Was it Rebellion?

There was a girl in my sister’s year in school who always had a ponytail with the same piece of hair out of place. 

It used to annoy me. A lot actually. I still think about it sometimes now. 

She followed uniform regulations by tying it up, but always had this twisted looking piece of hair running down the top of her head, just off centre. 

To be honest, at the time – in some twisted logic – I was a little jealous of her. Walking that line of not caring that her hair wasn’t perfect and just showing up as she was. I admired that free spirit and envied it. But looking back, was it too contrived? It was always the same… perhaps orchestrated?

Was it an act of rebellion while not getting in trouble? Or was her hair just a little unruly and it wasn’t intentional?

She was popular. So looking back, I think it was the former – just toeing the line enough to be seen as a rebel, but not actually enough to get picked up on it by teachers. 

Maybe it was her way of being “edgy” enough to run with the cool girls. Maybe they looked up to her for this unthought of, inconsequential act of rebellion. 

I don’t imagine she still sports the one line of twisted hair in a ponytail where she is today. Unless it was the hair that was in rebellion all along, then she has no choice. Maybe she wears her hair down these days?