Hair Today, Trouble Tomorrow

Harristown was the kind of town where kids' hair had a life of its own.

Ollie's curls bounced past his ears like overgrown springs. Remi's waves flopped across his forehead and into his sandwich at lunch. Mike's thick mop shadowed his entire face. Jacob's hair stuck out sideways, both sides, like wings. Carson's wild tangle looked like he'd lost a fight with a hedge.

And then there was Jackie.

Her long black hair swept all the way down her back, with streaks of red running through it. Her bangs hung right into her dark brown eyes, and she didn't mind one bit. She wore her skull earrings with pride, her shark-tooth necklace clicking softly as she walked, her red-and-black striped tee tucked into ripped jeans.

"Looking good, Jack," Ollie called across the school yard.

Jackie flashed her gap-toothed grin. "Always."

Nobody in this group ever talked about haircuts. That was a rule. Unspoken. Absolute.

The Parrot Spills Everything

The Harristown Saturday Market was loud, colorful, and smelled like popcorn and cut grass.

Jackie had wandered over with Ollie, Remi, Mike, Jacob, and Carson mostly because someone said there were free samples. None of them expected trouble.

Then Ollie stopped dead.

"Don't. Move."

Across the market, between the fruit stand and a lemonade cart, stood three girls. They wore matching pink aprons. Each one had a pair of scissors pinned to the front pocket like a badge.

"Hairdressers," Remi breathed. His wavy hair flopped over his eyes as he ducked behind a pretzel stand.

A large green parrot sat on a wooden perch beside the girls' booth. A handpainted sign above it read: FREE TRIMS TODAY ONLY.

The parrot turned its orange-ringed eyes directly toward the group.

"SCRUFFY KIDS! SCRUFFY KIDS!" it screeched, loud enough to rattle every cart in the market.

Every head turned.

The three girls in pink aprons looked up.

One of them — tall, with a curly auburn ponytail — spotted Jackie immediately. She smiled. It was a very sweet, very determined smile.

She picked up her scissors.