Boring Girls(27)

“Your room is great,” I said.

“Thanks. It took awhile to convince my mom to let me paint it this colour,” she said.

We got started by bleaching Fern’s hair in the bathroom. She sat on the toilet lid and I wore plastic gloves and tried to get as much of her hair covered with bleach as I could. It was a difficult job; not only because I had never done it before, but also because Fern’s hair was so bloody long. She had roots growing in, which were dark brown, and she told me to do the roots first so they’d have longer to lighten than the ends, which were already pretty light. I was a bit nervous. I didn’t want to totally ruin Fern’s hair.

After inspecting herself in the bathroom mirror, she deemed my job thorough, and we went back into her bedroom to wait for the bleach to do its stuff.

“Play me something on your guitar,” I suggested.

She giggled nervously and picked it up, sitting on her bed and resting the guitar across her lap. “I’m not very good,” she warned. “I have a book I was trying to learn from.”

Fern played a few chords and then launched into a slowed-down, faltering version of the opening guitar riff from “I Ignore Your Screams” by DED. Flawed as it was, it was totally recognizable, and I was thrilled.

“That’s great!”

“Eventually I want to get an amp and some effects pedals,” she said. “But I can’t afford any of that right now. It sounds so stupid like this.”

“Will your mom let you have an amp?”

“It won’t be too loud. I can listen over headphones,” she said. I was impressed at her knowledge of guitar gear.

“Can you write music?” I asked.

“I want to eventually, but I kinda want to get better at playing before I try,” Fern replied. “I want to be in a band one day.”

“I told you I’m starting to write lyrics,” I said. “We should totally start a band someday.”

“Yeah, we should. You’ll have to show me some of the stuff you’re writing. Can you sing?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

xXx

When Fern went back to the bathroom to rinse the bleach out of her hair in the shower, her mother invited me to have a cup of tea with her in the kitchen. Her mom was older than my parents were, with grey hair, but not old enough to be a grandmother type. She’d made some green tea, and I sat across from her at the table.

“I’m happy to see that Fern’s made a friend,” she said, sliding a plate of cookies across the table towards me. “Especially one she has things in common with.”

“We like the same bands,” I said, eating one of the cookies.

“You’re dying your hair black?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I think that will look very striking on you. You have a very light complexion, you’ll look quite vampy.”

The kitchen door opened and in skulked a tall dark-haired guy. His eyes flicked from me to his mother. “Hey.”

“Frederick, this is Rachel, Fern’s friend. Rachel, this is Fern’s big brother, Frederick.”

“Hi,” I said, eyeing him. So this was the big brother that Fern apparently was having sex with, and that was also a member of the devil worshipping coven. He smiled politely at me and took a cookie from the plate. He didn’t seem like a devil worshipper, even though he was wearing black clothes. Of course, how would I be able to recognize one? Should he be wearing a hooded robe, hands dripping with peacock blood?

“Do you guys have any pets?” I asked, realizing too late that it was a suspicious question.

Frederick and his mother looked at each other. “We used to have a dog,” his mother said, “but she died last year.”

“Yeah, she was hit by a car,” Frederick said. “We still have a cat, though. She’s lurking around here somewhere I guess.” Abandoning the subject, he addressed his mother. “Can I use the car tonight?”

“Once your dad gets home and we’ve had dinner,” his mother agreed. “Rachel, will you be joining us for dinner?”

“I think I should be getting home after my hair is done,” I said. “But thank you.”

xXx

Fern blow-dried her hair after she came out of the shower, and it definitely was closer to white than it had been before. The only problem was the roots, where the hair had been darker, had a slightly orangey hue to them. But Fern assured me that she could brush it to hide the orange parts, and that next time she bleached it, it would look more consistent. It did look really nice, and I was proud of myself. And it was my turn next.