Matthew's Unwanted Haircut by Jonathan

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"Matthew, I thought we had a deal, your hair still isn't cut," the bully said.

"I know, yeah I know," says Matthew.

It had been about a month now. Matthew had these older kids pestering him to cut his medium length black hair. High school in the rough neighborhood he lived in was hard. His hair wasn't really long, just down below the ears and the front fringe to his mouth. The back wasn't long at all! The dark black hair gave him the perfect look all the girls loved.

Matthew Sanchez was cute and kids knew it. He was shy however and not a fighter. For some unfortunate reason these four boys with shaved heads decided to have a little fun with Matthew. Every chance they got these boys teased and harassed the poor guy.

"Get a haircut Matthew," they'd say.

It was getting to be an almost daily thing now. Matthew was a skater and wore tight pants and hoodies. He sometimes covered his head with his hoody when then were near. Once or twice this worked and these bullies didn't even notice him. One Friday after school the bullies got Matthew real bad!

"Hey Matthew let me see that skateboard," one bully asked.

"Cool board, let's see if it can fly?" another said.



They rode it around a bit as Matthew and his best friend Ricardo sat helpless watching. Then they tossed it up on the school roof.

"Amazing, it does fly, ha ha ha," they said.

"Cut that damm hair off your head by next week Matthew!" ordered another bully.

They took off laughing. Matthew had to he the janitor to get his board off the school roof. This whole thing almost made him cry. It's making Matthew just dread school now!

"Matthew, you need to tell the principal about these guys," Ricardo said.

"Yeah I do that and they will make things worse," Matthew said.

Matthew even started missing a day or two of school to avoid these four bullies. He wondered why they chose him? He didn't really want to cut his hair. This would be giving into their demands and they still might bother him. He thought about telling his uncle the family nicknamed "psycho". Psycho would certainly take care of these four pests.

Monday morning Matthew faked a bad stomach ache and the 15 year old got a break from school that day. Tuesday was soon here and the bullies had a field day tormenting Matthew. This time he was alone.

"Hey, kid why didn't you cut your hair yet?" they ask.

"Get over here kid," they said.

Matthew thought about running, but realized they must be fast too. He was soon surrounded by all four of these older kids.

"We're going to have to cut that hair for you," they said.

Two of them had a strong grip on Matthew's arms. A third one took some small school scissors out of his backpack.

"Look at these kid," one bully said.

The kid pretended to cut with the scissors. This was it thought Matthew. They were going to cut my hair here in an isolated part of the school. Matthew was trapped and knew he didn't have a chance.

All of the sudden he was saved by the bell. The school's passing bell rang and just then a teacher spotted Matthew and the four bullies.

"Hey move out guys and go to class!" the teacher said.

It was a very lucky moment for Matthew and his hair. All four bullies fled and Matthew stood alone with his heart beating fast. It was over for now!

The next day Matthew was very careful to hide and stay clear of these four. It worked until he and Ricardo were off the school campus and near the flood control river. They had surprised Matthew and shoved him by the wall of the flood control. This was even worse then being picked on at school. No one was around now to stop these guys!

Ricardo was even less of a fighter than Matthew. This time to Matthew's surprise Ricardo just took off running when these four showed up. Matthew was now alone with these four.

"Haircut time kid!" they said.

"Look, the scissors again kid," they said.

Three of the boys grabbed Matthew fast and held him against the river's wall. Matthew could see and hear all the cars driving by on the busy road. He realized none of these people would be of little help now. He just gave in mentally and knew for sure he wasn't walking away with his hair now.

"Look, just a little trim," the bully said.

He reached for the fringe on Matthew's forehead. He cut just a few snips. This startled Matthew. He knew it was real now.

"Hold still kid," the bully said.

He cut a slight bit more off Matthew's long bangs. Then just a little more. Matthew looked down at the ground and noticed pieces of his black hair lay on the gravel and dirt. Matthew's heart was racing now. This was what he'd feared might happen one day.

"How about a little off the sides here," the bully said.

He reached a held onto the hair covering Matthew's right ear. Then snip off comes a big piece of hair covering that ear. Then another huge piece. Now the right ear is exposed. The hair is starting to look distorted. All boys let out a vicious laugh.

"Hurry, cut it this is taking too long," one bully says.

Matthew realized it was going to be the moment his hair really got chopped. He tried to wiggle free from the boys. It was little use. The one with the scissors started to cut away at Matthew's finge. Matthew looked down to see pieces of his long black hair blow away in the large afternoon wind. He started to feal a tear or two well up in his eyes. The boys gripped him tighter now.

The one with the scissors rapidly hacked away at his black hair. It was quickly disappearing and blowing down into the riverbed below. The fringe was gone as well as the hair once covering his ears. Now Matthew could feel the scissors start to cut close to his scalp. It was quickly evident to him they would be taking as much off as they could. His stomach ached and his eyes were filled with tears of anger. He have to have his older brother shave him bald when he got home.

The four boys continued on with their torturous haircut for a few more minutes. Parts of Matthew's scalp were exposed. It was a mess that only a pair of clippers on zero could fix.

"Let's go, that's enough," one bully said.

With that they released Matthew and took off laughing with delight. Matthew felt his head. Gone was his soft smooth hair. In its place were bumpy, uneven bits of stubblely hair. Matthew cried a second then got on his skateboard and headed home. He dreaded the embarrassing moment of reveling the botched haircut the four bullies had given him to his family. Perhaps worse than that was when he'd have to shave off all the was left. On the way home he come see his reflection in store front windows, it looked bad!

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