Obscured (The Obscured Series Book 1) by C.M. Boers Page A

on her. Eli would
be impressed.
    I
heard the timer for our pizza going off and ran downstairs. Bailey was right
behind me.
    “So
what do you want to do with your hair tonight?” I asked while eating my first
slice.
    “I
don’t know! I was hoping that you might have an idea. I am totally lame when it
comes to doing my hair, especially thinking of new hair styles,” she admitted.
We laughed.     
    “I
know a few hairstyles, and I know that I have seen you in some cute ones too.
We can experiment when we’re done eating. Either way I think we should both go
with straight hair. What do you think?”
    It
was rare that I actually straightened my hair; but this would constitute a rare
occasion, so it deserved the extra time.
    Girl
talk flowed abundantly with topics ranging from boys to cars to jobs. I didn’t
realize how much I missed being able to gab about all of my favorite things.
Even though I never seemed to run out of things to talk to Eli about, this was
different. 
    “So
do you know how to like surf and stuff?” Bailey asked.
    “Well,
of course. You don’t live in California and not take full advantage of the
beach!” I exclaimed. 
    “Wow,
that’s so cool. I’ve never been to the beach,” Bailey admitted.
         
    I
had just finished straightening Bailey’s hair when the phone rang. It was my
mom checking in. After hanging up I went back into the bathroom.
    “Was
that your mom?” Bailey asked.
    “Yeah,
she was just checking to see how we’re doing.”
    “That
was nice of her. My dad doesn’t think of doing that kind of thing.”
    “What
about your mom?”
    “My
mom died when I was four.”
    “Oh,
I’m sorry. I didn’t know. How did she die, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “Car
accident. Someone ran a red light.”
    “That
must have been so hard.”
    “I
don’t really remember anything from back then. I don’t even really remember
her, just little images here and there. It was harder on my dad of course. I
can see he still misses her, he never dates either.” Her expression was somber
as she fiddled with the clips and hair ties in her hands.
    “I
couldn’t even imagine.”
    “What
about your parents?”
    “Divorced.
My dad lived in California, where we just moved from.”
    “When
did that happen?”
    “Officially?
About a month ago, but it was six months ago that they separated.”
    “How
do you feel about it? I’ve heard divorce is really hard.”
    “It’s
been a little hard adjusting, but I’m okay with it as long as my parents are
happy. They hadn’t been happy for a quite a while. I just wish I didn’t have to
move out away from my dad. I am going to miss him the most.”
    After
my hair was straight, Bailey started trying a hairstyle on me that I remembered
seeing her wear on the first day of school.  It was about an inch of hair
from the front of each side pulled back with a clip. It was simple yet elegant.
I had a beautiful black clip with rhinestones that made it even better.
          
“It’s perfect. I think it was exactly what I was looking for. You need to give
yourself a little more credit,” I said encouragingly. “Let’s get started on
your hair.”
    I
wanted to take her side-swept bangs and pull them back to give her some volume.
I always thought that it was cute, but I had never been able to pull it off on
my own hair. Back in California, a friend showed me how to do it with another
friend’s hair, so I was sure I could pull it off on Bailey. I started working
with her hair, and before long I was finished. It looked fantastic and turned
out exactly as I hoped it would.
    “Finished.
Do you like it?” I asked.
    “I
love it! I haven't been able to figure out how to do this on my own.”
    By
then we only had an hour and a half before the boys were going to pick us up.
    I
applied shimmering silver eye shadow on Bailey that matched her dress, along
with mauve berry-colored lipstick. After seeing Bailey’s finished makeup, I
decided