Monday's Not Coming

Claudia writes Monday a letter telling her how difficult dance practices are, but dance is all Claudia has without Monday, so she won’t quit. During dance practice, Megan and another student, Shannon, whisper about how quiet Claudia is. Shannon asks Megan if Claudia “knows yet,” but Megan hushes her.

After practice, Megan corners Claudia, asking if Claudia told anyone that she saw Megan at the mall. When Claudia says no, Megan seems relieved. She was ditching class to hang out with Kam, who is her boyfriend. Reassured, Claudia laughs, wondering why Megan would go to a public place while playing hooky. She tells Megan to worry about Michael saying something, but Megan says she’s found a way to keep him quiet.

After the Jacob fiasco, Monday still craved the high from her former braiding popularity. She decided to dye her hair blond. When Claudia remarked that her own mother would kill her if she dyed her hair, Monday’s eyes went blank and she dissociated for a moment. Claudia helped Monday pick out the right color and loaned her some money for the box dye. 

It took eight hours to complete the dye job. When Monday finally arrived at school, she was subdued, with lifeless eyes and a ring of sweat around the collar of her shirt.