Caitlin does not straighten her hair the day after Logan ignores her in the quad. It is a Saturday and usually she would be lying in a lounger outside the Echoll's pool house or feigning an important wax appointment to sneak away, unsuspected with Chardo.
Instead her mother finds her in the kitchen. Jessie's sharp acrylic tips tap the banister as she descends the stairs, made-up and fully dressed. "Darling, what are you doing?"
It is nearly twelve pm and Caitlin is still wearing a thin silk robe and big fluffy slippers, sitting at the breakfast bar as she pushes grapefruit segments around her plate with a fork. She shrugs at her mother, her lips pursed; they look thin and dry without any gloss. Scattered across the surface by her plate are just short of a dozen fake nails, glue and flakes of fingernails stuck to the back of them. Caitlin's own fingernails are split and broken from prising them off. They look sore and painful, but they are real.
Jessie plucks one of Caitlin's hands off the countertop. "Caitlin, what were you thinking? These are ruined." She shakes her head at the state of Caitlin's nails.
"Mom," she drawls quietly. "I want my extensions out."
"And you didn't decide to just pull them?"
"Can you, like, just make the appointment?"
After a long pause in which Jessie takes stock of her daughter's somber expression, she replies, "Okay, darling… but, take care of yourself." She pats the back of Caitlin's hand awkwardly.
When her mother is gone Caitlin walks to the cupboard, takes out a box of Oreos and heads to the family room to watch Power Rangers with her little brother. This does not seem like a time for sunbathing.