New Haircut I Gloria Zhu

New Haircut

Gloria Zhu ‘22

Alice hummed and drummed her fngers on the steering wheel. “Well, if you want, we could go to Somerset Park.” She said slowly. “But if you’re too tired, then we can just head home. I know how you need your beauty sleep.” Thomas frowned, a line creasing his forehead as he thought. “Somerset Park... that’s where we take the dogs?” At Alice’s nod of agreement, he clapped his hands and sat back in the seat with all the authority of a 5-star general in Call of Duty. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Alice rolled her eyes and turned the car towards the park. With a destination in mind, the drive few by like a summer breeze, with intermittent headlights twinkling like frefies. Thomas rolled down the window and the cool air rushed in, curling around them in a wintry embrace as Thomas’s hand rode the wind outside. At last, Alice spotted a faded sign on her left that marked the entrance to the park. After she parked the car, Thomas climbed out and walked into the park, heading towards a bench on the far side of the grass. Alice followed close behind him, her eyes focused above. “Shoot.” She cursed when she nearly walked into the fence, catching herself on her hands. “Whatcha doing?” Thomas snickered from in front of her. She swatted his arm. “Shut up,” she said without any heat. “I’m counting the stars.” “Oh yeah? How many are there?” “4,” she murmured, still tilting her head up. “Just 4.” He nodded and lifted his head up, his eyes casually searching the sky. Lifting one hand, he pointed at a light over the horizon. “5.” “That’s a plane, Thomas.” “Hmph.” They reached the bench and sat for some time, soundlessly staring out at the black grass and the remaining stars on the horizon. At last Alice leaned back and tilted her face up towards the sky. “Do you want to talk about what happened back home?” Thomas exhaled and leaned back to look up at the sky with his sister. “The short story is, I have a test in two days that I didn’t tell them about because if I did, they’d draw up a schedule and start nagging me to study every minute in the day. I know how to study; I don’t need their stupid worry!” As he talked, he stood and started pacing, his hands gesturing wildly as his frustration grew.