365 Days (14 page)

Anyway, I plucked up the courage and dyed my hair this afternoon. I got black dye all over the sink, so tried to wipe it off with Mum’s pink bath sponge and got black dye all over that as well, so then tried to wash the sponge clean and got black dye all in the sink again! I finally got most of the black out of the sink, and off the sponge, and off the floor, and off the hand-towel I used to wipe the black from the floor, and presented myself to Mum and Dad in the lounge. I got a better reaction than I was expecting! Dad just rolled his eyes at me and disappeared back behind his Sunday paper and Mum said it looked ‘nice’. Nice? I don’t want it to look nice! I want it to look cool.

Got moaned at for making such a mess in the bathroom but I think, bearing in mind how funky my hair looks, it was worth the two hours of grumbling I got.

Took a picture of myself with my phone and sent it to Han. Got a reply an hour later, which just said, ‘OMFG!!!’ and lots of smilies, so sounds like it meets with her approval!

Monday 25 June

Everyone was admiring my new black hair at school today! Ems said it looked really cool. Han said, ‘I think she looks really sexy now, don’t you?’ and I nearly spat my Coke out. I don’t think anyone took what she said in the wrong way ’cos they all agreed with her! Matty said I looked ‘hot’ and that if I’d had black hair when I’d been seeing Ben, it would have driven him crazy, ’cos he loves girls with black hair. I noticed Han’s jaw clench a little bit when she said that, but I just laughed at what Matty said, and took another slug of Coke.

Tuesday 26 June

Now I’ve got funky hair, I want to go even further, so I think I might get a tattoo done. I reckon Han will fancy me even more with a tattoo. I’ve got loads of design ideas in my head, but I’m a bit worried ’cos I’ve got a low pain threshold. If I prick my thumb with a pin, I feel sick. So how would I cope with a thousand needle pricks? Figured I’ll think about a design first, then worry about the pain later.

Wednesday 27 June

Saw this really fit girl with a tattoo on her arm while I was walking to school this morning. It’s gotta be fate! I decide one day to get a tattoo and then I see a fit girl with one the very next day? Fate. And it proves that all the fit girls have tattoos!!!

Thursday 28 June

I was told to ‘buck up my ideas’ in Spanish class today. I was staring out of the window and Mrs. Irwin told me to ‘stop daydreaming about whatever boy was in my head and get on with my work.’ I was, in actual fact, wondering what Han looked like naked, but that’s neither here nor there.

Friday 29 June

Was supposed to be playing netball in PE today but the thought of standing under a net with my arms in the air while a bunch of muscle-bound schoolgirls bear down on me at speed left me cold, so I told Mr. Meadows, the PE teacher, that I had my period and couldn’t possibly partake in the game. Mr. Meadows hates it when we girls tell him we have our periods; you can see him visibly shrinking before your very eyes, so we all use it as an excuse and it works every time!

The only downside was that he made me sort out piles of sweaty games shirts, including Pippa Goldsmith’s, which could easily be fashioned into some sort of tent in the event of an emergency. Peeked out of the window and saw my classmates puffing and sweating up and down the court, though, and knew I’d definitely made the right decision.

Saturday 30 June

Went over to Han’s for the day. Her dad had taken to his bed ’cos his spastic colon had flared up again during breakfast
and her mum was crashing pans about or something in the kitchen, so we stayed in the lounge and watched
America’s Next Top Model
from about three years ago. I told her I wanted a tattoo and she told me I was very brave, which I didn’t really want to hear. Now I have to decide what I want done, and where I want it done. Han says something on the small of my back or on my shoulder would be cool (and it would mean Mum and Dad wouldn’t see it). I think I want something Gothic, like a black cross, or some barbed wire, or a crow or something. Well, maybe not a crow, but something black, anyway.

Sunday 1 July

If I have a black tattoo it might just look like a dirty splodge. I don’t want anyone to think I don’t wash. Maybe I’ll go for something bright instead, like a red rose or something.

Monday 2 July

Red roses aren’t very Gothic, are they?

Tuesday 3 July

Thought about having my initials tattooed, rather than an actual item. I drew a design with my initials, CMA, in spiky italics but it’s difficult to see what it says.

Re-designed my initials so that they’re not so Gothic, but now, whichever way round you hold it, the design looks like a map of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road. I give up! Thought about designing something with my initials mixed up with Han’s initials. But that would probably weird her out.

Wednesday 4 July

Had another vocabulary test in French but spent most of the hour doing my design. Think maybe I’ve cracked it at long last. It’s a design of some hands grasping a burning cross. Can’t wait to show Hannah.

Got 13 out of 50 for the vocabulary test!

Thursday 5 July

Showed Hannah my design during lunch break. She giggled and asked, ‘Why do you want a tattoo of a pair of dogs’ paws holding the Olympic torch?’ and then wondered why I was miffed.

Looked at the design again when I got home from school. I suppose, if you turn it round, it does look rather like the Olympic torch, but the hands do NOT look like dogs’ paws.

Friday 6 July

Walked home with Alice from school today. She asked me over to her house tonight, but I turned her down. I suppose I could have gone ’cos Han said she was going to visit her Gran for the evening, but she also said she’d be back early enough to have a quick (and she added very naughty) MSN chat, and I didn’t want to miss her. Once I get to Alice’s house it’s sometimes hard to get away without being rude, so I kinda thought it would be best not to go at all.

I thought Alice looked really disappointed, but I soon managed to stop feeling guilty about it when I logged on later and had THE most fabulous MSN sex chat with Han!!

Saturday 7 July

Went onto the Internet this evening to look up tattoo designs. Strayed into a website that talked about piercings and was intrigued to see I could have something called my labia pierced. I thought a labia was a type of car. Evidently, it’s not. Ouch!!

Sunday 8 July

Decided to get the tattoo done during the summer holidays as:

1. It will give me more time to decide on a design, and
   
2. I won’t be wearing my school uniform over the fresh tattoo. Acrylic can be merciless against raw skin.
   

Monday 9 July

Great Aunt May has come to stay until next Monday!! I heard her talking to Mum in the kitchen, telling her she needed something to ‘help her along’. I was relieved later to see Mum pass her a bowl of prunes, and not a spliff.

HRBH looked like she’d been crying today. I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but I figured she was just hormonal ’cos she gets like that sometimes. Decided not to say anything to her. When she’s like this, all I have to do is pass the time of day with her and she bites my head off.

Tuesday 10 July

Great Aunt May was at the breakfast table pushing prunes around her bowl and muttering something about being ‘loose’. I didn’t want to know what she was on about, so grabbed my toast and my school bag and left the house early before I had chance to find out.

Why do old people always talk about their bowels? They’re obsessed! When they’re not talking about not being able to go, they’re talking about not being able to stop. Why is it okay for them to do this? If
I
did it, I’d get the thin-lipped treatment from Mum and an order to not be crude. Life’s so unfair sometimes!

Wednesday 11 July

Han came round to our house after school ’cos we’d arranged to do some homework together. Great Aunt May was sitting in her usual chair in the lounge when Han stomped into the room (she was wearing her
fuck-off
biker boots, despite the fact it was 23 degrees outside. That’s to say, Han was wearing the boots—not Great Aunt May). She flopped herself down on the sofa next to Great Aunt May’s chair. I would wager that Great Aunt May doesn’t see many Goths or EMOs at the Autumn Leaves Elderly Persons Home because she looked like she was about to be mugged, and instinctively grasped her handbag to her bosom.

Han smiled her best smile at her, but Great Aunt May just continued to look horrified until Han leant over and said gently, ‘You must be Clem’s Great Aunt May. I’ve heard all about you. It’s really lovely to meet you at last,’ and flashed her a winning smile. Great Aunt May smiled weakly back and said, ‘likewise, dear,’ but I noticed her whitened knuckles were still wrapped tightly round the handle of her handbag.

Thursday 12 July

One week left of school and I can’t bloody wait! Han told me today that she’s going to Portugal for ten days in August; it’s not the same time that I’ll be in France and I’m really pissed off! I was kinda hoping that we’d get loads of time together over the summer, but it looks like we’re only going to have three weeks together. It’s so unfair [/grumpy/]. She also told me today that her parents are going to a wedding the weekend after next and are going to be away for the whole two days ’cos the wedding’s in Scotland, and would I like to go and stay with her for the weekend?!!!

I’d love to…but I’m already crapping myself ’cos without doubt we’ll
do the deed
that weekend. Made a mental note to try and lose a bit of weight before then. And buy a sharp razor so I can shave my legs properly.

Friday 13 July

Me and Han share the same taste in music, which makes us even more perfect together! Well, I say we like the same music, but I think her taste is a bit more hard rock than mine. Hard rock verging on grunge, I would say. She is an EMO after all.

She told me that My Chemical Romance is playing in October and asked me if I wanted to go with her!! I’ve never been to a concert—sorry, gig—before! Han is opening me up to a whole world I never knew existed. I blame the parents.

Saturday 14 July

OMG, me and Han were lying on her bed this afternoon having a naughty shmoozle when she casually told me that her dad’s a Theology lecturer down at the college!! Why didn’t she think to tell me this before? As if I’m not eaten up with guilt already, I find out I’m (soon to be, hopefully) sleeping with the daughter of a religious man! Old Nick is waiting to spit-roast me even as I write this.