Disclaimer: All characters, events, and material related to The Guardians of Childhood and Rise of the Guardians are owned by William Joyce and DreamWorks Animation.
Currently looking for Cover Art commissions.
Sophie's First Haircut
"Bunnymund, I love him! Bunnymund, I love him!" Sophie Bennett sang as she hopscotched all around the house. The three-year-old was overly excited about Easter this year, talking non-stop about how her mother was letting her get a brand new dress for her favorite holiday. She also wouldn't stop chattering about how she wished her mother would let her buy new, sparkly shoes to match, and a fancy hairstyle to go along with the dress. She said she wanted to look her prettiest for the Easter Bunny.
Her eleven-year-old brother, Jamie, ignored her little performance while he spread out an assortment of school supplies on the coffee table. Poster board? Check. Ruler? Check. Glue? Check. Pens and pencils? Okay. Now all he needed was his essay and the internet pictures he printed out a few days earlier, and he was ready to assemble his project.
"Easter Bunny, I love him! I love the Easter Bunny!" Sophie continued to sing, twirling along the carpeted floors in the living room.
"Sophie, please, I'm trying to concentrate," Jamie told her. "Will you go dance somewhere else?"
Sophie didn't answer. Instead she looked down at her neon green tutu skirt, swishing the fabric back and forth as she rocked her body from side to side. Her mother told her that they would go buy her new Easter attire in the afternoon, but that was a long wait away.
Jamie shrugged and went back to his work. At least she she had gotten quiet for the moment. Taking a deep breath, he tried not to think about the town's Easter Egg Hunt that was happening next Sunday, with Spring Break following. His project was due at the end of the week, and he wanted to get it all done today. Then he could go celebrate later.
The boy held up one sheet of his printed papers in one hand, and blindly searched for his scissors with the other. Only then did he realize that he had forgotten to bring a pair with him when he set up his workspace in the living room. He got up from his comfortable seat on the floor, making his way to his mother's office. An orange-handled pair sat in an unused ceramic mug. Taking the scissors out of the mug, Jamie returned to the living room, where he heard Sophie resume her singing.
"Bunny, I love him! I love Bunny!"
As Jamie sat down and began to crop up his project, the room became still and quiet. Sophie had climbed up on the couch, peering over her brother's shoulder through her messy bangs. "What time is it?" she asked.
"It's eleven-thirty," Jamie answered, barely looking up from his task.
Sophie hopped down from the couch and ran off to the far side of the room. She tried to keep herself occupied, playing with a miniature toy rocking horse that had been left out since Christmas, but five minutes later, she came back to the living room to ask Jamie another question. "What time is it now?"
"Sophie, I already told you!" her brother complained.
"I just want to know what time it is!" she whined playfully. Then the three-year-old ran off again, smiling mischievously. She went to her bedroom, and slipped on her pink fairy wings. A box of crayons and a coloring book distracted the young blonde for the next half hour. A little while later, she pranced back downstairs.
She asked Jamie, "Is it time to get my dress?"
"No," he responded, sounding a little exasperated. "Mom said she'd take you at two-thirty."
There was a pause while the younger sibling shuffled her feet on the carpet. "Is it two-thirty yet?"
"Look, Sophie," Jamie said, pointing to the clock. "When the big hand is on the six and little hand is on the two, that means it's time to get your dress. Okay?"
"Okay!" she cried excitedly.
Sophie left him alone for another good half-hour, allowing the eleven-year-old to complete two-thirds of his poster board. At twelve-thirty, Jamie took a lunch break. His mother made a grilled cheese sandwich for him, with a side of vegetables and ranch dip.
"Sophie!" his mother called. "Come down for lunch!"
The young girl came fluttering in and ate her lunch in silence. Strangely quiet, in Jamie's opinion, as she usually liked to bombard her older brother with questions and other whimsical stories during mealtimes. He decided to give up his suspicion and just enjoy his food in peace. Sophie ate all her veggies and only a bite of her sandwich before springing out of the room. Just as quickly as she arrived, the green-eyed girl had gone to go play again.
After Jamie finished lunch and cleaned his plate, the brunette wandered back to the living room to finish up his project. He stopped mid-track when he scanned his workspace, confounded by what he saw (or rather, what he didn't see). He hesitated, surveying the coffee table and the rest of the room before alerting his family for help.
"Mom!" he called to her. "Do you see my scissors anywhere?"
"No," his mother answered, her voice traveling from the kitchen. "Where did you last have them?"
"Right here on the table!" he exclaimed, hurrying out of the room to look for the scissors elsewhere. Jamie searched high and low before he found the scissors on the bathroom sink counter. Weird place for it to end up, he thought. Picking up the instrument, Jamie saw a shining thread dangle from the blades.
"Huh?" he muttered in confusion, lightly touching the glossy string. His eyes traveled downward. Snippets of long golden hair were strewn across the counter and sink bowl. More strands were littering the floor. Scooping up the clumps of hair into his hand, he brought it to his mother.
"Mom?" he said faintly, and she turned to him quizzically. Jamie said nothing else; he simply handed the hair to her silently. His mother took it from him, inspecting the blonde strands closely.
"Sophie, get down here this instant!" she hollered loud enough for her voice to be heard in all corners of the house, wherever her youngest child could be hiding.
"Sophie's not here!" a tiny voice peeped. "She ran away to live with the Easter Bunny!"
"Jamie, will you go get your sister?" she requested, and the boy nodded in response.
He climbed the stairs to her bedroom, sighing heavily with each step. "Sophie?" he called, scanning his eyes across the room. Lifting up her comforter, Jamie peeked underneath her bed. A surprised whimper faintly drifted from the white, wooden shutters of her closet door. He turned himself in the direction of the discontent sniffle.
"Sophie..." he called, waiting for her to reveal herself and the mess she made.
"She's in the Warren," she squeaked, and Jamie raised his eyebrow. He must admit, an advance word for someone nearly four years old to have in her vocabulary.
"Sophie, stop playing around and come on out," Jamie remarked firmly.
Luckily for Jamie's sake, Sophie promptly crawled out of her closet. She looked up at her brother, then stood up. Chunks of her hair were cut in several different places, all in varying lengths. Her toes wriggled as she rocked her heels against the hardwood floor, and her arms swung at her sides. Her hands alternated by clasping together from her front to her backside, fingers squirming simultaneously.
"Do you like it?" she asked, bright green eyes shining with hope of approval.
"You look terrible," Jamie muttered, giving his sister a wry smile. The answer was honest and he said it without much thought, which he realized was probably a mistake. Unfortunately, Jamie realized his mistake too late. Sophie started crying, loud wails poured out of the little girl's mouth. For someone so tiny, she sure made a lot of noise. Jamie rolled his eyes.
"Shh! Sophie!" Jamie hushed. "I didn't mean it like that. Stop crying..."
Just then, their mother walked into the room. "Oh, my little butterfly..." their mother consoled, trying not to laugh at the misfortunate situation. She kneeled down and scooped her daughter into her arms. "What happened to your hair?"
"I cut it..." Sophie answered miserably.
"Well, why don't we go see if someone can fix it for us?" their mother suggested, hugging her tightly.
"That place where Lulu gets her hair cut?" Sophie asked timidly of their babysitter, a college student named Tallulah. The last time she babysat the Bennett children, the young woman had trimmed her long red locks into a blunt bob. After a brief conversation with Ms. Bennett about her new appearance, she recommended the salon she visited. This stuck with Sophie after Tallulah mentioned the stickers and lollipops that were handed out for the younger customers.
"Exactly the one and the same!" her mother answered exuberantly.
Soon after, the Bennett family left to mend the young girl's mishap. At the salon, Ms. Bennett asked the receptionist for the stylist that Tallulah recommended. As the receptionist appointed Sophie and her mother to the hair dresser, the girl hugged her stuffed sheep tightly until it squeaked. Jamie stayed in the waiting room, playing with the video game console hooked up to the television set.
The man worked like magic, styling the little girl's hair until the layers were all even. Well, almost all even. There wasn't much that the man could do about the short, stubby inch of hair at her crown. "Some parts will just need to grow out a bit before it'll look good," he explained to their mother.
Sophie peered at herself in the little hand mirror. Her hair was short now. Really short. Jamie's hair was probably longer than her hair, and his hair wasn't particularly long to begin with. She didn't even seem the same without her messy mane falling over her huge green eyes. Sophie looked like she was about to cry again.
"Cheer up, Soph," Jamie nudged as the smock came off of her. He handed her the jar that was filled with lollipops and stickers. Of course, she chose a puffy sticker with an Easter bunny printed on the front, and the green-flavored sucker.
"Save that for later," their mother said of the candy that Sophie clutched tightly in her hand before she went to pay the cashier.
Jamie led his sister outside of the shop, strolling down the street for the nearby ice cream parlor. As they walked, the short-haired blonde turned her large, watery eyes up to her brother. Sophie's lip quivered. "What if Bunny hates it?"
Jamie offered her a soft smile. "Don't worry, Soph," he encouraged, patting her lightly on the back in comfort. "Bunnymund's going to love it."
The End
Author's Note: I have a deep, dark secret about this story... This is really based off of a third grade homework assignment. I volunteer part-time as a teacher assistant. I was grading this grammar assignment where the blanks of a short story had to be filled with the correct subject pronoun. I couldn't imagine anyone but Sophie Bennett cutting off her long golden hair. So I rewrote the story into this!
Also, this isn't my first Rise of the Guardians fanfiction. It's actually my sixth (eighth if you include two crossover stories); it's just the first one being published. Particularly since it's Easter, I wanted to post it in time for the spirit of the season. I've been working really hard on the other stories since the beginning of the year (collectively, all stories add up to a 27,659 word count), so hopefully it won't be long before it's done. Feel free to message me for comments or questions.
Happy Easter, little ankle biters!
31 March 2013