Puncturation

page 1 / 3

Connie stood one step from the entrance of the shop. There was no reason in the world not to go in. Everyone was doing it. Absolutely everyone in school except for her had done it. And most of them had done it years ago.

"Well," Nicole asked. "Are you going in?"

"Sure," Connie said. "Why not?" She walked into Peggy's Piercing Palace and looked for a salesperson.

A woman came over. "Can I help you?"

"I'd like to get my ears pierced," Connie said.

"You came to the right place," the woman told her. "Have a seat."

Connie sat and waited while the woman marked both ears with a red pen. "How's that?" she asked, handing Connie a mirror.

"Great, I guess," Connie said. She looked up at Nicole, who nodded her approval.

"Here we go," the woman said. She leaned over, humming, and put the piercing gun next to Connie's right ear.

Connie gritted her teeth and waited.

KATCHUNG!

With that, her right ear was pierced.

The pain was sudden and sharp, but it wasn't too bad. I can take it, Connie thought. She closed her eyes for a moment. She felt dizzy. For the slightest fraction of a second, she felt like she was falling. But the feeling passed quickly enough. Connie took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was halfway done.

That's when the woman said, "Oops."

"What's wrong?" Connie asked.

"Nothing," the woman said, but she stepped away from Connie.

"What is it?" Connie asked. She looked at the woman. Then she looked at Nicole.

"Oh my gosh," Nicole said. She backed away from Connie, too, but she kept staring at Connie's head. Her eyes were open so wide it looked like her eyebrows were trying to hide in her hair.

Connie grabbed the mirror. She looked at her ear. For a moment, she just stared. What she saw was so unexpected that she had a hard making sense of it. Around the pen mark and the tiny hole in her ear, something was growing.