The picture shows Peter, Alan and a couple of other classmates sat on some stone steps and all four are wearing a green satin Alice band. The inch wide bands do look out of place on their very boyish heads. “You’re wearing knee socks.” Carol comments.
“Yeah… that was back in September, soon after I started. We thought the Alice bands were compulsory but thankfully they weren’t so I only wore it for a week or two.”
“It looks OK.” Carol claimed.
“It looks better on girls with long hair… at least it serves a purpose.” Peter said. “On boys with short hair it looks so out of place.”
“A narrower band would look better… or a couple of clips… show me that one again.” she asked, prompting him to scroll back to it. He did and she spent a few seconds just looking. “Are you going to grow your hair?” she asked. “You could.” she said, passing his phone back to him.
“I dunno… I look girlie enough as it is in my uniform… doubly so when I wear barrettes.”
“Do you wear them often?”
“Not really… once or twice a week when Mum wants me to make an effort.” he replied. “It’d be every day if she had her way.”