Chapter 34: Cuffs.

Chapter 34: Cuffs.

"You need to try this on." Hannah tells me as she waves a blue tie-dye dress in my face.

Hannah and I are doing some college shopping. We decided that we were going to go all out and wear stuff that's way outside our comfort zone because why not?

"I don't really know." I tell her, looking at the length. Everyone will see my butt cheeks in these.

"Oh, come on. We're going off to college in a few weeks. We get to create these new personas that we didn't have in high school. We get to show them the sides of ourselves we want and hide away the rest." She says as she hands me the dress. I reluctantly collect it.

"Because that's how college works." She adds.

"I'll be right out." I say as I enter the dressing room.

I take off my jeans and my tank top and I am left in my strapless bra and lace panties. I unzip the dress and I put it on. I try to zip it up but the zipper gets caught in my hair and I wince in pain.

"Everything okay in there?" Hannah asks me from the other side. "You sound like you're giving birth."

"I'm fine. The zipper's just...stuck." I say, tugging at the metal.

It finally zips up but then it freaking chops my hair off. I look at the ground and see a reasonable amount of my hair on the floor.

"Um...Hannah." I call out.

"Yeah." She answers.

"I think this zipper just cut my hair." I tell her.

"What do you mean you think?" She asks me. She walks into the dressing room and she sees my hair on the floor.

"Valarie, what the hell happened?" She asks as she rushes over to me. She checks my scalp to see how bad it really is.

"Well, right in the middle here, it looks like you're missing hair." She tells me.

"What, as in a bald spot?" I ask her.

"Nope. As in I tried shaving my head at home and now it's not leveled." She tells me. "Spot." She adds.

"What am I going to do?" I ask her, totally freaking out.

"Calm down. We'll stop by the hair salon on our way back. And by the way that dress looks fire on you." She says and I just put my hand over my face.

***

Hannah and I made it to the hair salon and I have a confession to make. They did a really good job fixing my hair, but I kinda, might have, gone a little overboard, and now...I am walking into my house with blonde hair and blue tips.

Hey, I know what you're thinking.

What is she going to do next? Get a tattoo?

No, I'm not.

Maybe.

I just needed a change and I'm going off to college, I just want to look brand new.

"And dyeing your hair a different color is the way to do so?" My subconscious asks me.

Pretty much, yeah.

And we only have one life to live. Why not live it. My mother is going to kill me. I cut my hair that was at my waist and now it barely reaches my shoulder.

I'm dead.

I put my bags by the staircase and I head to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. I see my mother, she has her back to me. She is cooking something on the stove.

Since when did my mother cook?

"Mum, what are you doing?" I ask her.

"Hey, Valarie." She says turning around and her eyes almost bulge out of their sockets when she takes in my appearance.

"Your hair." She gasps.

"I know, mother. I shouldn't have." I say, rolling my eyes.

"No, no. It's perfect." She tells me.

You say what now?

"What? You're not mad?" I ask her.

"Why would I be? You're becoming an adult and you can make decisions on your own. If you feel like shaving your whole head it's your choice." She tells me before she turns back to the stove.

Well, that's new.

"Why are you cooking? Where's Pierre?" I ask her.

"Well, Pierre quit this morning. I got word from Jeremy that he ran away with his boyfriend today." She tells me.

"Pierre's gay?" I ask her in a surprised tone.

"Surprisingly." My mother says. "So from now on, I will do the cooking." She tells me.

"We better load up on the Andrews liver salt." I say under my breath.

"What was that?" She asks me.

"Um...nothing. I need to offload the clothes I bought because you know I did a lot of shopping and I um..." I don't complete the sentence, I just walk out of the kitchen.

I grab the shopping bags by the marble steps and I head to my room. I place the shopping bags beside my closet and I jump on my bed. My bed is so cold when I lay on it and I snuggle into my sheets.

"What did you do to your hair?" Zachary says as he walks out of my bathroom and I literally jump off my bed.

"You need to stop doing that." I tell him.

"What? I had to take a dump." He says with a stupid smirk on his face.

"You need to stop breaking into my room." I tell him as I hit his hand.

"You need to stop leaving your room window open." He argues back.

Smart mouth.

"It gets hot in here." I say as I dramatically fan myself with my hand.

"You have an air conditioner in here. How hot is it?" He asks, chuckling.

"Oh, shut up. I prefer the cool breeze from outside. I feel like the AC just fills this room with chemicals." I tell him.

"How? You make no sense." He says, folding his arms.

"Speaking of chemicals, when did this happen?" He asks me, ruffling my hair.

"Today. And it cost a lot too." I tell him as I swat his hand away.

"Wanna go somewhere?" He asks me, putting his hands in the pocket of his gray hoodie.

"Where?" I ask him, curious about where we're going.

"Just say yes." He tells me and I shake my head.

"No way. The last time I just said 'yes' to you, you threw a party at my house." I say, yelling at him.

"You had mad fun at that party, don't lie." He says, staring at me.

"That's not the point. I need to make good choices. Moving forward." I tell him.

"What is that supposed to mean?' He asks me and I can see pain flash through his blue eyes.

"Look, I didn't mean it like that." I tell him, rubbing my forehead.

"It's just that hanging out with you just brings trouble." I tell him.

"What can I say? Sometimes fun is illegal or loud, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Anyway, I'll be heading off to my secret location now. I guess it'll just be me and Sierra." He says as he heads towards the window. I block his way and I stop him.

"Who is Sierra?" I ask him, jealousy creeping its way in.

"Oh, now wouldn't you like to know?" He asks with a cocky tone.

I roll my eyes at him.

"You'll find out when we get there." He tells me as he picks me up in his arms, putting me on his shoulders.

"What are you doing? Put me down." I say, hitting his back.

"Not until you say yes." He says, trying to blackmail me into going to this thing with me.

"In that case, I'll need to get comfortable up here. Pass me a pillow would ya." I say, yawning.

"Oh, come on, Vee." Zachary says, spanking my bum.

I gasp.

"You did not just do that." I tell him.

"I'll do it again if you don't say yes." He threatens.

"You wouldn't dare." I retort.

"Yes I will and you know it." He tells me.

"Ugh...fine. I'll come with you to the stupid thing." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Great. Let's get going." He says as he puts me down.

"Lead the way." He tells me as he pushes me towards the window.

"Ladies first." I tell him and he gives me an irritated look.

He climbs out of the window and I lock it immediately. He scowls at me before he immediately falls off the ladder.

Oh shit .

I rush down the stairs and I fling the front door open.

Tell me why Zachary is standing beside his car, twirling his keys in his hand, uninjured.

This boy.

I am about to go back inside the house when he pulls me by my waist and puts me in his car.

"This is kidnapping." I tell him as he starts the car, zooming out of my driveway.

"Seatbelt please." He tells me and I give him a nasty look.

"I don't even want to be here." I say, putting on my seatbelt.

"I know that's why it's so fun." He says, tapping the steering wheel. He makes a right turn and he almost hits a parking meter.

"Watch it." I tell him.

"I got this." He tells me.

Less than a minute later, a police car is behind ours.

"Look at what you've done." I tell him.

"He's probably just driving behind us like any other car. He's not going to pull us over." He says and the police sirens start wailing.

"You were saying." I ask him.

Zachary drives past a red light and I smack the back of his head.

"You're making this worse." I tell him. "Pull over!!!" I order.

Zachary parks the car on the side of the road and the police officer makes his way towards the car.

"You kids out here causing trouble." The officer says bringing out his notepad.

Well, that's not a good sign.

"I'm sorry, officer. Zachary here is suffering from partial blindness and can't see to save his life." I tell the officer and Zachary stares daggers in my direction.

"Oh yeah, you're Zachary Henderson. I arrested you two summers ago for arson." The officer says, pointing at Zachary.

"Can we go now?" Zachary asks with a bored look on his face.

"Sure." The police officer says and I sigh in relief.

"After you pay off this ticket for over speeding and bypassing a red light.

I let out a frustrated groan.

"I'll lead the way." The police officer tells us before he heads back to his car.

"Look what you've done." I complain.

"It's just a trip to the station. It's nothing serious." He tells me.

"Well, I don't take 'trips' to the station." I say, folding my arms and frowning in my seat.

"Oh cheer up, this will be over in no time." He assures me.

***

"Sign here and here." A female police officer tells Zachary as I wait impatiently.

I start playing a game to pass time and a blonde police officer walks up to me. He looks like he's in his early twenties.

"Hi." He says, his dimples showing as he smiles at me.

"Hey." I reply, putting my phone in my jean pocket.

"I'm Andy." He tells me, extending his hand forward for a handshake

I shake his hand.

"I'm Valarie." I tell him.

"Nice name. Would you like to help me with something back in my car?" He asks me.

What?

"And what could that be?" I ask him in confusion.

"This guy." He says, pointing at his crotch.

I almost puke out of disgust.

The audacity.

"No." I tell him as I take my phone out of my pocket and continue playing the game.

He snatches my phone out of my hand and I stare at him in shock.

What the hell?

"Give me back my phone." I demand.

"Not until you come with me." He says, clenching his fist.

Well, this escalated quickly.

"You heard her." Zachary says, standing beside him.

"Beat it kid." Andy tells him.

And with that, Zachary lunges at Andy. He gets on top of Andy and punches the life out of his face. Police officers rush to the scene and pry Zachary off Andy. Zachary is put in handcuffs and I just stand there, utterly shocked.

"Miss, were you with him too?" Another police officer asks me.

"Yes I was." I tell him.

"I'm sorry but you're also under arrest." He tells me and he forces my hand behind my back.

"Ouch." I cry out.

"Don't you fucking touch her." I hear Zachary yell from the other side.

The police officer clicks the handcuffs and pushes me towards the holding cell.

This is complete bull.

This doesn't happen in real life.

Right?

"Well, it's happening right now." My subconscious says.

He uncuffs Zachary and I before pushing us inside the cell.

"Get some rest, kids. It's gonna be a long night." He tells us with an evil grin.

I make myself comfortable, not really, on the metal bed in the cell. Zachary takes a seat beside me.

"Would this be a bad time to apologize?" He asks me.

"Don't." I say, glaring at him.