Free Inconsequential (J+P series) by D.A. Roach

so that my hair just would just have gentle waves.  I didn’t cry about the haircut, I think that even though I didn’t care for my hair, the thought that I had finally made my mom happy had soothed me.  Surely I could make this hair cute in some way.  I toweled off and spent 45 minutes on my hair.  In the end I used a ton of product to keep it from looking like an afro.  I felt like crying.  I had lost over 7 inches in length of hair and I looked completely different.
     
    Chuck came after lunch the next day to take me back to school.  My parents paid him gas money and tip to take me to and from college and he was happy to make an easy dollar. 
     
    “Nice do Perry. How was break?”  Chuck asked. 
     
    “Survivable. Yours?”
     
    “It was great.  Ready for the last semester?”
     
    That was a great question because it was my final chance to get grades up before the council reviewed gpas for admittance.  “I hope so, hey Chuck, did you take Organic Chemistry?”
     
    “Yep, what’s up?”
     
    “I got a C in it last semester and I need to score an A.  Wanna tutor me?”
     
    “What’s the problem?  You not getting the homework done?”
     
    “Ha!  Fat chance.  That’s the only thing saving my grade.  The tests kill me.”
     
    “Sure, I am a pro-test taker; I just suck at the homework part.  How about Tuesday evenings?”  Chuck suggested.
     
    “So grateful, thanks Chuck.”  The rest of the ride we chatted quite a bit.  He was surprised to hear that my parents did not freak out about the C.  It was strange, but maybe things were changing for the better.  Maybe they had hope that I would pull a good grade out this semester.  Maybe they knew how much harder I was working on grades this year.  This realization had me in a decent mood and the time with Chuck passed quickly.  I was excited to get back to campus. 
     

 
    Chapter 13
     
     
    Tuesday night arrived and I was headed to my first tutoring session.  Chuck had found this small study room within the library across campus.  He turned out to be a genius at Organic Chemistry and when he saw me looking puzzled he would stop and illustrate the problem so my brain would grab the concept better.  I wished I had asked for his help last semester with my hard courses.  It takes great effort to pull a grade out of the garbage and I needed a solid A to balance the C I earned last semester.  After 2 hours, I told Chuck that my brain needed to rest and we hugged goodbye.
     
    “See ya’ next Tuesday Perry.”
     
    I waved bye and headed out on the lit path back to the dorm.  The campus was so much quieter at night.  Only a few classes were held in the evenings and most dorms housed their own study rooms.  The snow from break was lined up on each side of the sidewalks with signs of dirt and salt at the edges.  Ice was patchy on the sidewalks and you had to walk carefully to avoid the slick spots. The night was cold but no snow fell from the skies.  The cold didn’t bother me; I would bundle up and enjoyed feeling the frozen air fill my lungs.  The walk back always seemed longer at night.  I don’t know if it was because I didn’t wear my headphones at night for fear of an attacker sneaking up on me, or did it feel longer because I was fearful of an attack?  I would have to get used to this and build up some confidence because it was going to be a weekly meeting with Chuck. 
     
    The campus had emergency phones along the path that I could use if I needed to.  As I walked I imagined a girl being chased and running to one of the phones and calling for help.  It would still take the police time to get there to rescue her and the attacker could have done something terrible in that time.  It was not a perfect system, but it was better than nothing.  I remembered my cousin talking to me about how it was good to make eye contact with the people you passed on the sidewalk.  Attackers don’t like to be looked at in the eye and