Sometimes you get sudden inspiration for a very short story. This one hit my brain less than 12 hours ago. It's a one-parter, so if you want to know what happened next, then you'll need to write the story yourself!
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Just before I fell asleep, I was running my tongue over my teeth. My nice straight white teeth. Weirdly thinking about my stepsister. No not THOSE sort of thoughts! No, I was actually thinking about her braces. When we first met, she had already been wearing braces for a few months, and I remember when she first smiled, and I saw her still-crooked teeth, with those amazing brackets. What I didn't discover until a month or two later was that she also wore headgear at night.
So, as I was falling asleep, I was thinking about braces, wishing that my teeth had been bad enough to have needed braces.
The next thing I remember was my alarm clock going off. It was 7:15, and I needed to get up: I had an A-Level exam at 9:30, but they wanted us to be there by 9:00, so they can check our names off the list, and get us settled before starting the exam.
I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Stephen. I turned 18 back in early March. I'm in the second year at the local 6th form college, and I'm taking my A-levels: these are pretty important exams, and if I do well enough, I'll be able to go on to a good university. And this morning is my last exam!
As I open my eyes, something feels a bit 'strange'. It takes me a moment to realise what it is: my mouth feels strange. I run my tongue around the inside of my mouth - I'm tasting something metallic. So, I open my mouth a little, so I can run my tongue around the outside of my teeth, and find something very off. To my tongue, they feel just like braces. Which they simply can't be, because I don't HAVE braces.
When I put my hand to my mouth, I get an even bigger shock: there seems to be something just in front of my mouth, and with my knowledge of braces, I'm thinking it could be a facebow.... I follow it around my face and upwards, and find that I have a high-pull headgear.
As I said, I'm feeling a bit confused, because I don't have braces. My younger step-sister does, but I don't.
Ok, so something very strange has happened. OMG, what's mum and dad going to say when they see me? And little sis is going to take the mickey something rotten!
I get out of bed, and opened my bedroom door: good, no one instantly around, so I go to the bathroom, both closing and locking the door. I look at myself in the bathroom mirror. Yup, I have a headgear, and when I smile, I can see a mouth full of metal brackets, on quite crooked teeth. I'm torn between feeling 'what the heck is happening to me' and 'what the heck is happening to me'. The first one said in a bit of a panic, and the other said more with a feeling of enjoyment!
Well, I knew about headgear, so I unhooked the ends of the force modules from the hooks at the end of the facebow's 'ears', and then gently pulled on the facebow to remove it. I KNEW that's what was supposed to happen, I'd seen my step-sister do it enough times. Except that THIS one was NOT coming out. I looked more closely in the mirror, and discovered there was something, a wire holding it in place.
Shit! It was wired in!
I was starting to panic a little, and then realised that I needed to calm down: I had an important exam to take, and I needed to get showered, dressed, have breakfast, and go catch my bus.
The showering was ok, but brushing my teeth was a bit more difficult. I dried off, and went back to my bedroom. Several minutes later, I heard little sis going to the bathroom. I got myself dressed, and realised that, whilst I was clearly still wearing my facebow, I'd left my high-pull headgear in the bathroom. There was a knock on the door: I opened it gingerly, hiding a bit. "Hey, you left your headgear in the bathroom again... I'm guessing you're probably going to need it!".
What she had just said to me was actually VERY good news: it seemed that at least she - and thus by implication everyone else - knew I had braces and wired-in headgear. Still a very scary idea, but now a little LESS scary.
Looking back, I don't remember much about breakfast, or catching the bus to school, but I know I got there in time for the exam. Luckily, everyone else was trying to keep calm, ready to start the exam, so no one commented on the metal and straps on my head.
This exam was in one of the classrooms: whilst most exams were held in the gym (the floor covered in matting, and long rows of desks lined up...), this was a relatively short exam - only 2 hours - and there was only a small number of us doing it, so they had decided to put us into a classroom.
I went in, and sat down. As I looked to my right, I could see a girl that I didn't recognise. This wasn't a big surprise, as we sometimes got home-schooled kids coming in to take exams, and even external people, including adults. I glanced carefully to the right again - I must admit, we WAS rather cute, and she seemed to be looking at me. Probably a bit weirded out by my headgear.
Just before the exam started, I looked around, acknowledging the looks of my friends, as we all silently wished each other 'good luck'!
"You may turn your papers over, and start" said the person in charge of the exam. It’s odd, I don't actually remember the exam itself. I had a feeling that the questions were good, and that I did ok. I put it down to stress.
"And please put your pens down, that's the end of the exam". Phew! My last exam was finally DONE! I looked around the room, and saw many smiling faces, including that cute girl I didn't know on my right: she was looking straight at me, and smiling at me. So, I smiled back at her, trying hard to make it a pleasant smile. Did I tell you she was cute?
"Thank you all... you know the drill, please collect all your pens etc that you brought with you. Double check that you DID put your name and candidate number at the top of the front page, and that all extra pages are held together with a tag. Thank you all, feel free to go, but please stay quiet, I believe there is another exam in a nearby classroom still going on."
We all got up, and walked to the door. As I got to the door, that cute girl was there, right next to me.
"Hey, fancy coming for a coffee?" she asked me. I was about to answer, when my friends arrived. The cute girl stood to the side, but thank goodness didn't leave.
"Hey, Stephen, gonna join us down the park, we're gonna get a few beers and celebrate!". now normally I would have said yes without any thought, but I'd just had a better offer.
"I might join you later, but I've been invited for a coffee by...". Well, I didn't know who she was, so kinda pointed discretely at the cute girl.
"Yeah, she wins. You know, I think she's a bit of a magnet..." said one of my mates
"A magnet?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah, I think she's attracted to your metalwork! Didn't you notice, she kept looking over at you throughout the exam?"
After a few hugs, I left my friends, promising to join them later, and went over to the cute girl. She clearly saw I was a little confused, so she took my hand and we walked along to the college coffee bar, where she bought us both coffees. Odd, she never asked what I wanted, but correctly got me my normal black Americano.
"So, Stephen, it's nice to finally talk to you!" Again, I was confused.
"Hi, how come you know my name? And who are you?". She looked straight at me, and smiled, revealing a beautiful set of teeth, with even nicer metal braces on them. And when you add in her cute face, and that VERY cute haircut... a sort of bob cut. I was trying to think where I had seen that sort of hair style, and had just about worked out that it was on some fan art I had been looking, with a picture of..."
"Hi, I'm Sparkle" she said, "and I'm a fairy!"
"A fairy?" I replied.
"Yes, that's right. So, how are you enjoying your nice crooked teeth and braces? Just before you fell asleep you wished you had crooked teeth, and needed braces, so I thought you should give some a 'test-drive'".
Without really thinking, I replied to her: "I was a bit worried to start with, but they seem reasonably ok now. Although I wish that he facebow wasn't wired in!"
"Ah, yes, that was a bit wicked of me, wasn't it, but you have to admit, it WAS fun! You really started to panic when you first found out you had it! Hang on...". A wand appeared in Sparkle's hand, and she waved it, and my headgear and facebow simply disappeared.
No longer having a facebow in the way, I was able to pick up my coffee, and take a sip. I took a moment to think. Fairies don't actually exist, they are just a thing in kid's stories. And I can't have magically got braces, because magic doesn't exist either. Suddenly, I worked it out!
"We're in a dream, aren't we? And you are just a figment of my warped imagination?" I commented.
"Yes to the first, but no to the second." she replied. "Yes, this IS a dream, but I AM a real fairy! And I'm able to fulfil your wishes, if that's what you REALLY want. The dream is useful, because it lets me have a chat with you. It also let me give you some braces to see if you really wanted them. So do you?"
"Sorry, do I what?"
"Do you want some braces for REAL?"
"Yes, I do... I think.... but how would I explain them to everyone?" I asked her.
"Well, kind of like I did in your dream, I can change people's memories, to accept the new reality, we do it all the time. The big question is whether you REALLY want braces, and real crooked teeth to justify them, and will you be able to cope with all the embarrassment and angst that goes with it for the couple of years of your treatment?"
I thought about it. Heck, there was nothing to really think about, was there, of COURSE I wanted braces! "Yes please! But no fixed-in headgear!"
"I promise. But would you like headgear at all?"
"Yes... I know my little sis hated it, but I think I need to experience it. So, am I just going to wake up with braces then?"
"If that's what you want. Or do you want to experience going to the ortho, and actually getting them?"
"Oh, yes PLEASE, that would be fun! Thank you, errr... Sparkle" I said, finally remembering her name.
"Ok, then drink up your coffee. And if you find the braces are too much for you, you just need to make a wish...."
Everything went wishy-washy, and Sparkle and the cafeteria all disappeared. So did my detailed memory of what I'd just dreamed about, I just remember strange bits of it.
"Wakey wakey!" said a voice. Mum's voice. "I've brought you a coffee to help get you going - you had quite a night last night with your friends, but I don't blame you, you finally finished your A-levels! But it's nearly 10 O'clock, and you need to get up, your appointment at the orthodontist is at 11:30, and you don't want to be late!"
