The other girls - all aged twelve - felt a mixture of fear and anticipation. Jenny's games could be fun or they could be cruel - often a mixture of both.

They sat on a variety of ancient, rotting wooden chairs in the old shed on Clare's parent's hobby farm, waiting for Jenny. Jenny's sense of timing was immaculate - you could almost hear breaths being held waiting for her announcement.

Finally Jenny spoke, a secret smile twisting her lips. "The game is called Balderdash."

Erin, overweight, short and usually the one Jenny picked on in a bad mood, heaved a sigh of relief.  "We all know that one, Jen." Actually Erin was rather good at Balderdash - she had a quick mind and could make up nonsense very easily.

"Not my version." Jenny's smile was absolutely wicked.

Callie, Jenny's very best friend, knew that look quite well.  It meant Erin was about to be the butt of the joke. 

"My version is VERY different.  First of all, we have the dash.  It's a race through the bush on a course I've marked with red wool.  There are a number of obstacles. The creek, a barbed wire fence, a pile of logs, a bit of rock climbing and some exercises at the end." 

Erin and Amber exchanged a look of horror. Neither of them could be called athletic.

Jenny continued, reading from her rules.  "I've made up a points system. Fail the exercises - twenty pushups, by the way - lose one point. Get scratched on the barbed wire, lose two points. Fall getting over the log pile, lose three points. Fall on the rocks, lose five points. Fall or get wet in the creek, lose six points. Help each other over an obstacle, seven points. Go around an obstacle rather than do it, lose ten points. And there are special points you lose for coming last or falling on more than one obstacle."

"This is beginning to sound like the Army," muttered Callie disloyally.

"What's the big deal with the points?" said Clare, Jenny's cousin.

"Well, the points aren't just points," Jenny said slowly and tantalizingly. "They're inches of hair."

"What?!" the other four girls gasped.

"That's where the bald part comes in," said Jenny, really enjoying herself. "If you fail the pushups, you lose an inch of hair.  If you fall in the creek you'll have six inches of hair cut off. And so on.  And if you come last, or fall on more than one obstacle, or have less hair to cut than the points you've accumulated, you lose all your hair. It gets shaved off. BALDerdash - right?"

There was stunned silence in the shed. A lone blowfly sounded as loud as a jumbo jet as it made its way to Jenny's orange juice.

"I'm outta here," Erin announced. Not only was she not athletic, her hair was already cut in a short bob.

"You're not, I'm afraid," Jenny said gently.  "Not unless you want me to tell your parents you smoke. I've got pictures.  And Callie, I'm sure your Mum and Dad wouldn't want to know that you drank vodka at Christmas and stripped for Dean Williams. I've got piccies of that, too. Amber, you stole three CDs from the record shop before term ended. I know, because I was a witness, and I'm certain your parents and the police would like to know. And Clare, sweet cuz, I know you've got some ecstasy tabs and I know exactly where. Because I put them there."

The four girls glared at Jenny in sudden hatred. She had them by the short and curlies - even shorter if she had her way!

"So," Jenny said brightly.  "Are we all in?" 

Jenny had chosen her obstacle course well. Erin was the obvious loser, of course. She couldn't run fast and couldn't jump. Jenny grinned at the knowledge that Erin would soon be bald as a coot. That'd teach her for being brainy!

Callie was a bit of a princess.  She hated getting dirty.  The unsteady log pile Jenny had built over the last couple of days would see some inches come off the ends of Callie's enviable long, golden waves as Callie tried to scramble over it without getting untidy.  And with luck she'd slip on the rocks, too.

Clare hated heights.  Jenny knew from experience she'd freeze on the rocks. Clare was so wimpy she'd never climbed a tree higher than the lowest branch.  Clare was bound to either fall off the rocks or choose to go around them.  Bye bye, wild black curls!

And Amber…well, Amber just had no spring in her legs. She'd fall in the creek.  Jenny had made sure there was nothing in the immediate vicinity of the creek which could be used as a bridge - the girls had to jump it like horses.

Jenny was cool in the knowledge that she'd probably be the only one who got through her game and kept every bit of her superb hair.  For some time now she'd been getting odd feelings about the other girls' hair - a longing to cut it off and see it fall to the ground. At first she fantasized about just cutting a little bit - a few inches, or maybe chop Callie's heavenly mane into a short, straight bob. But lately she'd thought long and hard about what it would be like to shave her friends' heads, bald, bald, bald.  

What would Erin look like with her round little basketball head denuded of its thick, mousy covering?  And Callie? Beautiful Callie with the tresses that drew admiring looks from boys and girls alike.  How she'd love to pick up a lock of Callie's hair and cut it off to a thick stump close to the girl's skin.  Would Clare have a five o'clock shadow if all her black hair was shaved away?  Would Amber's freckled face be more plain or less plain if her brown ponytail was hacked off?  

Oh, Jenny had planned this for weeks!  The careful pleading to stay at Clare's farm at the Blue Mountains for two weeks over the summer holidays, the entreaties from her and Clare both to have their friends stay too for a few days.  The relative parents, picturing six weeks of hell entertaining their preteen aged daughters in the expensive surrounds of Sydney, had all agreed with a sigh of relief. Farms were cheap holidays. 

And now Jenny had her friends all to herself.

At the back of the shed was a large boulder. Jenny had marked S/F on it in chalk.

"This is the start and finish line," she stated, patting the boulder.  " This is where we do the twenty push-ups at the end of the obstacles. The course itself starts over there to the right. Can you see the first bit of red wool?"

Numbly the others nodded.

Erin's heart was thudding like a steam hammer. She already guessed the fate coming to her. How could she explain her shaved head to her parents?  Would it be better to admit to smoking, despite the fact her parents were the biggest opponents in the world of the whole tobacco industry?  What would be the worst thing that could happen?  Grounding? She'd welcome being grounded if it meant not seeing Jenny for a bit and keeping her hair!

"Dip out," Jenny threatened Erin savagely, knowing full well what was going on in the other girl's mind, "And I'll shave your head anyway. You won't escape. I'll catch you and do it, just see if I don't."

Erin gulped.  After today, she would never, ever speak to Jenny again.

Callie fingered her hair nervously. What was up with Jen?  Was she on drugs? Callie had noticed the way Jenny's pupils widened as she spoke of cutting off the other girls' hair. It was almost sexual!  Callie thanked her lucky stars she too had long legs - at least she wasn't likely to come last.

Clare said flatly: "I'm going back to the house and telling Dad. You're sick, Jenny. This is a stupid game."

Quick as a flash, Jenny grabbed a handful of Clare's wildly curly hair.

"Owwww!" Clare yelled.

With her free hand, Jenny delved into the pocket of her shorts and produced her Swiss Army Knife.  "Want to lose your hair now or later?  I can hack it off with this but it'll be pretty painful. Not as easy and kind as cutting it with scissors, Clare Bear."

Clare's hair was pulled so tightly she felt tears prick at her eyes. Then, to her disbelief, she felt something tugging across her hair, below Jenny's hand, close to her scalp.

There was a gasp of horror from the other girls.  "Clare!" Amber squeaked.  "Jenny's cutting your hair off!"

"Jenny! Stop! Stop it!" Clare shrieked, twisting anxiously and trying to get free. But the knife still sawed through the bunch of curls Jenny held.

"Promise you'll play Balderdash, Clare Bear?" Jenny said loudly.

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Clare nodded.

"Amber, Erin, Callie, are you all playing too, or do you want to see Clare lose all her hair now?"

Mesmerized by the sight of the blade buried in Clare's hair, the others nodded dumbly.

"P-p-playing," Amber said shakily.

"M-me too," Callie whispered.

"Y-e-s," said Erin quietly.

"Great!" Jenny said warmly, and let Clare go.  Clare spun around to see her cousin holding a severed lock of hair between her fingers. As she watched, Jenny dropped it to the ground.

Clare felt her head - Jenny had hacked off a lock about an inch in diameter, and the  short hair stood up like soldiers at attention on her crown.  A river of rage rushed through Clare.  Right!  She'd show her cousin!  That would be the only lock of hair she'd lose in this stupid game! 

Jenny expertly flicked her knife shut and put it back in her pocket.  "Are we ready then?  On your marks….

"Get set…."

The five girls lined up at the rock.

"GO!!!"

Like racehorses let loose from the barriers they bolted towards the bush and the first big red wool rosette hanging from the branch of a gum tree.  

Jenny, naturally, knew the course well. She'd planned it and practiced it when Clare was busy doing something naff like playing the piano.

Erin, already a couple of meters behind the others, decided to do exactly what Jenny did. Jenny would pick the easiest path and it was simpler to follow her than keep looking for the red wool.

The first obstacle was the barbed wire fence separating the home paddock from the bush.  Jenny had twisted two bits of wool into the fence and had stuck paper arrows up indicating that the fence was to be negotiated between the red markers.

The fence wasn't very high  - about waist height - but of course, it was a particularly nasty piece of fencing, often repaired, so that instead of three neat strands of wire, there were five; two rusty strands hanging loosely and three new, shiny sharp ones stretched taut between the posts.  Added to that were odd bits of wire strung vertically between the old strands.

Amber groaned.

Jenny's height and long legs stood her in good stead. She simply grabbed the top strand between the barbs, pushed it as far down as it would go, and vaulted the fence smugly.

"No chance!" thought Erin, contemplating her own short legs miserably.

Callie scrambled over the fence in the same method as Jenny, but caught her shorts on the top strand of wire.  Stuck fast, she felt the barbs tearing at her thighs. With a superhuman strength, she ripped her denim shorts free and looked for several seconds at the blood running down her leg. Two points - two inches!

Wildly Erin looked at the fence.  Then she had an idea, flung herself to the ground and wriggled underneath the bottom strand, feeling the barbs catch briefly on her clothes. "Shit!"  But she was through the obstacle.

Amber followed her.  "This is bloody stupid!"  But she too made it under the fence.

"Come on, Callie!"  They took off after Jenny.

Clare was struggling through between the top two strands, the wire pulling at her T-shirt.  Her arms were covered in scratches by the time she left the fence and followed the other girls, running for her life to catch up.

Jenny was far ahead into the bush.  She was even slowing down, grinning over her shoulder at the others.  "Who's getting a haircut then?  I can SEEEE YOOOOUUUU, Callie!" she called in a singsong voice.

"Bitch!" Callie gasped, and put on a spurt.

Up next was the log pile. It was less a log pile than a flimsily built collection of branches forming a fence that was higher than Erin's head. It looked - and was - dangerous. Jenny knew it would take her weight - just - but there was a strong chance that if five people clambered over it the branches would move and settle, or even snap.

Jenny had cleverly built steps into the log pile with the branches. The steps weren't really obvious but she knew full well where they were. However, she'd only climbed her creation slowly and carefully before today.  Now she flew at it, thumping up the three "stairs".  The pressure of her weight combined with reckless speed caused one of the stairs to snap, but by then Jenny was on top of the branches and jumping down to land safely with both feet on the grass.

Callie, puffing, had caught up and tried to follow Jenny's route.  The log pile shook as she stepped on branches that weren't meant to take her weight. She'd just reached the top when the pile of branches gave a creak and settled. With a sigh of relief Callie, too, jumped to the ground, absently dusting her legs and pulling leaves off her socks before she galloped after Jenny.

Erin and Amber tackled the log pile together, with Clare at their heels.  The two girls had shakily reached the top of the swaying pile of branches when Clare's weight, halfway up the "steps", was too much for it.

With an enormous "CRACK!" the log pile collapsed, the branches in the middle giving way with groans.  A flock of scarlet rosellas, startled by the noise, flew out of a nearby tree in a squawking frenzy. Erin and Amber looked wildly at each other before jumping off the top of the log pile.

Erin lost her footing and rolled.  A quick inspection revealed she was okay.  One ankle was a bit sore but nothing fatal.  Amber had fallen with her arms out, and gave a cry.

"My wrist!"  She'd bent her left hand back as she fell, and a shooting pain ran up her arm. She was terrified she'd broken it, but her hand still seemed to work.  She'd need it for the rock climbing, she realized.  Out of a damaged wrist or shaved head she'd take the wrist any day!

Clare, meanwhile, was stuck.  One of her legs was caught between the branches as they moved and settled.

"Help!"  Clare yelled. "Erin! Amber!"

Amber gave a wild glance between the disappearing Jenny and Callie, and Clare trying to shake her foot free. She opted for keeping her hair and bolted.

Erin reached up and tugged heftily at Clare's arms.  "Can you bounce up and down or something?"

Clare obligingly stamped her free foot, and the branch trapping her snapped.

"Whooooaaaa!"  Clare clung to Erin as her feet dangled in thin air, and Erin pulled her to the top of the pile.  Then she rolled off the log pile to the ground, landing unsteadily on all fours.

"Three points for Clare, seven points for Erin!" Jenny called jubilantly from somewhere up ahead.

Panting, Erin and Clare set off again. They saw glimpses of the other girls through the trees - Callie was in front. Jenny had obviously waited to see who'd failed the log pile, and she was just overtaking Amber.

Next up was the rock climbing, and Clare felt the pit of her stomach contract.  There was a little cliff on the farm, small by Blue Mountains standards.  It ran for about fifty feet, a quirky little rocky outcrop her brothers had climbed when they were much younger than she. It was about twelve feet high at the highest point, and, naturally, that was where Jenny had placed her violent red markers. Clare had climbed it twice with her brothers over the years but her fear of heights was making her palms sweat just thinking about it.

By the time Clare and Erin reached the cliff Jenny had scrambled to the top triumphantly. 

Callie grunted, digging the toes of her trainers into the crevices and scrabbling for hand holds. Her knees scraped against the stone as she dragged herself up.

Amber was climbing next to Callie, her face pink with exertion. She breathed in ragged gasps, trying desperately to find a place for her left foot. She wasn't using her aching wrist and her other hand was clinging to a stubby shrub which grew determinedly half way up the face of the rock.

As Erin threw herself up the wall behind Callie, the unthinkable happened.

The shrub Amber was holding onto started to break free from its home. Amber screamed and tried to hold onto the rock, but it was a losing game. Amber found herself looking at the useless shrub for a split second before she lost her balance and slid seven feet to the ground.

"Owww!  Owww!  My knees!"  Amber wailed, bent double in pain and hugging her bleeding legs.

"Five points, Amber!" shrilled Jenny.  "That's a nice bob for you at least!"

"I hope you DIE!" Amber yelled, hobbling to the side of the cliff and opting to climb up the path at the side rather than try the rocks.

Clare, shaken, followed her.

"Ten points! Ten points!" shouted Jenny. "You're both bald!"

Laughing, Jenny waited a couple more seconds until Erin's hands were visible at the top of the cliff, then she set off after Callie at a relaxed jog.

Callie was making good time. She was fitter than most of the girls; she and Jenny were both on the athletics team at school and were cross country runners.  She followed the red markers back into the bush, jumping and leaping over little fallen branches and tree roots struggling to find a home in the rocky soil, as she made her way to the creek.

Like a galloping horse, Callie assessed it briefly without stopping.  She adjusted her stride so she'd push off with her right foot near the edge, and then she was over in one fluid motion without so much as a drop of water touching her shoes.  The creek was almost as wide as she was tall.

Callie waited for a moment, catching her breath, and looked back.  

Jenny was jogging backwards, watching Erin scramble to her feet at the top of the cliff.  Clare appeared from the side, sprinting.  Amber, a few seconds later, limped after her.

Apparently satisfied, Jenny turned and began to sprint towards the creek, looking straight ahead at Callie.

Her confidence at not looking where she was going was her undoing. She was bolting at full pace when her foot caught under one of the tree roots.

Jenny went flying.

She sprawled to the ground, her right foot twisting violently as it freed itself.

"Shit!"

Jenny rolled from side to side in pain, hugging herself in a foetal position.  God, her ankle!  What had she DONE to it?

Callie, unmoved, jogged off towards the finish line. Let the bitch hobble!

"Serves you right!" spat Erin, as she thundered past Jenny, her stubby legs going overtime.

Jenny didn't hear her.  She was biting her lip and trying not to cry at the pain.

Erin contemplated the creek, wiping sweat from her forehead.  Bloody bugger bum, she thought.  Then she thought, what the hell, who cares, and tried her best to jump it.  She landed almost two thirds of the way over, up to her knees in the cool water, and splashed to the side. Six points?  She didn't think so, not with Jenny writhing on the ground and wailing.

Rasping for breath, Clare passed Jenny.  "How many points for falling for no reason, bitch?  At least twelve I think!" Disdainfully she left her cousin cursing in the leaves and dirt.

Clare was beyond caring about the creek. She simply marched straight through it, shrieking as the cold water hit her hot skin, and jogged back towards the shed.

Amber hissed at Jenny:  "Now you know how MY legs feel!"  Her knees were bloody from scraping against the rock face, and they stung like crazy.  Amber resolutely ran on, ignoring the pain. She was terrified Jenny would jump up and attack her - Jenny appeared to have gone completely insane!

Amber, too, walked through the creek, swearing as the water hit the raw flesh on her knees. At least it would wash some of the dirt off.  Wincing, she climbed up the creek bed and ran with a sense of relief towards the finish line.

Five minutes later, the four exhausted girls waited for Jenny.  Erin had found Jenny's tools of torture hidden in the shed: comb, scissors, shaving cream, a bag of disposable razors and lengths of rope - presumably to tie her victims up if they struggled during their haircuts.

Finally Jenny appeared between the trees, limping badly. She was using a stick to walk with.

"Help me!" she called.  "I've sprained my ankle!"

"Tough!" said Callie.

"Hard luck!" snorted Amber.

Jenny made her way slowly back to the shed. The others saw she was wet up to her thighs from the creek.  "Right, I've worked out all the points. Amber, you're first. Fifteen points.  You're bald!"

"You finished last," Erin said pointedly.  She held the scissors in one hand, opening and closing the blades menacingly. "Baldy."

"But that doesn't count, " Jenny said. "It's MY game. I made it up.  I don't lose points."

"You can't change the rules afterwards," Callie said.  "Or, if you can, we're changing them. Four against one.  We keep our hair, YOU lose YOURS!"

"Yes!" howled Clare.

"Get her!" screamed Erin.

"Shave the bitch!" yelled Amber.

"NOOOO!" screamed Jenny. "That's not how the game works!"

"It is now!"  Stubby little Erin realized Jenny was taking no weight on her injured ankle and was balancing on one foot.  She simply pushed the other girl to the ground. Jenny shrieked.

Erin said:  "Give me the rope, Cal.  Let's tie her up in case she tries to escape!"

It took both Erin and Amber to hold Jenny down while Callie tied her hands together behind her back. Meanwhile, Clare pulled out the least rickety chair from inside the shed.

"Only the best for customers of Clare's Head shaving Emporium," Clare said mockingly.  "Take a seat,Jenny.  You'll be here a while.  We want to take our time."  

Erin and Amber maneuvered a wriggling Jenny to the chair, and Callie tied Jenny's legs together.  She found another piece of rope and tied it around Jenny's waist, looping it three times around Jenny and the back of the chair. 

"Let's see," said Callie slowly, consulting Jenny's handwritten rules with exaggerated mannerisms.  "Falling into the creek.  Six points!  How about that!"

"Six points!" echoed Erin.  "Wow, that takes Jenny's hair up to her shoulders.  If you all don't mind, I'd like to take the first cut.  I think Jenny owes it to me for all the times she's been mean to me."

"Be my guest," said Clare bitterly, fingering the little tuft of hair on top of her head.

Jenny was still struggling, tears running down her face.  

Erin picked up the comb and began to comb Jenny's silky, straight hair.  "Last time you'll have hair long enough to comb, Jenny.  At least for a while.  It'll take a few months to grow back and look even half decent.  Just think, you'll be starting high school with a completely new look!"

"The boys'll love it," chimed in Amber.  "You'll look just like them!"

"My elder brother's got a number two buzz," Callie said conversationally.  "It's so short you can see his skin through it.  He says it's much more comfortable in summer than the long hair he used to have. Just think, you'll be even MORE comfortable."

Erin finished combing and arranged Jenny's heavy locks down her back.  The girl's hair shone in the summer sunlight, shimmering in a myriad of browns and chestnuts.

Then Erin picked up the scissors again and began to cut off Jenny's hair in a straight line level with her shoulders.

SKKKKKRRRRIIIIIIIIK!   SKKKKKKKRRRRIIIIIIIIK!

The others watched in awe as the first of Jenny's hair fell to the ground and coiled uselessly in the grass. They could hardly believe they were doing this. It was as if something primal had taken over.

They had their chance to walk away and pretend the game never happened the instant Jenny fell in the bush, but now each of them was set on revenge.

Four big snaps of the blades, and Jenny's hair was considerably shorter.

"Well, that's nice and straight," Erin said with satisfaction.

"I'm next," claimed Amber.  "I believe Jenny didn't do her pushups when she got back here. That's what - one inch?"

Callie nodded.

Amber took the scissors and slid them into Jenny's hair. Crunch! The first locks of hair fell over Jenny's shoulders.

"Ooops!" mocked Amber.  "That's a bit crooked. Look, girls, I've gone up at one end.  What should I do?"

"Cut more off till you get it straight," suggested Callie evilly.

"I think so too," Amber said warmly.  She repositioned the scissors higher up so the blades were just under Jenny's ears.  "That's a bit more than an inch, though."

"Stop it," begged Jenny.  "Let me go and we'll forget this ever happened!"

"No chance, cuz!" said Clare.  "Cut it off, Amber!"

SSSKKKRRRRRIIIIIIIIKKKK!

Slowly Amber closed the blades and three inches more of Jenny's hair dropped into her lap. "That's better!  It's straight now!"  

She continued around, carefully cutting off the shining locks.  She was cutting it up above the hairline at the back, and several long strands were left at Jenny's nape straggling down her back.

Amber grabbed the stray hairs with one hand, drew them taut, and positioned the blades against Jenny's scalp. Jenny whimpered as her hair was pulled tightly. Then she clipped the hair off as closely as she could, trimming and trimming until Jenny's nape was uneven stubble.

Long locks still hung around the left side of Jenny's head.  Satisfied with the back, Amber lined up the blades level with the cropped bob and hacked through Jenny's thick, silky hair until the other girl was left with hair to the bottom of her earlobes and a lap covered in shining tresses.  Jenny's legs were shaking so violently the smooth hair slid off and made a blanket over the grass.

"Not bad," conceded Callie.  "Now what does she get for coming last?"

"Bald!" shouted Erin, Amber and Clare in unison. Jenny howled openly, tears running down her cheeks. She looked positively ugly when she cried, all red eyes and swollen lips.

"Clare, as a family member you should probably cut off the first bits of hair," Erin suggested.

"With pleasure," said Clare, taking the scissors.  "I want two goes.  Remember Jenny cut of some of my hair this morning."  She contemplated her cousin.  "I think I'll take the fringe first."

Jenny's fringe - or bangs -  was thick and straight, hanging down over her well shaped eyebrows.  Clare gathered it up, held it away from Jenny's head, and, with tiny snips, cut it off as close to Jenny's skin as she could.

She threw the hair to the ground, dusting off her fingers. "Ugh!  It's clinging to me!"

Jenny's eyes, without the fringe sheltering them, were wide and terrified.  The remains of her fringe were so short the others could see her white scalp.

"Now," Clare said conversationally. "Jenny Penny, you cut off some of my hair earlier today.  I'm going to cut off the same bit of yours."  With that she grabbed a chunk of hair at Jenny's crown and hacked it off with one wild SSSSKKKKKKKRRRRRRIIIIIK!

Now Jenny had a thick tuft of hair standing up at the back of her head - just like Clare.

Clare threw the hair away, watching the breeze catch it and single strands float away.  "It'll make a good bird's nest," she commented, handing the scissors to Callie.

Callie wordlessly lifted up the hair in front of Jenny's right ear and cropped it as close as she could, slowly and carefully.  She kept cutting all the way up Jenny's temple, lopping off the hair until it met up with the stubble Clare had left at Jenny's forehead.
Thick locks fell down Jenny's cheeks, some strands of hair getting caught and held there by Jenny's tears.

Callie, in the spirit of friendship gone wrong, then started on the top of Jenny's head. She used the comb to lift Jenny's tresses and placed the blades on the other girl's scalp, severing the hair as close as she could.

The others watched in silence as more and more hair fell away and Jenny began to get a crewcut - albeit a rough and rugged one.  Callie kept clipping and cropping and cutting as if she were possessed. 

Jenny sat through this in disbelief.  This wasn't happening!  She'd fallen and hit her head and this was all just an illusion, a nightmare!  Then she knew that even in a nightmare she wouldn't be able to feel the cold steel pressing against her head, or the odd tightness of her scalp where her hair had been shorn.  Was this, then, what the others would be feeling as, if plans had gone right, she'd cut their hair as close?  This feeling of nakedness as her lovely fringe was clipped off, the feeling of revulsion and helplessness as the hair on top of her head was nibbled away to a ragged, see-through mess?  She felt Callie's hand brush over the top of her stubbly head, ruffling the newly cut hair.

"Feels like my brother's," Callie announced.

Then the other girls were stroking the top of Jenny's head, running their fingers over the bristles Callie had left.  Jenny felt a tingle on her scalp as the short hairs were brushed back and forth.

Erin took the scissors next, and chose to cut off the hair in front of Jenny's other ear.  She was quick, almost brutal, grabbing a lock of hair, pulling it tight and crunching the scissors into it.  Three big swoops of the blade and Jenny's temple was shorn as short as the other side.  Erin opened her fingers and let the cut hair drift down in front of Jenny's eyes like dandelion fluff.

"So, you enjoy hair being cut off, eh, Jen?  Well, enjoy this!"  With that Erin pushed her fingers into the hair behind Jenny's ear, lifted it up and burrowed the scissors into it.  Her fingers worked overtime, snipping and sawing at Jenny's cropped bob like a girl possessed. Jenny's head actually jiggled as Erin hacked away.  The other girls watched as the blades finally emerged near the top of Jenny's head, and Erin drew away a handful of hair.  Again she let in go in front of Jenny's face.

"My turn now."  Amber pushed Jenny's head forward and started at the girl's nape, where she'd already cut the hair as short as she could.  She didn't even bother lifting up locks of hair - just thrust the blades in and closed them, again and again, pausing occasionally to let the cut hair drop down the back of Jenny's T-shirt. Up past the occipital bone went Amber with the shears, going over the cut area two or three times to clip it as short as possible after the initial lopping. Bald patches showed through here and there where Amber had got the very ends of the blades close to Jenny's skin.  At last she reached the ungainly tuft Clare had cropped, and ceremoniously handed the scissors to Jenny's cousin.

"Finish her off, Clare!"

Jenny cringed at the satisfied smirk on Clare's face.

Clare stroked the stubble on Jenny's head, running her fingers up the sides, over the top and the back where Amber had shorn it. There but for the grace of God go I, thought Clare. This could have been me looking ridiculous, having all my hair cut off and not being able to do a thing about it.  "Well, cuz, you haven't had hair this short since you were a baby, have you?"

Jenny didn't answer.

Clare delved her fingers into the last locks of long hair left on Jenny's head, lifting them up and dropping them, caressing them, stroking them, making Jenny shudder every time she accidentally touched the shorn, ravaged stubble.  "Considering the rest of your hair is a crewcut now, this looks stupid.  So I may as well get rid of it for you."

Slowly and tantalizingly she lifted a lock at the top of Jenny's head, then equally slowly brought the scissors close and clipped it off.  She dropped the hair onto Jenny's bare legs.  "Bye bye, Jenny's hair."

Clare took her time with the next clump of hair, cutting it delicately with the end of the blades so it was nibbled close.

Bit by bit she sheared off Jenny's hair to bristles, dragging the process out as slowly as she could.  Between locks she made an exaggerated fuss of brushing away the cut hair from Jenny's head, and stroking the ever decreasing shiny hair she had left.

Oh, Clare was enjoying herself immensely!  It was high time her bossy cousin got what had been coming to her for years!

Then, with one frenzied attack of the scissors, she hacked off the last of Jenny's hair, down near the shorn nape.

The other girls clapped as Clare took a bow.

"Now the fun really begins," cried Erin, shaking the can of shaving cream.

Callie ripped open the packet of disposable razors.  "There's six here.  What about one each and we all do a bit of Jenny's head at the same time?"

"Brill!" Amber helped Erin rub the foam into the remains of Jenny's hair.

For Jenny, it was a peculiar sensation. The foam was warm from the sun; it actually felt good on her head.  The two girls were massaging it in to her super short hair, dabbing it around her ears and down the back of her neck.

"I'll take the top," said Clare firmly.

"Back," said Amber.

"Left side," said Callie.

"I'm happy with the right," said Erin.

Brandishing their razors, they stood in front and looked at Jenny.  Jenny tried not to show her fear - they could cut her scalp to bits! - and glared back at them.

Then Clare stepped forward, and hesitantly placed her razor at Jenny's forehead.  Amber moved to the back, pushing Jenny's head forward with one finger.

"It's going to be awkward," said Erin, ducking in between Clare and Amber.

"But worthwhile," Callie said feelingly.

They nodded to each other, and each began to shave Jenny's head.

Clare stroked the razor back firmly, watching awestruck as the pale skin gleamed where the blade had been. She lifted the razor and saw it clogged with Jenny's hair. Looking around for something to wipe it on, she lifted up the bottom of Jenny's loose T-shirt and used that.

Erin had chosen to start in front of Jenny's ear, scraping upwards and removing Jenny's little sideburns. She thought the T-shirt was a good idea too for wiping her razor.

Amber found it a bit difficult shaving up the back of Jenny's head with the other girls' arms so close. However, she began at the nape, stroking the razor up to the occipital bone over and over until Jenny's scalp was free of stubble.

Callie had commenced her patch behind Jenny's ear, pushing the ear forward and carefully shaving the hair away.

Jenny's senses were in overdrive.  Four razors were shaving her head at once! She could feel the blades taking away all her hair as if she were in the grasp of a maniacal mechanical head shaving machine. The rasping sound as her hair was removed attacked her ears in quadruplicate.  She could feel Clare's razor the most, as the top of her head was very sensitive. And the back of her neck felt naked as Amber scraped away her hair, going up now past the occipital bone.

Jenny felt Erin at her right temple, and saw the girl's hand guiding the razor from the corner of her eye.  Her scalp was beginning to feel very tight and funny as it was shaved smooth.

Hands wiped razors on her T-shirt, and Jenny was helpless to stop them.  The lower half of her T-shirt was covered in shaving cream and hair, her hair, her now non-existent hair.  It looked like someone else's hair stuck to her clothing, it was so short.  Not Jenny's long, lovely hair, but the clippered hair of a boy or man.  Her long hair didn't cling to her anymore; it lay on the grass at her feet, stamped on by the other girls, getting dirty.

Jenny was aware of Clare making a third pass back over the top of her head. The top must be almost finished, she thought.  In her plans she'd worked out roughly how many razor widths wide each part of the head was.  She'd allowed three for the top.  Slowly and inexorably Clare's blade shaved the last of Jenny's hair from the top of her head, scraping back towards the crown.  Clare stepped away to give the others more room.

Callie moved nearer to the front so she could shave off the hair in front of Jenny's ear. She put her hand on top of Jenny's bald head - to Jenny, it felt very peculiar! - and stretched the skin up tight with her thumb so she could shave the hair closer around the temple.

"Done!" said Callie in satisfaction.

Erin was now pushing Jenny's ear forward as Callie had done, starting at the hairline and shaving up in short strokes, cleaning the blade often. She ran her hands over the area she'd shaved and did a few touch ups where she'd left the odd growth of hair.

Amber, too, had almost finished. She steadied Jenny's bald head with one hand and rasped away at the back, cleaning away the last of the other girl's hair with a flourish.

The four of them inspected their handiwork. Clare ran her razor over Jenny's scalp again just to make sure all the hair was completely gone.

"THAT's how you play Balderdash!" jeered Erin.  

"Just wait till we get back to the house," threatened Jenny, getting some of her spirit back. She was still in disbelief  - she was bald!  Bald! Bald!

"And what?" said Clare rudely.  "You'll show Erin's parents pictures of her smoking and you've got pictures of Callie stripping?  I don't think so.  I know this house far better than you, Jenny. You forget I spend most weekends here. I know every hiding place there is.  I'll find the photos - and the ecstasy tabs, too.  And won't Aunt Jan and Uncle Bob love it when they hear it was YOU who stole the CDs, not Amber!"

"Anyway," Erin said, brandishing Jenny's sheet of paper.  "We've got your rules here, written by you in your handwriting.  You can't say anything - you lost. You came last."  She paused. After years of being picked on by Jenny, whom she'd always idolized, it was good to say it:  "You're a loser, Jenny."

With that the four girls walked away from the shed. Jenny sat tied to the chair. Sunlight gleamed on her shaved head, and the tatters of her hair lay around her feet.

The end.