[Hehe, just a little idea I got after realizing the troubles of having hair longer than shoulder-length.]
"You wanna wager on that, Gunther?" Jane said, ramming her staff on the ground.
"Pshaw. Don't bother. We both know you'd lose," Gunther said, running his hand through his hair.
"What, are you afraid of a little bet? I didn't think you were that cowardly, Gunther," Jane said, hand on her hip, bending forward at the waist.
Gunther gave a quick exhale. "Fine, let's make it a bet," he said, holding his staff out, in front of him.
"Fine," Jane said, crossing her own staff as well.
And they said at the same time. "I bet I can grow my hair longer than yours!"
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Jane struggled with her massive red hair, trying to brush the frizzy ends to keep from sticking out. In vain, it should be noted. She sighed and put down the abused brush on the table.
"Hey, Jester," Jane said, calling the attention of her friend seated on the bench beside her.
"Yes, Jane?" Jester said, juggling three colorful hackey-sacks.
"Who started the bet about not getting our hair cut?" she said, pointing to her hair, which had already grown past her shoulders, halfway down to her waist.
Jester looked at her, then her hair, then turned his attention back to his juggling. "I'm not sure, wasn't that months ago?"
"Three stupidly long months ago," Jane said, bringing her fist down on the table. "I can't stand this hair anymore, it's getting annoying."
"It's grown into quite the lion's mane, hasn't it?" Jester said, putting down his juggling balls. He lifted one lock of Jane's flaming red curls and inspected it. "I'm expecting you to fall over anytime now, from the weight of it."
"I'm the only one who's having trouble with this bet," Jane whined. "You don't have bushes growing out of your head," she said, resting her chin on the table.
"True," Jester said, twirling a strand of his own dirty blonde hair under his Jester's cap. "But look on the bright side. You could probably stop arrows with that head of hair," he said, snickering.
"Very funny," Jane said, not moving her head from the table, her hair in a massive bunch around it.
"Why don't you braid it, like Pepper does?" Jester suggested.
"I don't know how to braid," Jane said, sitting back up. "And Pepper's always so busy nowadays; I couldn't ask her to do it."
"I know how," Jester offered, then looking away. "I think… I've seen Pepper do it once."
"Braid away, then," Jane said, turning her back to him.
"Right," Jester said, picking up her red locks.
A few moments of silence passed.
"Er," Jester muttered to himself, "Now was it left over right, then over middle… No, no, that's not it. Maybe middle over third to the left, then right over middle… No, that's not it, either."
A few more moments of silence passed.
"Ow," Jane exclaimed, bringing her hand up to her hair.
"Sorry, Jane," Jester said apologetically. "That wasn't right, either…"
Several more moments of silence passed.
"Ow!" Jane said, louder, turning around to face Jester, her hand bunched up over her shoulder.
"Sorry," Jester said, his hands held up in front of him. Jane saw strands of her hair caught in his fingers.
"Um, perhaps someone else should braid my hair, Jester," Jane said, tilting her head apologetically.
"Yes," Jester replied, picking the hair from his fingers. "Yes, they should."
"Yes, Jester," a sneering voice came from the courtyard. "Any fool should be able to manage something so menial," Gunther said, walking in their direction.
"Good day to you, too, Gunther," Jane said, massaging her scalp where it stung. "This bet was your idea, wasn't it?"
"Who knows," Gunther said, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. "You could have backed out earlier, if it was such trouble to you… Or if you weren't knight enough to take it."
"Actually," Jester intervened, "Rake and Smithy did join, and they did back out within a month."
"Smithy didn't back out," Jane corrected. "His hair caught fire in the forge."
"What this about hair catching fire?" a looming voice came from the castle wall, followed by a loud thump as Dragon landed on the parapets. "Whatever it was, I swear it had nothing to do with me," he said, raising a claw.
Jester held back laughter as he explained. "The day Smithy's hair got singed. You remember that, don't you?"
Dragon thought for a moment, then broke out into laughter. "Oh, oh, yes! That was certainly a day to remember. Pig running around and everything, and then, oh, hahaha!-" he said, breaking off into hysterical laughter.
"And Pepper's the one who told to have Rake's hair cut," Jane said. "He couldn't keep the mud and dirt out of it."
Jester mockingly pinched his nose and fanned his hand in front of his face. "Came to dinner everyday smelling like manure. Ugh, that was a month to remember."
Dragon was still wiping tears from his eyes when he broke out into a new fit of laughter. "Hahaha, manure. Hahaha!"
"Gunther's the only one who doesn't find this bet a problem. Ugh, I can't even stand looking at you. It gives me a stomachache," Jane said, stomping her feet and turning her back to her fellow squire.
"It can't be helped if my hair is so naturally manageable," Gunther said, twirling his straight hair, tied in a low ponytail which lay over his shoulder. "Unlike some redhead I know."
"Can you braid my hair or not?" Jane said, turning around again and pointing a finger in Gunther's face.
"Well, of course I can. Like I said, any fool-," he said, turning the glare on Jester again.
"Go ahead and be my guest then," Jester said, bowing low. "It seems that you are the best cut out for this job," he said, walking backwards slowly. "Just call me after all the killing is done, okay?"
Dragon hopped up and cleared his throat. "Right, well, I'm off to my mountain cave, where I won't be able to hear Jane's screaming as you make a mess of her hair," he said, taking off from the castle wall. "Hahaha, manure," they could hear him laughing to himself as he flew off.
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"Gunther, are you done yet?" Jane asked, her eye twitching from all the pulling being done on her hair.
"Well, I would be," Gunther said, grunting, "If you didn't move around so much."
"I can't-," Jane said, her shoulder jerking as Gunther's fingers brushed the top of her ear. She was ticklish there, not that she'd let Gunther know about it, though.
"Agh," Gunther groaned as he let go of another bunch of Jane's hair. "There, you see, you keep jumping around like that. I'll never get this done."
"Well, maybe if you were more careful about it," Jane retorted.
Gunther did a singsong mimickry of her voice. "Just hold still. I'm going to have to start all over again."
"Fine by me," Jane said, trying to hold still as Gunther's fingers lightly touched the back of her neck, making her tense up her shoulders.
Then she felt Gunther's hand full on her shoulder. "Stop doing that. I'm not going to pull your hair out," he said, as he forced her shoulder down.
Jane just let out a deep sigh.
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"So, why didn't you just break off the bet?" Jester said, from his seat on the parapets. "I mean, it's not like you wagered money or anything."
"No, I guess we didn't," Jane said, fiddling with her hair, now in a braid, tied up securely at the end with some twine.
"So why don't you just get your hair cut already? I mean, he's just gonna cut his hair too, right afterwards," Jester suggested.
"I think I'll keep my hair this length, just for a little while longer," she said, dreamily looking back into the castle's courtyard.
"Suit yourself, even though you do nothing but complain about the stupid bet," Jester said, jumping off his seat and walking over to where Jane stood.
"Oh, not everything about it is bad," she said, as she watched Gunther spar with Sir Theodore.
Jester rolled his eyes at Jane and started walking away. Jane let out another deep sigh. She wouldn't tell anyone, but she had started that bet, because Gunther looked extremely cool with his long hair in a ponytail.
[I had really wanted to put a little more fluff in it, but I couldn't decide whether to make it Jane and Jester or Jane and Gunther. Tell me which pairing sounds better and I'll add a second chapter for it. Reviews much appreciated.]
