That little weasel is out of jail. Can you believe it? They just let him out to walk around free and plot another perverted murder. At least now everyone knows about him and it’s not so likely that anyone will be suckered into being alone with him the way Kristen was. We found out his dad’s address. One of Kristen’s Honor Society friends who’s a TA looked it up in the school records. I heard some kids at school talking about egging the house this weekend. I’d go with them in a minute, but Brad is taking me to Seattle.
School is almost over and I’ll be a senior. Less than two weeks to go. It’s really hectic, especially Smith’s class. He assigns all this stuff, like English is the only class we have. I also got a good summer job in the port office. I’ll answer the phone and collect moorage money from people for their yachts. It pays ten dollars an hour, so I could make enough over the summer to buy a cheap car. Trish says she thinks she can afford insurance on the Granada now, so I can be added to the policy. I’m pretty excited about it. It’s part of why I made the decision I did.
I haven’t told him, so it will be a big surprise for Brad. I hope he likes it. It’s a huge change for me and I’m pretty nervous about it, but I have an appointment after school today to get my hair cut and dyed back to my natural color. I can’t believe I’m doing it. Weird hair has been my trademark since middle school. It’s what people expect from me. Maybe it’s part of what Brad likes about me and he’ll be mad that I changed it, but it was part of the deal for the job. Our relationship shouldn’t be about hair anyway.
I was lucky to get the interview. A lot of people applied, but I got some teachers to write letters. Smith wrote a really good one. I heard that he doesn’t think Corey did it. I don’t blame him too much and I still like him. Teachers are kind of like ministers. It’s their job to be nice, even to slime balls.
It was pretty easy to talk to them at the port and I know I can do a good job. So I’m sitting there in the office answering their questions, the port manager and the lady who runs the office, and it feels pretty good. They seem to like me okay, and I can tell it’s winding down, when the guy looks me in the eye and says, “How important is your hair?”
And I had to decide in that instant, because I could tell from the way he asked that I probably wouldn’t get the job with maroon hair. So I said, “I’m planning to change it back to its original color. It’s kind of brown. This color is just a phase I’ve been going through, to be different. I guess I’ve outgrown it.”
So they gave me the job and I have to go through with the big change. It took a while, but I found a picture of myself with my natural hair color to take to the beauty shop. It’s funny. While I was looking, I found all these pictures of Kristen and me in the drawer. We look so different. I mean she’s all girly and preppy and I’m all punk and rebellious-looking. She’s been gone for two months and I just keep missing her more. The thing I heard is that when people die, sometimes the people closest to them start acting like them. Like their brothers or sisters take on some of their personality traits to fill in the empty spot they left. Maybe that’s why I’m changing my hair. I bought some new clothes the other day too, including something to wear to the wedding. It was like she was with me, helping me choose, and what I bought is a lot more normal-looking than what I usually wear.
Brad may not recognize me on Saturday.