Hollie
By Kelly Marie
Chapter 1
Hollie had never had braces, even though she saw many of her girlfriends in school and college have them. She always had nice straight white teeth, which her dentist praised her for. Although Hollie was very pleased to hardly ever need fillings, she did secretly wish she too could have braces. The truth was, Hollie always thought they looked good.
Hollie was now 20 years old and finishing her final year of business school. One day, she went to the canteen for her dinner, when across the hall, she saw a girl about Hollies age. She appeared to be wearing a complicated-looking device with straps down the side of her face and a metal device which seemed to be held in her mouth. Also, Hollie saw the device was like a rubber cap on top of the girl's head.
Hollie sat down. "My names Hollie," she said, reaching out to shake the new girl's hand.
"Hi, I'm Jane,” said the girl.
The two girls chatted and had their lunch together. Soon it was time to get back to classes.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Hollie.
"Yes, I'd like that. You're the first friend I've made since moving here."
"Welcome again then," said Hollie. "Listen, I really got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"
Jane smiled at Hollie. “OK, see you then.”
Chapter 2
Jane and Hollie met every day at lunchtime and soon Jane asked Hollie if she would like to come back to her house. Of course Hollie said yes.
One evening the girls were in Jane's bedroom. Jane said, "Hey, Hollie, you've been a bit quiet. Anything up?"
Hollie blushed. "You're going to think this is weird," but Hollie stopped mid-sentence.
Jane put her arm around Hollie. "What is it? What's wrong."
"Could I try on your brace please, Jane?"
"Oh. I wondered what you were going to say then," said Jane, "yes, of course, hang on a minute."
Jane went to the mirror and took her brace and headgear off. "Come here, Hollie," she said.
Hollie's legs were wobbly as she approached Jane. She took the brace and headgear and first put the metal expander and plastic bite plate in her mouth. Almost immediately, she could taste and smell Jane's saliva and the stale smell from Jane having worn the brace all day.
Next Jane said, "We need to put some elastics between the headgear bar and your front teeth to hold it in place." Between the two of them, they got the brace to fit Hollies mouth and stay in place.
Hollie was enjoying wearing it a lot, but after half an hour, Jane said, "Hollie, can I have my brace back please?"
Hollie reluctantly agreed.
Jane had just got herself situated when her mum came up to tell Hollie her mother was there to take her home.
Over the next few weeks, Hollie borrowed Jane's brace several more times. In fact, whenever they weren't going out anywhere, Jane would help Hollie to put on her brace.
One evening at Hollie's house, Hollie had the brace on as usual. Both girls were rather tired and they lay on Hollies bed. They soon drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, Jane's mum turned up to collect her daughter. She and Hollie's mum went upstairs and carefully opened the door. They had guessed the girls were asleep because it had gone very quiet.
Both mums looked at the girls sleeping, then at each other. Jane's mum said, "I think we need to talk." Both ladies went back downstairs, and after a short while, a plan was organised. A plan that would see Hollie have her own braces!!
Chapter 3
After a good sleep, Hollie and Jane woke up. Hollie realised she was still wearing Jane's braces. She quickly took them off, giving them back to Jane. Hollie said, "I hope your mum didn't see me wearing your brace, Jane."
"There's only one way to find out, let's go downstairs together and see if she says anything."
"Okay," said Hollie, so down they went.
Of course, Jane's mum never even mentioned it, as both mothers agreed they wouldn't let their daughters know they knew their secret but would work on getting Hollie her own braces.
So a few weeks went by. One day, Hollie's mum said, "Hollie, can you wait outside the college for me tonite."
"Oh, whys that?" asked Hollie.
"I've got to go to do something in town and thought that, as I need to drive past your college, I'd pick you up, save you walking."
"Okay, mum, I'll see you at 5 tonight." And so, Hollie went to college. She had almost forgotten her mum was collecting her, something her mum also thought might happen, so she text her daughter to remind her. This made Hollie smile. Her mum always made sure she remembered any important things she needed to remember.
Five pm rolled around. Hollie got in her mother's car and the two set off, but where was mum going. Hollie was surprised when they pulled into the medical center just on the edge of town.
Chapter 4
“What are we doing here, mum,” asked Hollie.
“You'll see very soon, darling,” Hollie's mother replied.
The two made their way into the reception. Hollie's mum said, "Why don't you take a seat, Hollie?"
Hollie did as her mother said. She watched as her mum spoke quietly with the receptionist. Almost as soon as she had finished, a nurse came out of a room just off the reception area and called, "Hollie?"
Hollie jumped. She stammered, "Y-yes, that's me."
"Good, follow me please, and you can come too," she said to Hollie's mum.
The 3 women went into a room that was a very hi-tech-looking orthodontist office. Just as Hollie was taking in her surroundings, the door opened and Jane and her mum came in. Both smiled at Hollie.
"I think an explanation as to what's happening might be in order," Jane said.
"Yes please. What's going-g on," asked Hollie.
"It's like this," Jane said. "Both me and our mums know how much you like my braces. In fact, I think it's more than just liking them." Hollie blushed a deep red color. “Hollie, tell me, how would you feel, if today, you got the same sort of braces as I've got."
"Honestly," Hollie said, "I'd love it, but is it even possible?"
"Oh, it's possible," Jane's mum said, "and today, Sara here," she said, pointing to the nurse, "will install your braces and headgear. You'll have exactly the same as Jane has, and like Jane, you'll wear it 20 hours per day."
Hollie was excited and scared all at the same time. She laid back in the chair so Sara could start work. As Sara smiled at her, Hollie could see she had her own mouth full of metal. It appeared Sara's teeth were completely covered in shiny silver. Hollie tried to relax as Sara started work.
Chapter 5
Hollie settled into the reclining chair as Sara put a plastic bib on her and positioned the light so it was focused on Hollies mouth.
Next, Sara said, "Are you ready Hollie?"
Hollie said, "Yes, I'm definitely ready."
"Good girl," Sara said.
Over the next few minutes, Sara cleaned and polished Hollies teeth. She also used a rather nasty-tasting chemical to etch Hollie's teeth. Hollie grimaced when she tasted the chemical. Sara said, "I'm sorry Hollie. I'll be another minute or so, then you can rinse, okay?"
Of course, Hollie couldn't reply because she had in the lip spreader, a suction hose and Sara was using various tools to prepare Hollie's teeth, so she just gave a thumbs up.
After what seemed like ages, Sara let Hollie sit up and rinse her mouth out.
Sara said, "Okay, Hollie, the ortho will be in to start your braces in just a moment. It will take a while, so do you need to take a toilet break first?"
"No, I'm okay," said Hollie. With that, Sara left the room.
A few minutes later, a woman came in and introduced herself to Hollie as the ortho. She said, "Jane and her mum know me already." She smiled at Jane. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine thank you," said Jane.
"Okay, let's begin." Over the next hour, she banded every one of Hollie's teeth. She let Hollie see what she had done. Hollie was a little shocked to see that every one of her teeth was wrapped in a little metal jacket that, as Hollie studied them, seemed to have some little hooks on them.
Soon she found out these were for her face-bow and archwire. The ortho continued to work, adding a bite plate. As she fitted it, she said to Hollie, "This will give you a lisp like Jane has." Hollie gave a thumbs-up sign.
Jane came over and squeezed her hand and whispered in Hollie's ear, "You'll look so beautiful when it's finished, Hollie." Hollie had a tear in her eye. Jane and her were getting closer than ever. They were more than friends now.
After an hour, the ortho said, "That's your braces complete. Now I'll show you your headgear. It's a modified facemask." She took a facemask from under a cloth on a trolley. Hollie could see, as well as the forehead bar and chin cup, it had what looked like three further straps which the ortho explained. She said two of them went around Hollie's head, the third one across the crown of her head. In its middle was a rubber cap this was necessary to balance the force of the braces. Hollie felt both excited and a little scared as the ortho fitted it.
Finally, Hollie's braces and headgear were finished. Her and Jane headed to the toilets to check everything out. Jane and Hollie were both more than pleased with the results.
Finally, Hollie, Jane and their mothers went back to Jane's house.
What a day it had been. Hollie and Jane slept well that night.
