The Poster Girl

Story number 2 in the Woodbine series.

Although this story shares some aspects from my last story, it is a stand alone story.

Millie had hoped for the new school would mean great things for her.  Always just one who was in the background, she had decided that she was going to make major changes to herself before her first day of high school.  She had saved all the money she had earned from her grandparents, plus she had been spending every weekend babysitting whenever she could and just before the start of the school year she had gone to the most modern salon in the area.  After spending $160 for a professional colorist to do her hair, she walked out of the salon with a head of green hair.  She had always wanted to color it in a wild color and went for green after seeing some older girls with blue and purple hair.  She wanted to stand out from the crowd, so with her remaining money she bought herself a complete new collection of makeup, deciding that everything she already had would just make her look to plain for the new look.

She walked into school with a new confidence about her.  She knew she was going to turn heads once people saw her and that she was going to change how people always thought of her.  It didn’t take long for her to realize that the salon had been busy the weeks before school started.  There were no less than 10 other girls and 2 guys that now walked thru the halls of school with the same green hair that she had.

Millie could wait until tryouts were held for the new play that the Drama club would be presenting.  In middle school she was never chosen for a speaking part, instead working on the stage crew, or as a minor non-speaking part, but now she was sure that she could win one of the top parts.  Unfortunately, it was more of the same for Millie, she was only offered a position on the promotion staff, but nothing on the stage.  The only reason she decided to take it was a promise to consider her for a speaking part in the next play.

The town where Millie lived was divided in to two distinct areas.  The main part of town included a small downtown area, with a bunch of restaurants and gas stations by the freeway exit.  The end where Millie lived was a few miles north of there, separated by several farms and some woods.  This area was more of a vacation type area with many cabins and old time motels to rent and a small recreation area with bars, food, and arcades.  Although this end of town was a busy place all summer long, by the end of August most of the visitors were gone, leaving just a few hundred locals.

The promotion staff were all given the same task.  They were to go around to all the businesses in town asking if they would put a poster for the play in their window.  Millie was the only one on the promotion staff who lived in the north end, so they gave all of the businesses in that area to her.  Millie had made her way from one end of the area to the other, now tired from all the walking she only had a few more places to try before calling it quits.  Down to her last poster she was ready to head for home when she saw the ‘Open’ sign

As Millie walked towards the small building, she couldn’t ever recall the place being open before.  The weathered sign out front saying ‘Woodbine Beauty Parlor’, she at least knew what it was.  The door stuck, at first, but with a bit of a shove it opened, causing a simple bell to announce her arrival.  A voice from the back room greeted her…”Welcome to Woodbine’s.  I’ll be right with you.”  Millie stood right by the front counter, somewhat nervous by all the antique looking items in the room.  Emerging from the back, an old woman, even older looking than Millie’s own grandmother…”Yes young lady, what can I do…Oh, dear, what has happened to your hair?”

Millie was taken back by the woman’s comments.  Touching it with her hand…”I had it done just before school started”  Mrs Woodbine then apologized to her young visitor…”I’m sorry dear, but in my time if someones hair was green it meant that someone had made a big mistake.”

Millie, composed herself and tried to act professionally…”I’m from the high school drama club.  Can you display this poster in your window?”

Mrs Woodbine had been supporting the school for years and of course agreed…”Of course dear, anything to help out you young people.”

Millie decided to place the poster herself so the old woman wouldn’t have to…”The play is in three weeks.”

Mars Woodbine then confused her again…”Oh, that explains it.  You had it done like this for the play.  You certainly are dedicated.”

Millie, flustered by her comments…”It’s not for the play.  I paid a lot of money to have this done.”

Never being one to hold back her feeling about someone’s hair style…”They could at least given you a cut that brought out your best features.:

Millie was at her end and decided she needed to move on from listening to this old woman comment about her hair.  Thinking to herself as she walked out…’That old lady doesn’t know anything about modern style.’

Over the next several days things started to get to Millie.  She was again becoming just another face in the crowd, just what she had hoped wouldn’t happen again this year.  Every morning she would spend over an hour trying to make sure everything was just right, but as she stared into the mirror to put her make-up on she always saw the same girl.”It’s just hopeless.  I’ll never change.”  It didn’t take long before every bit of self confidence was gone.

Sitting on the school bus always gave Millie time to sit and daydream.  Hers was the last stop, which meant it was a 40 minute ride everyday while everyone else was dropped off. Today, after again being ignored all day long, for the most part, she just stared out the bus window as she waited for her stop.  Still unable to figure out just what she need to do, all of a sudden a familiar sight came into view, Woodbine’s Beauty Parlor. Since the day after she was in that shop she had thought about what the woman had told her every time she looked in a mirror and now more desperate to change, she wondered if the old woman might actually know what she was talking about.

The next morning was Saturday and as Millie got dressed that morning she got that same feeling as she combed thru her hair saying aloud to her reflection…”Ugh.  It’s the same every time.”  She decided to walk down to ask the old stylist what she thought she should do.  Not wanting anyone to know where she was going she just told her mom she was going over to a friends house.  This, of course, drew suspicion from her mom who knew there weren’t any girls her age in the neighborhood.

After a short walk, Millie found herself outside the door of Woodbine’s Beauty Parlor.  She hesitated for a second…”Could such an old lady really help with my hair?”  She said to herself.  Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open.  Millie was happy to see that there was nobody inside the room other than Mrs Woodbine…

“Well hello young lady, back with another poster?”

Millie swallowed hard before asking her question…”What did you mean the other day about bring out my best features?”

She had hoped that the old woman would just give her some suggestions, but…

Mrs Woodbine turned the chair towards Millie…”If you want me to show you, come and have a seat.”

Millie stood, frozen for a few seconds.  Did she really want someone older than her grandmother to have their way with her hair?  She decided that nothing she had done this far worked, so she walked towards the chair.

She sat in fear waiting to see what happened, but to her surprise there was no cape put over her, instead Mrs Woodbine started to explain a couple different way she could cut her hair to make her look her best.  Millie smiled as she realized that the woman’s 40 years in the business meant she knew much more than the girls at the newer places and she immediately felt comfortable in the chair.  Unfortunately Mrs Woodbine told her that she had an appointment due any minute, so she would have to come back another time.

She made an appointment for Friday after school and headed for the door.  Just as she reached for the handle, the door opened.  In walked Claire, packages in hand from the beauty supply store.  She said hello to Millie as she stepped inside…”Well hello,”  and continued to walk into the back room.  The sight of her confused her at first, but then she remembered her from a few years ago.  She was one of the high school kids helping out at the summer camp Millie attended, only she used to be one of the prettiest girls in town.  Millie was amazed at the change in her, now looking very modest and almost homely in her dress and tightly curled hair.  It scared her for a minute, but she had already decided on how her hair was going to be done, so she didn’t think there would be any surprises.

The following week went by slowly as Millie got more and more excited about getting her hair cut.  She decided to not let anybody know what she was going to do, and certainly not where she was going to have it done.  Friday afternoon, she could hardly concentrate on her studies, in her last period her teacher even called her out for day-dreaming…”Millie, I know it’s the end of the day, but we have work to do.”  She looked at the clock as she apologized to the teacher…”Thank God, only 10 more minutes.”

She watched out the window of the school bus as the beauty parlor came into view.  The bus driver stopped at the next corner and Millie decided to get off there rather than walk from home.  She would be 15 minutes early, but was too anxious to wait any longer.  As she reached for the door, she saw a reflection of herself in the glass, and was more than happy that her failed experiment was about to be over.

Millie was surprised as she saw Claire sitting in Mrs Woodbine’s chair, her curls now looked even shorter than before and she had shaving cream on her neck, and behind her ears.  She immediately saw the floor was covered with tiny rings of hair. “Ah Millie, so nice of you to be on time.  I was just giving Claire her weekly trim before your appointment, so it will just be a minute.”  Millie sat on one of the wooden chairs and watched intently as the old woman wielded the razor on the back of Claire’s head.  The first time she had seen Claire see couldn’t imagine why such a beautiful girl would want to give up all her beauty, but now she saw that Claire was still one of the prettiest girls, but has chosen not to flaunt it anymore.

As they finished, Millie was in awe at how great Claire looked.  Though it wasn’t a look she would even think about, she could see why so many women have chosen to do it.  As Claire got out of the chair she saw Millie was still staring at her hair….”When you decide you want to give it a try I’ll be ready for you.”  Millie sat silently as she thought about what Claire had just said…

With a snap of the cape to get Claire’s hairs off, Mrs Woodbine was ready for her new customer…”Okay young lady it’s time to make you look beautiful.”  Millie always thought she was average looking, at best, so when Mrs Woodbine made her statement Millie definitely knew she made a good choice.

It shocked Millie to immediately see 5 inch strands of her hair landing in her lap.  Although they had talked before on what she was going to do, she figured Mrs Woodbine would have at least went over it again before she began cutting.  As the hair continued to fall Millie could do nothing but chew on her bottom lip, again worried that she had made the worst mistake of her short life.

The sides of her hair now barely grazing her shoulders, Millie couldn’t believe that she would ever have hair this short.  The one thing that calmed her down was seeing Claire, sitting in the salon chair next to her, had an approving smile on her face as Mrs Woodbine continued to add to the pile of hair.

As Mrs Woodbine made her way towards the front Millie still couldn’t see how this was going to be an improvement over what she had, but she knew she was well past changing her mind about it now.  Mrs Woodbine then started to work on the area surrounding her face.

Millie never thought of herself as anything more than an average looking girl, but as the first side was finished, she began to notice how the cut framed her face and started to highlight her best features.  Now excited buy her new look, she couldn’t wait to see her finished look

When Mrs Woodbine put down her scissors Millie couldn’t believe it was actually her in the mirror, the cut highlighted her face perfectly, and though it was a lot shorter than she expected, she thought the way it just touched her shoulders made her look even more stunning.

She sat wide a big smile on her face, thinking that she would be released from under the cape, but Mrs Woodbine began to coat her hair with some stinky liquid…”What is that?”  Mrs Woodbine just continued her task, and as she finished covering Millie’s head, finally answered her…”Millicent, the only thing holding you back now is your green hair.  I intend to fix that.”

She was only ever called Millicent when she was in trouble for something, so she decided not to question what Mrs Woodbine had chosen to do.  Millie stared at the mirror only able to guess at what was happening under all the plastic wrap that covered her head.  Twenty minutes later it was done doing its job and Millie was lowered back against the sink.  Mrs Woodbine pulled the plastic wrap off and began to rinse the bleach from Millie’s hair.

Several minutes later, Millie was again staring at herself in the mirror.  Sitting nervously as she waited for the towel to come off, Millie thought about how much money she had spent just weeks ago to make it green and again began to wonder if she had made the right decision to come here. Satisfied that the excess water had been soaked up by the towel, Mrs Woodbine removed it, tossing it on to the counter.

Millie couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  Her hair was now a very pale yellow color with every bit of the green now down the drain.  Sensing her getting upset again, Mrs Woodbine set her straight…”It was the only thing holding you back Millicent.  It had to go.”  She tried to believe the old woman, but struggled at first, until she saw Claire’s face in the mirror.  For some reason knowing what Claire had been thru, and seeing how happy she was, made her certain that she would not be disappointed with how it was going to turn out.

Her head was then covered with a darker paste that seemed to turn almost black as Millie waited for it to be finished.  Thirty minutes later, she had her neck resting against the sink again, as the warm water washed the colorant from her scalp.  Mrs Woodbine rubbed the towel firmly on Millie’s head then lifted the chair back up again.  Excited to see the results, but still faced away from the mirror, Millie could only wait until Mrs Woodbine finished styling her new look.

The chair was turned and Millie was almost afraid at what she was going to see, but as her face came in to view it took her breath away.  Gone was the long hair sported by every girl she knew, replaced by the perfect shoulder length style.  The green hair which she wanted so bad, and paid a lot of money for were also just a memory now.  Its childish appearance now replaced by a head of beautiful brown and red hair.  Millie couldn’t hold back her emotions as her eyes began to water…”Oh my God, is that really me?”

What surprised Millie even more was when she went to pay.  She met Claire at the front counter who told her it was a mere $15 for her visit today…”$15, how is that possible?”  Claire had a bit of a laugh…”Most of Mrs Woodbine’s customers are retired and don’t have a lot of money so she keeps her price down.  She doesn’t need the money, so she tries to help them out.”  Millie felt guilty for only paying such a small fee, but Claire told her the color was on the house…”She was just happy to have another young head of hair to work on.”  As Claire handed back Millie’s change, she also handed her a card…”Mrs Woodbine has put you in for every 4 weeks.”  Millie took the card, more than sure she would be keeping her appointment and every one that followed.

Millie’s return to school created quite a stir amongst her crowd of friends.  None of them knew what she had planned, so her new look was all any of them could talk about.  Millie had noticed from that day on her teachers seemed to call on her more often and other students seemed to be drawn to her.  Once the drama club had finished its run of the first play the advisor pulled her aside and told her that she was in consideration for the lead in the next play.

Part 2: Does Mrs Woodbine convince Millicent to go shorter, or does Claire convince her to be her twin?

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