Part
2…
Ugh. I am chewing on my pencil again. A habit that I have tried to get rid of..I'm not nervous or anything. I'm just sitting here trying to be comfortable with my seatmate's rolls of fat threatening to touch me at any moment. So I am scrunched over on my side as far as I can. Mashed up next to the window and staring outside.
I am trying to make a list of what to do once I get there. I figure that I won't be your usual stupid, rebellious runaway. Nah. I have plans..I just have to figure them out first.
1. Job
Hmmm. I guess I have to go back into food serving.
Ugh. Double Ugh.
God..after working at Rosa's for a year I swore to myself that if ever needed money again I would sell my blood first before I would ever serve greasy food to loud families with screaming babies..
2.Place to Live
Shouldn't be too hard, just need to find a halfway decent apartment. I rustle through my backpack. My fake I.D; Ah how I love you!
I got mine from this kid named Derek at school. He did them professionally for anyone who had 10 bucks and a need to party. I had it done for the raves that I occasionally went to.
Yeah. That's right.
The same girl who made the good grades in her AP classes which made mom and dad so happy, and I went to raves. Hell, I just thought they were fun. Believe me there is nothing funnier than watching a few hundred punked out kids tranced out on E, and dancing to some crazy ass electronica.
Yeah.. I just went to laugh at them.. thought it was hilarious that I could be in the middle of this shit why the 'rents were in their respective offices reviewing their legal briefs for their next case, their next client..
Don't I seem like a rebel?
Well I guess not too much of one. I wonder how many rebels chew on their pencils while making lists of things to do after they have run away from home.
Sigh
Back to the list.
2. How to keep the authorities from noticing me-
That might be harder than it looks. I have this curse, see…. I'm thin as a rail so it looks like I am twelve. Add together the long brown hair and the fact that I am kinda short, maybe 5'2. So I am thinking that it might attract notice that this little 6th grader just comes prancing into town.
So I need to change what I look like, all right. That can be done. At the next stop I need to dye my hair and cut it..
I have this fleeting image of me cutting my dolls hair when I was little. I'm thinking that if my cosmetology skills hadn't improved by then, well, I was gonna look like crap..
"Stoney, Utah. Next Stop. Five Minutes"
O.k-what color to die my hair. I grab a chunk of it and look at it. Wasn't there a line in a movie or something that said that blondes had more fun?
Well I guess I'll find out, won't I?
So the bus comes to a stop next to this Safeway store. "Score" I think…Luck is so with me, I can feel it..
As I walk across the street I notice a cop car speeding by, its lights on and sirens blaring.
I have a little mini-heart attack but keep going..
As I walk down the isle I am getting weird looks. Like "what the hell is this little girl doing at a Safeway at 1 in the morning?"
God, I've never seen so many different packages. Which one do I choose? Clairol, L'Oreal, Nutrisse? I notice the one that says "special extra-lightening formula" and choose it. I walk by a small school supplies display and grab a pair of Fiskars scissors. They'll do.
"Is that all miss" says the lady who happens to be eyeing me like I am some suspicious shoplifter..
"9.79" she says loudly..
I give her a ten and walk out, tossing a "keep the change" over my shoulder.
Now I need a place to do this at. I look at my watch. 1.10 a.m. The bus driver said we were going to break for only an hour, and then she would peel out.
I look to the left and the right. Getting a motel room might cause too much commotion…so that only leaves the disgusting world of gas station bathrooms.
Shudder
I walk up to the guy standing at the one of the pumps and wonder which strategy should I use, Sultry Goddess, or Innocent Child.
I then notice that I am wearing my gray drawstring pants and my jean jacket with a baseball cap perched on my head. O.K sultry goddess has been shot to hell. Here comes Miss. Innocent.
"Um Sir?"
"Yeah, what can I do ya"?
"May I please use your restroom?"
"Where are your parents miss?"
Damn
"There coming, I just ran ahead. We're on a family vacation! I can't wait to get to Disneyland"
I hope this is coming out with the saccharine-sweetness that I am layering upon it……
"Uh Sure honey," he says. He then walks into the booth and comes out holding a brick, but then I notice that there is a string tied to and at the end there is a key. He hands it to me..
Once inside I waste no time..
Out comes the package and instructions. I quickly cut my hair to just above my shoulders. I take a moment of silence for the hair that I spent years growing. Then moving on, to the dye.
"Bottle A, into Bottle B" this isn't too bad; it's a little like chemistry.
I goop the stuff on my head and wait, praying that it takes and that the attendant won't notice that I am in here for an unusual amount of time.
Looking down I notice that it's 1:35….
I'm supposed to leave it on for longer but there is no time. It's then that I realize that the gas station bathroom didn't have the best sink. So now here I am bent over at the waist trying to keep the solution out of my eyes and trying to rinse the foul-smelling stuff out of my hair.
When I finally get it out I notice that it is 1.45.
"Shit"
I'm wringing the water out of my hair and I stuff it all under my baseball cap and bound out the door, sprinting for the bus.
I get there just as she was about to close the doors.
"Girl" she says as she gives me a disapproving look.
I walk proudly down the aisle; I succeeded at number 3 on my list…
Then I have to sit next to my companion from hell and my smile fades..
Then pops back up..
Hell, I feel like that idiot at the stern of the Titanic, "I'm the king of the world"…I say to myself. I feel like I can do this, and really succeed at it, and suddenly, as the bus starts the journey again, I'm not nervous anymore.