Gina poured Kim a glass of white wine and immediately ordered a new bottle. She had been sitting here for quite a while, while Kim’s locks were being cut and coloured. `You want to do it again?’ she asked. She was surprised. She never had thought Kim would approve of her choice, although the extreme inverted bob was a fabulous hairstyle, especially with black hair, natural or dyed, like in Kim’s case.

`Yes’, Kim replied and she emptied her glass of wine. `And you get to choose a model from the pixies pages. But only if you let me pick a haircut for you. You can choose your own category of course.’ Gina was thinking and looked at herself in the large mirror in the back of the cafe.

She had always worn her auburn locks at shoulder lenght and had not even considered going shorter ever before. But the alcohol had loosened her up and the prospect of having another go at Kim’s hair made it even easier. She said: `Okay. When are we doing it?’

They had agreed they would play again in six weeks, when it was time for Kim to have her hair cut again anyway. Kim regretted she has said Gina could pick a pixie for her next time, because it turned out there were some extreme short cuts on those pages, and she knew now what Gina’s taste was.

Gina had already made up her mind. The bob was the only alternative, since she didn’t want to lose to much of her length. She opted for the other bob page and hoped that not too much of her hair would fall to the salon floor. She also had decided on Kim’s next cut. She would be in for a surprise…

It was time again. Kim entered the salon and stroke her nape. The hair had grown quite a bit over the past six weeks. She almost longed for another shave. But that wasn’t for her to decide. Once again her fate was in the hands of Gina and the choice she had made from the collection of pixie haircuts.

She slipped in the chair, confident and scared at the same time. What would happen next? Her hair was to be cut, that’s what happened next. Like the first time, she was unable to see anything, but she could sense she was losing a fair amount of hair. Time for another colour, and this time the smell was even worse. On top of that, it took several dye jobs and over two hours before the stylist guided Kim back to the chair.

The cutting started again and Kim could feel the hair falling into her eyes. Then the hair on top of her head was pinned up and she could hear the sound of the clippers again. The stylist started at the base of her neck, just like the first time and drove the humming machine up, and up and even further up.

The clippers went all the way to her crown and Kim nearly exploded. Only… how short was she being clippered? She regretted now that she hadn’t paid more attention when the stylist had picked up the machine. Did it have a guard on it? And what number? Or no guard at all, just like six weeks ago? Her mind was racing, and the clippering continued.

The back of her head seemed to be finished now. It felt light, and she could feel a cool breeze on her skin as a new customer opened the door and entered the salon. Meanwhile the hairdresser clipped her left temple and then the right, all the way up. The next thing Kim sensed was a warm sensation on her head. Shaving cream! Oh my god, she would be practically bald when she walked out of here!

The next thing that hit Kim, was confusion. Not one of the pixie models on those internet pages had their sides and back shaved bare! What was Gina doing? Cheating obviously! Kim nearly exploded. This wasn’t how this game was supposed to be played! The only thing that calmed her down a bit was the thought that Gina was also in the chair of a salon, being bobbed the way Kim wanted.

Kim’s hairdresser now loosenend the clips that held her remaining hair together, and she felt how her locks touched her bare scalp. The hairdresser brought out the clippers again and began to shape what Kim though was another bob and certainly not the pixie she had agreed on. What was going on? She died to see herself in the mirror.

That moment came sooner than she expected. Kim hadn’t paid much attention to what the hairdresser had been doing after the shaving, excited and angry as she was about Gina’s actions, and suddenly she was looking at her own reflection in the salon mirror. She was stunned and couldn’t believe it was her.

Her locks, once blonde and dyed `jet black with a hint of blue’ had been coloured bright blue now and so had her eyebrows. The way her hair had been cut didn’t seem to differ much from last time. Blue hair tipped her jaw and framed her face, contrasting strangely with her black lipstick and green eyes.

The only big difference was underneath all that shocking blue hair, Kim knew. She slowly turned her head to have a look at the back of her head and she almost stopped breathing when she saw the cut. The line was even steeper than last time and the hair didn’t even cover her earlobes anymore. The right and left side didn’t meet untill the crown of her head. And below that line Kim was bald.

Kim didn’t even ask for the picture Gina had sent. She just paid the hairdresser’s and left the salon. On her way to the bar where she and Gina would meet, Kim tried desperately to cover the bare back of her head by putting up the collar of her leather jacket, but that didn’t work.

One block away from the café, Kim stopped and looked at herself in the reflection of a shop window. There was a bus stop in front of the shop and Kim sat down for a minute, still looking at that strange woman opposite her, not paying attention to the cars and people that were passing by. People that were definitely looking at her, blue haired and radically clipped.

Did she really hate Gina for doing this to her? Seen from the front the cut was great, actually. And the colour, well she maybe could even get used to that. She tucked one lock behind her left ear and felt her smooth scalp beneath all that blue. Kim decided she would suprise Gina. She would find what she needed just two shops down the road.

Gina still wasn’t in when Kim arrived at the bar. Kim grinned, ordered a bottle of white wine and two glasses and slipped into the bathroom. When she was done her bright blue inverted bob was gone.

Kim looked in the mirror and smiled. She had painted her lips dark blue instead of black now and had combed her hair straight back with the strongest hair gel she could find, showing off her clean shaven back and sides. She had allowed only one lock of hair to touch her jaws. The bartender’s jaw fell open in amazement when Kim left the bathroom. The `new’ Gina still hadn’t arrived.