"Andy? You okay ?" came the call through the bathroom door.
"Fine" Andy replied quietly , but as he stared into the mirror he didn't feel fine , he felt scared and alone. It had only been a dare , just a bet with a few mates. "Dye it ginger" they'd chanted at him a few months previously as they sat at the bar in their favourite pub.
And he had , he'd gone through with it , he hadn't wanted to at first but the £50 that his friends had pooled as a reward was enough to convince this broke wannabe-footballer.
It would have been fine, he would have stuck with the hair colour for a few days , long enough to spend his reward money before dying his hair back to its usual mousy brown. Then he got a trial for the Swindon Town swoodilypoopers , and things changed. The trial went well, the team were friendly , the manager-come-coach John Green was very kind and above all they all seemed very impressed with Andy's skills and so it was that a few days later Andy Rooney was presented with his Swoodilypooper shirt. As he pulled the football jersey over his head he heard John comment on how the red of his shirt complemented the ginger hair so well … and that was the first of many comments that made Andy question his position on the team.
Was he there as a good footballer ? Or just as a ginger ?
Andy could almost hear the manager's compliments about his ginger hair echoing around his mind as he took a deep breath and began to apply the red hair dye to the brown roots that had begun to sprout near his parting. He was stuck with his red hair now , for the good of his career, he had to keep it up.
The strong smell of hair dye filled the small bathroom but Andy didn't care , the more the fumes got to his head the less he had to think about what he was doing, and right now the last thing he needed to do was dwell on it.
"Andy , seriously , you've been in there for ages" Leroy Williamson's voice cut through the fumes into Andy's consciousness. "we're starting to worry about you now"
"Leroy , I told you , i'm fine" Andy replied as he surveyed himself in the mirror "I'll be out in a minute, after i've had a shower"
"Okay then, well when you're out John wants a word with you"
"Fine" Andy sighed as he pulled the shower attachment from above the bath and began to rinse out the excess hair dye into the small wash basin. He watched the remaining foam disappear down the plughole and started to towel dry his newly-reddened locks.
Before he left he shoved the stained towel and hair dye box into his bag , he absolutely could not risk his team finding out about this , ever !
He opened the bathroom door then slowly made his way out of the shower block, through the changing room and into the meeting room where his manager was waiting.
John Green looked up from his team sheets that were strewn on the table in front of him and, after slowing his treadmill desk to a steady stroll placed his pen down on top of the papers. He smiled widely at Andy and gestured for him to take a seat .
"So Andy," John said conversationally "How's my favourite ginger doing this morning ?" …