"Did you like the book?" Carrison sits across from me with his hands folded, interested in what I have to say.
"I loved it... I... I really relate."
"I knew you would." He gets up from the desk and grabs his lunch from his closet. "Why aren't you eating today?"
"They didn't have anything good." I continue to draw the picture I'm drawing in my English notebook. I'm drawing a dreamcatcher.
"Are you hungry? I have a subway hoagie, if you'd like it."
"What's on it?" I put down my pencil and grab an orange colored pencil.
"Turkey, lettuce, onions, mayo..." He sits back down and pushes the hoagie next to me.
"...You remembered that I like turkey..." I smile at him.
"You told me you like turkey. I like turkey. I just figured if you weren't gonna eat it, I'd just eat both halves." He hands me a can of Pepsi.
"...Why are you so nice to me?" I unravel the sandwich and take a bite into it.
"I like you, Demi." He opens up a bag of chips. "I know in this day and age, a teacher can't have a good relationship with a student without it meaning something different." He offers me some Doritos.
I take a handful.
"But I like you. I think you're a good kid. And I just want you to be okay, you know? Don't think I'm one of those creepy pedophile teachers, because I'm not. I just think of you as a daughter to me. An adoptive daughter."
"Oh..." I chew a Dorito and keep coloring in the sky around my dreamcatcher.
"So what's up with Selena? Is she sick?" He takes a bite of his sandwich and starts grading a paper.
"Pregnant." I mutter. I rub the blue part of the sky to make it blend with the orange sunset.
"To Nick?"
"Mhm."
"She's such a bright girl. What is she doing?"
"It was an accident, I guess. But they were doing it like five times a day, I don't know how accidental it actually was..."
"You kids are just lucky these days. It's a shame that me and Emily have been trying for years and it just happens with you guys..."
"I know... I just can't understand why she'd put herself in that situation..."
"...You're very smart, Demi. Very."
"Thanks... I try."
"So how are you doing? With everything?"
"...You mean like... With the Cody thing?"
"With everything." He starts cleaning up our mess.
"Pretty okay. My aunt got me this therapist, but I haven't talked to it yet."
"It's a good step, eh?" He throws everything away. "Do you like cheesecake?"
"Yes."
"Split this slice with me." He unwraps a huge slice of cheesecake.
"Did you get this from the Cheesecake Factory?" I take a fork and cut it evenly for us.
"No. Em made it. She owns a catering business, you know." He pushes my half towards me.
"No way... I didn't know that..." I take a bite. It's delicious. Absolutely delicious.
"Yeah. She'd like to meet you, Demi. I tell her all about you. She said you seem like a cool kid."
I smile a little. "Yeah?"
"Yep. I tell her all about you. I think you'd like her."
"Sounds like I'll have to meet her someday..." I clean up my cheesecake mess.
"Sounds like it." He looks down at my notebook. "... Do you have more drawings?"
"At home.. In my sketchbook... Why?"
"You're a brilliant little artist... You're very talented." He picks up my notebook and stares at the dreamcatcher.
"I'm not that good... But I would like to be... I think I want to go to art school."
"This is a beautiful picture, Demi."
The bell rings for lunch to be over. I have to go off to my next class.
I gather up all my stuff. "Thanks, Mr. Carrison... Thanks."
"Anytime, Demi. You're very welcome."
I walk out the door and speed off in the direction of my next class.
I don't pray that much anymore, but I think I might start praying for Carrison and Emily to have a baby.
Carrison is a good person. And good people deserve to be happy.
"I don't care what you want, Demi. You're getting a haircut. You look disgusting." Ever since I got home from school, that's all my aunt's been bitching at me about. Now, we're in the car and she's dragging me to the hair saloon.
"I wouldn't even care if you would've told me! I can't just come home one day and you're all 'hey Demi you're getting your hair chopped off!' It doesn't work that way KATHERINE."
"Well DEMETRIA. You're not going to live with me and look disgusting. Your hair is disgusting. Your ends are split. You're getting a trim. Now shut up about it."
"Whatever." I cross my arms over my chest.
"Why is getting a haircut such a big deal to you?!"
"Joe likes my hair long!"
"Oh... SPARE ME." She rolls her eyes and turns into the parking lot of Hollywood Hair. "Let's go, Demi."
"You and Uncle Jason... I swear."
I roll my eyes and get out of the car, annoyed.
"You'll thank me later. You were all for getting a cut before Joe said he likes your long hair."
"Whatever. I'm not getting anything too drastic. Just a trim."
Aunt Kathy opens the door up and we both walk into the hair saloon. I sit down in the waiting area while she signs us in for our appointment.
It's pretty empty in here at the moment. I guess nobody comes down here in the middle of the week.
The same blonde woman that cut and colored my hair for school walks over to the edge of the waiting area. "Demetria, I'll take you back." She says all cheerfully.
I sigh and glare at Aunt Kathy. She gives me a sarcastic smile. I'm half tempted to flick her off.
I follow the blonde girl back to her purple chair. "So your aunt wants you to get a cut?"
I plop down in the chair. "A trim."
"Okie dokie. You just want a trim? You want a color too?"
"...No... Not really. Just a trim."
"Just a trim, okay." She taps a pedal on the chair and raises me up slowly. "So how's school?"
"...Fine. Boring..."
"I bet." She starts combing through my hair. "Your hair grew a lot since the last time I saw you. Your color is all fading out..."
"It's fading?"
"Very much so." She parts my hair.
"I... I guess we can do a color then."
"You want a color? Okay. You have a color in mind?"
"No..."
"Here. Just look through my book. Pick out a color and I'll go mix it for you." She hands me a catalog.
I flip through it. I don't have a specific color in mind, but maybe a change would be nice. I flip past the blondes. Blonde wouldn't look right on me. I flip past the reds. Red would be ugly too. I stop at the browns. "How about this?" I point to a super dark brown. It's almost black.
"...I think you should go black."
"Black?"
"Yeah. People usually go darker in the colder months and lighter in the summer. I think black would look pretty on you."
"... I'll go black then."
"You have a pretty skin tone. Black would compliment the pretty beauty mark on your face, too."
"Okay. Black it is."
I wonder what Joe's gonna say about it...
I hope he'll like it.