Kickin' in the front seat, sitting in the back seat. Gotta make up my mind which seat can I take?: I don't know hon, the middle one?

OKAY! So CheekyBrunette has recently turned into a grumpy mess cause of a stupid friend who… you know what? It's not a big deal, it's just put on top of A LOT of not big deals, you know? So whatever.

Anyway, this might not be my best…

James bit his lip, staring at the tall barber chair in front of him. He shot a nervous look to Kendall, who had come for support, eyes highlighted with a tinge of panic. Kendall goaded him on with a reassuring smile, and he climbed up onto the booster seat waiting for him. He chewed on his thumbnail, gazing wistfully at his perfect hair in the mirror. Kendall put his hand on his shoulder. "If you don't like it, it'll grow back. Besides, Mr. Windle cut my hair just last week, and he did a great job!" the blonde tried to comfort him, smushing his bangs out of his face and into a pile on top of his head. James looked at Kendall's messy hair and nearly started sobbing.

"James Diamond?" Mr. Windle asked him, walking into the back of the salon. He looked a bit a shaken from his talk with the rather overbearing Mrs. Diamond. She had told him… forcefully, to put it nicely, that if he messed up her son's hair, she'd have to tear his throat out of his belly button. The woman made poor Mr. Windle want to throw up things he hadn't even eaten. James cleared his throat.

"Yeah," he squeaked, flipping his long bangs out of his eyes. He yelped when Mr. Windle touched his hair, playing with it.

"You have a great head of hair," the man told him, running his fingers through his silken locks. James was completely horrified at how he was just messing it up without care. No one, but no one, messed with James hair. "It's so soft and moisturized. You do a great job taking care of it," Mr. Windle praised him. He ruffled it, and James snapped.

The seven-year-old whipped around and bit the man's wrist. Mr. Windle quickly drew back, clutching his now bleeding arm. "James!" Kendall scolded, and the brunette glowered at his toe-headed friend. "You can't go around biting people! You stopped that in preschool!" James crossed his arms, shooting a glare towards Mr. Windle.

The man gulped, finding James just about as intimidating as his mother. "It's fine, lots of kids don't like getting their hair cut," he said timidly. Kendall gave him an awkward shrug, and James just looked murderous. Mr. Windle clapped his hands together. "Okay, let's get this over with, shall we?" he asked. The boys met his question with near identical winces.

Mr. Windle pulled his scissors out of their case, and suddenly James wasn't mad about how the barber had napped up his hair. All his fury was replaced with fear. He felt his stomach flip. "Kendall!" he choked out, eyeing the scissors. To him, they appeared big and bulky. James put a hand to his head weakly.

"Yeah, buddy?" Kendall asked, rushing up beside him and taking his free hand in his own. James looked at him, eyes wide.

"Don't let him ruin everything, okay?" James asked, and Kendall nodded, knowing just what 'everything' meant. James squeezed his eyes tight. "Just do it fast, okay? Just a trim." Mr. Windle nodded, despite James's eyes being closed.

The soft sound of snipping filled the otherwise silent room. James held Kendall's hand so hard the toe-head's fingers went numb from lack of circulation. James's stomach twisted as he feared for the worst. His thoughts lost coherency as he waited for the experience to be over. His throat constricted as he prayed for it to end.

Kendall rubbed his friend's hand with his thumb.

"Does it look okay?" James asked when the cutting ended. Forget the answer; he didn't need to hear it. James opened his eyes to view his reflection in the middle. A wave of relief washed over him when it looked just like before, only shorter. He beamed at his reflection. He hopped down from the chair and gave Kendall a big hug. Then the two boys tore out of the room as fast as they could, being second grade boys, and rushed towards the care.

Despite doing a near perfect job, Mr. Windle still got an ear full from Mrs. Diamond, sometimes the woman just felt like yelling, and wasn't. She walked out of the salon, picking her son up and giving him a big kiss on the forehead.

"Always remember," she advised him on their way home," if you yell enough, everything's free."

James and Kendall shared a crooked look; James's mom could be ridiculous. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't use her advice constantly. The next day at school, James had a very fun time yelling the cafeteria ladies into giving him a free lunch. It especially helped when his mother showed up after being called by the principal and joined him right away.

Yeah… I didn't like this. I just wasn't in the mood, you know? Plus it's short.

Life sucks, then you die.

HOWEVER! I'm going to dedicate this one to One Man Writing Games, who just LOVES Kames friendships as I now know, and it's fun to dedicate things to people.

OH MY GOODNESS! WANNA READ SOMETHING THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I'M FEELING NOW? OKAY! Well then go read No Respect At All by MiSs-ViCtOrY96, okay? Awesome.