The Faire--Chapter Eight Posted

Chapter 5
The Faire, Chapter Five

PART FIVE

The first thing Cassidy felt was her hair being pulled back. 

For a moment, she expected Audrey to start separating her hair out into strands. Her sister was famous for how good she was at braiding; not that she ever used her gifts on family. But throughout high school, Cassidy had seen Audrey and her friends strutting around with their hair styled in the most beautiful ways. Maybe that would be the silver lining to all of this. Amazing hair, even if she looked girly and childish from the neck down. 

Instead, she just felt Audrey pin her hair into place with a plastic clip, and then another. Cassidy was tempted to open her eyes, and a small twitch of her eyelids must have given away her intentions. 

“Sis, no. Eyes shut,” Audrey said, “I’m not done yet. And hold still, okay?”

Cassidy just let out a quiet huff. “Fine.” She had been holding still the entire time, but didn’t mutter more than one word in case speaking could be construed as ‘moving.’ Proving her younger sister’s point would just give the pushy girl more ammo. 

A few seconds later, Audrey circled around to her front side. Cassidy could feel the light brush of movement, which meant that her sister was now between her and the mirror. Per instructed, she kept her eyes closed, though she had no idea what Audrey was doing. Then again, Cassidy wasn’t the hair expert, so she didn’t dwell on it. 

Audrey took all the unclipped hair, gently pulled it forward, and said, “Almost done, Cassie.”

“It’s-” The instinctive correction to her full name was cut off when she both heard and felt the *snip* of scissors. Even with her eyes closed, Cassidy recognized what Audrey was going for based on the brief coolness of one of the blades. BANGS. ‘No, no, no,' Cassidy thought, sitting frozen in disbelief until the second cut snapped her out of it. “Audrey, don’t!”

“Just one more little cut, sis.” A third *snip* punctuated and brought truth to her reply. The sound of the scissors being set on the bathroom counter followed, and then Audrey said, “Done. See, that wasn’t so hard.”

Cassidy almost didn’t want to open her eyes. If she stayed in perpetual darkness, then she wouldn’t have to face what was waiting for her in the light. But, fueled by curiosity and a flicker of hope that it wouldn’t be as bad as the style she used to wear once upon a time, she opened her eyes. 

A second later, her mouth was open as well, jaw slightly dropping at the sight of herself in the mirror. Not only were the bangs reminiscent of her much younger self, but there were also two pink butterfly clips on her head that matched the rest of her ensemble. The fairy outfit, however, was something she could take off and be done whenever she wanted. But it would take forever to grow her hair back out and undo the kind of damage that her sister achieved in a matter of seconds. 

Audrey was standing off to the side, looking her over and clearly misinterpreting the expression on her face. “Cute, right? It’s such a good look on you!”

Was she being serious?! “No!” Cassidy exclaimed. “Audrey, I don’t want bangs. You just- you just cut my hair! Why didn’t you ask first?

“You said I could do your hair,” Audrey shrugged, “Besides, I think I did a good job.”

“A good job of making me look like a fucking tween!”

“Wasn’t that the point?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“But nothing, sis. If you didn’t want bangs, you should have said something.”

Cassidy was speechless. Fucking speechless. When would she have had a chance to object to her hair getting cut? Audrey did it with no warning, and while her eyes were closed. And Cassidy did say something. After the second cut, however. It’s not like it would have helped anything if Audrey had listened. At that point, the only option would have been to even things out anyway. 

Her biggest issue was with how nonchalant her sister was being about the whole thing. What kind of girl cuts another girl’s hair without permission? But Cassidy’s attempts to lecture her fell on deaf ears. Audrey was too focused on the fact that each minute at home was another minute lost at the Faire. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” That’s about all Cassidy got. Then Audrey was ushering her out of the bathroom and then out of her room a minute later. 

Without her phone and wallet, and in basically only an accessorized leotard, Cassidy felt somewhat naked as she walked through the house. The thick padding between her legs made her movements slightly more awkward, and she wondered if there was a way to remove the ‘protection’ Audrey mentioned was for gymnastics. But the whole costume was temporary, so Cassidy could suck it up for a short while. The fresh bangs brushed and tickled her forehead and eyebrows, which only served to distract her further and add to the embarrassed and vulnerable state she was in. 

Cassidy didn’t even question it when Audrey said she would drive. After all, their plan to buy a cheaper ticket would fall apart if anyone saw the little fairy girl in the driver’s seat. The older sister’s mind was so frazzled at this point that she didn’t bother pointing out that nobody would be paying close attention to the parking lot. She was still hung-up on the haircut, caught somewhere between ‘pissed’ and ‘pouty.’ The whole thing was frustrating and unfair.

And, with all of that on her mind, Cassidy failed to think about one important detail:

Neither she nor Audrey grabbed a change of clothes on the way out of the house.

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