Mia a Matter of Taste

by Coco Simon

  The next morning I got my homework done, and then Dad and I went to Greenwich Village to go shopping, and we had lunch at this little restaurant that Dad says has the best sandwiches. As soon as we sat down, I decided to give him my pitch about clear braces. Alexis had prepared a whole computer presentation for me, but I thought Dad would respond better if I made the plea without it. So I had memorized it on the train ride.

  “So, as you know, I need braces,” I said. “And I am suggesting I get the clear ones instead of the traditional metal ones. Yes, the clear ones are a little more expensive, but I can tell you why they are a better choice for me in the long run.”

  “Oh, you can?” Dad asked. He looked amused.

  “Yes, I can,” I said. “The first reason is comfort and safety. Metal braces have wires that can injure your lips and tongue. Second is hygiene. Metal braces can cause tooth decay, because it is difficult to brush and floss around them. But clear braces can be removed for cleaning.”

  Dad nodded. “Those are good reasons,” he said.

  “And, finally, the issue at hand is my well-being,” I went on, trying to remember what Alexis had written. “Middle school and high school are pivotal years for young women. I need self-confidence, and having the clear braces would enhance my well-being.”

  Dad smiled, and he looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Well, as your dad, I certainly want your well-being to be enhanced,” he said. “Is that all?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I hope you’ll take these things into consideration.”

  “Well, you’ve given me a lot to think about,” he said, still smiling. “I have to discuss this with Mom tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said, but I could tell he looked impressed.

  Then the server came by to take our order.

  “Do you need another minute?” he asked.

  “Yes, please,” Dad said, and the waiter nodded and then walked away. Dad gestured to me. “Mia, you should check out the specials board. They always have great stuff there.”

  He pointed to a chalkboard across the room. I felt like I was right back in Mr. K.’s class. The letters all looked blurry and squiggly.

  “Um, I can’t really read it,” I admitted.

  Dad looked alarmed. “What do you mean?”

  “Didn’t Mom tell you?” I asked. “I might need glasses, too. At least my teacher thinks so.”

  Dad shook his head. “Ay, mija, braces and glasses? My poor girl.” He took out his cell phone. “Let me text your mom about this. Is she taking you to the eye doctor?”

  I nodded. “Monday.”

  “Good,” Dad said.

  And then we ate the rest of our meal without talking about braces or glasses, which was nice. My sandwich had cheese and avocado and sprouts on it, and a yummy sauce.

  When we were finished eating, Dad looked at his watch. “Great! We’ll be just in time for Ethan’s play.”

  I thought I must have heard wrong. “What do you mean ‘Ethan’s play’?”

  “Oh, didn’t I tell you?” Dad asked. “Ethan goes to a drama program after school, and they’re putting on a little play today. We’re meeting Lynne there at two o’clock.”

  “No, you did not tell me,” I insisted. Dad had a habit of doing that lately—not telling me we were doing something with Lynne and Ethan until just before. I think he was worried I would talk him out of it or find some way to back out. He would not be totally wrong.

  “Well, anyway, we’re going,” he said. “Doesn’t it sound like fun?”

  “A play starring five-year-olds,” I said flatly. “Sounds fabulous. What’s it called?”

  “I think it’s something like The Little Red Hen,” Dad answered.

  “Wow. Didn’t that win the Tony Award last year for Best Play?” I said sarcastically.

  “Very funny, Mia,” Dad said. “Now I trust you’ll be nice today. I know I would be sweet as a cupcake if I wanted my dad to get me expensive clear braces.”

  “Okay, okay!” I said quickly. I took his hand. “Let’s go see the play!”

  We walked a few blocks to Ethan’s school and then followed the signs down the stairs, which led to an auditorium-like space in the basement. Lynne was in one of the last rows of folding chairs, waving to us.

  We walked up, and Dad gave her a big hug. “Thanks for saving us seats,” he said, sitting next to Lynne. I got a seat between Dad and the aisle.

  “Hi, Mia,” Lynne said. “Thanks for coming.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said in my most polite voice.

  Lynne had her light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a green long-sleeved sweater over a powder-blue tank top and some sort of puffy, gray, cotton pants. She looked casual but put together. She’s not superstylish, like my mom, but not many people are.

  Lynne leaned over Dad and asked me some questions about school and stuff, but pretty soon a woman wearing red overalls and bright blue sneakers came out and introduced the play.

  “Our drama students have worked very hard on this, and we’re all so proud of them,” she said. “And now I present to you The Little Red Hen.”

  The play was kind of cute, I guess. One girl played the little red hen, who wanted to bake bread, but none of the farm animals would help her. In the end, she made it herself and then of course all the animals wanted some.

  Ethan played a cow. He looked pretty cute in his costume, but I couldn’t really make it out too well because we were sitting kind of far from the stage.

  Then, during one part of the play, the animals were standing around while the kid playing the pig talked to the little red hen. I heard some people chuckle, and then Lynne gasped.

  “Oh no!” she hissed.

  I squinted at the stage, but I didn’t see anything unusual going on.

  “Dad, what’s going on?” I whispered.

  “It’s Ethan,” Dad replied. “He’s got his finger right up his nose.”

  “Ewwwww!” I said, trying hard to keep it a whisper. I was glad I couldn’t see it. I smiled to myself. Sometimes it’s good to have bad eyesight!

  CHAPTER 9

  Avoiding a Fashion Disaster

  On Sunday, Dad took the train with me out to Maple Grove, so he could discuss my braces with Mom. Normally, I’m alone on the train, so it was nice to have company. We laughed a little bit about Ethan’s big moment in the play. Part of me was dying to ask Dad if he was planning on marrying Lynne someday, but since he never talked about it, I figured I’d wait and see. I’m still not sure how I’d feel about having Ethan as a little brother.

  When the train got to Maple Grove, Mom was waiting for us. It’s still a little awkward between Mom and Dad when they meet in person.

  “Hello, Sara,” Dad said.

  “Hello, Alex,” Mom replied. They didn’t hug or shake hands or anything. And when we got to the car, Mom said, “Mia, you can sit in the front with me.” Which meant Dad was in the back. So weird, right?

  When we got to the house, Eddie was in super-friendly mode. He shook my dad’s hand really hard.

  “Good to see you! I’ve got everything organized for you two here in the dining room,” he said, leading Dad hurriedly through the house. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Water would be great, thanks,” Dad said.

  Dad sat down at the dining room table, where Eddie had put all the pamphlets and forms about my braces. I went to sit down next to Dad, but Mom shook her head.

  “We need some privacy, Mia. We’ll let you know when we’re done,” Mom said.

  I groaned a little, but I knew it was no use to argue. Upstairs in my room, I texted Katie.

  Mom and Dad r deciding my fate. Clear braces or metal mouth? I typed.

  Wishing on my magic unicorn 4 u, Katie typed back.

  I laughed. She can be so goofy sometimes.

  I didn’t have to wait long for Mom to call me back downstairs.

  “Well?” I asked, entering the dining room.

  Mom look
ed at Dad and then back at me. “We’ve decided that you can get the clear braces. They’re called aligners, actually. Your dad is going to pay the extra cost, so you owe him a big hug.”

  Mom didn’t even need to say that because I was already hugging Dad as tightly as I could.

  “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” I cried.

  “Well, you made such a good case for them,” Dad said. “But you have to promise me you’ll take good care of them. Like, super extra careful.”

  I nodded. “I will, I will. I promise. Thanks!”

  “And you’ll let me know how it goes tomorrow at the eye doctor?” he asked my mom.

  “Of course. As soon as she’s done we’ll call.”

  Dad came up to see my room, and then we went for a walk to the park, so I could show him a little more of the neighborhood. Then Mom drove us to the train station, and I waved good-bye on the platform while Mom waited in the car. It was all kind of weird saying good-bye to Dad and having Mom stay in the car and everything, but that’s how it is now. It’s weird but it’s normal, I guess.

  As soon as Dad left, I texted all my Cupcake friends.

  Getting the clear braces! Alexis ur a genius!

  Hey what about my lucky unicorn? Katie texted back.

  U2! Yaaaaay!

  My good mood last for almost exactly twenty-four hours. That’s because the next day, after school, Mom took me for my eye exam. I won’t bore you with the details. I had to read charts and look into machines and answer tons of questions. When it was all over, the eye doctor, Dr. Allen, explained that I was nearsighted, which means I can see close-up but not far away. He said I would have to get glasses to wear in class or at the movies—anywhere I needed to see far.

  I saved my meltdown until we were back in Mom’s car.

  “Glasses and braces!” I moaned. “I’m falling apart!”

  “You don’t have to wear your glasses all the time,” Mom pointed out. “Besides, eyeglasses are very fashionable. Most of the biggest clothing designers have a line of eyeglass designs.”

  “They do?” I asked skeptically.

  “Of course. They recognize that glasses are as much a part of fashion as a dress or a pair of shoes. In fact, some of my clients wear glasses with fake lenses when they want to pull off a certain look.”

  “I can’t believe that,” I said.

  Mom reached into the backseat and picked up the latest issue of Elegant magazine. “Here. Take a look at the ads.”

  I flipped through the pages, which were mostly filled with ads from the hottest designer lines. In a lot of them, the models were wearing eyeglasses!

  “Wow,” I said. “I never realized that before.”

  “See?” Mom said. “Buckle up. I know a great store we can go to.”

  Mom drove us to Stonebrook, a town that’s really close to Maple Grove. The main street of the town has a lot of nice shops there. We found a parking spot in front of a shop called Vision.

  Curious, I got out of the car. The shopwindow looked more like an art display than an eyeglasses shop. It featured one female mannequin painted purple and a male mannequin painted turquoise. Each figure was wearing glasses, and nothing else. Orange lights lit up the window with a bright fiery glow.

  “Interesting,” I remarked, and I saw Mom smile.

  Inside, the shop was filled with multiple neat rows and racks of eyeglasses—more pairs than I could count. It was kind of overwhelming.

  “May I help you?” A tall young woman with slick, black hair and a chic purple dress walked up to us.

  “My daughter needs eyeglasses,” Mom explained. “I have her prescription with us.”

  The woman smiled. “You came on a great day. We’re having a special—buy one pair, get the second half price.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Mom said. “Mia really loves fashion, and I thought we could get her one pair that’s more classic and another that’s a little more playful.”

  “That’s very sensible,” the woman said, nodding. She looked at me. “Do you have an idea of what you might want?”

  I honestly had no clue. Just like with the braces, I had thought I wouldn’t really need them so I hadn’t considered what kind of glasses I’d want.

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted.

  Mom put her hands on my shoulders. “With your heart-shaped face, rounder frames might be best. Maybe some frames with a little weight on the bottom. And you’ve got a warm skin tone, so copper frames would look great. Or you could go with a bold color, like turquoise, maybe.”

  The saleswoman looked impressed. “Do you do this professionally?”

  “She’s a stylist,” I piped up. “She’s even had some famous clients.”

  “Ah, well, you probably don’t need me, then. Feel free to try on whatever you want,” the woman said. “In the meantime, to get started I’ll pull out a few I think you might like.”

  So I started trying on glasses, and it was fun! Almost as fun as shoe shopping, but not quite. I tried on pair after pair, posing in the mirror and trying out different faces. I smiled. I pouted. I frowned. I looked surprised. In the end, Mom and I picked out two pairs. The first one, the classic, were simple glasses with thin copper half-rim frames, which had no frames at all on the tops of the lenses. For my fun pair, I chose cute plastic fuchsia ones. Now, I don’t have a lot of bright pink in my wardrobe, but that’s the point. The fuchsia will give a pop of color to an outfit. I could wear them with blue or black or white or gray, or even green, yellow, or purple.

  “It’ll take about an hour to get your glasses ready,” the woman said. “If you want to wait, you can take them home today.”

  “Let’s wait!” I said anxiously, and I realized that I was actually kind of excited about the glasses. So Mom and I went to the coffee shop next door. By dinnertime I was home with my brand-new glasses.

  Eddie had ordered pizza for us, and he seemed really excited when we got home. “So let me see your exciting new look!” he said.

  “One minute,” I said, and I ran up to my room. I quickly looked through my closet and picked out outfits to go with my glasses. For the classic one, I put on a plaid skirt and a short-sleeved sweater. Then I put on my glasses and did my best runway walk through the living room.

  “Fabulous!” Eddie complimented. “I give them a ten out of ten.”

  “And now for the funky ones,” I said. I ran upstairs again and changed into this purple-and-pink-color-blocked dress I have. I looked in the mirror and had to admit that the fuchsia glasses made the outfit look even cuter than before.

  “Mia, that’s adorable!” Mom said as I did my runway walk again. “Now why don’t we all eat before the pizza gets cold?”

  After dinner, when I knew Dad was home from his job, I Skyped him. We do that a lot. Sometimes it’s hard to only see him only every two weeks.

  I made sure I had on my classic glasses when he logged in.

  “Whoa! Who is this sophisticated young woman Skyping me?” Dad asked.

  “Do you like them?” I asked him.

  “You look beautiful, Mia,” he said. “You will always be beautiful to me.”

  “You have to say that,” I accused. “You’re my dad.”

  “But it’s true,” he said. “Those are very nice glasses.”

  Between Mom, Dad, and Eddie, I was feeling pretty good about my glasses. But the big test would be tomorrow, when I wore them to school for the first time.

  CHAPTER 10

  Under My Skin

  So 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 promis
e.”

  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.