Michaels haircut by Tony

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Michaels haircut.
My first week at my new school, I had moved from London out to a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere, it was the worst thing ever, nothing to do and nowhere to go, I was now sixteen and my parents were quite strict, I had been told to go to the barber shop before starting at the new school, I had managed to dodge this request from my Father and felt quite pleased about it, I had long hair at the moment which I wanted to keep, so I thought the best thing to do so as not to draw attention was to tie it back, I left the first morning to get the bus to school, I arrived in plenty of time wearing the new school uniform which apparently was obligatory, I registered myself at reception and was told where my classroom was, I didn't know anyone, so just went off to find it, I opened the door and went in, a few boys there looked at me, one said, hey, you new here? I replied, yes, my first day, they all grinned when I said that.
I noticed I was the only one with long hair, it wasn't long before it became apparent why they were grinning, I was called to the front of the class and the teacher said, go back to the office and see the head master.
I did this only to find the head master talking to my Father on the phone, I could not really hear what was being said, but all I gathered was I needed to stop somewhere on the way home. The head master said to me, in this school no boys are allowed long hair, I have spoken to your Father and you are to go to the barber shop on your way home, you will be allowed to leave thirty minutes earlier in order to do this. My heart sank and I knew there was no getting out of this one, at three thirty my teacher told me to pack up and go to my appointment, I left the school and walked to the barber shop which was just along the road from the school, it was a dingy little shop and quite old fashioned, this made me feel even worse, I thought what sort of haircut am I going to get here, it's nothing like the modern shops in London. I untied my hair and combed it before entering the shop, the chair was empty and an older man was standing there to greet me, he said, Michael I presume, I nodded, he told me to take a seat, I hung my blazer up on the hook and sat in the chair, he said, first time here? I said, yes sir. He told me to prepare for a short haircut, I butted in saying I don't want it short, he looked at me and said, the school rules are clear, all boys have short hair, there is no getting out of it, the head has spoken with your Father and he is aware of the rules, that's why your here.
He put the cape over me and tucked it in at the back of the neck tightly, lifting my long hair out of the way, he started combing it through, my fringe was hanging across my face and partly covering my eyes, I felt sick knowing there was no getting out of this, the next thing I knew was the scissors plowing through my long fringe, the long hair just slipped down the cape, I could see in the mirror my fringe had been cut right up to the middle of my forehead, I felt even more sick now, the barber continued snipping great long lengths of hair from my head, my ears were now showing and it was getting shorter by the minute. The next thing I heard was a flick of a switch and the loud buzz of the clippers, I just closed my eyes and prayed it wasn't going to be too short, the barber placed his hand on the top of my head and firmly pushed it forward, I could feel the cold metal of the clippers buzzing against the back of my neck, I could feel them running up my neck to my crown, again and again I realised that the back of my hair was shaved to the skin, I felt totally sick but absolutely nothing I could do to stop this nightmare, the barber moved around to the side now, ploughing the clippers right up to the temple, then to the other side, I knew that even my sideburns had been shaved too, he finished using the clippers now and reverted to the scissors, he was cutting the top of my hair now, that was being cut quite short too, he finished off with a small pair of clippers making a straight line at the top of the ear where there used to be sideburns and then the back of the neck, I thought that was the end, but no, next he wet the sides and back and with the razor shaved it clean around the edges, he took a small hand full of gel and combed my hair with a side parting and slicked the remains of my fringe back, I looked like a complete geek, I really hated this look, I was now just imagining what the kids at school would say tomorrow. I returned home to find my Father waiting for me, his words were, finally a proper short haircut, you will be keeping it like that from now on, I don't want the humiliation of your head master phoning me to tell me to get your haircut again.
I had never felt so embarrassed about a haircut before, it really was awful, I felt the back of my neck again and realised just how short it was.

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