Hello there, here is the first snippet as a sort of prequel for What happens in Europe. Inspired by none other than Florence Pugh.
On a quiet, uneventful, pacific, and totally ordinary morning at the Orchard household, Meg, Beth, and Jo were disturbed by a loud scream. It came from upstairs for no apparent reason. They knew instantly who was shouting. Father and Mother had left to work already. And even they wouldn't be capable of such a high-pitched cry.
Beth dropped her spoon and Meg ran upstairs. Jo just rolled her eyes. She always accused her little sister of being overly dramatic. It was enough that she took the most time in the bathroom. Like there weren't other five people living in that house! What could possibly have ruined her ladyship's beauty routine?
"Amy!" Meg knocked on the door. Amy didn't answer, but she could hear Amy's whining. Something along the lines she heard cursing. "I'm coming in! What the hell!..."
"Shhhhhh! Close the door!" Amy quickly said. Meg did as she was told, speechless.
"Oh my God! Amy!" Meg was able to articulate. Amy was wrapped on a towel, the room was still steamy. "Wha… Why is your hair blue?"
"I don't know," Amy said, mortified. She kept touching her hair and looking at the mirror. She grabbed the shampoo bottle, desperately reading the label to find a solution.
Meg tried to say something to comfort her, though the only thing that came out was a laugh, quickly suppressed by her hands.
"Don't laugh!"
"I'm sorry," Meg apologized, trying to regain her composure. "What did you do?"
"Nothing! It must have been this stupid shampoo! Ahhh!
"Everything alright in there?" Beth asked from the hall.
"Yes, Beth. We'll be right with you in a bit." Meg answered. "Amy just needs to get a wig," she added in a low voice only for her and Amy to hear.
"What?!" Beth could hear a murmur.
"Nothing!"
What do I do now?"
"I have no idea. Go to your room, get dressed." She ushered Amy out. Thankfully, her sisters remained downstairs.
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"Shut up, Jo!" Amy ordered. At some point, she had to come out of her room and let everyone else see her tragedy. Beth came to her all worried and sweet, but Jo didn't even try to hide her laugh. Back when she burned Meg's hair she had been so guilty, she couldn't find it funny. But now, she burst into laughs.
"Can't you wash it?" Beth said.
"It won't go away," Amy said sitting at the kitchen table. "This is all your fault, Jo!"
"Mine? How come you always blame me?"
"If you wouldn't have been all cranky, we would have gone to town to get the shampoo I always buy. You made me buy this cheap bottle in the store!"
"Oh please! We all use the same shampoo. Yet you insist on having a "special one"." Jo said emphasizing the quotes.
"Because I'm blonde! It helps to keep it nice. This has never happened before and look! I have a date tonight!"
"What! You're telling me Fred won't like this new look of you?" Jo mocked, knowing Fred was a quite conservative man.
"I can't go out like this."
"Oh please. It will spice up your relationship. Honestly, I thought there wasn't a more boring man than Brooke, but here we are."
"Hey!" Meg objected.
"Leave him alone, Jo!"
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Later in the evening, Fred arrived to pick Amy up and take her on a date. Beth opened the door and chatted with him about Frank while Amy came downstairs to the entrance. Fred usually stayed there, sensing the family wasn't his fan, especially Jo.
"Hey," Amy called him from the last steps of the stair.
"Hey? You're wearing a cap," he noted. She never wore caps, hats maybe, but never caps.
"Something happened in the morning, something bad,"
"Are you ok?" He frowned.
"Yeah, it's not… I mean it's bad, but I'll live… It's just I was getting ready and used this cheap shampoo and..." she uncovered her hair. Her curly hair fell around her shoulders. "It turned blue."
"Wow," he exhaled. Yep, it was bad.
"I know. Please tell me our date is in a dark place."
"We can go to the movies, it's dark there. Or why don't we go to my place… Are you sure you're alright?" he said, noticing Amy's expression.
"My hair is blue," she let a few tears fall and he immediately hugged her.
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Amy managed to keep everyone quiet about her unfortunate event. It's not like this was the first time a March sister had experienced a hair crisis. Jo had burnt Meg's hair when they were fifteen and sixteen respectively. And then, of course, Jo begged God to save her sister and father. She went as far as to promise she will do something selfless like donating her hair to make wigs for girls with cancer. Her one beauty, Amy had claimed. At least she did something good. Beth had been proud of her.
Her parents didn't say a word, though Marmee shocked her head trying to hide her smile.
Now Amy was in the living room, doing her homework. Well, she was trying. Laurie was there too, attempting to do his own research for a project. None of them could do any work because Laurie kept looking at Amy and especially her hair like he was trying to decipher some clue. Her sisters had warned him not to mention anything, but he couldn't help it. Her hair was fucking blue! She could feel his eyes on her.
"Alright, say what you want to say. Come one. I know you want to," Amy said putting the computer away and turning to face him. She knew he had something to say. A few years ago, when she decided to organize a small reunion with her painting classmates, disaster happened. But above all, she smiled when Laurie presented her with a tiny lobster charm. Damn Tudor!
"I don't have anything to say," he said, innocently.
"It's okay. I know it's bad."
"Well, I mean… you look like an art student, a contemporary art student," he let it out. God, he has been wanting to tell his joke for an hour. Amy understood immediately and gasped offended.
"Take it back!" Amy threw him a cushion. How dare he!
"You became the thing you swore to destroy!" He laughed out loud this time.
"I despise you!" She said playfully. Of course, she didn't mean it. He was one of her best friends, which allowed him to make the cruelest jokes because he knew her so well.
"No you don't." he calmed down. "You look good, seriously. It suits you, you've always liked blue and it matches your eyes."
"It's not even a pretty blue, you know. It's all a mess. Some strands are more dyed than others."
"It'll go out in a few days," Laurie reassured her.
On her next birthday, Laurie's gift was a bottle of the finest purple shampoo. Ha! Somehow he always managed to give her some of her best gifts.
Notes:
To quote Zach Braff, Florence Pugh is "a gift to the world". She's fantastic. I absolutely love when she dies her hair blue. She's trying to be calm while she's dying inside. Some people are saying she should have been using purple shampoo… whatever this one-shot is inspired in her experience hence blue shampoo. If you haven't seen the video, here: watch?v=XXb9PJXu5r0
I love that Amy blames Jo for her nose. It's hilarious, so of course, Jo would somehow be responsible for this.
I like Fred. I even found myself rooting for him when I first read A Foreign Correspondent. I don't believe he was genuinely in love with her anymore, cause when you read that chapter carefully, you'll notice he was quite immature. She was a well-mannered lady and he knew she would make a fitting wife. Amy was quite popular so it's natural that someone like Fred would have been infatuated by her, but that's it.
And it's also a nice moment between Laurie and Amy at the end.
Did you like it?