Brace Yourself

Chapter 2: Wired Shut

As Nicole wandered downstairs her mother was stood at the bottom, with a toothbrush and some toothpaste in hand. "You know what you have to do?" She said in a condescending tone. Without a response, Nicole grabbed them, and went to the bathroom and cleaned her teeth. After spending what was an eternity in her eyes in the bathroom, Nicole showed her teeth to her mum, and in a sarcastic voice said "Happy?". With only a nod and a brief smile, they grabbed their coats and walked to the car.

On the long drive to the dentist, Nicole was eerily quiet, and just stared out into the grey rainy sky. "Is everything okay, hunny? You're very meh recently." Her mother asked. "Not really. On Friday when I was out with my friends, Ricky and I had a row, and now he's not even speaking to me. And now I'm worried about the dentist. My whole life just seems to be kinda crappy at the moment". She placed her hand on top of Nicole's and said "I know life can be hard sometimes, but it always gets better, trust me". A tear rolled down Nicole's cheek, and sobbed out "Thanks mum".

The car pulled up at the dentist, and the mix of emotions inside of her were crazy. She was still very upset over Friday, and the nerves over her appointment were just brewing it all into a crazy mess. However her appearance made it look as if she was keeping her cool, as she'd done her make up and hair to perfection. Both her mother and herself walked into the dentist, and as Nicole took a seat, her mother checked her in. Looking around she couldn't help but notice some of the nerds from her college. The only one she knew by name was Nathaniel (pronounced nay-thaniel), but called him horse boy, for his name, and for his bucked teeth, which is why he had braces. He waved and gave a smile, but Nicole sniggered at him and looked down at her phone, hoping to hear from Ricky.

A woman opens an opaque door, looks Nicole dead in the eye and says "Miss Sharp?". Without a word said, Nicole walks in through the door, takes a look back at her mother, then walks into the room with her dentist in. She is a rather tall woman, with short brown hair, and glasses. "Hey Nicole, you're looking wonderful, how're you doing today?". With a fake smile on her face, she replied "Thank you, I'm doing okay, you?". The dentist smiled back at her "I'm wonderful, thank you for asking. Now, if you could take a seat here, we can get started". 

Nicole sits in the chair, and the dentist and her assistant start grabbing all the tools needed. "Now Nicole, this shouldn't take too long, we're just here to make sure everything is okay. If you could open wide, please". With Nicole's mouth wide open, they start checking to make sure that all her teeth are clean. After ten minutes, they're finished checking Nicole's teeth, but are quietly talking to each other about something. "Could you excuse us for just one minute, please?", The dentist said. "Sure", Nicole  responded. The two walked out into the main room, to talk with Nicole's mother. 

Whilst they're out, Nicole feels a vibration in her pocket. '1 message - Ricky <3'. Nicole's heart soars, and she quickly slides her phone open. "Hey babe, sorry that I've been such a jerk recently. We won the game, and I was wondering if it would be possible to go out for dinner tonight. If not, I can completely understand, but I await your response. Have a great day xx". She immediately responded with "Of course, please drop by around half seven-ish xx", and thought to herself "This day is perfect, nothing can ruin it". 

Nicole's mother walks in the room, with the dentist and her assistant behind her. "Hey sweetheart, you got a minute?", Nicole's mother asked. "Yeah, sure", she responded. "Well, your teeth are perfectly clean, got no cavities... but your teeth are very crooked, and you've got an overbite, so we've come to an agreement that you're to have braces and headgear". In a single moment, Nicole's heart sunk, and her face drained of all its colour. "Are you kidding me?! I'll look like a dork!", with a livid expression on her face. "You'll thank me later in life, trust me hunny".

"Look, Nicole, we can get someone in here to speak to you about it, and tell you what it's like with braces and headgear, and how it really isn't that bad at all", the dentist explained to Nicole. "Fine, whatever". They left the room, and Nicole turned to her mother, with rage on her face. "How could you agree to turn me into a geek? You know I've got an image to uphold, and having to wear headgear isn't going to make me keep that image!" "You're angry, I understand, but braces isn't anything to worry about. You'll be fine, sweety. You can make it work, I know it" "HOW?! All my friends and I make fun of people with headgear and braces. I'm going to be a laughing stock". Behind Nicole, a girl walked in through the door. "I'll leave you two to talk", Nicole's mother said, whilst exiting the room".

The girl was about 5"5, with medium length brown hair, brown eyes, and 2 headgears protruding from her mouth. She held out her hand towards Nicole,  and smiled saying "I'm Taylur, it's a pleasure to meet you". Nicole completely ignored Taylur's hand, and said, "Nicole Sharp, what do you want?". "Well the dentist said you weren't happy about getting your braces or headgear, and I'm here to let you know that it's going to be okay", Taylur said, with a bright expression on her face. "Look, it's probably alright for you, but not for me. I've got a great image, and some metal covering my face is going to make into a giant geek like you". "You're not the first person to say that, but you'll have it easy. You'll only need to wear your headgear at home, and braces are normal these days. And you'll only have 1 headgear. I've got 2 of these, and they don't even come out. So don't be such a baby, because it'll help you in the long run".

Taylur left the room, and said to the dentist that Nicole was ready for her braces to be put on.  Nicole was sat in the chair with beads of sweat dripping down her face, and looked ready to break into tears at any moment. "Are you ready?", the dentist asked. "I guess", Nicole responded. The dentist put a mask on Nicole, and within a second, she was out like a light. They placed all the brackets on Nicole's teeth, put the wires in, and was ready for the headgear. The dentist looked over at Nicole's mother, and the two exchanged nods, and with that they put the headgear in, and locked it in.

After that, Nicole ran out of the room, into the toilet room, and just stared, looking absolutely startled into a mirror. She couldn't believe her eyes, when she saw the headgear in her mouth. She tried pulling at it to come out, and all it did was bring her pain. Tears started to stream down her face, and she definitely couldn't see Ricky, not looking like that.