The tears turned into sobs.
Breyonna moved the tablet. She hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder. The same way she’d held me and let me cry when we found out I’d lost my world. Tears for the world I lost. Tears for the world without my Mom. Regret mingled in with the guilt as I realized how selfish I sounded. Aunt Tanya loved my Mom, Keylisa, and me so much she never complained. Not once about changing her plans to care for us. My sobs subsided as the tears slowed.
I felt Breyonna place a face towel in my hand. “You think she hates me?”
“JeShaun, even on your worst day, you’re a good person.” Breyonna smiled. “You have working fingers and all of your teeth. Girl, that tells you how much she loves you.”
We made eye contact and burst out laughing. I thought about what I posted on her Instagram. The hurtful things I said to her offline. I knew Breyonna told the truth. Now, I had to make sure Aunt Tanya knew I loved her, too. “So, Brielle showed me some cute styles that she thinks will look great but don’t show off my length. Might be time to see those again. We both know why I wanted my hair stretched.”
“Who isn’t even cute?” Breyonna snickered. “And can always use a stick of peppermint gum.”
I balked at her. “Since when?”
“Girl, at least since freshman year. He is not even that hot. Never been worth messing with your hair.” Breyonna sat next to me again. “You have no idea how much this helped me and my Dad bond. Now I’m gonna tell you what Uncle Corey and my Dad said. If he doesn’t like you for you, you deserve better.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, starting to get the picture. I think I’m over this whole stretched long hair thing, to JeShaun playing volleyball I need to be true.”
Brielle pulled several styles up on the screen next to her stylist station. “So, you ready to get styled for senior pictures, Captain Wright?”
“Sure am.” I sat down in her chair.
Shock covered Brielle’s face. “Is that right?”
“Yep.” I smiled. “No need to show me the usual stuff. Let’s do the style you showed me before that you said framed my face nice from every angle.”
Brielle’s mouth dropped open. “Um, where is my goddaughter? You must be an impostor or something.”
“No, I just came to my senses.” I pulled up the picture she’d sent me. “You were so excited when you showed this to me. I responded like a brat.”
Brielle closed her mouth. She placed the back of her hand on my forehead. “No fever.”
“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat. “Please forgive me for putting you in the middle of the mess I made with Aunt Tanya. You two are the best stylists in town. We both know I want to be able to jump, sweat, and spike after the pics are taken. So do the style you chose. It’s so pretty.”
Brielle blinked several times. “We can try a new stretched style and put it up after the pictures are taken.”
“No, I’m serious. Brielle, you have spent enough time on this and been kind enough not to tell me how big a brat I’ve been. I’m sure.”
Brielle gave me a big smile. “I’ll always have time for you. You hear me?”
“Uh, huh?” I blinked back the tears, trying to come up.
Brielle turned me around in the chair so I faced away from the mirror. Her hands made quick work of taking my style down. “You still trying something stretched for the winter formal? You like to wear your hair down for special events.”
“Maybe.” I sighed as she signaled for me to go to the shampoo bowl. “We both know how much I like to dance. The only reason I wanted my hair long was to impress some boy.”
Brielle motioned for me to sit down. “Oh? I didn’t know.”
“Yeah,” I sighed as she placed the towel around my shoulders. She eased me back so my hair was in the bowl. “I’m sure we can find a cute style to match my dress and let me dance.”
Brielle massaged my scalp. “We can even do a style that has swing… without going back if you sweat. So no more straight styles?”
“Not to impress some boy. I’ll style my hair for me. If they don’t like it, later for them. Not burning my scalp or drying my hair out again to get noticed. I’ve been after that hair and done that.”
7
I took in a deep breath. Aunt Tanya told me people were sending her emails asking if I’d made a decision. The decision to keep my personal email private proved to be the best one we made when I hopped on Instagram. I’m sure they’d be asking me questions about my hair if they knew my email address.
Brielle turned around in her styling chair as I exited the hallway from our house into the salon. “The woman to be of the hour.”
A blush covered my face.
Aunt Tanya stepped out of her office. “I’m so glad you’re here. My timeline is blowing up with people asking when we start. Nevermind the post says the time… You ready?”
“Not yet.” I watched the huge smile on Aunt Tanya’s face fade. “Is everyone here?”
Aunt Tanya nodded.
“Can you guys come in here, please?” I wiped my hands on my pants. “I know you need to do my face, so I’m gonna do it now. In case I cry.”
Ebonee, Breyonna, Uncle Corey, and
