The Bubblegum Bother

Taylor Reynolds, 5th grade.

There's one thing that everyone knows kids, hate, rules. They are there to make our lives worse. It's a punishment. They aren't really there for a reason, right?

Five years ago, I was in my bedroom with a small packet of pink bubble gum. I snatched it from the downstairs cabinet and practically skipped up to my bedroom. Just then as I was about to peel off the shiny silver wrapper, my bedroom door creaked open.

“Taylor I- wait what are you doing,” my mom said. She takes one quick look at me and the pink box filled with delicious bubble gum and her smile fades to a frown. “Taylor, don't you dare put that in your mouth,” she said angrily.

“But mom I just-“. I groan

“No. You know you can’t have gum, you're too young, you are barely six. You could choke,” she said.

“Okay,” I say, holding back a mischievous grin.

She has no idea what I’m about to do.

My mom left my room, leaving the door open. I listened to her footsteps all the way down to the last step. Then leaped to my door and shut it quietly.

I tiptoed back to my spot where the half-peeled stick of gum lay on the carpet and popped the Hubba Bubba in my mouth.

It tasted amazing! It tasted like freedom! I had never had gum before and I had finally done it, I broke the rule. With every chew, I felt prouder and prouder.

But then, mid-chew, my hair flew into my mouth. I pulled my hair to tuck it behind my ear, but it was stuck!

The once beautiful gum was now a sticky mess.

“Taylor! It’s time for dinner!” My mom yells from the kitchen.

“Coming Mom!” I yell back from my room.

Think quick Taylor, you can’t let her know.

I look around for anything that might help get this glob out of my hair as fast as possible. I see a brush, a hair band, and scissors.

I reach for the blue scissors.

I grip the handles and position my hair between the two blades and think is this a good idea? Before I could stop myself the sharp blades snipped off my hair. I look at my hand, and then the hair with pink mush stuck to it.

It takes a minute before I realize what I have done. Oh my gosh! My mom is going to kill me! What have I done!?

(Look up)“Taylor! What’s taking so long? It's time for dinner!” My mom yells.

“One second!” I yell back.

I grab my hoodie, pull it over me and I tuck my hair in the hood. Act normal. I skip down the stairs like nothing happened.

I walk to the kitchen table and take a seat.

“What were you doing upstairs?” my mom said as she was cutting her food.

Um- I-uh” My face turns bright red. This has always been my weakness. I can never tell a lie without my face turning into a ripe tomato. “I-l was just uh using the bathroom,”

“Okay,” she says, not satisfied with my answer.

Just then I felt a sharp pain creeping through my throat. Oh no here it comes.

ACHOO!

As I sneezed I feel my hood fall back revealing my secret.

“Dude cover your mouth! Oh my gosh what happened to your hair?” my brother exclaimed.

“Taylor, did you cut your hair?” my mom asked.

(look up)“ No, of course not- um, uh…” I stalled.

“...My hair has always been like that, yeah that’s right mhmm.”

When I was chewing the gum earlier it felt like the best thing ever. I was a grown-up. But now I think that telling lies wasn’t the best idea.

“ Taylor, are you lying?” My mom says, giving me the stare. You know, the mom stare.

Look away before she locks you in! But it was too late.

“ It’s true. I cut my hair. But only because I was chewing gum and it got stuck !” I spit out all in one breath. Nobody says anything and we all sit there in silence.

“Are you kidding me? You were chewing the gum? I specifically told you not to eat it” My mom says angrily.

“That was a bad decision, and I think you know that. But cutting your hair was unbelievable, why did you do that?” My dad says in the same voice as my mom.

There is another moment of silence waiting for someone to say something and I’m pretty sure that someone was supposed to be me. The truth is I really didn’t know what to say. I knew everything they said was true, and I had no clue why I did what I did. I guess I just wanted to feel older and to prove that I can do what I want.

I finally say “I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry I shouldn't have done that.”

“You’re right, you shouldn't have done that but the more important thing was that you lied instead of telling us,” My mom says.

“I know next time I will tell you the truth instead of lying,” I say in an ashamed voice.

My parents leave the table to go clean the dishes and Ethan and I stay at the table.

“ That was crazy. You know you should have listened to Mom,” Ethan says.

“Yeah, I know,” I say.

I realize now that getting gum stuck in my hair was bad. I knew lying wasn’t right and yet I did it anyway. And on top of lying, I disobeyed my parents. Thankfully I have my older brother with all his knowledge.

But the most important lesson I learned is you should definitely stay away from gum.