Stories from the Barber - The Lost Bet by Nanashi

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Well, today was rather busy, but it had kind of lulled in the afternoon. It was already evening when a rather athletic kid burst into my shop. He had obviously just came from the pool, with his hair still rather damp and smelling like chlorine. I hadn't seen him before and instinctively got up and gestured to my chair. Instead of sitting down, he just excitedly started rattling off.

Evening sir, you see, I've a friend coming over later for a cut cos he lost a bet with me, what time will you be open until? He should be here in 30 or so minutes.

Hey, chill out man. I'm open for another 2 hours, dont worry.

Alright, be back soon! Before rushing out again towards the direction of the train station. Well, that kid was hyper, wonder what this bet would be. Ought to be interesting at the very least.

Well, he was faster than expected, being back in the shop in less than 20min dragging a very reluctant "blonde haired" kid.

Yes boss, this is the man who lost. And he'll be losing much more soon, which was followed up by a groan.

The blonde guy was also quite young, possibly in his late teens. His hair was bleached blonde, considering he has his hair cut in a long undercut and his sides had grown out quite significantly. The roots of his hair had also grown out, and were pitch black. His hair seemed quite frizzy, possibly due to the damage of bleaching his hair, which judging from his roots probably needed 3 or more rounds of bleaching. He had his hair lightly waxed, adding texture but most of his fringe was still overlapping his spectacle frames, and his sides was covering half his ears. This is gonna be fun.

As for the hyper kid, he seemed to just have a relatively short undercut, fringe barely touching his eyebrows and sides far from the ears. It was still a mess but much less wet than before.

So...since let me explain. Since he lost the bet, he has to cut it as short as my hair.

Ohh, this is going to fun.

Well, sir, please, take a seat.

Nope, wait first. Like I said, he needs it cut as short as mine. And I'm due for a haircut too. Me first!

While the hyper kid was smirking, the blonde kid was shocked.

Wait, what? This wasn't part of the deal.

Look at ur phone history.

While mr hyper plopped himself into my chair, the older boy just scrolled through his phone carefully, before letting out a groan, this is bulls**t man.

Well, you lost it. So suck it.

Take a seat in the waiting chair first, I'll attend to you shortly. I was trying my best not to smirk by this point.

While caping up the boy, I asked, so, how much do ya wanna cut off today.

So you see, I just made it to the national water pool team, and he bet against me making it, so that's why we're here today.

Yea, I could tell actually. Your hair seems much lighter than your roots, considering it's more copper brown whereas your roots are dark brown.

That's right, also bleached, like him, smirking in his direction.

Well, my hair's been getting irritating when I'm swimming, and a swimming cap is annoying so...buzz it off.

What? That's bulls**t man. I didn't agree to this.

Well, you did. So...you take it like a man, unless you arent?

The blonde kid just started sulking, eyeing the door. Before he could do anything, I decided to flip the door to close and locked it.

What are you doing.

Well, shop's closed, I wouldn't want any more customers.

At that point, I could tell he was semi resigned to his fate, and became to look down red-faced.

Taking out the clippers, I put on a no. 4 and placed it on his forehead.

Hey, look up.

As soon as mr blondie raised his head, I ploughed the clippers through mr hyper's hair, clearing a clean path to the back, essentially a reverse mohawk, inciting a groan from blondie. Meanwhile, hyper was just ecstatic and giddy with joy. Within a few quick passes, his hair was reduced to stubble.

As soon as I uncaped him, he went over to blondie and literally started rubbing it in his face, and started dragging him to my chair.

Can we not, please. Like, you know how much my hair means to me. Please? He started whining, a complete 180 from his previous persona.

Nope. Nope and nope. Come on now, dont be a sore loser.

Dragging him to the chair, I immediately caped him up, sealing his fate. Placing the towel over the cape, I walked him to the hair washing area, where I took my time slowly washing him hair, considering it'll be a long time before it's this long again, with mr hyper rubbing it in all the way. Once back at the seat, I dried it off abit, leaving his hair looking like hay, considering its damaged texture.

Turning on the clippers and placing it at the base of his neck caused him to shudder. Trying to run it up to the crown, it got jammed halfway through due to the damage and stringiness of his hair, causing me to manually unclog the clippers, placing the severed strands on the cape in front of him, which stood out compared to his bright yellow hair.

He was visibly in pain, wincing each time it was jammed. Eventually, after an agonizing 5 minutes, I have managed to clear the back.

Not intending to prolong it any longer, I placed it on his forehead, and ran it backwards, or attempted to at least, with the clippers jamming twice before reaching the crown. He had started to tear up and mr hyper had also stopped taunting him, instead quietly videoing at the side.

Trying another method, I tried using scissors to remove most of the length first, causing a mound of blonde hair to pile up on the cape in front of him, further accelerating the tears. Afterwards, I just used the clippers to make a few final passes to clean him up.

By the time I uncaped him, the floor looked like a golden retriever had just been groomed. I unlocked the door, after which he immediately ran out.

Mr hyper on the other hand, started to seemed more concerned, and after paying me for the cuts, he ran off after former mr blondie.

Well, I never saw either of them again, but it's always fun to shear a long haired boy, so no complains here.

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