“What’s wrong?” Aunt Tanya said.
I froze. She told me I’d hate having my hair straight. “Hi Aunt Tanya. You busy?”
“You never call me during the day, Je. What’s wrong?”
I gulped. “My volleyball tryouts are today. Can you tell me how to… what to do with… Aunt Tanya, please come help me. I won’t make it back in time.”
“This is why I wanted you to get a driver’s license.” Aunt Tanya sucked her teeth. “Brielle, let me finish her. Your goddaughter has a silkened hair crisis.”
I heard rustling in the background. “Brielle said she is to blame she forgot you had tryouts this week. I’m not allowed to say anything other than she is on the way.”
My lungs functioned again. “Okay.”
“She’ll be there in about ten minutes. Knock their socks off. You got this, Captain.” Aunt Tanya said.
I realized how much I missed talking to my Aunt Tanya. “Thank you.”
“Okay. I have two heads to do now instead of one. Thanks to you. Go kill’em on the court.” Aunt Tanya said before I heard a click. The screen read ‘call ended.’
Ten minutes later, Breyonna walked up to me. “Your hair has looked great all week. Why do you look so weird?”
“Brielle is on her way to help me do whatever you do to silkened hair when you’re about to sweat, so it doesn’t go back.” I sighed. “This whole straight hair thing is easier when you have a relaxer.”
Breyonna laughed. “We both know you’re not getting a relaxer. So you need to do some more research on protein treatments.”
“Yeah, no one thought I’d tell my Aunt I don’t want to be a hair model for her anymore on IG so… Y’all need to stop thinking you know what JeShaun will and won’t do.” My phone buzzed. “Brielle is here to fix my hair. I’ll be back.”
---
I killed the volleyball tryout. Like, mopped the floor with the drills and showed off the new serve I spent all summer perfecting in the park in walking distance to our house. Coach Chandra announced my captain role before we left for the day to the new students who tried out. Breyonna told me she’d meet me at the house to celebrate when I texted her before getting on the after school activity bus to ride home.
I killed the tryout but the pull your brains through your scalp tighter than skin ponytail Brielle put in my hair almost killed me. Who walked around in this much pain to be cute? Not I. Keeping hair straight while natural and active had to have other options.
Breyonna, Brielle, Ms. Ebonee, and Aunt Tanya welcomed me into the shop with a tray of celebratory cupcakes from my favorite bakery. There were little volleyballs on top of each one and the word captain in Gold on top of the jumbo yellow one.
“Congratulations, Captain!” Breyonna screamed as she handed me a card and the cupcake.
I accepted the cupcake and her quick squeeze. “Wow, thanks.”
“We didn’t want to jinx it, but we have your letterman’s jacket and order the captain patch too.” Aunt Tanya pulled the jacket from behind her back. “We’re so proud of you. You look really cute too. Brielle’s ponytail looks great on you.”
I placed the cupcake and card on the table near Aunt Tanya’s stylist station. Moments later, I slipped into the letterman’s jacket I’d dreamed of wearing since freshman year. “Wow, this is… wow.”
“So, how you feel?” Brielle clasped her hands together in front of her.
A few tears rolled down my cheeks. “My head hurts so bad. I mean this ponytail is killing me.”
Everyone looked at each other before laughing. Not just chuckles. Reach for the nearest thing to hold you up, belly laughs.
“I’m serious.” I pointed toward the still perfect except for a few cowlicks ponytail on my head. “The drills and other stuff we did were nothing compared to the pounding this thing caused. Focusing on the drills and doing my best is how I kept from yanking this thing out.”
Aunt Tanya tried to talk. She just waved her hands before laughing again.
“You wear updos all the time, JeShaun.” Breyonna wiped the corners of her eyes.
I shook my head. “No, these are not updos. This is way more than I want to deal with on a regular basis. We can go back to my minnie mouse puffs and my other styles. No, thank you.”
“If you keep getting it silkened and train your hair. You’ll be able to keep it straight while being an athlete after about a year.” Brielle tried to keep from chuckling.
My hands flew to my hips. Despite all of my efforts to stare Brielle and Aunt Tanya down, I smiled. Then I started laughing too.
“I tried to tell you it’s more trouble than you’ll think hair is worth. Brielle made me promise not to say I told you so. So I won’t say it.” Aunt Tanya picked up a cupcake with a smirk.
Brielle gave Aunt Tanya the side eye. “You mean the way you just did.”
“I only have a few more days this week with my hair straight. No practice tomorrow, but I do have to run drills with the new players on Friday. You’ll show me how to put this up in a tight bun?” I sighed.
Brielle nodded. “Yep, and we’ll talk about some styles that you can wear next week, too.”
I felt my stomach lurch into my throat. My hands dug through every inch of my volleyball bag. No. No, I did not leave my ponytail kit from Brielle in my room.
I took a shower. Applied my moisturizer. Put on my clothes. Combed down my wrap. Poured sweet almond oil into my hand. Ran my hands under the bottom of my hair on the sides and in the back. Poured more sweet almond oil into my hand. Combed my fingers through the front and sides of my hair. Poured a bit more sweet almond oil into my hand. Wiped
