Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Nickelodeon show VicTorious. I used them to hone my writing skills and bring a laugh or two to y'all. (So go ahead and yuck it up! It's free!)
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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
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Roused from his night's rest for some reason he didn't quite fathom, Beck Oliver stretched in his bed after a fairly nice night's slumber. He was stirred from his waking by a very distinct snapping sound that sounded all too familiar. Beck quickly glanced around his trailer apartment that was parked in his parent's driveway and noticed someone he knew sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the bed, opening and closing her favorite pair of scissors while intently gazing at them.
He questioned, "Jade, what are you doing here?"
The sight of Jade West in his trailer before school wasn't that unusual. She used to occasionally come over so they could head off to school together. But they'd broken up as a couple a month ago so it hadn't happened in quite a while. While they were on the outs, they'd come to some sort of peace and were friendly toward each other once more. But she hadn't come over to his house since the breakup. That was the strange thing about seeing her so early in the morning.
The brunette wickedly smiled as she said, "Morning. I just came over to return your house key and... do one other thing."
Beck swung his legs out of bed and sat at the edge of the mattress as he cautiously asked, "One other thing? What's that?"
Jade stood and headed for the door as she called out over her shoulder, "Oh, you'll find out soon enough. I left your key over on the counter." She laughed out loud as she exited the trailer.
"Now what in the world did she mean..." the Hollywood Arts High School student asked himself as he ran a hand through his hair, pondering what she'd said. The question fled his mind as his hand reached his scalp and felt...
Nothing but skin!
Both hands shot to the top of his head, feeling the crown to make sure what he thought had happened had actually happened.
He was completely bald.
Beck shot up from the bed and dashed over to the mirror by the trailer door. He stared in disbelief at his reflection, running his hand over his pale white scalp, and let out an audible gasp at the confirmation that all of his hair was simply gone.
Beck immediately knew what had happened. His scissor-loving ex-girlfriend had snuck into his trailer and cut off all of his hair, even taking the time to run a safety razor over his scalp to get most, if not all, of the stubble, too.
He glanced around the trailer and noticed the front door key Jade had left sitting on the counter next to a clear, gallon plastic bag. Beck walked over and saw the bag contained hair.
His hair.
Beck stumbled back to his bed and heavily plopped down, absently running a hand over his scalp to ponder the situation. The gesture only reminded the normally long-haired wannabe actor of what he'd lost. Beck knew he was a fairly heaver sleeper, that normally nothing would wake him during the night, but he thought he'd at least be woken if someone was shaving his head clean.
Speaking of time, Beck glanced at his alarm clock only to gasp again when he saw it was already well past the time he normally headed to school. With the follicular crisis he was experience, Beck would've consider blowing off school and try to seek a solution. But he couldn't do that today. It was the end of the school year and he had two tests he had to take, or else he'd have to face summer school.
Or worse, he'd have to repeat the grade.
He quickly got dressed and headed for Hollywood Arts.
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The Asphalt Cafe was completely deserted when Beck got out of his car and hurriedly walked to the school's entrance. (After first reaching into the back seat to grab a baseball cap that he always kept there.) He checked his Pearphone and saw that the first period classes were already half over so he was extremely late. (No thanks to the heavier than normal traffic he'd encountered on the drive to school.)
The hallway was also quiet as he quickly made his way to his first class: Acting, taught by Erwin Sikowitz. (Luckily not one of the final tests) Beck had thought about skipping the class and heading to the makeup department to find a wig to wear but knew there wouldn't be anything that looked like his own natural, long locks.
Beck quietly snuck into the classroom and tried to sit in one of the chairs near the door, but the balding teacher immediately stopped his lecture on the use of facial expressions in acting and said aloud, "It's so nice of you to join us this morning, Beck. And I see you've decided on a new look." Sikowitz immediately slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to hold back a laugh, and failed. The balding teacher bent over in laughter and slapped his knees at the sight.
That drew the attention of all the students to Beck and he slightly blushed at the unwanted attention as a murmur raced through the room. He raised his hands to remove his cap with one while nervously run the other through his hair before stopping when he remembered his long locks weren't there anymore. Beck smirked and said, "Yeah, I thought I'd try something different..." He threw a nasty glare at his former girlfriend and angrily added, "...As if I had any choice in the matter."
Jade smugly folded her arms under her breasts as she turned to face away from him and denied, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Beck stood up, pointed an accusatory finger at her and almost yelled, "You cut off my hair this morning out of spite because we broke up!"
Jade immediately shot out of her chair and spun to face him as she arrogantly begged, "Now why would I do that? We split up months ago and I'm fine with it so I have no reason to spite you."
Sikowitz stepped between the two arguing students with raised hands as he said, "Now children, you can debate this to your heart's content, later. Right now we're were talking about..." the teacher suddenly paused and snapped his fingers, his confused facial expression suggesting that he had lost his train of thought.
André Harris, sitting slumped in his chair, called out, "You were talking about using facial expressions instead of words to convey emotions."
"Exactly," Sikowitz said as he moved back onto the small stage in the back corner of the classroom. Unfortunately for him, the bell rang and everyone got up to leave. The teacher, who always dressed like a reject from the 1960's, simply shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a coconut out of his tote bag, then took a long draw on the straw sticking out of it.
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The group finally met up for their lunch period at their usual outdoor table after their morning classes finished. Beck had had one of his tests just prior to lunch and it hadn't gone well, at all. He'd been totally distracted by the morning's loss of hair and how the other students had reacted to him, so he knew he had failed the test. All throughout the morning, the other students had either stared at Beck and whispered behind his back or simply shunned him.
People actually shunning him was the worst of it. After Jade and he had broken up, the girls of Hollywood Arts had swarmed all over him, trying to get his attention and date him.
Now those same girls were avoiding him like he had contracted the plague.
Beck silently ate his lunch, mulling over the disaster of a morning while the others talked and carried on like nothing was wrong.
Cat Valentine noticed the mood Beck was in so she reached over, laid a gentle hand on his arm and said, "I like your hat."
Beck perked up a bit at someone, anyone, paying attention to him and saying something nice. He looked to the petite magenta-haired girl, smiled his endearing smile and asked, "You do?"
Cat's face suddenly went neutral as she looked away and said, "No... Not really."
"You know," Tori Vega tentatively offered, "people might not notice if your head was tanned, like your face, and not so... white." The half Latina looked down to her lunch, immediately sorry she'd brought up the subject everyone had been avoiding.
The silence from the awkward situation continued for a few seconds more before André let out a nervous laugh and joked, "Hey, don't worry about it, man. Your hair will all grow back in a few months... Or a year or two... 'cause they say hair usually grows at a rate of one inch per month so..." He stiffly laughed again before clearing his throat and quickly dug back into his lunch.
Beck swiftly stood, leaned on the table and stated, "You know what, it doesn't matter. My life is not dictated by my looks or my hair. He quickly turned to stomp off toward the school.
Unfortunately he ran into Tori's sister, Trina, as he turned around. The untalented, egotistical girl took one look at Beck and said with a sour face, "Ugh, get away from me! You look like a loser!" She quickly pushed past him and hurried away in disgust.
Stunned, Beck shakily sat down at the table facing away from the others. Trina Vega had just rejected him. The girl who would normally chase after every hot, handsome guy in school, and a few out of school, had called him a loser and walked away.
Ain't that a kick in the pants!
The rest of the school day went as well as the morning. Beck totally bombed the second test, still distracted by his follicular dilemma.
And then the day just grew worse.
Beck had an audition for a minor role in a television series after school. As soon as he entered the office for the reading, the director said, "I'm sorry but you don't have the... look we're going for. Thank you for coming in."
Beck tried to argue by telling him, "But my hair will grow back. My ex-girlfriend..."
The director cut Beck off by waving him away and saying, "Sorry, but I have twenty other actors to read for the part." He loudly yelled, "Next!"
Beck dejectedly slumped back to his car and saw Jade smugly leaning against the driver's side door. He angrily begged, "Did you show up just to gloat over me not getting the part?"
"You didn't get the role?" Jade mock-pouted. "Awww, too bad." Before Beck could respond, she continued, "No, I'm here to read for a part, myself. I'm just sorry that I didn't get to see you fail." She quickly pushed past Beck and headed for the casting office.
Beck Oliver stood next to his car, his mind racing before he suddenly remembered something his former girlfriend had once told him.
When someone crossed Jade West, she didn't get even. She made them suffer...
… For a very long time!
-30-