The Cue Ball Club by Josephthepencilcase

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I sat in the same old barbers chair in the same place I had my haircut once every month, and as usual I was contemplating the many hairstyles I could possibly get. I imagined myself with spiked style or a pompadour or even a buzzcut, It was almost tradition for me to cycle through the styles and the barber finished with the previous customer. But soon I'd run out of styles that came to mind (after all, most abused the school rules and it wouldn't look good on a boy of seventeen) so I just stared out of the window instead; just staring out onto the town in which I'd lived for many years where little had changed other than the odd shop that had changed hands. Soon my eyes wondered away from the identical shops and onto a group of guys my age who were walking towards the barber's shop, they were dressed in a variety of different school uniforms and were all wearing maroon badges, but the thing that caught my eye was their bald heads. Each one without a single exception had a completely shaved head, and some didn't even have eyebrows, although as they approached father I noticed there was one boy in the centre of the group with black hair fashioned into an undercut style. At first I thought a skinhead group or an alopecia support community had come to town but as they approached they entered the barber's they're manner seemed totally different. They all burst in through the door with a considerable amount of chattering and laughing, after some jeering and shouts they shoved the boy with hair down into the barber's chair at the far left next to my own.
"So then, you sure you want to join us?" the tallest of the group asked to the one with hair.
"I'm sure" he replied, his voice quivered slightly but he seemed still had a level of certainty in his voice.
After he said this the conversation continued just as the barber came over to my chair and gave me the trim I'd asked for, but I still wanted to hear the group's conversation, the barber's apprentice had come over by this point and was addressing the group.
"Hello again gentlemen, I see you've roped in another victim" the apprentice joked
"We sure have, and same thing for this one. Hair and eyebrows all gone!" The tallest of the group (who I presumed was the leader) triumphantly replied.
I couldn't believe this was happening right next to me, I'd never considered the bald style before and even just imagining it gave me quite the rush. I tried to catch glimpses of the apprentice shaving the boy's head whilst the others watched and jeered, I tried to catch as many looks as I could whilst the barber switched tools. At first the apprentice removed a long line of hair with the clippers and proceeded to go all over the head until just a shadow of the boys hair remained, then a thick layer of shaving cream was applied before a razor left the boy's head shiny and smooth as a pottery vase. Then to my shock he applied the cream to his eyebrows and shaved them down to the skin, the boy was as bald as a cue ball in minutes. I looked away once again as the barber finished my own haircut, but I managed to catch the leader of the group say one last thing once he'd payed.
"We'll be back in a bit, there's another victim who's agreed to join." Once more I was intrigued and I wanted to stick around to see the process again, but I had to get on so when I payed for the haircut I ran into town to do a few errands.

I slammed the door of my house closed as I walked in with bags of shopping, the errands had taken longer than normal. It has been well over an hour since the head shaving in the barber's but it was still the only thing on my mind, so when my dad walked over I couldn't help but tell him. He had thick hair identical to me and my brother, probably where we'd got it from.
"There was this group of boys at the barber's today who all had these shaved heads, and this new kid got his entire head shaved like some initiation ceremony."
"What? Was it a skinhead group."
"I don't think so, they also said there was another lad who'd agreed to do it." And as if by clockwork as I said this, my brother walked through the door. He was dressed in the same school uniform and his face bore a giant grin, but on his lapel there was a red button with "CBC" written on it and his head and eyebrows were completely shaved just like the lads in the barber's. My mouth hung open with shock but it was nothing compared to my dad's reaction, he looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"What do you think?" he proudly exclaimed, knowing full well how shocked we'd both be.
"Josh, what's happened to your hair, you look like a cancer patient!" My dad was stilled stunned.
"I got it done at the barbers, I'm joining this new group called the Cue Ball Club and we all have our heads shaved. You get to regrow the eyebrows but your hair has to be
shaved.
"Won't the school have problems with this? What is this group?" I followed on the barrage of questions.
"No, the club's existed for months and the school's had no problem, and it's just a group of guys who hang out and just try to have fun."
Without saying anything I went in to touch my brother's head, he kind of looked good with the style and it was fun to rub his bare scalp.
"I won't have a son that looks like a skinhead at sixteen."
"Oh relax dad, it's my hair. And anyway I kind of like it." As my brother said this my dad was fed up and walked off, when I was sure he was out of ear shot I hastily blurted out something to my brother.
"I want to join, how did you join." My brother looked quite taken a back by this but still complied.
"All you have to do is go to Chris, the leader, and tell him that you want to join. They always go to the same barber's at the same time. I'll put in a word to Chris and tell him you want to join." I could barely wait.

After an entire day of waiting all I could think about was joining the club, I sat on one of the barber's chairs once more waiting for the group to arrive, and sure enough I saw the sea of bald heads making their way down the street before piling into the barber's once more. They were all chattering and laughing but it was Chris who once again led the group.
"So you must be Max." To this I just nodded in anticipation.
"Well Max, welcome to the Cue Ball club, I heard great things from that brother of yours." He handed me a red badge which I hastily attached to my clothes. "But there is still the issue of the hair." He briefly ran his hands through my hair and brushed his finger over my eyebrows before calling over the apprentice, you could tell Chris was loving every second of the procedure, relishing it. The apprentice soon came over and had a similar conversation with Chris.
"All off?" He said
"You already know" Chris said as the black cover was draped over me and the apprentice popped the attachment off the clippers. He once again began by dragging the clippers down the centre of my scalp taking out a huge chunk of hair, the feeling of the clippers was so satisfying and I couldn't help but touch the bald section of my scalp. And the feeling as the clippers went all around my head was like a massage, the feeling of the breeze on my head felt like a great weight had been lifted from me. Soon I had a 000 buzzcut, but just like before the procedure wasn't over. I soon felt the warm shaving cream be applied to my head followed by the razor, it felt like diving into a cloud that left my refreshed when the cloud faded. Each stroke was incredible and heightened the feeling for me to a level I couldn't believe. When the apprentice was done I only had a brief few seconds to look and my newly transformed head before the apprentice took out his straight razor and put carved away my eyebrows, each stroke made me feel the satisfying sense of lightness once again until I was completely bald and browless. I really did look like a cue ball.

My dad was horrified at his sons both being bald, but after a while (and once our eyebrows had grown back) people got used to it and we loved our time at the Cue Ball Club. Those were really the days.

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