Love Block

"Dammit, Rei," I swore, cutting off yet another chunk of my hair in the girls' bathroom. It had taken me years to grow it out, and, in the space of two hours, it had been lost on a bet. "I can't believe you got me into this! I mean, it's one thing for you to send yourself off, but me too? Why? Why?" I wasn't really all that mad, but, man, I was getting there. She had teh habit of getting me into so much trouble. . . And I just went right along with it.
Rei giggled and I couldn't help but think she was an idiot as she gleefully chopped her silverish-gold hair--one of her many colors she'd dyed it recently--off. "Like I'd do this by myself," she said, grinning at me through the mirror.
I paused in butchering my own hair and watched her long tresses disappear and knew I was the only one mourning the loss. Agitated, I went back to hacking away at my scalp, keeping my brownish-red hair as long as I could while hoping to still pass for a boy. It was bad enough that most people thought I had a guy's personality, but now I was trying to look like one too!
I sighed. "Tell me why again? Why you agreed that the both of us would stupidly cut off our hair and stupidly transfer, and stupidly pretend to be boys for six months." I stopped cutting again and gave her an exasperated look. I wondered if she knew how much she wore me out. "Did I mention how stupid this is?"
She glanced at me, still smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world. She probably didn't. "Huh? When did you hear six months? I could have sworn I made the bet for a year. You know the bet was until we finish school? As in graduation?" My oddball friend set her scissors down in the sink and ran her hands through her now-shortened hair. Well, most of it was short. Sticking with true Reina fashion, she'd been unique and left the underside longer so that it touched her shoulders. I watched as she took out some gell she had in her backpack and started spiking the shorter strands out, leaving her bangs down so they covered her purplish eyes. Stupid contacts. "And I think you mentioned how stupid this was about maybe . . hmmm. . . around twenty times." She stuck her tongue out playfully. "Jeez, Pillow. You act like this is the dumbest thing I have ever made us do."
I sighed again, feeling martyred and grabbed the scissors, pulling the remainder of my hair back, cutting it off in one fell swoop. "No," I said. "This is the dumbest thing I've let you do." Dropping my detached ponytail into the garbage, I turned back to my reflection.
The curls that made up my hair sat in a frizzy mess around my face, so I grabbed a brush and dragged it through the mass before I did some detail work with those scissors so it looked at least half decent.
"Dammit," I muttered. "I'm gonna have to actually straighten my hair from now on." After I had wet it down, I trimmed it so it would frame my face in spiky strands. When I had dried it straight, I was happy to see that it looked pretty good for a hack job. I was not happy, however, to see that my once-middle-of-the-back hair now barely reached past my chin.
I sighed again, mourning the loss. "How did I let you talk me into this?"
"Because you owed me for that one little incy-wincy thing you pulled during our Sophomore year. You remember, right?" Ever the best friend, Reina didn't let me forget anything. The jerk even had a creepy smirk plastered on her face that I knew all to well. "Well, that's besides the point. We should change our clothes now. The bus for the school will be here soon."
I watched Rei grab her backpack off the sink--in my frustration, I hadn't even realized she had moved it there--and pull out a pile of random clothes. Not shy in the least, she stripped before I could even turn around. Instead, I was dealing with the roll of bandages she'd thrown my way.
"Use this to tie yourself down," she said, still smiling, continuing to dress. She began to hum off-key.
I frowned at the nude-colored bandages. If she thought this was going to hide my rack in any way, she was sincerely mistaken. And if it wasn't going to hide mine, it certainly wouldn't go far with hers. But we would try at least.
Sucking in a breath, I stripped, pulled off my bra, said a little goodbye to all that was woman-like (not that I was to begin with, but still) and wrapped the bandages tightly around my chest, flattening my breasts as best I could. With any luck, this would shrink them some. After securing it in place with the metal clippies that came standard, I shrugged into my crisp, white button-up--which I had brought on a hanger--and black slacks that made up part of the uniform.
While buttoning up my shirt, I looked in the mirror. "Heeey," I sang. "This doesn't look half bad. This might actually work for once." I looked at Rei and let out a low whistle as she stuck on her tie. "Nice. Damn, if I didn't know you were a girl, I'd date you." I stared at myself in the mirror, turning this way and that and smiled jokingly as I threw on my black blazer, leaving out the tie. "Hey, do you think this makes my butt look fat?"
Rei stared at me like I was an idiot and then raised a hand and whacked me on the back of the head. "We're guys now! Don't say such girlish things. And, no, it doesn't." I watched in amusement as she examined her own reflection and assessed herself and knew she was wondering the same thing.
"You know, this might be the only time I actually where this uniform like this. It's too neat, you know," she said as she rubbed the back of her head, messing with her already messy hair. I noticed she was sneaking glances at me, and when that creepy smirk went over her face again, I braced myself. "Hey, what if we pretend to be gay? You're a hot guy, I'm a hot guy! We'll make a hot gay couple!" She started laughing like crazy as I stared at her in horror. I had nothing against gay people, personally, but I did not want to become one, pretend or not. Suddenly, she stopped laughing out of nowhere. But that was Reina, abrupt and blunt. "No. Just kidding. Come on." She grabbed her bag and headed out of the bathroom.
Grabbing my own bag, I shoved in the scissors and paused, giving myself another once-over in the mirror. Hot guy, huh? I smiled then changed it to the crooked smirk I'd seen so many guys do. Oh, yeah. I was hot. Feeling good about myself for once, I followed Rei out of the bathroom. I could get used to this. Too bad it was only six months. I bet Rei and I could be models.
Who knew I would be regretting those very thoughts in less than four hours?