Another Me by Cathy MacPhail

for the post office.
    I grabbed an elderly woman standing right outside. ‘Did you see her? Did you?’
    The woman, a cigarette dangling from her lips, snarled at me. ‘See who?’
    â€˜A girl like me, coming out of there.’ I pointed at the doors. ‘You must have seen her. She must have run past you.’
    The woman answered gruffly, ‘I never saw nobody, right?’
    Mrs Brennan appeared from the entrance to the flats. I ran to her. ‘Mrs Brennan, that wasn’t me you saw up there. It was somebody else.’
    But she wouldn’t believe me either. ‘’Course it was you. I’d recognise you anywhere.’ She flicked at my hair with affection. ‘Could never mistake that lovely bouncy hair of yours.’
    No one would ever believe me.
    But then I realised what I had to do. ‘Well, you’ll never make that mistake again!’ I screamed at her.
    I ran for the lift, and punched at the buttons angrily. Again, my anger was replacing my fear and when Ireached my floor I flew out of the lift and into the flat. I made straight for the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror.
    At me.
    Not this other one.
    ME!
    I lifted the scissors Mum kept in the cabinet above the sink.
    No one would ever mistake her for me again.

Chapter Fourteen
    â€˜What have you done to your hair!’ Dawn and Kaylie looked horrified when I came running into the playground during morning break. Horrifed that my soft, golden hair now stood out in spikey, unsightly tufts on my head. I had cut it. I had chopped it. I put up my hand to flatten it down, but it just kept springing up again.
    Kaylie came over and hugged me. ‘What have you done?’ she said again.
    â€˜I saw her,’ I began, then, remembering I hadn’t actually seen her, I corrected myself. ‘I
almost
saw her. Almost caught her. Mrs Brennan saw her. She spoke to her. She thought it was me.’
    Dawn tutted. ‘She’s an old bag. Blind as a bat. She was probably just mistaken.’
    I turned on her angrily. ‘Everybody can’t bemistaken. There
is
somebody else.’
    They were looking at me as if they didn’t know me, almost as if they were afraid of me.
    â€˜What’s happening to you, Fay?’ Kaylie asked.
    I touched my hair. ‘You remember what Mr Hardie was saying about clones? Well, I’ve changed my hair. Her hair is soft and shiny, but mine isn’t anymore. Now nobody – nobody! – will mistake her for me again.’
    Drew Fraser stepped from behind a corner of the playground. He had been listening. ‘Well, there’s no chance of two girls having a haircut from hell like that.’
    I pushed him so hard he almost stumbled. ‘Shut up you!’
    â€˜Fay. Come to my office right now.’ Mrs Williams’ voice behind me was brisk and angry. She led me silently, with clipped heels and a tight mouth, to her office. She didn’t say a word until I’d sat down and she’d closed the door. ‘Now, Fay. You’re late. Why?’
    I couldn’t tell her the truth. She wouldn’t understand. So the lie came easily. ‘I was stuck in the lift. I’m sorry, Mrs Williams.’
    The problems with our lift were notorious but I still don’t think she believed me.
    â€˜And this?’ She flicked a tuft of my hair. ‘Were youstuck in the lift with a pair of shears?’
    That was more difficult to explain, so this time I didn’t try. ‘There’s someone pretending to be me, Mrs Williams. People keep seeing her. They think it’s me. So I thought . . . if I cut my hair we’d look different. She wouldn’t be mistaken for me again.’
    She looked bewildered. Wondering why someone being mistaken for you should call for such drastic action. ‘Yes, I’ve heard you’ve been saying that.’ As if I was making it up. ‘Fay, would you like to talk about this?’
    I was on my feet