Mia a Matter of Taste (10 page)

Right then I decided I wasn't going to be embarrassed about my glasses ever again. It wasn't just Callie that did it; it was everyone who had helped me. And I realized it was a relief not to care about it anymore!

I brought both pairs of glasses with me to my dad's for the weekend, so I could coordinate them with my outfits. On Friday night we had our traditional sushi dinner, and I made sure to ask Dad if we were going to see Lynne and Ethan that weekend. He said there was a concert in the park that might be fun, and he thought we could all go together.

That sounded okay to me. But when I woke up Saturday morning, the sky was gray. It was still cloudy when Lynne and Ethan came over that afternoon.

“Are you sure we should go?” Lynne asked worriedly. “It looks like it might rain.”

“The forecast says that the rain is going to hold off until early evening,” Dad reported, and right at the end of his sentence we heard a loud clap of thunder. I walked to the window, and sheets of rain were splashing against the glass.

“Um, I think the forecast is wrong,” I said.

“That's okay,” Lynne said. “Ethan and I can go home and watch a video.”

“Nonsense! You can't go out in this,” Dad insisted. “Stay here, and we can rent a movie or something.”

He kneeled down to talk to Ethan. “Would you like that? What movie should we rent?”

“I don't want to see a movie,” Ethan said, pouting. “I want to play in Mia's room!”

Dad later told me that the look on my face was like I had seen an alien crashing through the ceiling. I must have looked horrified. Making sure only Dad could see me, I started shaking my head. No way did I want Ethan in my room!

But Dad wasn't having it. “I'm sure Mia wouldn't mind showing you her room, would you, Mia?”

Yes, I would! Very much!
I wanted to scream. But I didn't want to embarrass Dad or make Lynne feel bad.

“Sure,” I said, my voice tight. “Come on, Ethan.”

I opened the door to my room, which Dad helped me decorate exactly the way I wanted when he got this apartment. It's Parisian chic—pale pink walls with black and white accents, and a wrought iron headboard for my bed, and I even have a vanity where I can sit and do my hair in
the morning. But Ethan did not appreciate my Parisian chic decor at all.

“Where are your toys?” he asked, looking around. “You don't have any toys.”

“No,” I said. “I'm older than you are. I don't have toys anymore.”

But Ethan walked around, looking under and on top of things, determined to find some toys.

“I have dinosaur toys,” he informed me. “Dinosaur toys are awesome.”

“Well, I don't have any of those,” I replied. “Sorry. Maybe we should go back into the living room and watch a movie.”

Then he pulled a tin of colored pencils out of my open backpack. “Can we color?” he asked me.

“Not with those!” I said, quickly grabbing them from him. “I use them for my fashion sketches.”

Ethan took out my sketchbook. “In here?” he asked, and he started flipping through the pages before I got it back from him. “These are just dresses. Can't you draw dinosaurs?”

“Of course I can draw dinosaurs,” I said, feeling a little defensive. I wasn't going to let a little kid insult my drawing skills. I took the sketchbook from him. “What's your favorite dinosaur?”

“Apatosaurus,” he said without hesitating. “I bet
you can't draw it. It's going to be too hard.”

“Can too,” I shot back. “I just need some reference, that's all.”

“What's ‘reference'?” Ethan asked.

I took out my phone and searched for “apatosaurus.” A picture of a giant dinosaur with a long neck and tail popped up. “See? I need to look at a picture of something, so I'll know how to draw it. That's what ‘reference' means.”

Ethan nodded. “Draw it!”

I started to sketch, and Ethan just watched me, as quiet as could be. When I finished, I showed him.

“That's really good,” he said. “Can I draw something?”

I thought for a minute, and then I remembered I still had crayons and paper in my desk from when I made decorations for the twins' music party. I gave them to Ethan and he started to draw. I realized I wanted to draw another dinosaur.

“What other dinosaurs do you like?” I asked.

“Mmm . . . triceratops,” Ethan answered.

I knew that one. That's the one with the three horns on its head. I drew a triceratops, and then for fun I drew Ethan riding on it.

“How about this one?” I asked him.

His face lit up. “Is that me?”

I nodded. “Yes. What do you think?”

Ethan thought for a minute. “Put balloons on it,” he ordered, and so I drew some balloons tied to the dinosaur's tail. This made Ethan crack up so hard, I thought he was going to hurt himself. Pretty soon I was laughing too.

Dad stuck his head in the room. He looked really surprised and really happy that we were getting along. “Everything okay in here?” he asked, looking around. I think he thought maybe I'd tied up Ethan and put him in the closet.

“We're drawing,” I said, holding up my pictures.

“Mia's good at drawing,” said Ethan appreciatively.

“Mia's great at drawing,” Dad agreed with a huge smile. “We ordered some pizza. Why don't you guys come join us?”

“Pizza!” yelled Ethan and went charging into the kitchen.

So we all had pizza, and then it was time for Lynne and Ethan to leave.

“I don't want to go,” Ethan said, tearing up. “I don't want to leave Mia's house.”

Mia's house. It was kind of cute. I had always thought of this as Dad's house, mostly because I don't live here all the time. But I guess it was my
house too. I had to give Ethan a big hug.

“I'll be back in two weeks,” I said. “Maybe we can draw pictures again.”

“Of dinosaurs?” Ethan asked.

“Sure!” I said.

Ethan thought a minute. “How about whales?”

“Um . . . sure,” I said. “I can draw whales.”

Ethan gave me a hug and a big grin.

When they left, Dad turned to me with a smile on his face. “Wow, Mia, you really made an impression on Ethan.”

I shrugged. I didn't want Dad to think I was totally cool with the idea of being Ethan's big sister or whatever.

“I guess he can be pretty cute when he's not picking his nose,” I said, and left it at that.

C
allie and I went shopping for glasses for her on Monday, along with her mom. It was really fun. She tried on dozens of glasses, and she ended up picking out two pairs, just like I had: a classic pair with silver metal frames and a funky pair with clear frames and little rhinestones in the corners.

“I can't wait to wear them to school!” Callie said on the ride home. “It's going to be such a relief not to have to put those contacts in and out.”

“You're going to look great!” I told her, and then I realized that's what everyone had been saying to me, and I never believed them. But I knew I wasn't lying to Callie, because she did look super-cute!

When Katie and I got off the bus the next
day, we saw Callie and the BFC girls talking on the front steps. Callie was wearing her new classic glasses, and she was working them. The silver frames looked really pretty with her curly blond hair and blue eyes, and she had on these cute denim shorts with a lacy white top and pink flats. I loved her whole look.

“Callie, your glasses look really nice,” Katie remarked as we walked past.

“Duh. She doesn't need you to tell her that,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes. But Callie ignored her.

“Thanks, Katie,” Callie said. “I owe it all to Mia. She helped me pick out the best ones.”

I could see Olivia fume when Callie said that. Olivia likes to think she's a fashion maven.

“No problem!” I said breezily, and then Katie and I walked away. Katie gave me a knowing look and giggled.

I was feeling like the old Mia again. My glasses were a cool fashion accessory. Nobody knew I had braces. The worst was behind me—or so I thought.

When my friends and I talk about the incident today, I call it “The Big Embarrassment.” I don't think I will ever forget what happened, not as long as I live.

See, my teeth weren't hurting anymore, so Mom
had started packing me lunches that I could chew. So for lunch that day she'd packed a spinach salad with chicken on top and some wheat crackers on the side. Yum, right?

I took off my braces to eat, and I was having a great time at lunch. Alexis was telling us a funny story about her older sister, Dylan, and how she had freaked out before getting ready for a party Saturday night. Then I remembered I'd forgetten to tell everyone about what Ethan did during the play.

“Poor Ethan!” Alexis said. “Was everyone laughing at him?”

“It wasn't too bad,” I reported. “He didn't seem to notice, anyway.”

“He sounds kind of cute,” Emma said. “Do you think he's going to be your little brother?”

“I don't know,” I said, holding up my hands. “Hey, I just got used to braces and glasses. One major change at a time.”

I slipped my braces back on, then picked up the napkins and stuff left over from my lunch. “Be right back,” I said, and then I headed over to the trash can.

As I walked there, Chris Howard got up from his table and approached me. My heart started to
pound a little faster. This was more than just talking in class.

“Mia, wasn't that social studies test yesterday the worst?” he asked. “I mean, it was, like, all essay questions!”

“Totally,” I agreed, giving him a big smile. “It's like Mrs. Kratzer does it just to torture us.”

“I think I did okay, though,” he said. “I bet you got an A. You always know all the answers when she calls on you.”

“Well, so do you,” I replied truthfully. Chris is not only cute, but he's pretty smart.

Hey, Chris is flirting with you—and you're flirting back!
a little voice inside me chirped, and I realized I was having fun.

“Yeah, I actually had to use my extra pen during that class,” I said. “I wrote so much that my first pen ran out of ink!”

“That is insane,” Chris said, shaking his head, and we both laughed.

Just then, Olivia walked past us. She stopped when she saw me.

“Oh my gosh, Mia, what's that in your mouth?” she asked, stepping closer to me.

I immediately covered my mouth with my hand. “What do you mean?”

“There's, like, all this stuff in your teeth,” Olivia said. “Oh, no way. Do you have braces?”

I didn't answer her. I didn't even say good-bye to Chris. I just quickly tossed my trash in the garbage and then ran back to the table. I turned to Katie and opened my mouth.

“Katie, do my braces look weird or something?” I asked.

Katie's eyes got wide. “I think you got a bunch of spinach stuck up in there. You'd better go to the bathroom.”

I quickly ran to the girls' room, with Katie right behind me. When I looked in the mirror, I saw that my top teeth were green! I must have gotten some spinach in my teeth, and then when I slipped the braces on, it got all flattened out and stuck.

“I look like a monster!” I shrieked, tearing out my top braces tray. I rinsed it out and then started to rinse the spinach out of my mouth.

“It wasn't so bad,” Katie offered.

“Are you kidding?” I wailed. “I was talking to Chris for, like, five minutes! He had to have noticed. And then Olivia said something, so I know for sure that
she
knows.”

“So what? You don't care what Olivia thinks,” Katie reminded me.

I knew she was right. “I guess so. But I care what Chris thinks.”

Katie shook her head. “Don't let it bother you. Chris likes you whether you have stuff stuck in your teeth or not.”