Mia a Matter of Taste (8 page)

“Hi, Mia,” she said. “I've got your aligners right here.”

She opened a case and took out two clear plastic pieces. One was shaped like my top teeth, and the other was shaped like my bottom teeth.

“You already know this, but these are different
from metal braces because you can remove them,” she explained. “However, you should only remove them to clean your teeth, when you eat, and when you play sports.”

I liked the sound of that.

“But first we need to attach the holders to your teeth. That will help keep these in place when they are in your mouth.”

I didn't like the sound of that.

It took a long, long time—or at least it seemed like a long time—to glue on all the little pieces. I kept running my tongue over the aligners, and they felt rough. Dr. Payne held up a mirror, and I groaned. They were clear, so maybe far away you couldn't see them, but up close you could definitely see that there was something stuck on my teeth. Gross.

Then Dr. Payne took out these clear-wired things that would attach to the holders.

“I'm going to show you how to clean them, and I'll give you a special case to put them in when you're eating,” she went on. “And then we'll try them on, okay?”

“Okay.” I nodded.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all,
I thought.

So I watched Dr. Payne demonstrate how to
clean them (with a special soft toothbrush), and then she held up the mirror for me again.

“I'd like you to try putting them in yourself,” she said. “It's important that you're comfortable with them.”

I nervously picked up the first tray and slid in the aligner. It felt weird—kind of like a glove, but for my teeth. Then I slipped on the bottom one, which felt really tight. Dr. Payne looked at them and then asked me a bunch of questions about how they felt, and she made me bite down and stuff.

“I think you're good to go, Mia,” Dr. Payne said with a smile. “Because you're just starting out with these, I'd like to see you in about two weeks, just to make sure you're not having any problems. But if you have any questions in the meantime, you can always call.”

“Okay,” I said, and it felt weird saying the word. It didn't hurt, really, but I felt like I had a shoe in my mouth or something. Could I ever get used to that? I smiled and looked at myself in the mirror. I reminded myself to thank Alexis for her help in convincing my Dad to get the clear braces. If I didn't smile too much, nobody would even notice them.

Dr. Payne led me out to where my mom was
waiting for me. “Mia will probably experience some soreness in the next day or two. Some pain reliever should help that.”

“We'll take care of her. Thank you.”

“So how do they feel?” Mom asked me as we walked to the car.

“Strange,” I replied, and again, it felt weird to talk.

“Do they hurt?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet. So I was thinking. Maybe we should go to the mall, before I hurt too much to do anything.”

Mom smiled. “Yes, that's probably a smart idea.”

When we got to the mall, I went right to Icon, to a rack of neon shirts, and picked out a bright yellow one. Now that I didn't have to worry about a metal mouth, I knew I could pull it off. Mom was being supernice to me because of the braces, and she bought it for me.

I was feeling pretty happy. I had a cool new shirt, and my braces were almost invisible. But by the time we got home, my mouth was starting to feel a little sore.

Eddie was waiting by the front door.

“How did it go?” he asked.

I smiled. “They're practically invisible! See?”

“Can't see them at all!” he said. “Do they hurt?”

I nodded. “A little.”

“I defrosted some tortilla soup for lunch,” he said. “Just in case.”

When we sat down to eat the soup, it felt weird having to take out the braces. I put them in the special case Dr. Payne gave me. When I was done, I really didn't want to put them back in, but I knew I had to.

“Maybe you should brush your teeth before you put them in,” Mom suggested. “You should do that every time.”

“Well, I can't do that at school,” I pointed out. “Brush my teeth in the school bathroom? Gross.”

“No, of course not,” Mom said. “But definitely at home.”

So I brushed my teeth and put my braces in again. The soreness was getting worse, so Mom gave me some pain reliever. I went upstairs in my room, put on my headphones, and started drawing in my sketchbook. I like to draw models wearing different outfits, and I found myself drawing eyeglasses on all of them. It looked pretty cool.

The rest of the day was pretty mellow. Mom made a tuna casserole for dinner, which was nice and soft, and then we all rented a movie (except for
Dan, who was out with his friends) and watched it in the living room. I probably could have eaten the popcorn, but I was afraid it might hurt. Or that it would get stuck. It was going to be such a pain to start thinking about what I would eat and how much of it could show up in my teeth.

By the next day, my teeth and jaw were really sore, and I was in a pretty cranky mood. But on the bright side my friends were coming over for a Cupcake meeting.

“Mia, how are you feeling?” Katie asked as soon as she came in the door. “I texted you all day yesterday, but you didn't answer.”

“Sorry. I didn't feel like it,” I said. “I'm kind of sore.”

Katie was staring at my mouth. “Where are they? I can't see them.”

I smiled to show her. “They're practically invisible.”

The doorbell rang, and I let Alexis and Emma in. They made a fuss over my braces too.

“I owe you one, Alexis,” I said. “You saved me from being a metal mouth.”

“Maybe you could go into a side business, Alexis,” Katie suggested. “Helping people convince their parents to do stuff for them.”

Alexis grinned. “That's really not a bad idea. I'm not sure how to market it, but it's worth exploring.” She started to quickly type a note into her phone.

It was a nice day, so we went outside on our back deck to have our meeting. Earlier, I'd helped Mom make some iced tea mixed in with lemonade. We sat around the table, under the umbrella, and sipped our beverages as we talked.

“So, we still need a theme for the carnival cupcakes,” Alexis began.

“I know!” Katie said. “I don't know why I'm so stuck. Usually we agree much faster than this. What's wrong with butterflies again?”

“Nothing, really, except that we were trying to think of something more summery,” Alexis reminded us.

“Then how about fireflies?” Emma suggested.

“That would be so cute,” I agreed. “But it might take a lot of work to make them out of fondant or candy or whatever, especially if we have to make a few hundred cupcakes. Fireflies can be pretty detailed.”

Alexis nodded. “What else makes summer special? Staying up late?”

“Fireworks?” Katie added. “Sunshine?”

An idea was forming in the back of my mind. “When I think of summer, I think of how things are, like, easier, you know? You don't have to wear a coat or put on a hat or mittens or even a sweater. You can just throw on shorts, a tank top, and flip-flops and you're good to go.”

Emma was nodding. “Right. Most mornings I don't even blow-dry my hair. I just put it up wet in a ponytail.”

“You mean, like, ‘Come as You Are'?” Alexis asked.

“Exactly. ‘Come as You Are,' ” I said.

“It's good,” Katie said thoughtfully. “But how do you turn that into a cupcake?”

Alexis sighed. “I declare us officially stumped. But we
have
to come up with something at our next meeting. How does Thursday work for everyone?”

We all quickly checked our schedules and agreed that Thursday was good.

“Great. We'll meet at my house,” Alexis said. Then we just hung out for a while in the sunshine, goofing around. It was kind of nice not to have to do anything but hang out.

After my friends left, I took out my sketchbook and tried to come up with a cool cupcake
design. But I couldn't think of anything because I was stressing about what would happen tomorrow. I would be debuting my braces at school for the first time. Would anyone notice?

M
ia, hurry up!” Mom yelled up the stairs. “You're going to miss the bus!”

“But I'm not ready yet!” I yelled, fighting back tears.

It had been a terrible morning. My jaw had been throbbing all night, and I didn't sleep well. I could only get down some oatmeal for breakfast, and then I had to brush my teeth, and then clean the braces and then put them back in, which took forever.

Then I went to get dressed, and I planned to wear my new neon yellow top and some leggings. The outfit looked great and didn't clash with my invisible braces at all. But then I remembered my glasses. I tried on my classic pair, and the copper
didn't look that great with the yellow. Then I put on the fuchsia glasses, which might have looked good with, say, a light, lemony yellow, but they looked just awful with the new top. I sighed and got undressed. Normally, I pick out my outfit the night before, but I didn't last night and I didn't have a backup plan.

I put on a short denim skirt with a blue top, but then I couldn't find my blue ballet flats to go with it. I tried on my black flats, but they didn't go with the outfit at all. So I dug through my closet until I found a short-sleeved, black top with ruffled sleeves and tried that on. It looked good with the skirt and the flats. Then I tried my classic glasses, and they looked okay. But that was a lot of work.

So much for “Come as You Are,”
I thought glumly.

Then I reviewed my plan in my head: Nobody knew about the braces except my friends. When I opened my mouth, it was hard to tell I was wearing braces, even though I still felt like I was chewing on a shoe. So nobody had to know I was wearing braces, just as long as I was cool about it.

“Okay. You can do this,” I told my reflection.

By the time I got downstairs, Mom was standing by the front door, holding her car keys and looking annoyed. I missed the bus.

“I'll have to drive you,” she said. “So please get in the car right now, because I have a conference call in a half hour.”

I grabbed my backpack and followed her outside without saying a word. The whole way to school she was lecturing me about being on time.

“I understand this is a new routine for you, Mia, so maybe you need extra time in the morning,” she said. “I can wake you up fifteen minutes earlier. Maybe your bedtime should be earlier, too.”

“But that's not fair!” I argued.

“Mia, it's not up for discussion,” Mom said firmly.

I sulked the whole way to school. Not only did I have to wear glasses and braces, but I now also had to go to bed earlier. What
else
could go wrong?

When I got to school, I found Katie on the steps, talking with Sophie and Lucy. Katie looked relieved to see me and came running up.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “I thought maybe you were staying home because your mouth hurts from your braces.”

“Shhh,” I said, leading her away by the arm. “I don't want anybody to know, okay?”

Katie shrugged. “Okay. I don't see what the big deal is, though. Lots of kids have braces, and most of
them have the metal ones that you can see.”

“Well, it's a big deal to me,” I replied.

“Okay, okay!” Katie said. She pretended to lock her mouth with a key. “My lips are sealed.”

“How can they be sealed if you just said that?” I teased, and we started laughing. I quickly covered up my mouth with my hand, and Katie rolled her eyes.

“Mia, you can't tell, I swear!” Katie insisted.

“Well, I'm not taking any chances,” I replied.

My plan went pretty well that morning. I made sure not to smile or open my mouth wide, and nobody noticed I had in my braces, not even my teachers. I was playing it cool with my glasses, too. I kept them in my backpack until I absolutely needed to look at the board. Then I quickly slipped them on and took them off again when I was done.

That's what I did in math, and I caught Katie giving me a weird look. She just didn't understand my plan.

Right now, you might be agreeing with Katie. I mean, my braces were invisible, and I only had to wear my glasses sometimes. No big deal, right? But to me, it really was. I can't explain it. I just felt like if I didn't look perfect all the time, everybody would stare at me or make fun of me. And it wasn't
even about looking perfect. It was about looking like me. I was used to looking a certain way. Now all of a sudden I was wearing glasses and my teeth were covered in brace stuff, and I just don't look the same. It was a lot to get used to all at once.

When it came time for lunch, I opened my lunch bag. Mom had packed me some yogurt and a container with some nice, soft pasta salad in it. I was about to start eating when I remembered that I had to take out my braces, but I didn't have a plan for that. Wouldn't everyone see me? I thought about going into the restroom, but it was always crowded at lunchtime.