Mia a Matter of Taste (7 page)

S
o how come you're not wearing your glasses?” Katie asked me the next morning when she got on the bus.

“I don't need to wear them all the time,” I reminded her. “Just in class, to see the board.”

“I'm dying to see them,” Katie said.

I started to reach for my backpack, but then I suddenly felt shy. I mean, we were surrounded by kids on the bus. I didn't want to draw any extra attention to myself.

“Math class,” I said. “I promise.”

Katie dramatically put her hand to her forehead. “I can't stand the suspense!”

But when we got to math class, I got shy again. I couldn't bring myself to put my glasses on.

“Come on!” Katie urged.

“Maybe I won't need them,” I said. “Not if we're working in our books.”

I could tell that Katie wanted to argue with me, but the bell rang. Mr. K. stood up from his desk and went to the board.

“Today I'm going to show you how to convert decimals to percentages,” he said, and started writing numbers on the board. Then he turned around. “Mia, do I need to move you to the front row?”

I could tell I was blushing. “Um, no, I have, um . . . I'm good.” I took out my glasses to show him.

“Okay. Glad to see that,” he said, and then he turned back to the board.

I reluctantly put on my glasses—my classic frames. I could swear that everyone was looking at me, and I felt like I was wearing those giant glasses that clowns wear.

“They look nice,” Katie whispered to me.

I was pretty sure she was just trying to make me feel better. But, anyway, I got caught up in what Mr. K. was explaining, and by the time class was over, I almost forgot I was wearing them.

“Did they help?” Katie asked as I put my glasses back in their case.

“Actually, they did,” I said. “I could read everything perfectly.”

“Awesome!” she said with a smile. “And I'm being honest—they really do look nice.”

I smiled back. “Thanks.” Maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all.

I put on my glasses during English class next period, and I was able to read all the vocab words on the board. For third period I normally had gym, but our whole gym class was doing health for a couple of weeks—you know, like nutrition and stuff. We met in this classroom next to the gym.

Normally, I like gym because all my Cupcake friends are in it with me. So are the girls in the Best Friends Club. There's Callie Wilson, who used to be Katie's best friend, and who's pretty nice. Bella Kovacs dyes her hair black and is obsessed with vampire movies. Maggie Rodriguez has frizzy hair and is kind of silly and fun. And then there's Olivia Allen. She was new to our school, and I made friends with her—or at least I thought she was my friend. But she was just using me until she found friends she liked better. That's what it felt like to me, anyway. We still talk to each other in the hall and stuff, but we are definitely not friends anymore.

But I have enough of my friends in gym so that having Olivia there doesn't bother me, you know? Things are always easier when your friends are there to back you up.

So when I got to health class, our teacher, Ms. Chen, was setting up the computer projector thingy to show us a film about the human body or something. I put on my glasses so I could see it. We watched the movie, and then Ms. Chen asked us a bunch of questions. When the bell rang I started packing up the glasses again before we headed to lunch.

Suddenly, Olivia was next to me. “Are you a member of the Four Eyes Club now?” she asked, and I flinched. But Olivia wasn't finished. “Don't worry, they don't look that bad. You look like a teacher.”

“What do you care what she looks like?” Alexis snapped. She doesn't have a lot of patience for the BFC.

“Okay, chill out! Gosh, can't a person make a comment around here?” Olivia asked. “Anyway, glasses really aren't that bad. They're not as bad as braces, anyway.”

I turned pale. Did Olivia know I was getting braces? How could she know? She was really
getting under my skin. But she was already walking away.

“I knew this was going to happen,” I said as we walked to lunch. “Forget it. I am not wearing these glasses anymore. I'll just keep squinting.”

“Mia, you look like you should be in a magazine, seriously,” Emma said. “You're gorgeous.”

“Yeah, don't listen to her,” Katie piped up.

“But does she know I'm getting braces?” I wondered out loud.

“She couldn't,” Alexis said. “I think she was just trying to make a jab. A
ridiculous
jab, but just a jab.”

I sighed. “I can only imagine what she'll see when I walk in here with braces. This is seriously a disaster.”

When we got to the cafeteria, Emma and Alexis went up to the hot food line, and Katie and I went to our table.

“You know,” Katie said as she unpacked her lunch. “When I first met you, you were new and everything, but you didn't seem to care what anyone thought. And now you seem to be worried about what everyone is thinking. Why do you care now?”

It was a good question, and I wasn't sure I had an answer. “I don't know,” I admitted. “I guess . . .
it's like I knew who I was before, and now I'm this whole new person with glasses and then braces and everything. I'm not the same old Mia anymore.”

“Of course you are,” Katie insisted. “Just because you have stuff on your face doesn't mean you're not the same inside.”

“I guess,” I said, and I knew Katie was right. But I was starting to realize something about myself—something that was embarrassing to admit. All my life I had always been, well, kind of cute, you know? Mom always made sure I had really great outfits, and I was always dressed in a cool way. And fashionable. It was easy to feel confident and good about myself when I looked like that on the outside. And so maybe I had to learn how to feel just as confident about the inside of myself, too.

“Just stop caring what people think,” Katie advised. “It doesn't matter. I learned that from you.”

I felt like hugging her. “What would I do without you?”

“You'd be very, very bored,” Katie answered, and we both laughed.

After lunch I had social studies with Katie and all the girls in the BFC, including Olivia. I put on my glasses as soon as I sat down and didn't look at Olivia once. It felt pretty good.

Of course, I didn't know what would happen once I had on my braces, too. But for a moment at least, I was happy. I thought my glasses looked nice, and plus, I could actually
see
the board!

W
elcome to the cupcake party!” Katie shrieked as she opened her front door Friday night.

“You are crazy,” I said, shaking my head as she dragged me inside her house.

When we got to her kitchen, Emma and Alexis were already there. On the table were a dozen already baked cupcakes and lots of bowls of toppings.

“Am I late?” I asked. “I thought the meeting was at seven.”

“You're not late,” Katie replied. “This is a cupcake meeting. It's also a surprise going-away party to your braces-free teeth.”

I looked at Emma and Alexis. “What is going on?”

Alexis pointed to the toppings. “Once you get your braces, you won't be able to eat sticky, gooey things. Well, unless you brush your teeth right away. So we have prepared a sticky, gooey feast for you.”

Emma held up the first topping bowl like she was a model on a game show. “First, we have delicious gummy worms. So sticky!”

Getting into the spirit, Katie picked up another bowl. “Marshmallow topping. Like glue, but sweet!”

“And perhaps stickiest of all—caramel topping!” Alexis said, pointing to a bowl of golden, creamy goodness.

I couldn't believe it. “You guys are the best!”

Katie picked up a spoon. “Let's do this!”

Katie had made chocolate cupcakes, which were delicious with both the marshmallow and the caramel. We covered the cupcakes with marshmallow topping, some with caramel, and some with both. Then we added gummy worms.

I held up my hands, which were coated with marshmallow and caramel. “This is seriously gross!”

Everyone's hands were the same. Katie looked over at the sink and yelled, “Mom!”

Mrs. Brown came into the kitchen. “Oh, my,” she said, looking at the cupcakes. “You are all going
to need to brush and floss immediately after you eat these!”

I could tell she was kidding. Even though she is a dentist, she doesn't go around making her guests brush their teeth.

“Can you turn on the faucet for us, please?” Katie asked.

“Gladly!” her mom replied.

We all washed our hands and then settled down to eat our cupcakes. Thankfully, Mrs. Brown poured glasses of milk for us.

“If we didn't have the milk, I think my mouth would be glued shut,” I said. “Then I
couldn't
get braces. Hey, maybe that's not a bad idea.”

Alexis took a bite of cupcake. “You know, we seriously need to have our meeting. We still don't have an idea for the carnival.”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “All I can think about these days are glasses and braces.”

“I must have spring fever or something,” Katie said. “I can't think of anything.”

“Maybe spring fever could be a theme,” Emma suggested.

Alexis frowned. “I don't know. That kind of sounds like a disease. Not a good way to sell cupcakes.”

Emma looked thoughtful. “Okay, it's spring, but we're really celebrating that school will be over soon. So . . . summer? Lemon-yellow sunshine cupcakes?”

“Or butterflies?” Katie suggested. “You know, like we're flying away from school?”

“Hmm. Freedom!” Alexis added.

“My teeth have seen their last days of freedom,” I joked. “Tomorrow they'll be going to jail. Clear plastic jail.”

Katie took out her phone. “We need a picture of your teeth before they go behind bars. Everybody smile—and show your teeth!”

She leaned her head next to mine and took the picture of all of us smiling. I felt happy, but deep inside, I was really nervous about tomorrow.

I hope this isn't my last smile for a long time!
I thought.

I
barely slept that night because I kept having weird dreams about my teeth. In one, they got bigger and bigger, like they were inflating. In another one, my teeth were stuck together and I couldn't open my mouth. Creepy!

When Mom came in to wake me up, I groaned and put my pillow over my head.

“Eddie made a nice breakfast for us,” Mom said. “Come down when you're ready, okay? I don't want to be late for Dr. Payne.”

I slowly and reluctantly got out of bed, putting on a pair of jeans I found on my floor and the first shirt I pulled out of my drawer. Why should I bother dressing up for something like this? I pulled my hair into a loose ponytail and went downstairs.

The kitchen table was filled with plates of eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and toast. Dan was there, and his plate was piled high, and I wondered how anyone could eat so much.

“Wow, this is a lot of food,” I said.

“Well, I wanted to make sure you had a good meal inside you,” Eddie replied sheepishly. “In case, you know, your teeth hurt later.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” I grumbled.

“Mia, Eddie went to a lot of trouble to do something nice for you,” Mom scolded.

“Thanks, Eddie,” I said, and then I sat down. Everything looked delicious, but I could only eat a small spoonful of scrambled eggs and one piece of bacon, because I was so nervous.

When I was done, I brushed my teeth really well before we left. When we got to Dr. Payne's office, the assistant came out to get us right away. I sat in the chair, and she put the paper bib on me again. Then Dr. Payne walked in smiling.