by Coco Simon
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.
CHAPTER 16
Utter Humiliation!
Callie 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.<
br />
“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.”
But I felt completely humiliated. “Can you please get my backpack? I’m going to stay in here until the bell rings.”
Katie sighed. “Okay. But you’re being silly.”
As soon as Katie left, I felt kind of dumb hiding out in the bathroom, but when I thought about going out and facing Chris, I just couldn’t do it. While I waited, I decided to make a list on my phone, so that it would never happen again.
1. No food that can get stuck in teeth. Soft food and liquids only.
2. No food with color.
3. No smiling, ever.
Yes, it was drastic. But I was determined that I was never, ever going to be embarrassed like that again.
For the rest of the day, I walked around without smiling or opening my mouth. I talked in class only when I was called on. I didn’t relax until soccer practice after school, when I was allowed to take out my braces.
That night at dinner, Eddie made spaghetti with tomato sauce.
“It’s Eddie Spaghetti night!” he joked, like he always does.
I was about to dig in when I remembered my rules, and I stopped. The tomato sauce was bright red.
“Is everything okay?” Mom asked, watching me.
I kept thinking. The spaghetti smelled delicious, and I could brush my teeth right after, so I decided it was okay to eat. Lunch, tomorrow, was another matter.
“Mom, can I have vanilla yogurt for lunch tomorrow?” I asked.
Mom looked concerned. “Are your teeth still hurting, honey?”
“A little,” I lied. “Would that be okay?”
Mom nodded. “I’ll run out and get some after dinner.”
I felt a little guilty making Mom run out like that, but not too guilty. After what happened with Chris, I was not going to take any chances!
CHAPTER 17
My Crazy Friends
For the next couple of days I got really good at sticking to my list. I made sure not to smile or open my mouth when I laughed. I stayed quiet in class, and I didn’t even talk much at lunch.
At lunch on the first day I vowed to keep to my list, Katie, Alexis, and Emma spent the whole time trying to convince me that things weren’t so bad.
“I saw Chris smiling at you all during social studies,” Katie said.
“He’s probably remembering my giant green teeth and laughing,” I said glumly.
“If he noticed, he would have said something,” Alexis pointed out, trying to use logic. “You should just go up and talk to him today like nothing’s wrong.”
“If anything, he probably thinks it’s weird you ran away from him like that,” Emma said.
I groaned and put my head on the table. “Oh great! I totally forgot I did that. That’s even more embarrassing!”
On Thursday at lunch, I noticed that my friends did not talk about my teeth or my whole not-smiling thing at all. Alexis started a Cupcake Club meeting instead.
“So, we’re making chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cupcakes, right?” she asked. “Katie, did you get all the ingredients?”
Katie nodded. “Mom and I went shopping last night. We’re all set.”
“Give me the receipt, so you can be reimbursed,” Alexis said.
“Cool,” Katie said. “Mom said we could do it at five, when she gets home. She’ll order Chinese food for us.”
We all agreed that sounded good. Mom dropped me off at Katie’s right at five.
“Are you going to be okay eating the Chinese food?” Mom asked. “Most of it’s soft, right?”
“I guess I’ll be okay,” I replied. I was glad Mom was worried about me. Most of the time it was annoying, but at times like these, it felt good that she cared so much about me. I gave her a hug. “We’re just baking tonight, so we should be done around eight.”
“Text me,” Mom said, and then I got out of the car.
When I rang the bell, Katie called to me from inside the house.
“Door’s open!”
I walked inside, curious. It kind of reminded me of the time when they all surprised me by wearing glasses. And when I got into the kitchen, Alexis and Emma were already there. But nobody had on glasses. They all looked exactly the same as usual.
The weird thing was that nobody was saying anything.
“What’s up?” I asked.
The girls slowly opened their mouths at the same time. Each one of them had stuff stuck in her teeth! Katie had rainbow sprinkles and icing, Emma had gummy bears, and Alexis had two long strands of licorice hanging down from her two front teeth.
I started laughing. “Get out! You guys are too much.”
“Do you like us any less?” Katie asked.
I shook my head. If anything, I loved them even more.
“Exactly!” Katie said. “So stop moping around. And start smiling again, please. We miss the old Mia.”
Katie looked so funny when she talked. “It’s hard to take you seriously when you look like Rainbow Brite,” I said, giggling like crazy.
“I don’t understand what’s so funny,” Alexis joked as the licorice wiggled back and forth as she talked.
“Yeah, we look perfectly normal,” Emma said, giving me a big, wide, gummy bear–filled smile.
“Okay, okay, I promise!” I said. “Please get that stuff out of your teeth. It’s too weird.”
“I don’t know, I kind of like this look,” Katie joked. “Although if my mother sees this, she’ll have me brushing my teeth ten times a day from now on.”
Soon my friends had their normal teeth back, and we got to work baking the cupcakes. We bak
ed four dozen vanilla cupcakes, three dozen chocolate cupcakes, and two dozen strawberry cupcakes. I know that sounds like a lot, but we’re used to big jobs by now. And when the oven was filled with baking cupcakes, and we had more pans of cupcakes ready to go, we sat down and ate our Chinese food.
Mrs. Brown had ordered a bunch of stuff, including wonton soup, which I love. It’s meat-filled dumplings floating in a broth with green onions. For a second I thought about skipping it, so I wouldn’t get green onions stuck in my teeth. And then a picture of Alexis and her licorice teeth popped into my head.
I poured myself a bowl and took a nice, big slurp with a big piece of green onion in it. Sure, it might get stuck in my teeth, but thanks to my friends, I didn’t care one bit.
CHAPTER 18
You’re Not Going to Believe This . . .
The next day we were supposed to decorate cupcakes at Katie’s again, but first I had an appointment with Dr. Payne—just a quick checkup to make sure everything was okay.
When we got to her office, there was already another kid sitting there waiting. Mom frowned.
“I guess she’s a little backed up,” Mom said after she signed me in. “I need to go make a call. Sit tight, and I’ll be right back.”
Mom stepped into the hallway, and I sat back on the comfy light blue couch and sighed. There were a bunch of magazines on the coffee table, and I noticed the latest copy of Teen Style poking out from the pile. I picked it up and started flipping through it.
At least I don’t need glasses to read, I thought gratefully.
“Hey, Mia.”
I looked up to see Chris Howard standing over me. A woman I guessed was his mom was talking to the receptionist at the front desk.
“Oh, hey,” I said.
Chris sat down next to me. “Are you getting braces too?” he asked.
“I, um, I already have them,” I admitted.
“No way!” Chris said. “I never noticed. Are they invisible or something?”
Hadn’t noticed? Was he kidding? So Chris hadn’t noticed the spinach after all. Unbelievable. I opened my mouth to show him.
“Yeah. I got the invisible ones, so you can’t really see them,” I explained.
