“Xavier?” Zac said finally, the kitchen having come alive when people noticed their state of their breakfast, “What did you do?”
“I came down the stairs to have breakfast,” he replied, walking over to the cereal drawer.
“That’s not what I mean. What did you do to your hair?”
“Oh, nothing much. I just got up in the middle of the night, cut it into a mohawk and dyed it black, with silver streaks. And then this morning I made it all stand up on end. Isn’t it obvious?”
“Well, that’s one word for it...” Sam commented.
“Did it yourself?” Kelsey repeated. “Oh, well, that explains why it looks a little ragged – like, hard to do that kind of thing on your own head. If you want, I can neaten it up for you after breakfast.”
“Sure, thanks.”
“You’re okay with this?” Zac asked incredulously.
“Sure, why not?” Kelsey asked.
“Oh, I forgot, you know plenty of people who look like... who look like that!” he turned back to Xavier. “You realise I am going to have to tell your parents about this!”
Avie gave Zac a curious look.
“What exactly do you think that’s going to accomplish?” she asked. “A few of their kids have dyed their hair, and Babsie at least won’t care if he’s got a mohawk. You know what she’s like.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What’s with it, Xavier?” Adam asked, in the midst of scraping the burnt bits off his toast.
“Just felt like it.”
“And why black and silver? It looks stupid.”
“It does not! And for your information – not that it’s any of your business – Electra suggested the colours,” Xavier smiled happily to himself.
As expected, Isaac and Babsie didn’t have a problem with Xavier’s hair. Babsie demanded (and got) a picture of it and replied she thought it looked awesome.
**********
That week one of the bands that was going to be on I Must Have Been Insane That Day had to cancel at the last minute, so Zac asked the Four Amigos to take their place at the last minute. It was like doing some really early promotion before the promo tour even started (or the record was finished!).
Xavier had mentioned this fact to Electra. Electra still had no idea that her friend ‘CloseTheDoor’ was Xavier Hanson.
So was it any wonder that, after seeing the performance, and noticing Xavier’s hair, that she immediately raced to the computer and typed in an e-mail:
I just saw IMHBITD and Xavier has the exact same dye and cut job that you said you were going to do. So, I have to ask you this Close: Are you Xavier Hanson?
Xavier bit his lip when he read this. He had completely forgotten that Electra, being a 4A fan, would notice his new hair. Especially if he just told her that he was going to do it.
He took a deep breath, hit the reply button and started typing. Well, he wasn’t going to lie to her!