Under Jersey Skies

It was Friday night and I was at Jessica’s house.

“Oh, my, god, Jackie, are you serious?” said Jessica when she saw me pull a fluffy pink teddy out of my bag.
“What? Her name’s Candy, I take her everywhere with me” I said.
“You’re like 16!” said Jessica.
“So?” I said.
“You’re too old for teddies” she said.
“16 or not, Candy goes where I go, end of story” I said.

Jessica rolled her eyes and turned to put on a CD.

“No way Jess! I LOVE We The Kings!” I exclaimed.

It was Stay Young, one of my favourite We The Kings song’s.

“Yeah, they’re awesome” said Jessica, opening a packet of Oreos.
“What else you into?” she asked.
“Paramore, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Boys Like Girls, Blindside, The Academy Is…” I said.
“No way!” said Jessica through a mouthful of Oreos.

She turned and grabbed a handful of CD’s.

“Me too!” she said.
“We’ve got something in common then” I said.
“Yeah, totally, oh, which reminds me” said Jessica, bringing out a packet of black hair dye.
“No, freakin’, way” I said.
“Oh, c’mon Jackie, it would look heaps nice on you, and it’d make your eyes stand out” said Jessica.
“Dad would KILL me!” I said.
“No he wouldn’t, just tell him you needed a change” argued Jessica.
“But I’m the only blonde in my family, they love it” I said, twirling a section of hair around my finger.
“But it’d look nice on you” pleaded Jessica.
“No” I said.

Jessica looked at me with puppy eyes and pouted lips.

“Oh god Jess, don’t do that to me” I said, throwing a pillow at her.
“Please?” she said.

I rolled my eyes.

“If Dad gets mad, it’s your ass” I said.
“Is that a yes?” Jessica asked excitedly.

I nodded.

“Yay!” said Jessica.

***

I woke up the next morning and washed my face in Jessica’s bathroom to wake myself up properly. It startled me when I looked into the mirror and got reminded that I now had black hair. Wow. Jess was right. It did make my eyes stand out.

When I got back to Jessica’s room she was up and roaming around. Making our beds, grabbing fresh clothes and dancing to “Dance Floor Anthem” by Good Charlotte.

“Well c’mon Jackie, get dressed” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“We’re going shopping silly! Remember?” said Jessica.
“Oh, right, yeah, I forgot” I said, and grabbed my blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt out of my bag.

Jessica stopped all of a sudden.

“Jackie, come here” she said, holding out her hand.

I took it and she lead me over to her wardrobe. She opened the doors, one of them revealing a full length mirror on the inside of the door. Jessica pulled out a pair of hot pink skinny legged jeans, a blue t-shirt with a black skull and crossbones on it, and a pair of black canvas shoes with white bows on them.

“Here” she said, handing them to me.
“Jess, no, they’re yours” I said.
“Jackie, I can’t let you go out looking like that” said Jessica, gesturing towards my yellow t-shirt and blue jeans lying on the floor.

She pushed me down the hallway and into the bathroom.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” I asked.
“Just put them on!” said Jessica, and shut the door.

Five minutes later, I walked out wearing Jessica’s clothes. I walked back up the hallway and stood in Jessica’s doorway. Jessica stopped what she was doing and turned around.

“Wow!” she said.
“You look awesome!” she added, putting extra emphasis on the word “awesome”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, totally” replied Jessica.
“Can I see?” I said, heading for the mirror inside of Jessica’s wardrobe.
“No, no, no, no, no!” said Jessica, running over and slamming the wardrobe door shut.
“Why?” I asked.
“Cuz I’m not done” said Jessica.
“What now?” I asked.
“I’m doing your makeup” said Jessica.
“No, it’s fine, I can do it myself” I said.
“Not the way I’m gonna do it” said Jessica, pulling a chair over to her dressing table.
“Sit!” she ordered, pointing to the chair.

So I sat down.

“Close your eyes” said Jessica, and set to work.

15 minutes later, I opened my eyes.

“Whoa!” I said.

My eyeliner was really dark, and fanned out a little in the corners. My face was a little paler, but all in all, it looked nice.

“Thanks Jess” I said.
“No problem, anytime” she smiled.

She tilted her head to the side.

“What?” I asked.
“There’s still something missing” said Jessica.
“Oh my god, now what?” I said.

Jessica opened up a Hello Kitty shaped box on her dressing table and pulled out a yellow bow shaped hairclip. She clipped it into my hair.

“There you go, all done” she said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Finally”

Jessica skipped across her room and grabbed her bag.

“Now we can go, she said, holding the door open for me…

***

“Jess, c’mon, that’s gotta cost you a fortune” I said, as Jessica pulled yet another pair of skinny leg jeans off the rack and passed them to me.
“Jackie, relax, I’ve got it all under control!” she said, passing me a black studded belt.
“You better” I said, Jessica ignored me.
“Ok, so that’s pink, black, yellow, blue, green, yup, that should be enough” said Jessica.
“Oh thank god” I said.
“Oh no, I’m not done just yet, that’s just your jeans sorted” said Jessica.
“That’ll be $125” said the guy behind the counter, who had short black hair and blue eyes.
“Aww, c’mon gorgeous, you can make it cheaper than that” said Jessica, leaning forward on the counter.

She was wearing a low cut sleeveless top, which showed plenty of cleavage. Sure enough, the guy’s eyes travelled to her chest.

“Okay, $80, but not a word to anyone alright?” he said.
“Thanks!” said Jessica, who paid the money before grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the store.

“Jess!” I said.
“What?” she replied.
“You can’t do that! You know how much trouble you could get into for that?” I said.
“Jackie, relax, he won’t say a word” said Jessica.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because it’d cost him his job” she answered.

She passed me the bag with the jeans in it, and I reluctantly took it. We walked into another shop, and Jessica picked out a heap of t-shirts for me. But when she saw one wall lined up with band shirts, she added a Simple Plan, Good Charlotte and Blindside shirt to the pile. This time it came up to $150, but Jessica didn’t pull the same stunt she did before, because there was a girl behind the counter this time.

“Alright, I’m done” said Jessica.
“Wait, maybe not” she said, dashing over to a tight-fitting black hooded jacket and laying it on the counter…

***

“Thankyou” I said when Jessica and I were having something to eat in the food court.
“No problem, anytime, oh, but we’ve got one more stop before we go” said Jessica.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Follow me!” she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to the hair salon.

“Hi, Jessica LaTovey and Jackie James, I rang yesterday” said Jessica.
“Oh, yeah, come right through” said a lady behind the counter.

Jessica and I sat down in front of a couple of mirrors.

“So what’ll it be?” she asked.
“Okay, this one’s getting a hot pink side fringe, and I want my hair layered, with pink, green and blonde streaks, but make them like heaps thin, so they sorta look like highlights” explained Jessica.

I opened my mouth to object towards the pink fringe, but closed it again when I thought about it and decided I wouldn’t mind it…

***

“Bye Jess!” I said, waving to her as she and her Mum drove off.

I walked up to the front door of my house and knocked. I heard footsteps and then someone opened the door. Dad’s eyes widened when he saw me.

“What have you done to your hair?!” he snapped, snatching my backpack out of my arms and heading upstairs to my room.
“I got it dyed” I said.
“Obviously” Dad said sarcastically.
“No, Dad, please, don’t be like that” I said, as Dad threw my bag into the corner of the room.
“Like what? I send you off with that girl for one night, and you come home with black and pink hair?!” snapped Dad.
“I’m sorry!” I said.
“YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED ME FIRST!” shouted Dad.
“YOU WOULDN’T HAVE LET ME ANYWAY!” I shouted back.
“OF COURSE NOT! BECAUSE THERE ARE GIRLS OUT THERE WHO WOULD KILL FOR BLONDE HAIR, AND YOU WERE LUCKY YOU GOT IT!” roared Dad.
“I TOLD YOU, I’M SORRY!” I shouted and fell to my knees in tears.

Dad looked over at me, and suddenly it was like he was never angry.

“Come here” he said, pulling me back up off the floor and into his arms.
“I’m sorry Dad, I really am, I’ll dye it back blonde if I have to” I sobbed.
“No, don’t worry about it, keep it as it is, I’m sorry I got so worked up, it’s just that you were lucky to have blonde hair after a whole history of brunettes in our family” explained Dad.
“I know, you’ve told me that about a million times before” I laughed.
“Yeah I know” laughed Dad.

He knelt down so that his face was level with mine and cups my face with his hands.

“You look so much like your mother with dark hair, except she didn’t have a pink fringe” he snicked.

I smiled.

“I guess Mum was never wild enough to try it” I said.
“Oh, she was wild, believe me, you saw for yourself when she took off on the back of that motorbike the day she left us” said Dad, but then he looked away, with tears in the corners of his eyes.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you, your hair looks great, you’re growing up” he said, patting me on the shoulder.

He turned and walked away.

“Dad?” I said, and he stopped in the doorway.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Do you think Mum will ever come back?” I asked.

Dad sighed,

“Maybe one day” he said, then turned and left the room…