It doesn’t look like a wig.”
I smacked him across the
shoulder. “It isn’t.”
He winked. “I know. I knew
there was a wild chick in there, Coppley.”
A laugh came bursting out
of me; it was laughter out of both amusement and genuine surprise. I was
astounded by Jake. He was flirting with me. And behaving in a non-Jake
like manner. He had even winked at me. Jake didn’t wink.
“Oh yeah,” I grinned.
“So, you ready to go in?”
he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
As soon as the question
came out, I knew instantly what he’d been trying to do. Jake hadn’t been
flirting with me—well not for the purpose of flirting with me—he’d been trying
to make me feel better as well as giving me a chance to calm myself down. I
felt warm knowing that he’d done that for me.
“Yeah, I am. Thanks Jake,”
I said smiling.
He bobbed his head in
acknowledgment and started walking toward the classroom. I was about to open
the closed door, dreading the fact that we were late when Jake stopped me. “I
wouldn’t worry about Aaron. You know how he is when it comes to change. Don’t
take what he said to heart.” With that said he opened the door and walked
inside the classroom.
As I slid to the closest
empty seat, I couldn’t help but feel surprised. Suddenly I didn’t care about
what Aaron thought. Now that I thought about it, I was extremely annoyed with
his words. He had been completely out of line. He could have been a supportive
friend instead of making me feel horrible for what I’d done. Jake had been like
a salve to my wound. I’d already been happy with the way I looked but Jake had
made Aaron’s negative words seem inconsequential. I looked over at him. He was
stooped down in his seat and had the appearance of someone intent more on
sleeping that on studying but I knew he was listening to every word the teacher
was saying.
I settled back in my seat
and opened my book to jot down notes for the class but I couldn’t help grinning
to myself. Jake had been flirting with me and I’d kind of liked it. It had been
a weird day all around.