The Bad Girl

Victoria Moore had been a very bad girl and she was now going to pay the consequences. It had been a rough semester for the 15 year old high school sophmore. She had been slacking off in school and skipping too many classes recently. Victoria was caught smoking cigarettes in the school bathroom with a friend which led to two after school detentions.

Just last week, Victoria had been caught by a teacher for cheating on a chemistry exam that she had failed to study for. As a result the teacher was giving her a “F” for the semester. The teacher and guidance counselor both advised Victoria and her parents that she would be forced to attend summer school and take chemistry all over again. It was the only way that she would be allowed pass the 10th grade and move on to 11th grade in the fall to stay on track.

Victoria’s father was a doctor and her mother was an accountant.  Both were well known in the community and were very upset at their only daughter for her recent failures. They had trusted her and were angry that she had fallen in with the wrong crowd at school.

“Your extremely lucky that you haven’t been expelled for your bad behavior!” Mrs. Moore laid into her daughter as they drove away from the high school. “You have been a very bad girl.”

Victoria had just finished her latest detention for wearing a skirt too short to school and her mother had stopped after work to pick her up.

“I don’t know what has gotten into you lately, you used to be such a good girl,” Mrs. Moore droned on as Victoria tried to tune her out. “Your father and I are embarrassed that we have to deal with your shenanigans. I simply won’t stand for it any longer. You are going to start shaping up!”

Victoria just sighed and looked out the window, pretending that she was anywhere but here. As they drove onward, she realized that they were in an unfamiliar part of town.

“Where are we going?” Victoria demanded.

“You will find out soon young lady. You have been very bad and you are going to be taught a lesson.”

Next thing she knew her mother had pulled into the parking lot of “Bob’s Barbershop – A Cut Above The Rest.” To Victoria’s horror, her mother announced that she was going to march right inside with her and get a haircut.

“You can’t be serious.  You can’t make me,” Victoria exclaimed pulling at her long black hair with her pale fingers.

“I’m your mother and yes I can make you,” Mrs. Moore demanded. “Do as I wish or things will get worse, much worse. You don’t want to find out how much worse, so just march your behind right in there now.”

Victoria was shell-shocked. No way was she going to get a haircut at this place. “Why can’t we go to the salon in the mall where we always go?” Victoria whined.

“Because you have been a bad girl. And bad girls do not go to the salon, bad girls go to the barbershop. Move your butt now, I won’t tell you again!” her mother snapped crossly.

Victoria whimpered and whined some more. Mrs. Moore got out of the car, slammed her door and came around to Victoria’s side. After opening the door, she grabbed her arm and dragged her out.

Victoria’s mother paddled her hard on the butt several times right there on the sidewalk. Victoria winced because she hadn’t felt her mother’s sharp hand on her behind in years.  “Mom what are you doing?” Victoria whined as several pedestrians nearby watched the exchange between mother and daughter.

“Treating you like the bad girl that you are. It’s pretty pathetic that you are 15 and I have to treat you as if you are 6. Now stand up straight and walk into the barbershop right now. You are already grounded for the entire summer. You want to make it last into the fall, be my guest!”

Victoria sulked and reluctantly stumbled to the barbershop entrance, stiff from her sore butt as her mother pushed her ahead.

The bell above the door ding-a-linged and all of the men turned to stare as they entered. Mrs. Moore directed her daughter straight to the nearest chair in the waiting area as the men continued to stare at her. Victoria self-consciously pulled her short skirt over her pale little legs as she sat down. Her mother sat quickly in the chair beside her.

For the first time in her life, Victoria was really scared. What was she doing in this barbershop? This is where men go to get their hair cut, not girls. Her mother was losing her mind.

“You did this to yourself Victoria. You will take the punishment. When it is your turn, I will instruct the barber how to cut your hair and you better not make a scene.”

“This isn’t fair,” Victoria whined pulling at her long black hair and still pulling at her short skirt.

“Life isn’t fair. You make poor choices, you have to live with the consequences.”

Victoria closed her eyes and dreamed that she was hanging out with her friends instead of inside this crummy old barbershop.

“Miss, its your turn.”

Victoria opened her eyes as she was given a nudge.

“Miss, its your turn,” said the old barber, who had to be pushing 70 years old.

“Get moving!” Mrs. Moore demanded, glaring at her daughter and elbowing her again.

“Mom!” Victoria cried.

“There are customers behind us waiting. It’s your turn!”

“Fine!” Victoria whimpered. She stood up, flipped back her black mid-back length hair and stomped over to the barber chair. Mrs. Moore followed and pulled up a chair very close by.

“I’m Bob, it’s nice to meet you both,” the old man said, “What will it be today?”

“My daughter Victoria has gotten herself into a heap of trouble lately. I want you to cut her hair very short to a boy’s style so that can see her ears and neck.”

“What???” Victoria cried.

The grisly old barber’s jaw hung down for a moment, taking this all in looking between mother and daughter.

“You just want me to cut it right off?” Bob asked, trying to make sure his old ears had heard correctly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure,” said Mrs. Moore. “And don’t go easy on her. Just make it nice and short. She should be happy that I’m allowing her to keep some hair at all.”

All of the men waiting behind them had a good laugh as they felt the emotions echo throughout the shop. Mrs. Moore didn’t care what these gawking men thought of the proceedings, she wanted to teach her daughter a lesson.

“Well sure,” Bob stammered. “I will do just that. I always like to keep the customer happy.”

“Mom, please don’t make me get a haircut,” Victoria begged. “I promise to be good.”

“Thats enough out of you, I won’t tell you again. That black mess needs to be cleaned up,” her mother hissed.

Old Bob approached Victoria from behind, placed his gnarly old hands on her shoulder blades and told her to ease back into the chair.

“I don’t get too many pretty girls in here. Especially with such beautiful shiny black hair,” he croaked as he pawed the hair and tied it into a ponytail.

“Just get it over with quickly,” Victoria whimpered. She nervously gripped the armrests tightly as she watched in the mirror. The old barber laid a large black cape over her and snapped it closed around her neck.

Victoria shuddered as the barber was so close behind her that she could smell the tobacco on his breath. “There we go, now brace yourself hunny, I’m going to start wacking and hacking,” the Bob joked.

Victoria whimpered in the chair as her mother looked on.

Bob pulled a sharp pair of scissors out of his pocket and snip snipped them loudly as he prepared to attack. He gripped the ponytail with one hand and snip snip snipped right through the thick black hair.

Victoria shrieked as her ponytail was severed. All of the men in the shop were glued to the spot as they watched the old barber dangle the foot long black tail out in front of Victoria teasingly. This can’t be happening thought Victoria as she fought off tears. She just wanted this all to be over so she could get out of this horrible place.

“This is yours to keep if you want,” Bob grinned laying the ponytail on the counter. Victoria ignored him and mumbled to herself with disinterest.

Old Bob ruffled her remaining locks with his old gnarly hands and didn’t waste any time. He moved in front of Victoria and combed up a long shiny black lock right at her forehead. He eyes followed as he held the strand out with his fingers and snip snipped it right off about three inches from her scalp.

Victoria watched helplessly as the lock slid down the cape onto her lap. Bob quickly selected the next lock in front and snip snipped it off cleanly, laying it to waste as well.

Snippity snip snip. Bob continued to comb and snip off the glossy black strands of hair as he worked his way across the top of Victoria’s scalp.

The relentless snipping of the sharp scissors continued as the old barber wacked off section after section of hair. The pile of Victoria’s discarded hair grew as each lock fell, joining their severed comrades around the chair.

Victoria’s cute little ears and pale neck became visible as the hair was sheared off. The final long strand was lopped off at the back and the snipping scissors fell silent. Victoria sucked in a deep breath and sighed. She already looked like a boy and the barber didn’t look quite finished yet.

Bob approaching the chair again, this time wielding a pair of hair clippers without a guard and a small comb. Starting at the left side in front of Victoria’s exposed ear, he began to create a fade using the comb as a guide.

The loud buzzing of the clippers in her ears and clickity clack against the comb brought Victoria to attention as Bob worked carefully. She winced as the clippers mowed away at her hair, buzzing the hairline down to almost nothing around the ears.

The loud buzzing continued as Bob drove the clippers up through the nape, like an angry swarm of bees on the loose. Bob whistled as he worked away until the fade was complete all the way around. The clippers traced the hairline to create a sharp edge, removing any faint traces of baby hair on Victoria’s pale neck.

The clippers were shut off and returned to the counter as Victoria breathed a sign of relief, hopefully that this ordeal was almost over.

In no time, Bob had returned to the chair with a spray bottle and comb. He began spritzing the shortened locks on top, combing the hair back and forth to ensure that it was wet down to his liking. Bob created a parting on the left side of Victoria’s head and combed the hair properly into place.

After selecting another smaller pair of scissors from the counter, Bob began cutting the hair on top to a proper length. Snippity snip snip snip. The shortened black hair was combed, snipped and recombed back into position as Bob worked his way across Victoria’s scalp until he was satisfied that Victoria’s mother would be pleased.

“Is that short enough for you, ma’am,” Bob asked.

“That looks terrific and it’s just as I envisioned. She looks very much like a boy. Can you add some hair gel and sleek it down?” Mrs. Moore inquired.

“Of course, I will get right to it,” Bob announced.

After Bob retreated to the counter, he located a bottle of hair gel. Bob squirted a nice amount into his palm and rubbed his hands together. Then he began slowly running his hands through Victoria’s shortened hair as she watched the progress in the mirror.

After the top hair was sleek with gel, Bob took a comb from his shirt pocket and drew a nice crisp part on the left side. He carefully combed the hair properly across her head, picking up the bangs and sweeping them back so that they wouldn’t dangle on her forehead.

Bob rechecked everything to ensure that every piece of hair was in place. He glanced toward Mrs. Moore for her approval.

“It’s perfect,” she said, standing up and inspecting the short haircut. “You did a wonderful job and there is no question at all that she will pass for a boy. I hope this bad girl has been taught a valuable lesson here.”

A lot of ohhhhs and ahhhhhs could be heard from the peanut galleries as the men observed Victoria’s new short cut from a distance. It was quite a spectacle, as none of them could recall ever seeing a girl sporting something so short.

Victoria was embarrassed and just wanted to disappear. Everybody gawking at her was too much. She just wanted to get out of this horrible place.

“Yes indeed. Seeing that Victoria will be grounded for the entire summer, we will be back for a clean-up once a month,” Mrs. Moore continued. “I think we will keep this style for quite some time until she shapes up and stops being such a bad girl.”

Victoria just dropped her chin and began to cry.

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