Chapter 7

“Oi! Lindsay, wake up!” A loud obnoxious voice brought Lindsay out of her peaceful slumber. Unwilling to open her eyes, Lindsay snuggled deeper into the pillow, her nose nuzzled against Kyle’s arm. “Lindsay!” Annoyed, Lindsay’s nose scrunched up as she tried to go back to sleep.

A hand, touching her side, startled her into awareness, causing her to wrench out of Kyle’s arms as she turned to see who had touched her. Hayden stood grinning down at her with glee filled eyes. “I hate you, you know that?” Lindsay said seriously. Hayden shook his head and laughed, knowing she was joking.

“I know, but look who I brought!” Hayden said enthusiastically as he bent down to lift up Leaya so she could see over the bed.

“Hey girl,” Lindsay scratched the gray dog’s ears affectionately then turned to look over her shoulder at Kyle. He sat watching her, a calm expression on his face. “This is my dog Leaya,” she explained, her green eyes shining brightly.

“Hayden! Help!” A distressed Becka called from the door, where she was trying to hold back two large huskies.

“Come here boys,” Hayden called, laughing. In an instant, the two dogs’ ears went up and they were dragging Becka across the room.

“Those would be my brother and dad’s dogs, Tanker and Laker,” Lindsay explained to Kyle. “Why’d you bring the dogs?” Lindsay questioned, turning back to her brother.

“Mom’s having people over and wanted the dogs clean,” Hayden said. “As far as I know Sandy and Uncle Leo are going to be there along with Eli and Aunt Daylee. Probably some people from the humane society’ll be there to.”

“Wonderful,” Lindsay mumbled, leaning back beside Kyle.

“Really your Aunt Sandy’s going to be there?” Becka asked enthusiastically. She turned to look at Lindsay with bright brown eyes. “Linds, can I plllleeease spend the night?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Lindsay responded letting her head fall back against the pillow.

“Cool, D’ya think she’ll dye me hair again?” Becka asked.

“No, Don’t dye it black again!” Hayden whined. Both girls gave him weird looks. After a moment, Lindsay turned back to her friend.

“Yeah, probably. And if she doesn’t, I can dye it for you. I’m in need of a color change anyway,” Lindsay said, blowing her pink fringe out of her eyes before turning to Kyle. “Pick a color.” He stared at her for a moment before opening his mouth to answer.

“How ‘bout brown. Ya know, like your natural hair color? Or would that be too hard of a color to remember?” Hayden responded, from behind her, with a tone of mockery. For a second, Lindsay’s emerald eyes flashed, and Kyle, who was still staring at her, began to count the small gold flecks in her eyes.

Lindsay turned to her brother. “I don’t know,” she said, meeting her brother’s gaze, “That colors just so… Dull.” She glanced at her brother’s hair, which both siblings knew was the same color as Lindsay’s natural hair color.

“Come on Lindsay,” Hayden said with a dangerous tone. “It’s time to go home.”

“But…”

“You have homework,” Hayden responded, cutting her off.

“But…”

“You have homework. I don’t want you failing your classes.”

“Says the one who was held back,” Lindsay mumbled as her brother stalked toward the door.

“What?” Hayden almost yelled across the room.

“Nothing,” Lindsay said, cringing back against Kyle.

“Let’s go,” Hayden spoke calmer. Obediently, Lindsay nodded her head as she got up off the bed, pulling her sleeve down.

“I’ll see ya,” she said, turning back to Kyle when she was standing.

“Okay,” he answered.

“You’re coming to school tomorrow, right?” Lindsay questioned.

“Maybe,” Kyle said

“Cool,” she said before skipping to the door. “Bye,” she called back as she left.

Lindsay and Becka followed Hayden down the hall to the elevator. Memories of the afternoon flashed through Lindsay’s mind’s eye as she watched the white tiled floor.

Inside the elevator, Lindsay glanced over at her friend to find her wearing a knowing smirk. “What?” she questioned suspiciously.

“Somebody has a crush,” Becka teased in a singsong voice.

“Nobody has a crush,” Hayden said quickly.

“Mom!” Lindsay called into the house. “Hayden made me sit in the back with the dogs!”

“Stop being a baby,” Hayden responded. “All of them were clean.”

“Hayden can you clean up the back yard?” Cam called from the kitchen.

“Yeah,” he grumbled before heading toward the back of the house. “Lindsay, don’t you dare dye Becka’s hair!” he said back over his shoulder.

“Whatever,” she responded, rolling her eyes as she turned to Becka and gave her an impish grin. “Come on,” Lindsay said to Becka when her brother was out of the room. The two ran up the stairs cackling and feeling very proud of themselves for go against what Hayden said.

“Okay, lock the door. I’ll get my stash,” Lindsay instructed as she disappeared into her bathroom.

“Right,” Becka turned the latch on the door to ensure that Hayden wouldn’t get in. “Where are we doing this?”

“In here,” Lindsay responded as she set the many boxes of hair dye up on the counter. “Mom got mad last time I dye my hair on the carpet.”

“Ow!” Becka’s face scrunched up in sympathy. “What did you have to do this time?” she entered the bathroom, dragging Lindsay’s desk chair with her.

“Nothing, surprisingly. She just told me not to do it again,” Lindsay answered, taking the chair and setting it by the bathtub. “Pick a color.” She waved her hand at the rainbow on the counter.

“Uh,” Becka scanned the selection. “How about dark blue?”

“You want high lights with that?” Lindsay questioned, picking up two boxes of hair dye.

“Sure.”

“Take a seat,” Lindsay began to rip open the box of dye.

Twenty minutes later, Becka sat with blue hair, folded tinfoil wrapped around clumps of her hair, dying them a light electric blue. She swung her feet, bored. Lindsay glanced down at her phone to check the time.

“Okay, in another ten minutes we can take out the foil and rinse again,” Lindsay said, hopping down from the counter and starting out of the bathroom. “I’m going to get a drink, you want something?”

“Yeah, grab me a coke,” Becka answered.

“Kay,” Lindsay started down the hall, taking off her jacket.

“Take your time,” Becka called after her. “It’s not like I have anywhere to go!”

Done stairs, Lindsay strode into the kitchen and over to the fridge. “Hey Aunt Hannah,” Lindsay greeted the short woman across the room by Cam.

“Hi Lindsay. How’s school?” Aunt Hannah inquired.

“Pretty good,” Lindsay answered.

“She met a boy!” Hayden popped in from the back yard.

“Yeah and you have a crush on him,” Lindsay fired back.

“Yeah, so do you,” Hayden answered.

“Now that we’ve established that you are both in love with the same boy,” A blond woman said as she entered the room with Uncle Leo, “When are we dying Becka’s hair?”

“You are not dying Becka’s hair!” Hayden cried as Lindsay opened the fridge.

“Okay then,” the blond woman said, giving Hayden a weird look. “Hey, Lindsay, what’s that on your arm?” Lindsay closed the fridge and glanced down at her arm, to cans of coke in her hands.

“Uh… it looks like a phone number,” Lindsay said, glancing up at her aunt.

“And who’s number is it?” Cam questioned, folding her arms.

“Uh…” Lindsay thought back through her day, trying to figure out whose number it could be. “I guess it’s probably Kyle’s?”

“Where?” Hayden questioned.

“You wanna come help me dye my hair?” Lindsay asked her aunt, ignoring her brother.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a little, pick a color.”

“Kay.” Lindsay turned and skipped back to her room.

“Who ya callin’?” Becka asked as Lindsay came back into her room.

“Kyle,” Lindsay answered, pressing two more numbers and lifting her cell phone to her ear. Impatiently, Lindsay listened to the phone ring in her ear.

“Hello, how may I help you?” a secretary answered the phone.

“Uh… I’d like to talk to Kyle Sanders?” Lindsay said, confused. She had thought it was his cell phone number.

“One moment,” soft music began to play in her ear, causing her to shift her weight and role her eyes.

“Hello?” Kyle’s voice answered after a moment, sounding guarded.

“Uh, hi, it’s Lindsay?”

“Oh, hey! So you found my number,” Kyle sounded much more relaxed and laid back, slightly relieved.

“Yeah,” Lindsay said, nodding her head and feeling dumb because she knew he couldn’t see. “So you didn’t answer my question earlier.”

“What question?” he asked, his voice curious.

“What color?”

“Huh?” A hint of amusement touched his tone, like he knew what she was talking about but didn’t want to admit it just yet.

“What color should I dye my hair?” Lindsay said.

“Uh, what about dark purple?” Kyle said, not really knowing what to say.

“Kay, thanks. I’ll see ya… You’re coming to school tomorrow, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, probably,” Kyle answered.

“Cool, see ya then.”

So here's the next chapter. I hope you like it and I would like to thank everyone who has updated so far. You guys all rock and I'd love to hear what you think about the story and this chapter so far!!!

Tootles,

Roselyn