Chapter 29
Sadie
I remain seated on Georgia’s couch, where most of the customers sit and wait, and now I feel like one. I hate what Georgia will do to my hair--all full of colors and rainbow shit--but I see how she cuts people’s hair, and she does them successfully at least ninety percent! I could trust her to convince me in making me like the look.
To lessen my boredom, I try to write songs but it doesn’t work when I force my brain to come up with meaningful lyrics. I ended up writing whatever comes up on my mind (I can’t tell apart/ The beating on my heart/ Is this love or is this just anxiety/Making this already shitty life hard for me.) I am nervous that Georgia’s deep hatred for Anya will affect her cutting Anya’s hair but it didn’t. From here, short hair looks so good on her. It’s the haircut I always wanted but my mom told me “It’s not very holy in the eyes of God.” It’s not like I am taking off my clothes though! Or maybe hair is the clothes of my naked head. But if so, where are its genita-
“Eek!” Anya squealed when Georgia turned on the electrical hair razor. 
Georgia giggles. “Oh come on! It won’t hurt not one bit, trust me.”
Anya’s eyes remain shut and as the razor starts touching her hair, she squeals. Besides the buzz of the electronic and the squeals of the pop star, Georgia’s giggle fills the place as I giggle silently too. I can’t believe Anya fucking Moore, the pop star, is hanging out with my friend, one of her biggest haters. AND THEY ARE LAUGHING TOGETHER! Just seeing them…I start to feel like they can be good friends.
When Georgia keeps ranting about Anya last year, and how she’s probably a bad person, I was annoyed at first, but I rebutted by saying “the more you hate, the more you love.” She hated it, which is what makes it funny. One time, I bought an Anya back-to-school merch--notebook, pen, pencil, eraser, coin wallet, a small sling bag, and a T-shirt with Anya’s name on it--as a joke gift for Georgia. She said she hates it but ended up using it sometimes. She explains that she was just doing so so my money to go to waste but I keep teasing that she likes the pop star.
Seeing them now--Georgia laughing at Anya while she's screaming in fear because of the atrocity that happened to her hair, Georgia in between laughs telling Anya to keep her eyes closed so she won’t be too shocked while standing her up and take her to the bathroom--is cute. I find them cute together, somehow, and I am now finding myself jealous.
It took them almost three hours before they were out of the bathroom. I don’t know if they ever talked during those hours but I surely did. To myself, of course.
“Done!” Georgia sings while coming out of the bathroom with the biggest smile I’ve seen, and second comes out Anya, with a pink shower cap on her head and a terrified look on her face.
“What did you do to her?”
“I dye her hair!” 
“Then why did she look like she just saw someone die?”
Georgia laughs. “It’s her hair that died!” she points down at the pile of hair on the floor with the broom and dustpan she’s currently holding. I am as shocked as Anya is. 
“My hair…” The former owner of the hair spoke, her voice shaking.
I am concerned, but Georgia doesn’t seem to be. “Don’t worry~!! I swear I did you good.” After putting the hair away, she then looks at me and motions her hand to come forward. “You’re next, goth.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah right, fucker.” I stand up and walk up to Georgia as Anya sits down to 
“End of an era~!” Georgia giggles. 
“I bet you’re enjoying this,” I said in the most monotone way.
“You bet right!” I hear the giggle grow louder, and I roll my eyes again as I sit down on the chair. “Don’t worry.” I watch Georgia through the mirror as she wraps a thin sheet around my neck. “It will look good on you” Unlike Anya’s sheet, my body is surrounded by colorful floral prints.
“Blegh!” I pretend to puke (If only I could make myself do so.)
“Oh don’t be silly,” Georgia leans down on my ear, the worst word she could ever call me escapes her mouth once again. “Princess.”
“Georgia!” I shout slightly mad, to which she just laughs it off. “You’re a sadist!”
“Oh please, you’re the one who puts the ‘Sadie’ in ‘Sadie-st’ ”
“Haha, Georgia," I said while sounding bored. "So fucking witty.”
The said person chuckles. “I am proud of that.”
“You sure are.” 
She starts shooting my hair with the spray thing and combing it. I watch in the mirror as my hair is unraveling, noticing that it has grown so long--it has reached below my breast.
“You’re shocked huh?”
I just nod.
“You always tie your hair up so much that you do not notice how long your hair has gone. You probably take a bath with your hair tied on.”
“I don’t you cunt!”
Georgia puts both of her hands up. “Oh calm down, monster princess!”
“Stop it~!” My scream came out as a whine, which Georgia just laughed at. In the corner of my eye, I can see Anya looking at me and giggling. My face starts to flush. “Hey,” I whisper while facing Georgia in the mirror. She raises her eyebrows when she hums back, just focusing on combing my hair. “Can you quiet down? You’re embarrassing me in front of Anya Moore.”
Georgia finally looks up to the mirror, looking at Anya probably, but she puts her head back down. “Yeah, sure.” She never says a word after that, nor smiles.
I mentally scratch my head. Huh. Weird.
“What’s with you?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve gone quiet.”
“What about it?”
I pause for a second. “...Since I mentioned Anya.”
“You told me to keep quiet.”
“But I did not tell you to make the mood…Weird?”
“Did I?” I can see that her face starts turning pink.
“Yeah.” I turn my head to look at her. “Something wrong?”
“Nothing!” She said abruptly.
“Yeah, right,” I said sarcastically. “What’s with you and Anya?”
“Nothing!”
I cross my arms on my chest. “Yeah?”
“Yeah!”
I raise two of my eyebrows since I can’t raise only one. 
“Just turn your head back around~! Want me to cut your ears?”
I sigh and turn to face myself in the mirror. 
I hate how she just ignored the question and changed topics quickly like it’s meant to be forgotten. But I can’t do anything about it.“So,” She looks at me with a smile on her face. “Since your hair is short enough-”
“Short?!” I scrunch my eyebrows.
While my lips are curled to a sneer, Georgia’s form a smirk. “-I don’t need to cut your hair.”
“Hey!”
“Yeah, I am just kidding, babe!”
I hate it when she calls me that--in fact, I hate the word 'babe'. I still choose to ignore it because I can’t do anything. She tells me that she will only cut my hair around my neck. I agreed, even if I want them shorter. “I am not supposed to cut your hair since no one knows the length of it but I guess your mother does, so I’ll give that to you.” She told me.
I study Georgia’s face. She’s so serious and focused, careful and passionate, she’s always like this. Though when she stops to look if both sides of my hair are even, I caught her eyes accidentally making her way to Anya, and her expression changed to somewhat...sadness? Sometimes, it’s difficult to read Georgia.
“You and Anya-"
"I told you we're fine!"
"I know!" I said, taken aback by the sudden change in Georgia's tone. "I meant you two are getting along."
"Oh...Yeah." She replied, her voice sounding friendly as she always is.
"And?"
“And She’s okay."
"Okay, huh?" 
"Yeah." The corner of Georgia's lips twitch. "I find her funny. Her reactions. I find them…”
“Cute?” I said before I could even let her think of the right term.
“No!” She suddenly gets offensive. She puts two of her fingers in her mouth and makes a gagging sound. “Never.”
“Oh come on! You won’t find her cute?”
“Well I mean she is a popstar-”
“So you do find her cute.”
“Hey!”
“Just say yes or no.”
I notice her cheeks getting pink again. “Yeah, I guess.” She whispered more quietly.
“Why are you blushing?”
“No, I’m not!”
I smirk at her. "I see you in the mirror, Georgia~! Your cheeks are turning pink~” I said in a singsong.
She said nothing, but her pink cheeks are turning red.
“OMG,” I said more quietly so Anya can’t hear. “Is this the breaking news? Georgia Cuenca starting to create chemistry with Anya Moore?”
“Stop it!” She shouts her whisper. 
“What is inside the mind of that flushed face? She’s probably thinking of being the superstar’s blushing bride~”
“Hey, quit it!” I laugh while her cheeks grow red. “Disgusting! Why would you even think I’ll be with Anya?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I can just predict the future. Ayieee” If I am not wrapped in this thin fabric, I would poke at her waist.
Georgia snorts. “Yeah fuck you Sades.”
I giggled.
We are silent for a second, then Georgia says, “I’d rather date you than Anya Fuck-Moore.”
“What? Me? A mess?”
“A beautiful mess.”
I gawk at the thought. “Disgusting Georgia.”
“Ayyyiieee~!” She scoffs. “You just love it~!” Then she pokes my cheeks.
I roll my eyes, “Yeah, yeah dream what you will Georgie but it’s not gonna happen.”
She scoffs at that, then things went quiet again. But as always, Georgia ends up opening her mouth.
“What makes you say you don't wanna be with me?” She always asks me this in a teasing tone, but now she sounds serious.
I squint my eyes while my pupils move up to where Georgia is standing. “Why would you wanna know?”
“I just…Want to. Why? Are you hiding something from me? Hmm?”
"No, I’m not”
She giggles, but it doesn’t sound like one. I mean…It doesn’t sound happy…
But I just shrug. “If you’re looking for honesty,”--I assume since she sounds so serious--"you’re just…Not my type. I mean in my opinion, you’re just my trashy but cool friend.”
“What should I change in me that makes me feel likable?”
The question caught me off guard, and so is her tone. She sounds pissed? Confused? And her voice is quite loud, it’s almost a shout. I don’t know my next line of thought. Whispering, I lean my body to Georgia when she turns to her trolley. “Hey, why are you asking these weird questions?’
“I…” Georgia’s voice softens this time. I can see her gulp. “Have someone I’ve been trying to impress with,” She turns back to me and comb all my dead hair down to the ground and some even drop on my lap, which I sweep down with my hand. “and they say lesbians have better tastes than most men.” She finishes her sentence as she’s also done with the soft brush thing.
“Oh,” I start saying. “I see. Well…Just be yourself! Don’t impress people by lying! If that man hates you for acting like you, then that man doesn't deserve you. Leave him be! Major turn-off! Just be the Georgia you always are.”
She smiles lightly. “Thanks, Sades. You’re one of a kind.”
“Yeah. But if you ask me,” I whisper again, “you just have to become Anya Moore.” I laughed “Just kidding. I can’t marry Anya Moore. She won’t want me.”
Georgia lightly chuckles. “You still like her, huh?”
“Me?! Pft No! That’s just a joke!”
Georgia raises one eyebrow of hers. “Oh please! Don't fool me, Di; I can see the way you see her.”
“She’s just…Cute. And beautiful. And mesmerizing somehow…I have never seen brown eyes turn to crystal when light hits it.”
A smirk appears on my friend’s lips. “You still like her.”
“Hey, it’s not like that!”
“Sh! She’s hearing you!” She lightly taps the back of the brush on my head. “Sometimes, she’s looking.” She whispers her words again, this time, it’s near my ears.
I can feel myself blushing. Now I'm afraid to look at her in this mirror. If our eyes meet, I would die right there.
“I just…” I lowered my voice this time, “She’s an artist--a star if you will. Many people just find her that way.”
“Really?” Another one-eyebrow-raise from miss Georgia. “You can look at my brown eyes and call it eyes, but you look at Anya Moore’s eyes and you call it crystal.”
I remain speechless, but she keeps talking. “An artist or not, when you love someone, your eyes will look at them like they are the brightest star.”
I want to debunk what she’s saying but…I don’t know what to say. But Georgia quickly moves on with a smile on her lips and squeals about the next step: coloring my hair.
“I can’t do both color and perm, you know that”--I certainly don’t--"And I think it’s best I should do the colors on you first.”
“No! Give me the curls now.”
“No, you are more incognito when you color your hair.”
I groan, but it doesn’t help at all.
Georgia leads me to the bathroom. I am first met with our reflection from the oval mirror above the circular sink. I also notice the green tiles surrounding the rest of the room. Beside the sink is the white toilet and just a few feet away from it is the shower-tub combination which is covered with a plain green shower curtain.
Georgia grabs a long stool, which is just in the corner behind the door so I could sit. I lay my head on the sink as Georgia starts doing her thing. The whole process is just silent. I did not think of anything else to say, while Georgia said nothing else but give me instructions--sit down this way, stay still, trust me on this one. But whenever she stops talking, I notice that her mind is occupied by something, and I don’t know what. What’s bothering me though is she says everything to me, except this one. Why?