by Coco Simon
“Now, I have something a little different for you today, but I think it’s going to be helpful.” She nodded at Nina. “Emma’s going to do a little observation first, just for a few minutes, okay?”
“Great!” said Nina.
“Emma, come with me,” said Dr. Brown, so I climbed out of the chair and followed her.
Down the hall, we entered the room where Diego was waiting, lying in an examining chair that had been tipped all the way back. He smiled and gave a little wave!
“Oh, hi!” I said, feeling shy.
“Diego Diaz, this is Emma Taylor. Emma, this is Diego.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“I recognize you from school,” he said. “You’re Matt’s sister, right?”
“Yes, among others,” I said, and rolled my eyes.
“Emma has three brothers,” said Dr. Brown. “Isn’t she lucky?”
I laughed. “I don’t know if that’s the right word for it!” I said.
“Sounds to me like you won the lottery!” teased Diego.
The laughing made me feel better. (It’s amazing, the positive side effects of a cute guy making jokes!)
“Okay. So, Emma. Knowledge is power, right?” said Dr. Brown.
I nodded.
“Great, then we’re going to let you see what we’re doing during a cleaning, so you don’t get nervous. Right, Diego?”
“Right,” he confirmed.
“Sit right here, Emma,” she said, pulling another swivel stool up next to Diego.
“Okay, sunglasses.” Dr. Brown handed Diego a cool pair of shades, which he put on. “These are to block out the bright examining light a little,” she said to me.
Diego gave me the thumbs-up.
“Now the bib,” she said as she fastened a protective cloth around Diego’s neck. “This keeps the toothpaste and stuff off your nice clean clothes.”
I nodded again.
“Now the suction.” She held up a bent tube and flipped a switch, showing me how weak its suction was on my hand. She switched to a clean tip and then put it in Diego’s mouth. “To suck up the extra toothpaste,” she explained.
I knew all this, so it wasn’t exactly new information, but I was kind of interested to see Diego get his teeth cleaned. He had very nice teeth—white, even, strong. I had to remind myself why I was there a few times.
Then Dr. Brown got down to business. First, she showed me her tools, then she reminded me to breathe, because there might be a little blood. Then she numbed his gums with some gel and then started to clean.
I watched as she kind of scraped the edges of Diego’s teeth. It amazed me that he held so still while she was doing it. I am a known squirmer at my usual dentist, and the hygienist often has to stop, so I can settle myself down. But Diego was peaceful, listening to his iPod, tapping his toe in sync with the beat coming through his headphones. Every once in a while Dr. Brown would say, “Okay, Diego?” and he’d nod.
It was weird actually seeing her perform what I had only pictured in my mind for years. What feels like violent scraping when it’s your own mouth only looks like gentle wiping when it’s someone else’s mouth. But while she was working on a molar, she scraped some of his gum, and it suddenly started to bleed.
“Oh!” I said, turning away as the blood seeped into his mouth and was sucked away by the little tube. Instantly, my body started its usual reaction: noises got far away, drowned out by a rushing sound in my ears, my face grew warm, and my head felt weak. Nina stood beside me and held my shoulders.
Do not faint in front of a cute guy! I scolded myself. Do not do it!
“It’s okay, just a very tiny bit of blood,” said Dr. Brown. “Did that hurt, Diego?”
He shook his head no.
“You’ve got to do a little better on the flossing in the back. Otherwise, things are looking great, okay, honey?”
I couldn’t believe she was so businesslike in the face of blood. And Diego was totally unfazed!
She glanced at me. “You all right?”
I took a deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth. Then I nodded. Shape up, Emma! I told myself. You’re just a bystander! This isn’t even happening to you! I steadied myself and took another very deep breath. Divine! Divine! I channeled Mona a little bit.
“It’s mind over matter, Emma,” she said. “And I know you are brave in many other ways, so just decide to add this to your list, okay?” She smiled at me.
I nodded in what I hoped was a firm, Monaesque style. Divine!
Dr. Brown winked at me and whispered, “It’s divine, right?”
I giggled in spite of myself.
After Dr. Brown finished the bottom row of his teeth, she suctioned Diego’s mouth all over and tilted his chair up, so he could rinse and spit.
“How was it?” she asked him. He tipped up his sunglasses onto his head. “Fine,” he said.
“Did it hurt?” she asked.
“Not really,” he said. “It’s just a little pinching, but it goes away fast. Nothing worse than what my sister does to me on a regular basis.” Diego grinned.
“Okay, Emma?” asked Dr. Brown.
“Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as I pictured,” I said, crossing my fingers at the lie. “Thanks for letting me watch,” I said to Diego. I still felt a little weak, but I wasn’t as shaky as I usually would have been.
“Anytime,” he said.
Dr. Brown left Nina in charge of finishing Diego, and she brought me back to my examining room. I got nervous again as I sat down, but she reminded me to breathe, and handed me a mirror so I could watch, and sunglasses to block the light, and she left me sitting pretty upright, so I would feel in control. I turned up the volume on my iPod and tried to picture Mona getting her teeth cleaned and how well she’d handle it. But my thoughts kept drifting back to Diego. He really was cute. I owed it to him to not pass out!
Dr. Brown washed her hands and did a mock cleaning, where she gelled my gums for numbness, then very gently did a tiny cleaning on each tooth. It took about five minutes. I watched and found myself actually losing interest as I daydreamed about Diego.
It was over practically before it started, and Dr. Brown sat me up all the way.
“How was it?” she asked with a smile.
“It’s already over?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded. “Just a mini cleaning, remember?”
“Thanks!” I said, and I couldn’t help it. I threw my arms around her for a huge hug. I was so relieved that I had survived, I felt ecstatic!
“You’re welcome, my dear,” she said, laughing and hugging me back hard. “You did very well!”
I practically floated out to the waiting room, where my mom looked at me with a nervous, inquiring look. I gave her a thumbs-up, like Diego had given me, and she broke into a big grin. “Great!” she said. “Well done!”
She and Dr. Brown chatted for a minute, then it was time to go.
But I wasn’t quite ready. “Do you do prizes?” I asked shyly. I had to know.
“Of course! Right at the receptionist’s desk, before you walk out,” said Dr. Brown. “Lots of fun goodies in there.”
“Can I say bye to Diego?”
“Absolutely. Let me check first that he’s decent,” she joked.
Then she called me in, and Diego was sitting there, now getting his teeth polished.
“Thanks so much, Diego,” I said. “And thanks, Nina.”
“My pleasure,” said Nina with a smile.
“ ’Ine, ’oo,” said Diego through a mouth full of toothpaste.
I waved good-bye and then went to check out the prizes. I mean, come on! What’s the point of a job well done if you don’t get a prize at the end?!
I selected a cute tattoo that said “Champ” on it and they let Jake get a prize too. It was a tiny teddy bear dressed up like a policeman; kind of a junky little carnival prize, but he was thrilled with it.
I grinned on the way home as I realized that there was a fifth
D now: Diego! It wouldn’t be easy to tote him around to my appointments (ha!), but I could at least picture him while I was at them!
CHAPTER 6
Nice Nurse Nancy
So, let’s just say that I shouldn’t have counted my chickens before they hatched.
The next day after school, my mom asked me to accompany her to the hospital for Jake’s preoperative meeting. She’d need my help to distract Jake while she listened to the doctor and then filled out a bunch of paperwork. I was feeling pretty confident after my semitriumph at Dr. Brown’s, so I agreed. I also figured it would be another advantage for my go-see the next day if I knew where I was headed. Looking back, maybe Matt or Sam should have gone with them instead of me.
In the car the whole way there, Jake explained how this was a waste of a trip, because there was NO WAY he was getting his tonsils out, so why were we bothering to do this? My mother kept sighing heavily, having given up on trying to fight his every protest. I tried a few times to clarify things for him, but he was having none of it, and I could see why my mom was so defeated. I clammed up too and looked out the window while I pretended not to notice Jake putting his thumb in his mouth.
We got to the check-in desk, and Jake was busy not looking around. It was like he’d decided to pretend he wasn’t there. (Despite my new training from Dr. Brown, I could relate.) We checked in at the front desk, and a nice nurse named Nancy came out to meet us and show us around.
“So, Jake, when you come in on Friday morning, it will be bright and early. You won’t have time for any breakfast in the morning, but that’s okay, because you’ll want to save room for all the ice cream you’ll be having later,” Nancy explained.
But Jake wouldn’t meet Nancy’s eye. He pulled his policeman bear—his new sidekick—out of his pocket and began walking the bear along some paneling on the wall. The nurse turned to my mom and said quietly, so Jake couldn’t hear, “He’s scared, right?”
My mom nodded, exhausted, and the nurse patted her arm sympathetically. She continued on. “So, you’ll come in here, where we’ll get your pajamas on. . . .”
“Do we bring our own, or . . . ?” asked my mom.
“No, we’ll give him a gown, actually. Then we put him on a gurney and—Hey, Jake! Listen, this is the fun part! You get a free ride on a bed with wheels!” Nancy said cheerily.
Jake looked up, momentarily tricked. A ride on a bed sounded great! But then he remembered where we were and why, and he frowned and looked away again. The nurse and my mom exchanged glances.
“Then we’ll go to the lab and get a quick little prick for a blood test,” said Nancy.
My ears pricked at the sound of the word “blood,” but there was no time to adjust my thinking, because right then we turned a corner and into the lab, and the room was actually full. There were two adults with bags of blood either dripping into or being sucked out of their veins, and a kid having blood taken. He had a rubber band around his arm, and the nurse was capping vials to the needle thingy and filling them with black-red blood.
Uh-oh!
I tried to think fast: Diego! Deep breaths! Mona! Divine! But it was all too much and too fast for my system. Definitely not divine.
I fainted.
When I came to, I was lying on a gurney, and my mom and Jake were peering anxiously at me. Nancy came bustling up with a glass of orange juice and a cool cloth for my forehead.
“I’m so sorry!” she apologized. “I wish I’d known! I never would have taken you there!”
I sighed heavily. “It’s my fault. Mind over matter,” I muttered.
“I am not having my tonsils out!” declared Jake.
“Oh boy,” said my mom, putting her head in her hands. The nurse rubbed her back kindly. I closed my eyes.
It took a while for me to get my feet back under me. Usually, if I catch myself before I actually faint, I recover pretty quickly. But if I go all the way down, like I did this time, I’m kind of exhausted afterward. While I recovered, Jake sat on the end of my gurney and played with his officer bear. Meanwhile, Nancy outlined all the procedures for my mom and had her sign waivers and permissions for tests and medication and aftercare and all kinds of things. When we finally left, I think we all felt like we’d been there for a week. Nancy insisted on riding me out in a wheelchair, saying it was hospital policy. I felt ridiculous and hoped I wouldn’t see anyone I knew.
But wouldn’t you know it, as we reached the exit, the doors slid open, and there was Olivia Allen with her mother.
She looked at me, and her eyes widened.
“I’m fine!” I said by way of greeting, then added, “Hospital policy.”
Olivia looked at me searchingly. “Wait, are you already done with the go-see?” she asked with such confusion that I had to laugh. I’d forgotten all about the go-see for the time being.
“No, I’m . . . I was just here with Jake, he’s having his tonsils out, so we were here for a tour. . . .”
“Emmy fainted,” Jake announced cheerfully.
“What?” said Olivia, aghast. “Are you okay?”
I tried to smile brightly. “Don’t exaggerate, Jake. I think the go-see’s tomorrow, though, right?” I asked Olivia, changing the subject.
She nodded, all business now. “We’re just here for a dry run, to get the lay of the land,” she reported. “We thought we’d walk around a little, get used to the sights and sounds. . . .”
She looked at her mother, who had pressed her lips together into a thin line. Her mom is so competitive and critical of Olivia, she was probably trying to send Olivia a sign to be quiet, lest she give the competition (me) an advantage or leg up of some sort. Ha! She needn’t have worried. I had all the info I needed, believe me. In fact, if you’d asked me right then and there, I would have told Olivia the job was hers and good riddance to that hospital. I’d never be back.
“I’m sorry, girls, but we need to move along now,” said my mom. “This nice lady needs to get back to work.” She glanced at Nancy.
Nancy had been following the conversation. “Are you girls coming here tomorrow for something?” she asked.
Olivia nodded. “It’s a go-see for the hospital’s publicity office,” she said, drawing herself up straight. “We’re models.”
“Oh, what fun!” said Nancy. “I can see that, now that you mention it.” She smiled at me. Olivia kind of coughed, but Nancy didn’t say anything to her. “Well, I sure hope it doesn’t have anything to do with blood!” We sailed out the door, leaving Olivia and her mom with confused looks on their faces.
My mom and I couldn’t help it. We got into the car and started laughing, and we could not stop. It was nerves and we knew it, but Jake didn’t understand, and he was getting frustrated. “What’s so funny?” he kept demanding, and of course that only made us laugh harder.
“Oh boy!” said my mom finally, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “And we’re coming back here tomorrow? And again on Friday?” We started laughing all over again.
That night, as I lay in my bed, waiting in the dark for my parents to come say good night, I thought hard about the modeling job. First of all, I really needed the money. I was broke, and I was tired of having to pass on all the things I wanted, like the shirt at Icon and the yummy breakfast cereal. Just a little spending money would be nice. Also, I needed to pay back the Cupcake Club for losing that money from The Special Day bridal salon. Second of all, I had committed to showing up for the job, and I really couldn’t back out at the last minute. It would be unprofessional, and I wouldn’t want to earn a bad reputation after I’d worked so hard for a good one. And third of all, I couldn’t stand to have Olivia Allen beat me out of a modeling job. I’d never hear the end of it. I knew number three was a lame reason, but I couldn’t help it!
When my mom came in to kiss me, she said, “So we’re off for tomorrow, right? No need to put ourselves through that again.”
“I don’t know . . . ,” I said. I hesitated and thought hard. I didn’t want to
go, but I felt like I should.
My mom reached up to turn my bedside reading light on. I squinted at her in the sudden brightness as she looked hard at me. “Emma, I know that modeling is wonderful work for you, and the income is lovely. I have really come around to it, despite my initial misgivings, mostly because of how well you handle it. I don’t want to be your agent or be a stage mother in any way. But I have to ask: Do you really think this is a good idea?”
“Well, I don’t want to let anyone down, like . . . professionally. I want to be known as reliable. And also I really need some money.”
“What for? How much?” asked my mom.
“Um . . . I absolutely have to have forty dollars to pay back the Cupcake Club for that money I lost. And then, well, I just have no cash. No pocket money right now.”
My mom looked up at the ceiling. “How about if Dad and I front you the money for the club payback. I will have you pay us back for that when you make some money, since it was careless that you lost it, and I won’t cover carelessness. Also, I can’t imagine there’s any product you can’t live without for a while, like clothes or apps or whatever, until you earn a little more cash to buy it yourself. But if there are any outings you need money for, like pizza and the movies, Dad and I will cover you until you get some more work, okay?”
That all sounded fair. Now I just felt guilty and nervous about my reputation. “Won’t it look bad if I cancel the day of the go-see?”
My mom puffed out her lips and thought. “Look, if you were terrified of sharks, would you go down and do a shoot in a shark cage?” she asked.
“No way!”
“Okay, well, for now, blood is your shark. And you’ve certainly been trying hard to get yourself over it. It’s just not going to happen that fast. I’ll just call Alana and explain it. Maybe she has someone else they could use. Okay?”
I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I snuggled deep into my covers and started to fall asleep immediately, I was so relieved. “Okay, Mama,” I said, calling her by my private baby name for her.
“Good night, my little worker bee,” she said, kissing the top of my head. I was so sleepy, I didn’t even remember her closing the door.
