Winning haircut by Barbershop memmories

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This story is basically true.

When I was in my third year at senior school, I noticed three boys walking into assembly, all three of which, where sporting the dreaded short back and sides haircut. One boy in particular called Thomas, who was now standing right in front of me in the assembly line. His hair had been far more severely clipped than the other two boys.

This was a good few months before I found the nerve to get the short haircut i so desperately wanted.

A few boys were looking and pointing at him, whispering little comments to each other and sniggering.

Thomas was in the year below me and was one of the few boys at school with fairly short hair,, something i had obviously noticed,,, (if you've read any of my previous stories you'll know about my fondness, well, more like obsession with all things haircut and barbershop related)

Thomas was in the same school house as me,,,(Newark). The school had three houses,, Newark, Sherwood and Southwell.

I sat opposite him on the same dinner table, he was in second year, i was a third year.
I really liked him, and kinda looked out him,,. Well,, someone had to. He got picked on a lot

He was every bullies dream, such an easy target.

He was smaller than average for his year.

He was very well mannered and had quite a posh accent.

His hair was always neatly combed and much shorter than nearly everyone else's.

Worse still was how smart he always looked,

Shoes,, perfectly polished,

Shirt collar always buttoned up snuggly and neatly tucked in.

Tie pulled up tight with a perfectly tied knot,

and if all that wasn't enough, now all the boys in his class know he's a choir boy


He had been a pupil at Southwell minster junior school and left the senior school three quarters of the way through his second year,, he had only been at our school about two months or so.

All UK schoolboys in the early 70s had really long hair, but his, by the standards of the day, was really quite short. ie,, cut above his collar and almost above his ears but it was quite thick and longish on top, and never clipped.

I had never seen anything quite like it.

The back and sides must have been shaved off with a razor.

The completely smooth almost white looking skin was a good three or more inches above his ears and ran straight around his head.

The top had been cut really short and thinned out so severely you could almost see through it and combed into a side parting.

A boy standing next to him nudged him.

Thomas turned round and looked at him.

" did your Dad tell the barber to cut it till it bleeds". He must av done,

Everyone around them who heard him started laughing and sniggering

It wasn't my Dad who took me it was the choir master, OK!

OH,,,, "The choir master". " The choir master" takes you to the barbers,, OW, YOU,,. The boy turned round and looked at me , I started him right in the eyes,, SHUT UP, and leave him alone,, ALRIGHT, ,,. The second he caught my stare, he looked down and turned back round,

Ha, i thought to myself,, i knew he was a coward,,. All bullies are coward's.

Thomas was still looking up at me.

All the boys around him were laughing even louder now.

Tears were starting to well up in his eyes and his mouth and lips were beginning to tremble, I felt so sorry him.

I gave him a nod and a smile.

SILENCE,, the headmaster barked.

Everyone went silent.

He turned round quickly and looked looked up at the headmaster standing on the assembly hall stage directly in front of him.

But a second or two later the whispering and mumbling started, everyone behind and to the side of him started nudging each other and pointing at him. I could hear lots of different comments, Oh my God have you seen him, look at his hair, Who, what you looking at, him, the new posh boy , him there, third row from the front on the end of the isle.
All the boys stood on the right side of the hall and all the girls on the left with a gap of about six feet between us.

The girls had also noticed him and where nudging each other and pointing at him, the laughing and giggling and the noise of the chattering was getting louder and louder by the second.

I noticed the headmaster looking around the assembly hall, he didn't have a clue what was going on,

then a girl standing on the end of the isle directly across from Thomas leaned back so her friend could see.
Him,, look,, Him right there. as she leaned back, she gestured towards him with her thumb. Look at his hair.
The girl turned her head round to look at him, she let out an almighty screech.

SILENCE! He shouted, I'd never heard him shout that loud before.

He was really mad,,, probably cause he didn't have a clue what it was all about.

Thomas was stood just three feet in front of me,

At the start of his ordeal when the sniggering and muttering began he looked over at a boy who had made some comment or other but as more and more boys and then the girls started to stare and point at him, he just stood motionless, with his hands fixed firmly by his side and his head bowed down looking at the floor,

I'd hardly took my eyes off him throughout his whole ordeal,
The hall went silent almost instantly.

What is it?

What's going on,

Keeping his head down i noticed him lift his hand up and wipe his eyes to stop the tears falling to the floor.

It was the saddest thing I'd ever seen.

It's him Sir, the posh boy, look at his hair Sir, a girl shouted out,,, i think it was the girl that let out the really loud screech .


Part 2 coming up.

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