Grape Bubblegum

by Beth Bowland

  Title Page

  Grape Bubblegum

  Beth Bowland

  ...

  An imprint of

  Musa Publishing

  Copyright Information

  Grape Bubblegum, Copyright © Beth Bowland, 2012

  All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

  ...

  This e-Book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places or events, the names, characters, incidents, and locations within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead persons, businesses, or events. Any similarity is coincidental.

  ...

  Musa Publishing

  633 Edgewood Ave

  Lancaster, OH 43130

  www.musapublishing.com

  ...

  Published by Musa Publishing, October 2012

  ...

  This e-Book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. No part of this ebook can be reproduced or sold by any person or business without the express permission of the publisher.

  ...

  ISBN: 978-1-61937-275-7

  ...

  Editor: Susan Sipal

  Cover Design: Kelly Shorten

  Interior Book Design: Coreen Montagna

  Dedication

  For my daughter Shannan

  Chapter 1

  “OH MAN,” I WHISPERED, staring at myself in the mirror. “What was I thinking?” Strands of wet, purple hair covered my trembling hands, and more lay in the sink. I closed my eyes and prayed for this to be a bad dream, then slowly opened them. “Oh. My. Gawd. Mom’s going to kill me!”

  It had seemed so easy: mix chemicals, apply, wait, and then rinse. Four steps, only four steps. How’d I mess up?

  I leaned against the sink, knocking a hand mirror onto the floor. The sound of shattering glass ricocheted against the tile floor. “Crap!”

  “Bea,” Mom yelled. My heart stopped beating. “Beatrice, what did you break?”

  I grabbed the hair color box and stuffed the gloves and empty bottles inside. My mother’s footsteps pounded up the stairs. The bathroom air thickened around me.

  “Uh…I knocked over the hand mirror.” I leaned against the closed door.

  “Be careful cleaning it up.”

  “Okay.”

  At the sound of her heels tapping down the wood stairs, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  After carefully picking up the broken glass, I conditioned and rinsed my hair. I surveyed the damage. Gawd, I’d qualified for Idiot of the Year. My eyes watered as I gently removed the clumps of hair from the sink, wrapped them up in a paper towel, and discreetly stuffed them in an empty tissue box. Choking back a sob, I stomped it all down with my foot, squishing my failure deeper into the trash can.

  First, I should’ve known not to put anything in my hair that smelled like the ammonia Mom used to mop the kitchen floor. Second, the “For Professional Use Only” typed in bold letters should’ve warned me.

  The doorbell rang as I glared back at my reflection.

  “Bea,” Mom hollered, “Shannan’s here.”

  I cracked the bathroom door. “Tell her to come on up.” My yell was followed by her footsteps on the stairs.

  “Hey, Bebe, where are you?” Shannan said in the hallway.

  “I’m in the bathroom. Get in here, hurry.”

  “Ew! No way, girl.”

  “I’m not using it.” I opened the door. “I have to show you my hair,” I whispered.

  Shannan saw me, and her eyes got three times bigger. “Whoa!”

  “Shh, before my mom comes up here.”

  “What did you do to your hair?”

  “I tried to color it.”

  “Why would you try to do it yourself?”

  As my best friend since sixth grade, she should know why. “Because I’m a dork,” I said. “Yesterday, while Mom and I were out shopping at the mall, I saw Mitzie in that really expensive salon getting highlights, and I got jealous.”

  Shannan slapped her forehead and sighed.

  “When we left the mall, we went to the grocery store, and I noticed a beauty supply place next to it. So, while mom shopped, I snuck over and bought the kits.”

  Shannan straightened up. “Kits.” She glanced into the trash can, stared at the two smashed boxes and then glared at me. “Why did you buy two?”

  “I couldn’t decide which color I wanted. After I tried the first one, it was too light. So I used the second one, and that’s when disaster struck. It turned purple and started falling out.”

  Shannan’s mouth formed an O as her eyes glazed over. “All of this because of Mitzie.”

  I nodded, and my bottom lip quivered.

  Shannan touched my hair, then pulled her hand back as if it were hot. “I can’t believe you jacked your hair up like this the day before the first day of school! You should’ve called me. Of all the times to try something new.” She chuckled as her big, brown eyes glistened and her naturally dramatic eyebrows rose. “You’re supposed to be cute, tomorrow. Hello, Spencer, cutie-pie.”

  “Help.”

  Shannan examined my hair. “Honestly, Bebe, it’s not that bad. It looks more like burgundy than purple.” She pulled up different sections. “I think it just looks like you lost a lot of hair, because it’s wet. Let me try to even it out for you. Get some scissors.”

  “No way! My mom’s already going to kill me. I can’t cut my hair.”

  “You might as well trust me, girlfriend.” She tilted her head to one side. “Anything will be an improvement.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You’re all ready for tomorrow. You have your micro braids and everything.” I reached up and twirled them around my fingers. “They look good. Joel is gonna drool all over you.”

  “I can’t wait to see him. I can’t believe that big goofball spent the entire summer at basketball camp.” She shook her head around, allowing the skinny braids to fall into her face. “It took six hours for my sister to finish my hair.”

  “Dang, six hours? I couldn’t sit still that long.” I looked at myself in the mirror again and puckered. “What if Joel tries to kiss you?”

  “Bea, you’re so random.” Her rich, caramel-colored complexion turned a rosy hue. “What if Spencer tries to kiss you?”

  “I’d probably faint, but with my ugly hair, I won’t have to worry about that.” I sighed.

  “Does your mom even know you’re up here coloring it?”

  “Heck, no! She would never let me. Besides, she would’ve made me go to her friend Kathy for a five-dollar cut.”

  Shannan motioned for me to have a seat in the vanity chair. “Come on, Bebe, let me fix you up. You know my sister taught me how to style hair.”

  I found the scissors in the drawer. She began snipping here and there, trying to even out my broken-off hair.

  “Did Mitzie see you at the mall?” Shannan asked while she continued combing and pulling my hair between her fingers, measuring each piece to another portion of hair before cutting again.

  “I hope not. I’ve only talked to her once since the last day of school.” A chunk of hair fell in my lap. I closed my eyes. “Since Daddy was one of the assistant coaches during the summer city football camp, I helped out by passing out water and stuff. Well, one day after practice she showed up while I was sitting on the bench talking to Spencer.”

  “I don’t
remember you telling me about that,” Shannan said as she gave me her infamous oo-la-la face.

  “It was the day you guys left to drive to North Carolina to visit your grandma. It was also the day I smarted off to my mother, so she put my phone on lockdown.”

  “Well,” she said, as she continued to pull and snip. “What happened?”

  “She came and plopped down right between us and went on and on about her spending the summer abroad touring France.”

  Shannan stopped combing my hair. “Yeah, she had some modeling gig over there.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Or so she says.”

  Shannan laughed.

  “After Spencer got up and joined the other players, she was all like, ‘Do you like him?’ So I said, ‘Yeah.’ And then she says, ‘Hmm, me too,’ then raises her eyebrows and walks off.”

  “That’s it?” Shannan shrugged. “I’ve never heard her say anything about liking him.”

  “She only likes him because I like him. You know how scandalous she is.” I swung my leg up under me and sat on it. “Remember the time her best friend won that pageant and she got jealous? Then she all of a sudden wanted to be a pageant queen.”

  “Yep, and from that point on Mitzie won just about every pageant in our city, county, and the state of Ohio. And her friend never even made the finals again.”

  I nodded. “Well, Auntie says her beautician said that Mitzie’s mom bribed the judges. She promised them that her plastic surgeon husband would suction their fat away for practically nothing.”

  “Ha! I believe that. Her shopaholic mom is the queen of shady.” Shannan brushed some hair off my shoulders. “There,” she proclaimed. “All finished.”

  I slowly turned to face the mirror. And then I smiled. My hair was still shoulder length, with long, loose layers throughout. The missing chunks were barely noticeable. “Wow, Shan. You did a great job. It actually looks good.”

  She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “What? You doubted my skills?”

  “I feel so much better.” I hugged her tight. “What would I do without you?”

  “Well, I don’t want to be the only one looking cute.”

  Later, there was a knock on my bedroom door. My mother poked her head in. “Hey girls, what cha doing?”

  I froze.

  “Oh, nothing,” Shannan said. “Just listening to music and talking.”

  Mom gave me an inquisitive look. My palms started to sweat.

  “Beatrice, did you cut your hair?” Strangely, she seemed not to notice the new hue.

  “Uh, yeah, I just trimmed off some split ends.”

  “Well, I think you went a little overboard with the trimming. You know you really shouldn’t try to do your own hair. You’re just setting yourself up for a disaster.” She stared at my hair again, her eyes squinting behind the thick lenses of her ancient frames. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.”

  “Yeah, I feel fine.”

  “Next time, you can let Kathy cut it for you.” Mom ran her fingers through her short, boyish hairstyle that she’d worn since forever. “She does a fine job.”

  “Sure, Mom.”

  Beside me, Shannan giggled. I slapped at her leg to hush her.

  “Your dad and I are going out for a while. Dinner’s ready downstairs if you girls are hungry.”

  After Mom was safely out of earshot, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  Shannan fell back against the headboard, laughing.

  “How in the world did she not notice this hair color?” Was my hair fiasco some sort of omen of my school year?

  “Hey, where’s your laptop?” Shannan asked. “I need to send an email.”

  I pointed to the nightstand. “What are you wearing tomorrow?” I asked.

  She opened the laptop and started typing. “I dunno yet. How do you spell ‘conundrum’?”

  “C—o—nun—dr—u—m. The real conundrum is how I’m going to get Spencer to like me and not Mitzie.”

  “Nerd,” Shannan said with a chuckle. “Let’s go back to my house so you can help me pick out something that what will catch Joel’s eye.”

  As we walked towards her house, we continued talking about school.

  “My mother says I gotta become more involved in school activities this year,” I said.

  “Yeah, you should. I’ve been telling you that since sixth grade.”

  “But what?”

  “Well, lots of stuff, you could—” Shannan stopped in her tracks.

  Standing right in our path was a large, white and beige beast of a dog. His head was the size of a basketball, and his mouth looked as if it had two rows of teeth, which he didn’t seem to mind showing.

  Grrrrrrr…woof…woof…grrrrrrr, he snarled. Long strings of white saliva dripped from the sides of his massive mouth. Where’d he come from? And why the heck wasn’t he locked behind a fence?

  I’d always been terrified of dogs. “SSShhhhaannan, wh-whaa-what should we do?” I inched closer to her.

  “I know that dog better move out of my way, or he’ll wish he’d never crossed my path!” she whispered. “I’m going to hit him with my bag, Bebe. Get ready to run, okay?”

  “I don’t think my feet will move fast enough. I may trip or something.”

  “Bea! Cut it out. Now get ready.” Shannan slowly pulled down the right strap of her backpack. I took a deep breath and prepared to run.

  “Sunshine. Here, boy,” a woman’s voice said. “Where are you, Sunshine? Come to Momma, baby.”

  We watched as the dog’s ears perked up, and he stopped growling at us.

  “Here, Sunshine! Want a treat, baby? Come on!”

  A lady in a floral dress came from behind the house with a leash in her hand. The dog yipped a greeting and ran towards her, wagging his short, stubby tail so hard his entire butt shook. She went over to him, and the dog rolled on his back, tongue lolling, as if he were a harmless puppy.

  “Aww, Sunshine, where’ve you been? Momma missed ya. You’re a bad boy to make Momma nervous.”

  She put the dog on the leash and gave us a dirty look as she eyed the book bag that Shannan clutched in the strike position.

  “You gals shouldn’t go around harassin’ innocent dawgs. That’s not nice.”

  “Lady, that dog was getting ready to attack us. He should be kept behind a fence,” Shannan said.

  “Sunshine wouldn’t hurt a flea. He was at the house enjoying his birthday party.” We stared at her in disbelief as she continued, “Dawgs are precious creatures, and you ought to treat them with respect.”

  Sunshine lunged at us and growled.

  Shannan and I took off running around the corner.

  “Can you believe that crazy lady?” Shannan started mimicking her. “Dawgs are preciousssss and you must respek them.” She crossed her eyes and shook her head back and forth. “Respek dem, I said!”

  I laughed so hard I thought I’d pee my pants.

  “Who throws birthday parties for their dogs?” Shannan said.

  “Weird, huh? I think that lady goes to my church.” I listened for a moment. “Do you hear that?”

  Shannan nodded. “Music. I think she’s really having a party for that dog.”

  “No way…let’s go see.”

  The dog lady’s house was an older home covered with ivy. An old, chain-link fence, barely visible due to all the overgrown trees and bushes covering it, surrounded her backyard. I could tell from looking in her yard that she loved gnomes. A fake deer and rabbit stood around the perimeter of her garden. We eased up and made our way closer to the fence line.

  “Ouch!” Shannan fought a vine with prickly leaves on it.

  “Listen to the kiddie music,” I whispered to Shannan. I inched closer to the fence. We could see pretty clearly from where we were standing, but still didn’t want to get too close for fear of being spotted. There she was, the dog lady, decked out in a confetti-covered hat, assisting several of the elderly women present with their paper plates.
/>   “Who are those people?” whispered Shannan.

  “I don’t know those other women, but I know that I’ve seen her before. I think her last name is McGinnis,” I whispered back.

  Shannan scrunched down closer to the ground.

  “There’s Sunshine, with a bright purple bandana around his neck and a matching party hat,” she said.

  We watched Sunshine squat down and take a dump. One of the smaller dogs walked over and sniffed his butt.

  “Oh, Sunshine. Baby, baby. You mustn’t mess up your yard. We have guests, sweetie. Junior!” she yelled out. A kid shuffled outside to her. He was around our age, dressed in a plaid shirt and crisp, starched jeans with white socks and black sneakers.

  “Junior, brang me ma pooper scooper.”

  “All right,” the boy rolled his eyes and disappeared into the garage.

  “Who’s that?” Shannan asked.

  “I dunno. I’ve not seen him at church with her. Maybe he’s just visiting for the weekend.”

  “Thank ya, honey,” the dog lady said as she began to clean up the poop. After she dumped the poop in the trash can, she ushered everyone into the house for cake.

  The boy, looking down towards the ground, walked around the yard with his hands deep inside his pants pockets. He went over to a card table where several purses were laid. He nervously glanced around before removing a wallet from one of the purses. He huddled close to the ground out of sight of the dog lady and her guests. However, we had a clear view of him from where we were hiding. He held the wallet against his chest as he reached inside and removed some money. Once again, he scanned around to see if anyone was watching before he quickly reached up, dropped the wallet back into the purse, and walked away.

  “He just stole that money!” Shannan whispered as we eased our way closer to the fence.

  The boy walked over to a tree and sat down. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  I felt something crawling on my leg, and when I looked down, I saw a monster-sized, hairy-legged spider making its way up my pants.

  “Argghhh,” I screamed, which caused Shannan to jump and fall into the vine with prickly leaves.

  Frantically, I tried to kick the spider away. Shannan grabbed me to pull herself up, making us both fall back into the plant trap. The spider was now on my sneaker.