S i o p í

Siopí - Chapter One.

Rushing clumsily into the barbershop I slammed the door shut and blew out a sigh of relief as I was no longer in the freezing weather. The wind was relentless this morning and it was in no mood to be messed with.

"You're late." My boss stood looking at me with a disapproving look while getting hair clippers for his client.

"Only by fifteen minutes this time, boss." I smiled cheekily while fixing my long black hair which had been messed up by the wind. "Have you seen the chaos outside?" I pointed towards the window at the front of the store. To further prove my point an unlucky lady was staggering along through the wind when a flying piece of newspaper attacked her face.

Boss chuckled. "Well then I'm glad you survived the deadly attack of the newspapers."

I walked towards my section while putting on my apron. "Your sarcasm is not wanted, old man." I gave him scowl.

"Morning, boys!" I greeted the other men cheerfully as I set up.

"Good morning, Miss Donovan." They all sang together making me laugh. The crew only greeted me like they were in a classroom to make fun of the fact that I was a part-time preschool teacher. I secretly loved that job more than the barbershop but I would never tell the boys here that. They'd all have a huge sulk. These men were a lot more high maintenance than the preschoolers.

"No good morning kiss today, Sierra?" Leonard whined while he stood with his arms wide open, awaiting a hug.

I rolled my eyes. "Leonard, you just enjoy getting rejected by me, don't you?"

He laughed. "My day wouldn't be complete without it, babycakes."

I giggled along as our banter continued.

" Fuck off, Leondard." Jace jumped in unnecessarily, as always. His Asian features standing strong in annoyance and his tall, muscly figure stood intimidatingly. He was forever treating me like his little sister ever since he met me four years ago. We were the best of friends, although he was like six years older than me.

I ignored Jace, and instead focused on something else. "Boss? Do you need me to fix up your hair?" I asked him as he finished up with his client, noticing he needed a bit of a trim.

He nodded his head as sat down on the chair with a sigh. I clapped my hands turning around to get some utensils ready so I could start on my first client.

"Jace!" I yelled. "Did you steal my blow dryer, again?" I accused him with my eyes narrowed when I couldn't find it with my other equipment.

He came around with a innocent smile on his face and handed it back to me. "Whoops."

I thanked him and turned around to spray him with some water teasingly. I laughed as he ran away. He joined the barbershop when I began working here, always claiming it was because he needed to pursue a different career but I knew better. He was here because of one person.

"You boys hear the latest news going on around town?" Boss man asked everyone as I began on his dark hair.

Oh, and another thing I learnt throughout working here. Barber-shop was the gossip central in town. Always talking about who's sleeping with who, who got caught cheating and not to forget the sports. Multiple punch ups had occurred due to the arguments about which team or what player was better.

"Yeah, I know what your talking about." Daniel, another employee called out. "It's about that man that was released out of prison a few days ago, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah that fucker."

"Didn't he have a ten-year sentence or something?" Daniel questioned