JC's Haircut Part 2

Before the big concert, JC spent an extra long time playing with his hair backstage. He'd just had the ends trimmed so the curls were even more pronounced. Once he'd blow-dried and styled it to his liking, brushing it with 100 strokes the way ladies do in old movies, he turned sideways to admire himself and see how far down his back his hair reached. The ends of his curls stopped about 3 inches short of the waistband of his tight jeans. Bastards at the salon took off too much, he thought. That's the last time I go back there. But it looks great nonetheless. As a finishing touch he crammed a rolled-up sock down the front of his pants to accentuate his bulge, but, remembering there would be children in the audience, he took it out again.

"Ok, dudes," he said as he emerged from the dressing room, "is there anything else we need to go over before we go out there? The warm-up act is almost done."

"Nope, I think everything's in order," said Chris. The other guys in the band had also gotten their hair cut for the show, but on them it was much more noticeable. Justin and Lance both had crewcuts. Chris, who was the frontman, wore a very retro short flattop that had become his trademark. Despite what JC thought, it was Chris' look that young men everywhere were beginning to copy.

"I can't believe you fags got haircuts, you were almost bald anyway," JC said. "With me out there, I doubt anybody will even notice you three." He tossed his hair defiantly. The others exchanged shifty glances.

As they walked out on stage, there was a roar of applause. JC strutted around like a rooster before taking his spot behind the drums.

They played a few songs and the crowd, mostly girls, went insane. Chris bent down in the middle of a song and touched the hands of some of the girls in the front row. He even let some of them touch his hair. JC rolled his eyes.

Then Chris put down his guitar and addressed the audience over the microphone. He introduced the band and said how happy he was to be there. "As you know, half of our proceeds toniht are going to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, to help out kids with critical illnesses. But right now, I would like to welcome a very special guest up on stage with us." There was thunderous applause.

JC snorted. He hadn't known anything about a special guest, but Chris was such a nerd, it was probably his mother or something.

But it was a little girl, whom Chris took gingerly by the hand and helped up on stage. She was wearing a pink dress and had a pink baseball hat pulled down tightly over her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Chris said, "this is Brittany. Brittany is 6 years old and was diagnosed with cancer when she was 4."

"Awwww," said the crowd.

"She lost all of her hair from the chemotherapy," he continued. "Her parents had to take her out of school because the kids teased her so badly."

Another "awww" rose up from the audience.

"The good news is, her cancer is in remission, but she has to stay on the chemo for a while longer, and it may be months before her hair grows back. But, we have a special treat for Brittany and her family tonight."

Chris turned around. "JC, why don't you come up here and say hello to Brittany?" he said. JC was beginning to sense something was afoot. He walked to the front of the stage and nervously shook hands with the little girl. "Hi, Brittany," he murmured.

To his surprise, she reached up and fingered one of his ringlets. "You like that, huh?" he said, smiling at her.

Chris was grinning from ear to ear now. "We hope you like it, Brittany, because it's going to be yours in a few minutes." The audience cheered.

"What?" JC gasped.

"See, our drummer JC has generously offered to let us cut off his long hair, right here on stage, and it will be used to make a wig for little Brittany."

JC was horrified. He opened his mouth to protest, but saw Brittany's wide-eyed, expectant face, and said nothing. He briefly thought of trying to run away, but Justin and Lance were closing in on him from behind. Lance was carrying a chair from the backstage lounge. Justin was holding a silver metal box, opened to reveal sinister-looking haircutting tools.

JC began to feel dizzy. This couldn't possibly be real. This was one of those dreams, the kind he often had, where he was about to have his hair cut off. These dreams always showed the events leading up to the haircut in slow, excruciating detail, but he would wake up before the clippers ever touched down on his head.

He collapsed into the chair. Lance draped a billowing nylon cape over JC's body. Justin pulled his hair back into a tight ponytail at the base of the neck. He then braided the 24" ponytail and fastened the end with another rubber band.

"How should we clip him?" Justin asked.

"Give him a haircut like Chris'," Lance said.

"No way," said Chris, "this is my style."

"Ok, fine, we'll just buzz him down with no guard on the clippers."

"I can do that," Justin said. He picked up the shears from the barber kit and sliced off JC's braid just above the top rubber band. He handed it to Chris, who presented it to Brittany. The little girl positively beamed, accepting the gift with both hands. "Thank you," she said.

JC still felt like he was trapped in a dream, only this dream had progressed far past the point where he usually woke up. He also felt suddenly very, very aroused. Thankfully, the cape hid the embarrassing situation in his pants.

Justin flicked on the clippers. JC felt even sicker. He had only heard this sound a few times before, when he watched with haughty disapproval as his band mates cut each other's hair before shows. Yet he always wished, at least a little bit, the he could have joined this ritual and had his hair buzzed too. It looked like such fun. Well, now, his deepest and most shameful fantasy was coming true… Justin set the vibrating clippers against JC's front hairline and thrust them firmly through JC's thick locks. Handfuls of golden-brown hair, 5 or 6 inches long, fell softly on JC's lap. His head looked very white under the bright stage lights.

"Let me have a turn," said Chris. Justin handed him the clippers. "Oh, I always knew I'd be doing this someday," Chris muttered. "You can't hide underneath this crap forever." He was a much more aggressive barber than Justin. He pushed JC's head around at uncomfortable angles, while he finished clipping off the remains of JC's pride.

The clippers were switched off and the auditorium was silent. Chris unfastened the cape and shook all the severed bits of hair onto the floor. Then he gave an exaggerated bow. A massive cheer erupted from the audience. Brittany's parents, who had stood in the front row, were ushered onto the stage. Her mom had tears of gratitude streaming down her face.

"Thank you so much," she said to JC, clasping his hand in both of hers. "You have no idea how much this means to our daughter."

Brittany's dad had picked her up. She smiled at JC, clutching the braid tightly to her chest. "You are a very generous young man," he said. "I know the long hair is popular with young guys these days, and it's really selfless of you to give it up."

JC smiled back. He suddenly felt very good about his sacrifice, even if it had been forced.

Once the four of them were backstage, JC sat down on a nearby sofa. He took the opportunity to feel his shorn head for the first time. His humiliation aside, it actually felt pretty good. He marveled at the softness of his cropped hair - it was like velvet. He grabbed a pillow and put it in his lap, to hide the fact that he was about to explode in his pants.

Chris spotted JC feeling his new haircut. "You like that, huh?" he teased, rubbing his own head. JC didn't respond.

"Hey, I see your little boner there. Don't pretend like you don't like it." The other guys laughed. JC gave them the finger.

"You know, boys, we forgot something," Chris said. "That ugly little caterpillar on his chin." Justin still had the clippers, so he turned them on again. Chris grabbed JC's head and tilted it back firmly. Justin reached over and buzzed off his pitiful goatee. All three of them cheered.

"Just look at him," Lance said, "isn't he pretty?"

"Absolutely precious," Chris agreed. "Seriously dude, I thought you would put up more of a fight. I can't say I'm surprised though. We knew this is what you really wanted."

"Yeah, we saw you get a woody every time we got our hair cut," Justin said. "Those tight pants don't leave much to the imagination."

JC's anger flared up inside him, but he was still too much in shock to give his band mates the verbal thrashing they deserved.

The band met for practice the following Friday, but JC was nowhere to be seen.

"Now where do you suppose Captain Hard-On is?" Chris said.

"Probably whacking off in front of a mirror," said Lance. "What do you think he does all day?"

They had a good laugh, but JC didn't actually show up until the next Monday. He came knocking on the door of the studio. Justin answered it.

"Well, well, look who's still alive," he said. "Where the hell were you? We were getting ready to find a new drummer."

"I went to visit my parents," JC replied. "My mom was so happy when she saw my hair that she actually cried. My little sister had to work hard to keep her friends off me. But while I was there I did some thinking, and I realized I'd been a total prick and I deserved what I got."

"Nah, you didn't deserve it, but aren't you glad we did it?" said Chris. "We're seriously proud of you, dude. You look great, and without that mop on your head as a distraction, we can move on to bigger and better things."

"Yeah," Justin said, "while you were away our label called. They want us to start recording again."

"Sweet," said JC. "Oh - I didn't tell you what else I did last week."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I stopped by to see Brittany and her family. Her new wig looks beautiful on her, much better than it did on me. She gets to stop the chemo next month, and when she does, she'll go back to school. She's really excited, especially since she won't be teased so much anymore.

"And, when I was in my hometown, I saw some of my old friends from high school. Of course they were shocked when they saw me, but I told them what happened, and I even managed to convince a couple guys to give their hair to Locks of Love. It's not quite the same as actually handing your hair to a kid with cancer, but they still get to really help somebody out."

"Excellent," said Chris. "Know what?"

"What?"

"I made an appointment with our barber for the three of us next week, but I bet I can call and get them to squeeze you in. Want to?"

"It'll be my first time in a real barbershop," JC said. "I can't wait."

He sat down at his drums and picked up his sticks. "But right now," he said, "let's just play."