EUGENE’S POV
“This is so dumb!” Buck groaned, leaning against the fireplace.
“You’ve mentioned that,” sighed Katrina, who was mending my mennat for the fourth time that week.
“It’s just- I don’t know. I want things back to normal. That’s all.”
“Honestly, you could be more grateful. The riots have stopped.”
“At the expense of others. Sure, the protests have stopped, but forty people have been murdered. Forty.”
“I know. And those people were punished.”
“It doesn’t make it right.”
“…I didn’t say it did.”
“Very well then, Elizabeth. Your hair has been successfully braided!” I announced, lifting up the handheld mirror. She let out a gasp of satisfaction.
“I look like a princess!”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I smiled. Eliza jumped off my lap and hopped across the room to show her mother. She had just finished my mennat.
“You look beautiful, dear. Here, try that.”
I took it from her, then put it on, the cloth strip causing immediate discomfort around my neck. I glanced over at Buck, who was playing with his identical one.
“It’s a-a bit more comfortable,” I lied. Katrina quickly saw my dishonesty and sighed.
“You’d get used to it if you wore it around the house like Buck does.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Buck chimed in, heading towards the kitchen.,
“Well I’ve gotten used to mine.”
“That’s because it’s on your forehead rather than strangling you,” I scoffed, removing the tight leather strip from my throat.
“You’ve obviously never worn something on your forehead for seventeen hours. It can be very uncomfortable.”
“I’m sure.”
“Hm. We’d better leave soon if we want to make it to the movie tonight,” she realized, having glanced at her watch.
“I don’t want to go,” Buck said, popping a cheese puff into his mouth.
“To the store? Yeah, no one else does either,” Katrina snapped. She quickly apologized. “I um- I need to get my purse from my room.”
Once she’d left, I caught Buck’s eyes.
“What?”
“You could have been more sensitive.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I don’t get why she’s been so uptight lately.”
“You’ve been just as tense.”
“I’ve been stating my opinion.”
“Right. Well, let’s just- get this over with. We can discuss your attitude later.”
“Sure.”
KATRINA’S POV
I stood in front of a changing room mirror. I wore a white tulle skirt that reached my knees. Turning to look at my new pile of clothing, holding varying colours of brown and tan, I took a deep breath. Buck was right. This was dumb. The American government was regulating the wardrobe of a group of its citizens. So much for The Land of the Free. What would the kids think once school began? I felt ashamed thinking about it. To be suddenly labelled- it was scary. I quickly changed out of my last government-approved dress and met Connie at the checkout counter, who was standing by Eliza. They were both holding several bags of clothes. Readily aware of the metal fish sign hanging in the middle of my forehead. I wanted to get back home, where I felt normal again.
We waved goodbye to Connie and met the boys in the car. Buck got in in a huff as usual.
“How’d we fare?” Eugene asked, pulling out of our parking place. Buck sarcastically chuckled a,
“Seriously?”
Eugene, slightly hurt by his rudeness, backed off.
“I um- I found some tulle skirts so… that was good.”
“How about we-”
“Can we just go home. Please?”
“-alright.”
CONNIE’S POV
“Hey babe,” I answered Jason’s call.
“You’re ridiculous,” he laughed over the phone. I laughed too.
“Have you set a court date yet?”
“Yeah, next week.”
“Cool. You haven’t told your father yet, have you?”
“…he’d think it was weird.”
“It is weird. I can explain it to him if you won’t.”
“Nah. I can do it. Maybe after next week though.”
“…well okay. What about everyone else? With the age gap and everything?”
“Age gap?” Jason asked, feigning ignorance.
“You’re twelve years older than me, Jason.”
“Oh that. Well- do we have to tell everyone?”
“I guess not.”
“Okay. For now, we’ll keep it to ourselves. Just one question?”
“What’s that?” I asked, turning the corner.
“What about Jeff? Will you tell him?”
“Yeah. I plan on it.”
“Are you gonna stop seeing each other?”
“I don’t know. We need to figure this out. I want to keep seeing him.”
“That’s okay.”
“But we could never get married.”
“Sure you could. I think legal and spiritual marriages are separate, don’t you?”
“…I guess.”
“So, keep dating!”
“But I feel like I should be spending more time with you-”
“Connie. This is just a precaution. You know that. You’re not obligated to spend time with me unless-”
“I know,” I took a deep breath. It was a lot to swallow along with everything else that’d been going on. “Okay. So, it’s alright if Jeff and I go out tonight?”
He laughed. “Of course.”