The Study

It never pays to think you are too smart. It was the day Schbowsky finally talked himself into a situation he couldn’t get out of, that I was finally going to come out on top. I felt guilty about feeling so good about cheating like I did, but it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

It started a month earlier at my regular dental check up. Dr. Webster noticed that the long delayed molars had dropped low enough to begin active orthodontic treatment at a time when most of my friends were getting their retainers, I had just turned 16 and was a junior in high school.

“That’s the latest developing dentition I’ve ever seen. If I knew it was going to take this long, I would have given you different advice years ago. Please remember that everyone is very different in treatment and results. Perhaps it would have been better to start treatment a couple of years ago, but those back teeth coming in would have changed everything anyway. Bet you’ll be happy to finally get started with the braces.”

I had weird looking teeth that stuck out just past my lips, so you could always see them. I had almost started treatment three times before, but something always came up.

“Yeah, I’m thrilled. Just what I wanted, only four years late. I’m sure Dr. Lagel will be thrilled to get his hands on me.”

“Not Lagel anymore, he retired last year, sold off the practice to a young guy and his father. They have great reputations, but I’ve never met them. They’re involved in some sort of long term study involving new and old treatment methods and retention/relapse rates. You might want to check them out, I hear they offer either free work or even scholarship money if you qualify for the study, but most cases don’t. I’ll call and give your mother their names, and another ortho in the same building, you should always get a second opinion.”

I didn’t think much about it since I had been waiting for years to get braces, but the molars never came in, so we just waited. Anyway some of the new braces were almost invisible, and treatment times were getting shorter too, it wouldn’t be that bad.

As promised, Dr. Webster had called my mother who set up an appointment for late Tuesday afternoon. One advantage was the models and x-rays that Dr. Lagel had taken were still useful for the consultation, even though new ones had to be done.

It was a nice office, with computer terminals set up for the patients to use, or play with, while waiting. I sat down in a chair and recognized a guy sitting at one of the computers, we had gone to grammar school together.

“Hey, John. How you doing, haven’t seen you since St. Joe’s?”

“Yeah, what are you doing in here?”

“Take a guess, it’s an orthodontist office.”

“You here to see Dr. J.? He’s a pretty cool guy.”

“Actually, I’m going to see both of them, I might become part of some study they’re doing.”

“You’re going to be the other guy in the study? Man, I’m telling you, don’t do it, there is no way I would do it again, I don’t care what they pay.”

“You’re in the study? It sounds pretty good to me, I mean if you’re getting braces anyway why not get them for free. I heard they would pay me.”

“That’s fine if you get Jr., but Dr. S. takes this way to serious. I’ve had these on since fifth grade, think about it, fifth grade.” He smiled showing a full set of banded braces. “No one wears these things anymore, unless you get Dr. S.”

John was the first kid I knew who got braces on and it was kind of weird that he was still wearing them. Not only that they were the worst kind of braces, really big with thick wires, you could barely see his teeth. He used to wear headgear all the time too, he used to get laughed at about that.

“But not everyone gets a mouthful of braces like yours or takes the lifetime plan. Another orthodontist told me it would only take two and a half years for me. Don’t you ever get tired of smiling through that stuff, jeez, that’s six years?”

“I am so sick of wearing these things, and if you don’t want to get stuck in them then go to another orthodontist. It sure isn’t worth it to be cemented in these things this long, and one of the two of you has to, that’s part of the deal. My twin sister was the “mirror” for me, my parents thought it would be easier for me to wear these since I had the worse problem. Check it out, she got hers on a year after me, wore the ceramic ones, only headgear at night for a year, and she got them off before we started high school three years ago, and I’m still wired. The other guy for you is in there now. I think his parents are forcing him to do it.”

“How bad can it be, face it, you just took a little longer than most.”

“A little longer than most! We’re talking at least two times longer than anyone you know, and probably three times as long. Those are some famous last words. Whatever, but I’m telling you 6 years is about average for Dr. S. In the entire country this year, with all the orthodontist and all the types of braces they have now, maybe, and this is probably a high number there might be 10 fully banded cases. Only two guys in the country still use them as their appliance of choice, Dr S and some guy in Arkansas and neither of them have many patients. You might be the only fully banded case started in the country this year. Why do I know this, its all in their stupid computer. I have come in here once every 3.5 weeks, averaging 119 minutes per appointment, for the last 313 weeks, spent 212 weeks of that with some form of headgear, 75 weeks with controlled wear, 136 more weeks averaging 16 hours a day, 198 weeks in some form of elastics, 62 weeks in his stupid fixed retention. He has more garbage about his stupid study in there, and believe me, there is a lot of dead time here. Make sure you always bring your homework here, you can sit doing nothing for two hours. But you are way to old to start wearing these things, especially the headgear.”

“If you don’t wear it enough, he wires it on, it ends up happening to a lot of Dr. S’s patients. He developed a timer that everyone thinks they can trick, but they can’t. The third time you show up short on wear time, or lose it, or forget to bring it, or show up any time with less than 50% of weekly wear time, he will wire it on. I’m telling you right now, you will hate every minute, or in my case 3,155,040 minutes, you will wear these.”

“Steve, we’re ready for you now.” The door to the office opened and I was led into a back room.

I saw Jr. first, who basically confirmed what my old orthodontist had said, but added that I might be just the type of case they needed to finish up their study. They took patients in pairs, each one with similar problems, one for the current treatment provided by Dr. Fowler Jr. and one for the older treatment methods used by his father. Then they would compare treatment results every five years as long as patients came back.

Dr. J, as he was known in the office, felt that all of the new materials and methods better served the patient by producing faster results, with more aesthetic appliances, even though his 5 and ten year relapse rates were not as good as his father’s.

Dr. Sr. believed that the “long term occlusal relationship was better obtained by a slower approach,” and that “no one has any time to do it properly anymore. But it is a better method and I can prove it.” To prove it, however, required a controlled study, with a minimum of 100 patient each with a suitable counterpart in the other study. The two had been running the study for fifteen years, since Jr. had graduated, carefully screening each pair of patients.

When Dr. Jr. finished with his notes, the older orthodontist walked in.

“Good morning, how are you today?”

“Okay.”

“Good. My son tells me you might be a candidate for our study, are you interested?”

“I don’t know, I hear it might take longer, I’m not sure.”

“Well your timing couldn’t be better. We have another young man in the office who is willing to participate, and you share many of the same occlusal problems. I think you might know him, you both go to the same school.”

“What’s his name?”

“Thomas Schbowsky, do you know him?”

I knew him and hated him. He always tried to make my life miserable. We had gone to the same schools since the third grade. Our mother’s were good friends, but he was a real jerk and always went out of his way to bother me. I always tried to avoid him, but he was considered cool and I was a nobody. He always tried to make me look stupid in front of everybody else.

He was a sophomore, but was really younger than most freshman. Its not that he was smart, his mother got him started in school a year earlier than most because she was convinced he was gifted, lied about his birthday, and got him into school early. The only gift he had was making everybody think he was smart, and most everybody did, except me who knew he cheated and just tried to scam everyone.

“Yeah, I know him. Is he going to get braces?”

“The family certainly is motivated, but as you know we prefer to accept patients into the study two at a time. I might actually make an exception for him, he actually seems quite enthused, he told me that the money his parents save will go right into a car when he gets his braces.”

“Does that mean I would be his patient?”

“Not necessarily. You must be willing to accept either treatment. First we determine if both patients fit the parameters of the study, then we try to determine if they are committed to fulfilling their obligations. Then we decide on the totality of factors which patient is better treated under which protocol. Let me make this very clear, which ever course of treatment you might be chosen for requires complete cooperation, and you must understand that the study requires more appointments than other orthodontists, appointments that take longer than other orthodontists, and one patient will agree to wear appliances that are socially unpopular and he will have an elongated treatment time. I use the same appliances as all the patients wore going back to when I started practicing 30 years ago since if I changed now it would invalidate all previous cases in the study. Once you and your parents sign the contract, you will be obligated to complete it, no matter which course of treatment you are chosen for. The contract has been legally challenged and survived. If you do not comply, we have the option of enforcing appliance wear, or forcing payment of services rendered. Those services are quite expensive since the whole treatment is digitally analyzed and recorded and setting up the computer program alone cost about twice the average treatment cost. I take this very seriously. I would require a letter from you stating your desire to enter the study and you reasons for wanting orthodontic treatment.”

“On the other hand, my son and I offer excellent care, at no charge to the family, and as a special inducement, my patients can get stock options in the software company and no-cost college loans, and some loans have been forgiven if the patient has been cooperative in returning for post treatment analysis. We want treatment to go smoothly and reject those patients that are motivated only by the money. We want patients that are seeking treatment and are willing to allow us to track their progress over time. We reject many more patients into the study than we take. Well that is the speech, I would like you to think it over and we can set up an appointment next week with your parents. If you have any questions at all, please ask. It has been nice meeting you.”

With that, I was led into another room where Dr. Jr. took models, pictures, x-rays and a bunch of measurements that made no sense at all. After an hour it was all done and I could leave. Then I heard his voice.

“Hey pinhead.”

“Give it a rest, don’t you ever stop.”

“Once a wimp always a wimp. So you’re stuck too, huh?”

“Not me, these guys are way to intense. It’s more important to my mother than me.”

“My parents are so caught up on not having to pay they really want this to happen, and you get to wear the plastic and I’m stuck in the stinking metal. Have you ever seen those things? Man they are instageek material.”

“You got that right and it could be me in the metal and I’m not going for it.”

“This was my second appointment, they say it would take 2 1/2 years with Dr. Jr. and at least five years with the old guy. He wants to use headgear and the old style bands, the works. The young guy doesn’t use any of that crap. What do you have to worry about, the younger patient always gets the bad stuff. I’m the one that’s fucked. They want people in pairs, except Dr. S is going to do me alone unless someone else volunteers.”

“I’m not in. Who needs this, insurance is going to pay for most of my stuff anyway. I sure don’t want to wear, what did he call them, “socially unpopular appliances.” So lets see, do I volunteer to wear the worst looking braces around, for twice as long as normal, and get some weird looking headgear that you have to wear all the time, or go someplace else and get normal braces. Not to tough a choice, but I hope you have fun for the next six years with Dr. S. There’s my mother, I’ll see you later.”

My mother handed me the keys and we got into the car. I loved being able to drive and I knew it really bothered Schbowsky watching me drive out of the parking lot.

“I had a talk with Dr. Fowler and Mrs. Schbowsky while they were taking your models. They would like you to enter the study. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, The old guy seems real intense, and he uses those weird braces.”

“Thats what everyone used to wear, 25 years ago. They do the same job.”

“But did you see the mouthful that John had, I don’t want to wear that stuff, and he’s had them for six years. I mean he used to wear headgear to school all the time, he looked like a real geek.”

“It isn’t nice to say that about people, you know that. You need orthodontic treatment and are getting braces. Would you like people say that about you?”

“No. But I don’t want to wear that junk either.”

“It doesn’t make a difference if you wear braces, your friends will still be your friends and no one will notice the braces. We’ll go back next week and see what Dr. Fowler has to say, then we will decide, but we have put this off long enough. One way or another, you have to start treatment soon.”

She was right about not waiting but all I could think was, ‘let’s just go to another orthodontist and get it over with’.

Then I talked to Maria Walsh. She was standing next to me in line at lunch.

“So Steve, I see you go to Dr. Fowler?”

Maria and I had kind of known each other for years. My team used to play tennis against hers during the summer leagues, and even though she was a year younger, she was much better than me. This was the first time we were ever in the same school. “How do you know that?”

“You’re on their computer. I was checking out when my appointment was and I saw you listed under New Patients. To bad. I’m glad I did it when I did. Why did you wait so long. I mean, you could kinda use them.”

She wore her braces for a couple of summers between 6th and 8th grades. She was a sophomore now.

“I had to wait for my back teeth to come in. But I only had the one appointment, and I don’t want to go to him, no way I am going to let them band me. How could you find out so fast?”

“Their homepage, you’re on it. I went to Dr. J. I wore his finest plastic for two and a half years and he even paid for it. They are pretty generous. Even sponsored the full cost of my trip to Europe with the team last year. I go back every six months for measurements.”

“Why?”

“They give me some shares in his computer company. I guess he has some software company that makes a bunch of money. It’s not worth much, but now I have 200 shares. In a year I get another 100. It paid $1.85 dividend a share last year. You can get 100 a year for 10 years, but if you miss a year you’re out and you have to go every six months. It keeps their precious data accurate.”

“How bad was wearing braces?”

We found a spot and sat down.

“I was part of their stupid study. The braces didn’t bother me at all. I got out real easy though. Poor Shelia still has hers on though, she was the other one in the study. I remember when we got them on. We played you in tennis and Shelia was like real embarrassed and wouldn’t talk to anyone. She had to wear that headgear all the time. You were nice to her but your friends got into the act, then everyone started making fun of her. She was really hurt. Its been 3 1/2 years since we started and she is still wearing headgear every night, still has full bands and at least four rubber bands. And the worst part is she still has three years to go. She is hating it.”

“That’s why I’m not gonna do it. I wouldn’t have the discipline to put up with that.”

“Discipline nothing, once you’re in they don’t come off until he’s ready to. If you don’t wear the headgear, he can wire it on if he wants. If you don’t wear the rubber bands, he just leaves the braces on longer. The contract can only go for eight years. I am so glad it wasn’t me. But sometimes I feel so guilty for Shelia.”

“Yeah, no way I’ll do that.”

“Hey, my cousin and I are going to the mall to see a movie next Saturday. She’s on the paper at her school. Writes sports and politics, just like you. You should meet her, you’d be cute together. I know she wants to meet you, so see if you can come. Don’t worry, she’s cute enough, a little shy, but I think she’s cute, a redhead like you. We usually go to the early show and then go out for pizza after. It’ll be fun. Anyway, you don’t have the problem, it’s the younger guy. You get Dr. J. It’s this guy Thomas that gets the old man, or as the joke goes, Dr. Frank B. “Full Bands“ Fowler. You got it?”

“Got it.”

“Later, think about next Saturday. Talk to you tomorrow.”

When I got home the page read:

NEW PATIENT INFO

DONAHUE, STEPHEN T

SCHBOWSKY, THOMAS A

I clicked on my name and got:

“SD Patient is a male, 16 years and five months old. Maxillary arch: Non-extraction. The big three, overbite, overcrowding, overjet. Late molar development. Mandibular arch: well proportioned, minimal overcrowding. Estimated treatment time 30-36 mos. Rating 6, moderate to difficult. Can be treated with intermaxillary elastics. No extraoral traction anticipated. Major concern is attitude, check his letter before admittance, if he is not willing to go with either treatment might not be suitable, although this is the preferred course of treatment. Full Retention, 1 year. Next step is separators on all teeth for imaging. Install Sat?”

I hit Schbowsky’s name:

“TS Patient is a male, 14 years and 2 months old. Exaggerated overbite complicated by mand. protrusion, overcrowding on both arches. Balance both arches. Max similar to SD, mand significantly more complex. Rating: 9 Difficult to severe. Extraoral to consist of: Day – Combination on max, night Highpull(Vertical) Cervical(Low Pull) mand. 20/12 22mos. Combination(Max). 14 18 mos Treatment time: 70 mos, fxdrtn 25=92.5 mos. Possible college/appointment conflict could extend overall treatment. Negative attitude, anticipate initial rejection, however strong parental influence should produce full cooperation. Install separators for banding/imaging asap.”

So that was it, Schbowsky was going to get the bands and I was getting plastic, and get paid for watching him be miserable.

It was the next day in the hallway when she asked:

“Did you check that homepage?”

“Yeah, what I don’t understand is why they just can’t say it, but they will put it on the net.”

“They didn’t give you the address just because of that. Probably shouldn’t tell anyone you saw it, they might not let you in, or they could even change it, and I’m sure you don’t want that to happen. If I hadn’t stumbled across your name you never would have found out. But who cares, you got lucky and he gets the major metal.”

“I still don’t know Maria, how do I know they will do what it says.”

“The Fowlers always do what they say, they always play it straight, but they just want you to do the same. From what I read you’re on easy street as long as you write a good letter. Feel like going to the movies with us? I hope you come, I told my cousin you would. See you later.”

Later that night at dinner I had the choices laid out for me.

“I spent an hour at Dr. Fowlers today discussing the two possible treatment plans. I would have to sign off on them both in order for you to be part of the program. I am not sure you would want to be one of Dr. Fowler Sr.’s patients. I think you should probably go for a second opinion with another orthodontist.”

“No, I think I want to go to Dr. Fowler. I mean he pays for it all and I get all of those side benefits.”

“I think you should read the proposed treatment programs before you decide. And they want to set you up for an appointment with other patients so you can ask any questions.”

“I don’t need to ask any questions, they are orthodontists, they put braces on people, what else is there to know? Anyway, I talked to some girls in school about it already, I know whats going on.”

“Dr. Fowler Sr. suggested you talk to one of his patients, one of the banded patients, someone still wearing headgear so they can tell you what to expect. I wore the same type of braces for three years in High School. I hated them when they were the normal braces. Now they are very different and I don’t think you want to wear them.”

“They make it sound like its some big deal. And I talked to this girl Shelia about it. She wears the works and says its no big deal, she even kind of likes Dr. S. She said she would do it again.”

All of which was a big lie, but I could see a car in my future with the money we saved. And Schbowsky finally having a good reason to keep his mouth shut, all at the same time.

“So what made you all of a sudden so eager? In the car the other day you didn’t seem to like the idea.”

“I just started thinking about it, I mean braces are braces, so many kids wear them that no one notices. And that college money would help, wouldn’t it? Then I could use my savings to buy Uncle Mike’s car.”

“Of course the money would be nice. I’m not so sure about the car, but that is no reason to do it. Dr. Fowler seems very demanding, and once you got started I don’t want to hear that you don’t like it and aren’t going to wear the appliances or elastics like you have to.”

“You treat me like a kid. I’m old enough to know what I want.”

“Why must you always take that attitude, I am just trying to make sure you know what it involves. If you feel you are mature enough to make that decision, I won’t get in your way. But I am not going to listen to any whining about appointments or having to remind you to wear the headgear or rubber bands. If you are so mature, then it will be your responsibility. Do we understand each other? I will support Dr. Fowler in whatever treatment decisions he makes. Your father and I are not going to buy out the contract for $8000.”

“Absolutely. Besides, I might not get the bad braces, I could get the ceramic ones. Does that mean I can use my savings to buy a car?”

“You just called them bad braces. I really think you should reconsider.”

“I don’t need to think about it, or to talk to anyone else, or to read anything. I want to sign on the dotted line and get started.”

“If you say so, but you seem very impulsive. Maybe next year we will talk about a car. And I want you to start getting along better with Tommy.”

“He’s a jerk.”

“Don’t talk like that, he is always very well behaved, I think it is about time you stopped being jealous of him and act your age like you keep telling me you do.”

“Why does everyone always take his side, you don’t know some of the stuff he gets away with. Anyway, he has nothing to do with it. I’m going to write that letter and get this started on Saturday.”

“If you agree to all the terms of the contract, I will sign it with you. I am telling you now I think you are making a mistake. If you get Dr. Fowler Sr. I expect you to do everything without any problems, and that includes moping around the house if you have to wear headgear, this is not a game. And if Tommy gets the metal braces, I don’t want to hear any snide remarks. Do you understand?”

“Completely.”

I went up to my room and checked the web page again just to make sure, then I wrote the letter which was short and to the point:

“Please accept this letter as an application to join your study. I realize that I will have to sign and obey the contract for services. But I am not really concerned since any short term discomfort or embarrassment will easily be overcome by the long term gain. I have waited over four years to start orthodontic treatment, and I obviously could benefit from braces and really want to get started as soon as possible. I realize some appliances are considered socially unpopular but I consider this a small price to pay for the treatment and benefits I will get in return. I have discussed all this with my parents and I can truthfully say I will gladly accept either treatment without any reservation at all.”

“Yours truly,

Stephen Donahue.”

“I have to say you used all the keywords we like to see. The contract is ready and your mother has already signed it, all it requires is your signature. The Schbowsky’s have already signed and Tom is set up for a Monday appointment for his digital and appliances. We would be able to do the same for you Saturday, but before you sign, do you have any questions?”

“Who will I get, You or your father?”

“You know I won’t answer that, as you said it doesn’t make a difference to you. Does it?”

“No, not really, I just want to get started, I am kind of curious.”

“Well, we can get some of it started this morning. I hope you will be better in the chair than Tom. He didn’t seem to enjoy the separators at all. It shouldn’t be as bad for you.”

“What are the separators for?”

“They can do two things. First, on the ceramic imaging, the brackets don’t read well, so we use them to locate certain points for the computer to track. Then it makes it easy to put the molar bands on. With full banded cases we can image without them, but we use them to create space between all teeth for the bands. They hurt initially, but you get used to them.”

Then I sat down in an outer office and watched some lame videos of different “appliances” and how to wear and clean them.

“Any other questions?”

“No, I’m ready to start now.”

“That’s the spirit we like to hear. But we still have some work to do before we can get started. My father takes somewhat longer designing the appliances for his patient, since they tend to be more complicated. Next week is soon enough. If there is any pain, take some Advil. I’ll see you next week.”

“Thank you Doctor, I’ll be back Saturday.”

Other than the pain of the separators, which got less each day, and the occasional question, the next week went pretty fast. I didn’t talk to Maria much that week, but she did say they were going to the movies again that week. I was ready to meet her cousin. Saturday morning I drove myself to the office.

“Good morning, Steve.”

I was thrilled to see it was Dr. J.

“Good Morning Dr. J, how are you today.”

“Fine, I’m glad to see you in such a good mood. Some patients get upset the day appliances go on.”

“To late to worry about that.”

“As expected, Regina needed the day off today so I will be the assistant. It should make everything go much faster. How did the separators feel.”

“They hurt until Monday, then they didn’t feel that bad.”

“Good, some people have a lower threshold for pain. We generally install the appliances in two sessions for that reason. You might want to have us do it in one. Tommy was still complaining about his separators yesterday, so we did the imaging and took most of the seperators off. But you could probably handle it in one session.”

“Hey, anything to make it go faster, give it all to me today. I’m supposed to meet someone at the mall at one, think I’ll make it?”

“I think so, got a hot date?”

“No, just going to a movie. Do you know Maria Walsh?”

“Sure. Maria was here yesterday?”

“For an appointment, right.”

“No. She came to pick up Tommy, I guess they are dating. Its a great part of the job, picking up on all of the local gossip.”

“She’s dating Schbowsky, are you sure?”

“They seemed pretty friendly. She’s not your date, is she?”

“No, I’m going to meet her cousin.”

“Oh, Shelia. She’s a patient with us. You’ll be seeing a lot of her from now on, she has a lot of similarities to your case, probably very similar appliances.”

“Did you say you were putting the braces on Schbowsky on Monday?”

“Yes, he was very relieved that you had such an open mind about treatment plans. We’ll be ready for you in about ten minutes.”

I sat down at a terminal and started to play a game.

The front door opened and John walked in.

“Hey.”

“Hey John, what’s up.”

“Today is my debanding. After six years and over 100 appointments he is taking the can opener to me. This is great. Finally.”

He was a really happy guy, smiling as broadly as I had ever seen him. I guess he deserved to be.

“Take a good look at these things, you are the last person who is ever going to see me in them. You know my nickname at school is the Ortho King. But no more. I get my teeth back today, thank god.”

“Congrats, I guess mine are going on today.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rub it in. But face it, in a couple of hours all you will be able to think about is your mouthful of braces. You’ll think everyone is staring at them, and for a while they will be. Then once everyone gets used to them, it will only be when you meet someone new that you will see them staring at them. Especially when you are in your headgear. By the way, what type of headgear are you getting?”

“No headgear involved and I’m only getting the ceramic brackets, no big deal. I wasn’t going to go here until I read on their homepage that I was getting Dr, J, and that’s okay by me.”

“Homepage? I didn’t know it was back up. If you have Dr. J., why are you here on a Saturday. He never works Saturdays, only Dr. S. does.”

“A girl in my school had the address of the homepage, I was able to read the treatment notes. And Dr. J. is already in the back.”

“That’s weird, Everyone who gets bands gets them on Saturday. Dr. S. feels there is less pressure since only his patients come in on Saturday, and he only has seven active patients, and I’m done. By the way have you seen Regina, I need to check in.”

“Dr. J. says she won’t be in today, said he was the assistant today.”

“Oh, so he is the one who will take my finals. Have you seen Dr. S. yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Wait a second, if Dr. J. is the assistant that makes Dr. S. the orthodontist. You still don’t believe you are getting banded today, do you?”

“Hey, no offense, but there is no way I am going to wear those things.”

“No offense taken. You will really wish you had listened to me. It’s already to late, you don’t have a choice any more, its all laid out in the contact. You did read the contract didn’t you? Why do you think they put separators between all of your teeth? Does he have them?”

“He did, until yesterday, for the imaging.”

“And they took his off and left yours on, think about it.”

I was starting to feel real uneasy about this.

“Look, it really won’t be so bad once you stop feeling embarrassed by them. That should take a couple of months. They are a real bitch to keep clean. And get used to drinking with straws, its a pain taking the headgear on and off each time you want a drink. And wear it every second you can. Man, its going to be a drag in high school, but it is going to be even worse in college. But you just have to get in the habit of wearing it right away, save your free time for important stuff and don’t give him a reason to tie it in.”

“Thanks, but you have it all wrong, that’s Schbowskys problem, not mine.”

Dr. J. stuck his head out.

“Oh, Hi John, you’re early, but I can understand that. Have you been briefing Steve?”

“A little.”

“Good, I’ll try to get to you as soon as Steve is set up. Steve why don’t you come back now.”

We walked into a smaller office, with one chair in it.

“Good morning Steve, glad to see you. Have a seat and lets get started.”

“Um, hi Dr.S., I, um, didn’t really expect to see you. Are you the one who is putting the braces on?”

“That is why we are here. Now have a seat and I can talk while we work.”

With that I sat down and a cheek spreader was put in my mouth. Something was real wrong. My stomach was beginning to knot, I didn’t know what to do. What was going on? This was a done deal. I was supposed to get Dr. J. I could feel my eyes fill with tears.

“You are going to put all the brackets and stuff on now, right?”

It was all garbled but he understood. He saw the tears in my eyes.

“I’m sorry, the spreader hurts a little at first, you’ll get used to it in a minute.”

I just nodded stupidly. What went wrong, I know the homepage said Schbowsky was getting these. Maybe it was a last test. That was it, they were just testing me. All I had to do was not let on I knew or cared. Then Dr. J. spoke up.

“Yes, Steve and I were just talking and he is ready to go. He indicated that he would prefer to have it done in one sitting, do you think we can?”

“I don’t see why not. You see Steve, the main difference between the ceramic brackets my son uses and the ones you are getting is that your brackets are welded to the bands, which are then cemented in place, as opposed to the direct bonding technique, where the bracket is glued directly to the tooth.”

No, it couldn’t be.

“Most of my colleagues disagree with this approach, but I believe the bands offer me more control in the long run. For one thing they are much more sturdy than the brackets, which tend to pop off regularly. The bands never come off. You still have to be careful about what you chew on because you don’t want to bend the wires, but the cement holds the bands much better. Its the bands that allow me to use a wider bracket. They are slower, but in the long run that will work to your advantage, just like you said in the letter.

“By the way, that letter you wrote made all the difference in selecting you for this treatment. I think you are more honest and committed. I was ready for Tommy until I read it. Tommy would have been more of a problem patient, but he is my son’s problem now. I use the stainless steel wires, they are slower and require more chair time but I think the end result is better. Is that cement ready?”

“Right here.”

“Good, lets begin.”

With that he used a pliers to remove the separators, applied some foul tasting cement to the inside of a molar band and forced it, with a lot of force, into its place for the next eight years. Once he was done with the molars, he started cementing the bands to each tooth of my upper arch. The cement tasted lousy, but he said it would be better if I waited until he was done before I had a drink.

“If you keep cooperating like this, we should be done in under two hours. That’s pretty good time. I am already on the lower arch. Theses bands might seem a bit wider than some of the others you have seen, that is due to the larger brackets I am using for you. I am sure you will get use to them just as fast.”

And after about two hours, each tooth, top and bottom had been banded. He removed the spreader and it felt horrible as I ran my tongue across the braces for the first time.

“We can rest here to let the cement harden. Why don’t you relax here for a while. It will only take a little while to do John’s debanding and I will be back to place the archwires and headgear. You might want to consider continuous wear, it will probably reduce total appliance wear from about 93 months to only eighty months. Of which 24 hour wear would only last about 22 months, with either 14 or 16 hour wear for another 24 months. It would actually save you at least a year.”

“However, if you want more flexibility, the 20 hour option is also available. The problem is you must wear it that long as a minimum. The timer you will use is quite accurate in measuring actual wear time. Believe it or not, some patients have tried to deceive me by wrapping it around something to trick the timer. It hasn’t worked because they have never been able to guess each of the fail safes I put in. There are at least three including force, direction of pull and movement, and if it sits still to long it will go to sleep. No one has ever tricked it, at least that I have found out about. And remember, it is extremely important that you keep your appliances and teeth very clean since you will have them on for an extended period.”

Now I was really down. He was talking serious headgear time. I thought about 93 months as I tried to pull my lips over the bands which felt like they were sticking far out of my mouth.

“Can’t we just let me wear it at night, I promise I will wear it the full time each night. I mean I really don’t have to wear it all day do I?”

“Now, we had discussed the concept of unpopular appliance wear, and yes, you have agreed to wear the headgear as required.”

Dr. S. left the room.

Dr. J. asked: “What were you saying about to John about our homepage before, did you think we posted patient information there?”

“Yeah, http://www.pat.neo/198234.”

“Close, but not ours, where did you get it?”

“Maria gave it to me. I think she and Schbowsky tricked me.” I kept trying to cover my braces with my lips, and it wasn’t easy.

Dr. J smiled.

“Thats what we call the orthodontic grimace, you’ll get used to it, it becomes a habit after you smile.”

“Look up that address and see what they wrote. This is all a mistake.”

“Let me log on and look.”

He went to a terminal and typed it in.

“No, nothing here, says server can’t find that address. Let’s be honest with each other Steve. You were hoping that you would get the ceramics and now you are making up this story so we will take off the bands. Every patient goes through the “ugly duckling” stage, it is perfectly normal. But don’t try this Oliver Stone conspiracy stuff. Tom and Maria wouldn’t do anything like that. You agreed to this course of treatment and now you must go through with it. By the way, I agree with my father, have the headgear tied in, it will be easier, trust us. Now excuse me. I will be back.”

That was it, Schbowsky had done it to me again and I went for it like an idiot. He was sitting at home laughing at me at this very moment. I looked around the room for a mirror but there weren’t any. About ten minutes later Dr. S. came back in. Again my eyes were full of tears.

“I understand you are having some second thoughts about the appliances. That is quite normal. But you have to remember we are not doing this to be mean or in any way embarrass you. I consider the treatment I give to be the finest available. You will only have to wear a retainer for a month once we are done. I have virtually no relapse in over 99% of my cases after 10 years, that is the best record of any orthodontist I know of. Now lets get the archwires in.”

The top wire had two large metal bends in them, he called them T loops, and 5 hooks at various points on the arch for elastics later on. The bottom one just had the hooks. He threaded a thin, flexible wire around each bracket and twisted until the archwire was firmly in place. This took about a half hour per arch. By this point I was so depressed I could barely think. I tried to say something but he was already inserting the face-bow.

“There is no need to start you with the bottom face-bow today, it can wait until your next appointment. It will seem difficult wearing both face-bows at first, but you should adjust rapidly. I am constructing a one-piece strap for you to better control the direction of force. You will have to wear the dual traction appliance 14 hours a day at first, with the combination headgear you are getting today for the remainder of the time, just like it was spelled out in the contract. Let me fit the straps and then we are done. I am sure you are pretty tired at this point, it won’t take long.”

He took out a high pull strap and a cervical strap. He was checking the force modules and making some adjustments with a small screwdriver.

“Remember to wear both straps. If you do not, I will have incorrect information and that will only make the treatment longer. The dual traction appliance will only have one timer in it, even though it has two face-bows. I have checked the timers and they are working. Please do not come back and tell me they are broken, that has never happened. If you have any discomfort, take some Advil. Remember the videos you saw last week on appliance care and cleaning. It will take some extra effort to keep them clean, but you will get used to it, as you will soon get used to the entire appliance. Any more questions?”

“No.”

“Cheer up, it will not be as bad as you think. Come into the next room and use the mirror to practice with the straps. I’ll be right in.”

I walked and there, with his back to me and smiling in the mirror was John.

“Dr. J. Man this feels great, I am so happy to be done with those miserable braces.”

“Its me.”

The words were garbled at best and the teeth were beginning to throb, but not as bad as last week with the separators.

John turned and stared at me.

“Hey, you got my braces on. Its okay, you can have them. I hope you like them better than I did. Pretty funny looking at them on somebody else for a change.”

He started to laugh as I turned towards the mirror.

“Sorry, I know you didn’t think you were getting them. Hey, it really doesn’t look so bad.”

The tone in his voice gave him away.

I walked up, expecting the worst, and got it. I took the straps off and took the face-bow out.

It was then that I really saw bands close up for the first time. They seemed huge, my whole mouth just looked like a massive piece of gray steel. I spent the next five minutes trying to find a way to disguise the braces, everything from curling my lips over my teeth to hiding behind both hands.

“Give it up guy, trying to hide them only makes it worse.”

Dr S. walked back in.

“Steve, you should put the headgear back on. Everyone is required to wear it whenever they are in the office, and you need to develop the habit anyway.”

I fumbled as I put it back on, having to use the mirror to put the face-bow on.

“Don’t worry,” John said, “you’ll get real good at putting it on fast.”

“Any questions?”

“Yeah, can I go now?”

“Certainly, see you two weeks from today. You will only be expected to wear the headgear 10 hours a day for the next three days, after that I will expect 20 hours per day. By your next appointment you will have to have recorded 221.5 hours. Remember, you only get three failed to performs before controlled wear begins.”

John and I left the office. I took off the straps in the elevator and took off the face-bow again.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but he is way serious about the timer. You really are going to have to wear it everywhere. You might just as well put it back on, your teeth are going to hurt anyway and every hour you don’t have it on works against you.”

“No way I am going to wear this thing.”

“Sorry, I tried to warn you, but you don’t have a choice in it any more. The only thing worse than having to put it on is not being able to take it off. I know just how bad it feels, you think I liked wearing mine to school? You are really going to hate it for the first couple of days. I mean you never like it but you kind of get used to it.”

When I got to the first floor, I sprinted to the car with my hand over my mouth so no one would see. I got in and looked in the rear view mirror. These looked even worse than John’s. At least I could see some of their teeth. My mouth was sealed in steel. With tears streaming down my cheeks I put the face-bow and straps back on and drove in a daze to the mall. I wanted to find out from Maria what happened.

It was 12:30 when I got there. A half hour later I finally got out of the car. I tried to take the least busy way on the way in and I just stared straight ahead, trying not to look at anybody. It was hard pretending like nothing was going on but I forced myself to keep the headgear on. That lasted until the first girls walking by and just stared. I took it right off.

I made one stop to pick up some printer paper. I walked up to pay the cashier who looked to be about 17. I saw she had braces as she said goodbye to the customer in front of me.

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

I worked hard to cover the braces with my lips.

She took my money and gave the change back.

“You just get them?” she smiled at me.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I could tell by the lips. You keep trying to cover up. You’ll get past that. Relax, everyone wears them these days.”

“Like these?” I gave her the full smile.

“Well, they are a little more intense than most. But a couple of years and they’ll be gone. I had to wear one of those for a while too.” She was staring at the the headgear in my left hand. “What are the chances you’ll ever bring that out of the house again?”

“They want me to wear it 20 hours a day.”

“No way. Like to school? No way I would ever do that. Just tell him you’re wearing it, they can’t tell. Bye now.”

It took about 5 minutes to get to the food court. It was busy and I could just feel people looking at me and snickering. I went out on the patio and saw Maria, alone, at a table on the rail.

“Maria?” more of a whine than a question.

“Oh. Steve, Hi.”

She just kind of stared for half a second.

“Boy, guess I was wrong.” She kind of laughed.

“What do you mean, do you see what I’m wearing?”

“Well that’s pretty obvious. I’m sorry, but it was you or Tommy, and well, I thought you would take it better.”

“What does that mean? What was up with that page number you gave me? Dr. J. didn’t know a thing about it.”

“Yeah, that was kind of a goof on you. Tommy thought it up. Pretty good looking homepage, wasn’t it. Come on, it was a joke. We got you.”

“Do you know what this means? I have to wear this thing for twenty hours a day.” I held up the headgear.

“Same thing with my cousin Shelia when she got hers, that time you talked to her. That’s why she wanted to be here with you today. Isn’t that cute. Tommy wasn’t sure who was getting what until yesterday. If you hadn’t joined the study he would have gotten those on. You should have seen how happy he was when he found out he could get the plastic ones. Tommy said you wouldn’t show when you got them on. You showed him.”

“Showed him, he gets little pieces of plastic and I get this junk. He’s home laughing at me right now.”

“No, he’s here, he’ll be back in a second, with Shelia. I thought we all would go to the movie. Come on, its no big thing. He’s more of a plastic guy. You don’t care about looks as much as he and I do, it would really have bothered him, don’t you see.”

“What about me, he says if I don’t wear it all the time he will wire it on. I am going to have braces for eight years.”

“Boy, that’s long even for Dr. S. But you are really stronger than him, he would have been really upset.”

I heard a voice behind me.

“Shouldn’t you have your headgear on. I’m sorry I won’t be styling like that. Let me check out the grill work.”

“Shut up Schbowsky, you tricked me into this stuff, you should have this on.”

“Man that’s a lot of metal in there, how do they feel?”

“They hurt bad.”

“Hey, it was you or me, and much better it is you. Man, no way I would be caught wearing one of those. And don’t forget about those industrial strength bands. Man they look horrible.”

“Tommy, stop that, you promised. Shelia is coming.”

“No problem, I guess its a fair trade, shutting up for not wearing them. I won’t say another word, just give me some sun glasses so I can keep talking to him.”

“Tommy. Quiet, here comes Shelia, she is really sensitive.”

“All I want to say is that if I were him, I would go back in there on Monday and tell them there is no way he is going to wear that thing all the time, to hell with some stupid contract. No way I would have let them do that to me. Let’s go, the movie is going to start.”

“I’m not going to any movie, I just want to get out of here.”

“Wait a second.” A redhead walked up. “Steve, this is my cousin Shelia, Shelia, this is Steve. As you can see, he is not having a good day. We have to go or we will miss the show, are you coming?”

“No.”

“I don’t think I’ll go today, thanks anyway. You two go, I’ll see you tonight.” Shelia was avoiding any eye contact with me.

“OK, catch you later.” And Maria and Tommy walked towards the theaters.

“You know, what Tommy was saying as I walked up was wrong, he doesn’t know. You really have to wear it as directed. I felt the same way the day I got mine.”

She was looking at me now and I could see the metal of her braces as she talked. They looked a lot like mine, but she never really opened her mouth wide enough to see exactly.

“This isn’t fair, he was supposed to get these things, they tricked me.”

“I heard them laughing about it, I told Maria I didn’t think it was very nice. I don’t like Tommy, but she really does. You should really put the face-bow back on. If you want I’ll put mine on too.”

She reached into her bag and took out a face-bow and neck strap.

“I really only have to wear it at night now, but you saw me when I had to wear one like yours all the time. I feel so bad for you right now.”

“I was so stupid about this, I mean I was rude to my mother when she told me not to get these. Now they want me to wear this junk. It looks like the geek bus pulled up and I got on. Tommy was right, I am going in there on Monday and telling them what happened and telling them to take these off so I can go to another orthodontist.”

Shelia was really soft spoken and just tried to calm me down.

“They won’t do it unless you buy out the contract. It won’t be so bad, you’ll see. Look.”

She put the face-bow on and attached the strap.

“You will get used to it fast, it doesn’t make a difference what other people think. You’ll end up with straight teeth and a college education. It really won’t be so bad. I’ve had these for three and a half years already, I almost forget what I look like without them.”

She smiled a full metal smile at me. I was still not used to looking at all the metal, the four rubber bands she wore or the face-bow. I was rubbing my tongue over the braces like that would make them disappear. Shelia was obviously trying hard to make me feel better but I was determined, no way I was going to be stuck in these braces and let Schbowsky off the hook. If I got them to take the bands off, Dr. S could still put them on him.

“Thanks, but that’s what I’m going to do. I am not going to wear this stupid thing. Thanks for talking but I think I’m gonna to go home. Bye.”

“Don’t do that, it won’t work. Let me give you my phone number, call me if you want. I’ll see you at your next appointment, every one goes on Thursdays. If you try not wearing it, he will tie it on, and you don’t want that to happen. Call me.”

She handed me a slip of paper with her number.

“I don’t want to seem mean, but I don’t want to go for the next eight years with a mouthful of these and some ugly wire sticking out of my mouth.”

I could see a hurt look in her eyes and immediately felt sorry for saying it. She was a little overweight, and way to shy, but once the braces were off she would be good looking.

“I’m sorry, I know you are trying to be nice. I have to go.”

I turned and left the mall.

“So how did it go today?”

I just gave her a big, unhappy smile. I couldn’t show my mother how much I hated the braces. She was right and I wouldn’t let her know it.

“Well I know you are getting the best treatment. Dr. Fowler said you left the office quickly, so he faxed over these instructions and a time chart so you can keep track of your wear time. Like I said before, I expect you will wear all of the appliances as instructed. I bet your teeth really hurt, is there anything you want for dinner?”

“No, I’m not hungry. I’m going upstairs.”

“Before you do, I think we can work something out about Mike’s car. You are behaving much better than I thought, maybe I was wrong.”

“Thanks, but I think maybe you were right, I didn’t think this all the way through. I went to the mall and I don’t think I can go through with this. I think I want them to take these off.” Tears started rolling down my cheek.

“You have to expect feelings like that. Lots of teens your age are going through orthodontics. I know I hated when I started wearing them. I looked a lot like you. I felt really embarrassed.”

“Look Mom, this goes way past embarrassed. Look at this thing they expect me to wear all the time.”

I pulled the headgear out of my backpack and dangled it in front of her.

“I’m sorry it turned out this way, but we tried to warn you. The headgear won’t do any good in your hand. I know you only have to wear it half the time for the first few days, but try putting it on again. I think as a rule you should wear it all the time in the house. That will reduce the time you have to wear it outside. You know Dr. Fowler’s rules, remember you have to have a total of 220 hours by the 11th. Do the braces hurt much?”

“Not really, the separators hurt worse.”

“Good, so you should put it on.”

“I need a mirror, its tough to put it on without looking.”

I went into the bathroom and put the face-bow on again, followed by both straps.

“See, that’s not so bad, is it? Dr. Fowler Jr. told me you were going to meet some girls at the mall, did you go?”

“Not now Mom.” I went upstairs.

I can’t remember ever feeling as bad. I talked my way into this and I was convinced that I could talk my way out of it. All I had to do was to get Maria to admit what she and Schbowsky had done and they would have to take them off, and then put them on him like they belonged. Anyway, all I had to do was demand they take the braces off. There is always a time period when you can return things. I would just tell them that I could not wear it to school and we would have to think of something else. The more of a stink I made about them, the less they would want me. It would sure help if Maria would go along. After doing some homework I went back down to watch TV.

“Remember, I am leaving tonight to fly out and meet your father, we will be gone until next Sunday night. No one but you and two other friends at one time in the house. Your uncle will call occasionally to see how you are doing. You are not to drive the car out of the town limits, for any reason. There is plenty of food and I am leaving some cash. You have the phone number where we will be. An airport shuttle will pick me up at five.”

“OK. Nothing will happen. I’ll be fine. Where am I going to go looking like this?”

“We discussed that, there will be no moping around feeling sorry for yourself.”

I barely heard her as I tried to figure a way to drink from a glass. I could barely do it.

“Do we have any straws?”

“First drawer on the left. First help me out to the van with the luggage please.”

There were other people in the van, two girls younger than me and their parents. It was too late to take it off and I could almost feel the girls staring at the headgear. One gave me sort of a smile revealing her metal brackets. She turned to her sister and said: “See, they wanted me in one of those things and I just flat out said no way I was going to wear one. That’s when he said he would do it another way.”

“Yeah, no way they can make me wear one either when I start. I mean really.”

They looked at each other and laughed. The van took off and I went inside, took the face-bow out. That was it, I was not going to wear it anymore.

Even without the face-bow, I still had the bands to deal with. They showed through my lips unless I forced myself to cover them. It did not take long at school for kids to pick up on the new hardware.

“Hey, you got braces. I thought you said you were getting plastic ones.”

It was Jim, my best friend. “I was wrong.”

“I’ll say, man they look severe. How long will you have them?”

“A couple of years, maybe longer.”

“Bummer man, mine are off in two weeks. At least you don’t have headgear like I did.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky I guess.”

It went something like that all day, every time I talked to someone it was, “Whoa, check it out, those are some major braces” or some other lame remark. I looked all day for Maria, but with no luck. No Schbowsy either. Someone said he was sick but I knew he was at the Fowlers. Thats where I headed right after school. It felt great being able to drive anywhere I wanted. Jim needed a ride to town and I agreed to pick him up at the mall at five. He was meeting some other guys and I was going to drive to the game that night. I had promised Jim and his brother Kevin we would go weeks ago. Jim got out.

“Don’t forget, you’re our ride tonight. We have to leave by five.”

I drove to the Fowlers.

The receptionist smiled and asked if there was a problem. I said I was having a problem with the headgear and I needed to see Dr. S. I was told to sit down and they would get me in as soon as possible.

“Can you not put it on, or is there a problem with it in?”

“With it in.”

“Thats fine, the doctor suggests you put it on and he will be with you shortly.”

For the last time I put the face-bow on, and followed with the straps.

Two twins from my school walked in, they were sophomores and on the paper.

“Steve, I though I saw you in braces today. Did you get stuck in that study?”

“Yeah, but I’m not goin through with it.”

“We were going to but I guess our cases were the wrong type. You are lucky, I hear they pay you for doing it.”

His brother said “John, does that look lucky to you? They couldn’t pay me to wear them. Would you want to?”

“Not really, but it can’t be that bad.”

“My ass it can’t. He has to wear the bands for like six years and he has to wear that headgear 20 hours a day, right? That means to school and everything. Am I right?”

“That’s what they want but I’m not going to.”

“See, we didn’t even wear ours 8. We were so lucky not to have to do that. Think of it, we’d still have four years to go, and I hate wearing these, never mind them.”

The door opened and the receptionist came out.

“Steve, come on back.”

She led me into a room with three chairs, one was occupied by a guy from another school I used to see at tennis matches, he had a cervical headgear on. I could tell from the face-bow and bands he had to be part of the study.

“Don’t you play tennis for St Simeon’s?”

“Yeah, you’re at the Academy, Kevin right.”

“Good memory. So you’re the new guy, I heard Dr. S. got another victim.”

“I’m not sure I am going to go through with it.”

“Did you sign the contract?”

“Last week.”

“Your parents sign it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s a little late for second thoughts now. These things are like a tattoo, once they’re on, its too late.”

“Well, I am going to talk him out of it.”

“Good luck, but no chance. I’m finishing with the headgear today, after four years, now its just these six rubber bands.”

He smiled wide and I could see elastics strung in four different places in his mouth, including two that formed a large X right across the front teeth.

“The last year was only this ten hours at night with the headgear, but I still hated wearing it, he had to warn me twice he could wire it on again if I didn’t keep up. In another 18 months or so I start fixed retention, then I will know the exact date they come off. If it ends up being a Sunday, and I want him to, he will open the office just to take them off. I don’t care if it ends up being Christmas Day, I’ll have him come in.”

“What’s fixed retention?”

“When he’s done moving everything around, he leaves the bands on for 25% of the number of months you have been in them. So if I end up at 66 months, they would stay on for another 16.5 month’s for what he calls “fine tuning”. That’s why he doesn’t use retainers like everyone else. Just some more misery in the contract.”

“Four years with headgear. Couldn’t you just tighten the straps or something?”

“Doesn’t work that way. He wants them to move very slowly and very gradually. It’s going to drive you nuts. If you try wearing it tighter, the damn timer shuts off. You have to do it his way. How long you in for?”

“Well, he said 92 months, but I don’t think I want to go that long. I want him to do something about this headgear, no way am I going to wear it or anything else twenty hours a day. If he wants me to wear it when I sleep I might consider it, but otherwise no way.”

“92, man that’s got to be one of the longest. Your fixed retention will be as long as a lot of kids regular treatment. Hey, all of Dr. S’s patients have been there, we all know how you feel. If I were you I would lose that “no way I’m wearing it stuff” before he puts you in controlled wear. He will you know. He is not going to take them off because you don’t like them.”

Dr. S. walked in.

“Hi Steve, I hear you are having a problem. Is there much discomfort? Whats wrong, something rubbing in the back?”

“Well yeah, where the face-bow goes in, otherwise they hurt a lot less than the separators, but that’s not really it. I’m sorry doctor, but I don’t think I have the discipline to continue with the headgear and everything. There’s no way I’m going to wear it to school and everywhere, so I am probably not the best candidate for your study. Thanks for the opportunity, but maybe you should give the chance to someone else. I just can’t wear this around.”

I thought that very nicely covered everything.

“I see. I did discuss the possibility of this with you and your mother. I must say I am somewhat disappointed your attitude changed so quickly from when you wrote the letter. So it is the forcing yourself to wear the appliance in public that is the problem?”

“That is exactly it doctor.”

“Well, we can fix both the rubbing and the discipline problem pretty easily, by adjusting the buccal tubes and adjusting your wear time. I was just working on your dual traction strap. Before we go any further, let me fix the rubbing problem. If the face-bow is more comfortable, you don’t think about it as much. Controlled wear will solve the other problem.”

With that he reached into a drawer, took out a pair of pliers, went back to the buccal tubes and made an adjustment to the right side. He reached back into the drawer and did the same to the left.

“Now wait a couple of minutes and I will have the dual traction done and you can start with that today.”

He left the room and I turned to Kevin.

“He didn’t hear a word I said. Whats dual traction mean, I already have two straps on?”

“Oh yeah, he heard you. He must have mentioned about the other face-bow, one for the top and the other for the bottom. You wear them at the same time. I only saw one other girl in one. She had it for about a year, 14 hours a day. It’s probably about the worst type to get, not that any are really better.”

“He is going to try and make me wear two of these. No way. How is he going to do that.”

“Didn’t you hear, don’t you know what controlled wear is? He just wired you in.”

“You’re nuts.”

I took off the straps and started to remove the face-bow.

“Hey, it’s stuck.”

“Its not stuck, he put two stops behind the tubes so you can’t take it off. I told you to go easy on that ‘no way’ stuff. Since you’re just starting, it’s going to stay on for at least a year, and in a case as long as yours, who knows, maybe two, you could set the record. And all the begging and crying in the world won’t change it. Believe me, every one tries. I did when it happened to me. I had it on for nine months straight. One girl way back had two weeks to go before the headgear was supposed to get off and one week to her grade school graduation. She absolutely begged to have it taken off just one week early and he wouldn’t. You got to admit he is pretty smooth when he does it. That’s the big thing with the contract, it’s all in there. Did you get a line from your mother about her supporting all his decisions?”

“Yeah.”

“Well controlled wear is why. He has never unwired anyone before he thought it was best for the treatment. I think you might have set the record for fastest to have it wired in though, less than 72 hours. I wore mine for a year and a half before he nailed me. Face it guy, you better get used to the look.”

Regina walked in and led Kevin out for some pictures. I waited alone, looking in a mirror trying to figure out how to get out of it, there had to be a way. I kept pulling on it, but the face-bow didn’t move.

“Well Steve, I see you have discovered that the face-bow will not come out. I know you don’t believe this right now, but in the long run this will make the whole process go much easier for you.”

“You have no right to do this.”

“Steve, I discussed this with you, your mother discussed this with you, John discussed this with you and Tommy and Maria discussed this with you. You can’t sit there and tell me you didn’t know about the headgear. You certainly have the option of buying out the contract, but my discussion with your mother indicates that will not happen. You will adjust.”

“It was Tommy that tricked me with his fake homepage, it isn’t fair.”

“I don’t believe that happened, but even if it did, are you telling me you cheated from the start?”

“Well, no.”

“Then you knew you could end up with this course of treatment?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then the whole problem is that you just don’t like it.”

“Exactly.”

“Even though your mother and John tried to talk you out of doing it.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re making it sound like I knew, but I didn’t think I was getting these things.”

“But you knew you might get the full banded appliance and extra-oral traction, we made that very clear, didn’t we?”

“Yes.”

“And knowing that, you not only signed the contract, you asked your mother to, didn’t you.”

“Yes.”

“I am doing exactly what I said I would, aren’t I?”

“Yes.”

“You know you have a severe and complicated malocclusion, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I…”

“Even if my son had taken your case you still would have had headgear to deal with. So that is not different is it?”

“No.”

“And even if you hadn’t come in today, you would have had to wear the appliance for twenty hours, right?”

“Yes.”

“So there is no real reason to discontinue treatment other than you don’t like the type of braces you are wearing, correct?”

“Yes, but, I mean, all the time.” There was no more use in arguing. “Isn’t there any other way?”

“No, there isn’t. Now can we continue?”

“Yes.”

He took out a face-bow with shorter arms than the one on top. It slid in much like the other but the loops faced down.

“Can I have another chance at the three tries? I swear I will wear it all the time, as long as you say.”

“So you are promising to wear it without question, no matter where you are?”

“Yes. Whatever you say.”

“Then it really doesn’t make a difference if it is tied in or not, does it?”

“Well, maybe sometimes I could take it out like if I go on a date or something.”

“So already you are not wearing it all the time, and I haven’t even unwired it yet. No, I think this is best for now.”

“This isn’t fair. Why do I have to be the only one wearing these things, I just want them off.”

“I have other patients who have similar appliances, and who wear their headgear regularly. You will meet Cathy next week, she is in High school and wears her headgear to school each day. You will get used to it.”

“How long will I have this on?”

“It was all laid out in the contract, depending on how your teeth respond. Realistically, 16 to 22 months.”

“That will take me past graduation, maybe into college.”

“That is a possibility, we will see. Now about the lower face-bow.”

“Are you going to wire the bottom one on?”

“No. You wear the dual traction appliance 14 hours a day, and the combination as much of the remaining time as you can. If I find you are not meeting the 14 hour minimum, I will discontinue the combination. Remember, the face-bow alone will not do anything, you have to wear the straps. Let me show you how to use this one.”

It was the largest headgear strap I had ever seen. A thick padded blue strap went across the bottom and connected to another large blue strap that went from one end of the neck strap, over the top of my head and down the other side of my face connecting to the other end of the neckstrap. A connecting thinner strap ran from the middle of the neckstrap over the top of my head and connected with the head strap on top. Two more thin blue straps ran from the middle of the neck strap to just above the ears and connected to the head strap. Two force modules, one on each side, connected the neckstrap to the bottom face-bow. Two other force units, one on each side, went from the headstrap to the top face-bow. I almost felt like I was wearing a soft football helmet.

“I, I mean do I have to really wear this?”

The words were mumbled. The two face-bows barely missed touching in front of my lips.

“You know the answer to that. Make sure the force module is properly connected or the timer will not run. During school or other occasions you need not wear the dual traction, as long as you average 14 hours per day. We will keep your next appointment as scheduled. Do you have any other questions or concerns?”

“No, can’t we please unwire the face-bow, I promise to wear everything as directed.”

“Tell you what, we will check the timer, if you have worn it as directed, I will unwire it. Have you worn it for twenty hours?”

“No.”

“I think it will be better if you just accept this as a extention of the braces.”

“Please…”

“Steve, I think we have discussed this enough.”

I left the office and got into the elevator. It stopped one floor down and a girl from my class got in. I could feel my face turning red.

“Hi Steve.”

“Hi.”

“You go to the orthodontist here.”

“Yeah. I just started.”

“I never had them. Why don’t you just take that off, I can see how embarrassed you are. I’ve never seen one like that before.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? Afraid mommy will find out?”

She must have seen the expression on my face. The elevator opened and we got out.

“So why don’t you take it off, you can’t like wearing it?”

“Its wired in, I can’t take it off.”

“You mean it’s like the braces and never comes off, for how long?”

“A year.”

“Both those things all the time?”

“No, only 14 hours a day in this. The rest of the time in this other one.”

“To school and everywhere, eating and everything?”

“Yeah, the top face-bow doesn’t come out anymore.”

“Man, that’s way over the top, too bad, sorry. Well I’m sure it will be worth it when you get them off. Bye, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye”

I was walking towards the car when I saw Maria and Tommy sitting at the bus stop. Tommy saw me, took a second look and tapped Maria on her shoulder and pointed. They got up and walked to my car.

“See, don’t feel so bad. Look.”

Tommy smiled his new plastic smile at me.

“Now we are even, we both have braces on.”

“How can you say we’re even, look at this thing. Look at me. And in three years you’re done. I’ll still have five years to go. The top face-bow is wired on. I can’t take it off anymore. I’m everyone’s worst orthodontic nightmare. How can you say we’re even?”

Talking with one face-bow was tough, with two it was even worse. The words were slurred, but understandable.

“Chill guy, you got worse teeth anyway. Man, I never saw one like that before. Did you Maria?”

“Yeah, I have, she’s in college now, she gets hers off this summer.”

“So you have to wear those all the time, huh? That should kill any chance of a social life.”

“Tommy, stop it.”

“No, I only wear this 14 hours a day. Then I wear the other one.”

“Well if it makes a difference, I get one next month.”

“Like this?”

“No, not that bad. Just a regular one, like Shelia’s.”

“Tommy, our bus.”

“You know, I know a guy who used to have his wired on. He said there is a secret for getting it off.”

“Really, how? You’re not kidding are you, is this more of your bullshit?”

“I swear that’s what he said. He’s the guy my parents found out about the study from. He’s had his braces on forever. He’s a senior at Wilmington.”

“You have to find out for me, you have to.”

“No problem, he works at Jumbo Fries at the mall after school. He’s probably there right now. Why don’t you drive us over.”

“You better not be playing with me. But I don’t want to go to the mall like this.”

“Hey, what choice do you have, you can’t take it off anyway, remember. Where you go, it goes.”

“Tommy, stop.”

“OK, I’ll go.”

We got into the car. I took off the headgear, or as least as much as I could and put on the combination. Maria tried to make small talk with me, but I didn’t care. It took 15 minutes to get to the mall. The worst part was stopping at traffic lights, and trying to hide so no one would see me. People did, but I just looked straight ahead. We got to the mall and I remembered I had to meet Jim at 5. We walked towards the food court. Fortunately the mall was not very crowded. Maria and I sat down and Tommy went to look for his friend.

“You know I am real sorry I did what I did. Shelia pointed it out that I was wrong. I should have known better.”

“Doesn’t do me any good now. Even if you told them, he would leave me in this.”

“But I am sorry. You were never anything but nice to me and Shelia. I feel bad for doing it to you. Can we be friends?”

Before I could answer, Tommy and another guy walked up.

“This is Richard, He knows all about Dr. S. How long have you been going to him?”

“Almost seven years.” No doubt about the fact he was a Dr. S patient, the bands filled his mouth. “Wore one just like that too.”

“Tommy said you know a secret way to get the face-bow off.”

“You just got them and you’re wired on already?”

“Yeah, but whats the secret for getting this off? How do I take it off? I can’t go to school like this.”

“He shouldn’t have said it like there was a way to take the face-bow out, there isn’t. The only secret is to wear the straps every second you can. The only way it comes off is if Dr. Fowler takes it off. You’re pretty old to be starting with him, why did you do it in the first place?”

“Ask Tommy.”

Tommy looked over “I set up a fake web page saying that he was going to get the plastic and I got the metal. He was going to go to another orthodontist, but he fell for it hook, line and sinker. Then I wrote a letter to Dr. S. saying that the only reason I was doing it was because my parents were making me. Pretty smart huh? I get all of the benefits and none of the metal.”

“Man, that’s a fucked thing to do to him. You have no idea how miserable it is wearing these for this long, or having to walk around in headgear all the time. What an asshole.”

“Wait a second, he would have done it to me. He wouldn’t have cared.”

“He had no part in you getting banded. You are a real bottom feeder.”

Richard looked over at me. “I feel bad for you. At least you have the payoff to look forward to, Dr. S is serious about the college money and everything. You can bet I am going to tell him the story on Thursday when I go in. I don’t think it will change much since the contracts are already signed, they have to pay him if he finishes, but you can believe that he won’t get any perks, they don’t like jerks.”

“Hey, easy now, it was a joke, its no big thing. I was just a little smarter than him.”

“He’s right, Tommy, we were wrong.” Maria looked about as miserable as me. “I was a jerk for helping you. You should apologize.”

“No way, he’s a geek, and he got what a geek deserves. No way was I going to look like that.”

Richard glared at him. “You saying I’m a geek because I wear these things?”

“How can you say you’re not. They make you look like a loser. That’s why I wasn’t going to wear them. Hey, I’m out of here. Let’s go Maria.”

“No, not until you say you were wrong.”

“No way, later for you losers.”

THE STUDY: A FOLLOW UP

“So steel…I mean Steve, you going on the school tour with the girls from St. Mary’s?”

Steve turned around in his chair and looked at Scott at the same time talking unconsciously covering up the braces with his lips.

“Would you cut it out with that steel garbage.” He hated the jokes and the stupid names, even though the people he saw regularly didn’t really seem to notice the braces anymore. He hated any reference to all the metal so firmly cemented in his mouth. At least there were fewer comments at school anymore, and when he stopped wearing the headgear, most of the laughing stopped.

“Come on man, you still cryin’ about them, what’s it been, 6 months?”

“Eight and it’s a stupid name.”

“Sorry, at least you don’t have to wear that contraption like last year. Man what a drag that must have been.”

“Drag doesn’t even cover it.”

“And you need to get rid of that lip thing.”

“What lip thing?”

“The way you cover up the braces with your lips each time you talk. Just a guess here, but I think everybody already knows you’re wearing them. You know my next door neighbor is a guy who went to the same orthodontist as you, he says he knows you, John Marino?”

“Yeah, I know John, we went to grammar school together.”

“He was telling me the story about how you got them. He says he tried to talk you out of it. Is it true that most orthodontist stopped using that type of braces twenty years ago.” Steve really didn’t like being reminded of that.

“Bands are so far out of style its stupid, but at least I get paid for it.” He had developed the habit of unknowingly running his tongue over the bands.

“What John couldn’t figure is how you got him to take the face-bow off, was it really wired on?”

“For six months, and it sucked every second.”

“He said you had to wear it for like at least two years all the time. He didn’t believe me when I told him you never wear it any more. And I told him you never had a second face-bow on, but he swore you did.”

A look of near panic spread across his face. “Look, Scott, you got to do something for me. Tell John not to say anything to Dr. S. I will be so screwed if he does. It’s real important.”

“Easy guy, relax, no problem, but I mean what can the guy do to you, tell your mommy?”

“Okay, look, don’t tell anyone this. God I hate these braces. I am supposed to wear the headgear at least twenty hours a day. At first it was wired on and I didn’t have a choice. But just before school started I talked him into unwiring it so I could go out occasionally without it, like football games or stuff. But I just can’t stand the idea of having to wear it to school again. If he finds out I am screwed, I’ll never get it off again. I’m on the honor system. Dr. S can’t tell one way or the other and I have no intention of letting him find out. Got it?”

“It’s cool by me, I’ll tell John. Did you have to wear two of them, how did that work?”

“It’s just another face-bow for the lower jaw. I have this huge strap that goes around my head and pulls up on the top one and straight back on the bottom one. It is the geekiest looking thing you have ever seen. No one except people in the orthodontist office have ever seen me wear it, except at home. Sally Roberts saw me in it once, but she never said anything about it. I have my mother convinced I only have to wear the bottom one when I sleep and the other one 14 hours a day. So as long as no one starts talking about it I am fine. I fill out this chart that says I wear the stupid thing 21 hours a day, almost every day, and the dual traction 14 hours a day. He hasn’t guessed and I am not about to tell him.”

“Good luck. And how did you swing that college tour with all the babes?”

“My aunt is a guidance counselor there. At night we will be in the dorms. And no school tomorrow to boot.”

“That girl you were talking to at the game going too?”

“Karen, no. She hates some of the girls that are going, says they are way stuck up. But I saw them at the game, they are hot.”

“That’s the bell, See you at the meeting after last period?”

“No, another stinking appointment, and then I get in the van for the trip up to OSU. Won’t be back til Sunday night.”

“Hey, have a blast, catch you later.”

“Later.”

It was only a short bus ride over to the office. He went in the back entrance to make sure he could not be seen out the office window. Just inside the door he slipped the face-bow in his mouth and put the two straps on. He put the dual traction strap and the other face-bow in his right hand and went towards the elevator. As the door opened, he stepped aside to let people out. One woman with a 12-year-old boy behind her asked, “Is that a headgear?”

Slightly embarrassed, Steve nodded yes. “See Larry, even high school students wear them. Its no big deal.”

His facial expression showed Larry was not convinced. “No way I am wearing one of those things, I don’t care.”

Steve had heard enough and got in the elevator. It was empty and he liked it that way. He remembered the feeling of having people stare at him without trying to look like they were looking. He was almost used to it but still he hated the way everyone tried to be so polite about it. “I really didn’t notice.” “I wore one of them.” “I am glad to see you have so much self confidence.” “At least you will have straight teeth when you are done.” The lines went on and on, but he didn’t care anymore. By this time next year he would be away at college and he could stop pretending to wear the “harness” any more, except on breaks. Anyway he reasoned, Dr. S said twenty-two months, and he had already endured 8. All he had to do was make it to next Thanksgiving and that part of his nightmare would be over. He still had maximum metal in his mouth, but that was at least almost acceptable. He was determined never to be seen again with the headgear again. The door opened and he walked down to the office and signed in.

“Steve, you can go back now. Use the small office, we are busy today.”

“Thanks.” Dr. S was already there.

“Steve.”

“Hi Dr., what’s up?”

“You tell me. We are a little backed up today so lets get to it, please put the dual traction on.” Steve slid the lower brace on. “On second thought, leave the strap off and let me take a look. With that he picked up a set of pliers and a ruler. “Let’s see how you are doing. Anything you need to tell me?”

“Nah. Same old stuff, same routine every day.”

“Really, I understand from your mother you are taking a college tour this weekend.” He continued probing the inside of the mouth. Steve tried to reply but just gave up. After about another minute, Dr S backed up and placed the tools in the sanitizer. “I talked to an old friend of mine yesterday. He is a recruiter for OSU, he was at a college day at your school last week. Do you remember him?”

“Kinda,” he winced as the doctor made an adjustment.

“Well he remembered you. Or should I say he remembered, as he put it, ‘my work’. He figured any full banded patient in the area is my patient.” He finished his adjustments and stepped back.

“Uh, yeah, well I don’t think I’ll go there.”

“I asked him to describe you, and he gave me a pretty accurate description, except he never mentioned your extra-oral appliance. How long did you wear it that day, let me take a look at your chart.”

“Well I took it off while I was talking to those guys. There were a lot of girls from St Mary’s there you know.”

“It says here 21 hours. Funny, he said he saw you at least 5 times over the course of the day and you never had it on. Do you need to readjust your hours here?”

“OK, you’re right, I left it home that day, come on, it was just once, I mean there were girls everywhere.”

“I see, one day is not important I guess.”

“God I was hoping you would see it that way.”

“So how was the homecoming game last weekend?”

“Great game, we won.”

“You know my grandson plays for St Timmon’s, I get a tape of every game.” With that he reached over and turned on the VCR. “See anyone familiar in the crowd?” The camera panned right past his face, the silver smile unmistakably flashing into the lens. “I can assume you did not wear your appliance to the game either.”

“No.”

“And before you deny it, I know you did not wear it to the dance that night either. I see you did not correctly note it on the chart either.”

“No.”

“So that is strike two. Now would you care to explain to me how your mother got the impression that your weartime had been reduced to 14 hours a night, and the lower bow only while sleeping?”

“I, she, um, must have just misunderstood. I always wear the bottom one, really.” He wanted to get out of the office fast. He had been cheating regularly and Dr. S knew it. The conversation was not going well.

“Strike three, unless you want me to call her and ask. You know what that means.”

Steve tried to cover his mouth but the face-bows prevented that. “No, no way, not again.”

“I tried to give you some latitude. I was very distressed to find out you have never properly worn the dual traction appliance. And for that matter, you are not even wearing the Combi enough. You haven’t worn it to school this year, have you?”

“No way. I am a senior in high school. You can’t expect me to wear all this all the time. Come on.”

“I’m forced to conclude I can’t trust you to either wear or properly report actual wear, as required by the contract. I am going to reduce the force on the lower bow to minimum levels. This means at least another 12 months and probably closer to 16 months of full time wear. Unfortunately I also have to reduce force to the upper bow to keep the balance I want. We are looking at 24 months to complete that phase. So until further notice you need only wear the dual traction. I’ll take the Combi straps back.”

“No way. No, I won’t let you do it to me again.”

“Steve, it’s already done. I never should have undone it, we have wasted a lot of time here.” Frantically Steve started pulling on the lower bow, then the upper one. Neither moved. “Please, no, especially not today, I am going on a college tour, with eight girls. You made your point, I will do it right I promise, but you can’t do this to me. At least wait until Monday. Please, I swear.”

“I have given you more variances than anyone else with headgear wear and I am sorry to see that you have squandered them.”

“But 24 months means I be wearing all this til my sophomore year of college. I’m a senior in high school, its just not fair its…”

“You had your chances and you were told you from the beginning how seriously we took this study, not to mention the proper correction of your malocclusion. I will see you in two weeks. Your mother asked me to tell you to meet her in the parking lot at 4:00, that’s five minutes from now. I know you won’t believe this, but I hope you have a nice trip. Don’t let the headgear bother you, you have worn it before. Now excuse me, I have other patients to see.”

And with that he left the room. Steve just stared down at the blue strap. Ellen walked in as Steve just looked up, tears welling in his eyes with the frustration of it all. “Relax Steve, it will be fine.”

“Fine, look at this thing.” He threw the strap across the room. “How can it be fine. Two years with this… these sticking out of my mouth. Who is going to want to date a guy who looks like this. I don’t care what anyone says, this study is too weird. Do you have any idea what it’s like going to school like this. It sucks, this whole deal just sucks.”

“I am sorry, here is your appointment card and I think you need this.” She held out the strap. For lack of anything better, he put the apparatus on and slowly left the office.

“Check it out.” Steve looked up to see the twins stepping out of the elevator. “God, I have never seen anything like that, what did you do to piss him off?” They both started laughing. “I see why you never wear that one to school. How long have you had that thing?”

“Since the beginning.”

“Hey, we’re just kidding. We used to wear them and we know they suck. Just kidding, no way I would wear that, sorry dude, just no way for any amount of money I would wear that all of the time. Tell you what, want to trade?”

Kevin had popped the retainer out of his mouth and offered it to Steve.

“Real funny.” He walked past the elevator and went down the stairs. His mother was waiting in the car.

“Hurry up, you are late. Your bag is in the trunk.”

“No way I’m going. I couldn’t care less about college. Please come back in with me and make him take these things off?”

“I told you eight months ago about that. You flat out lied to me. And to him. If you had done what you were supposed to, you would not have to even wear it for the weekend. But you tried to be sneaky about it all. You should know by now that lying will get you no where.”

“The last thing I need right now is a lecture. If we don’t go back in right now, I am just going to get some wire cutters and take this screwing thing off myself.”

His mother turned and looked directly at him. “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again. Grow up and take some responsibility. You are being well paid for your embarrassment. I don’t know if you have looked, but you have half a year’s tuition in your account already. You can afford to go to almost any school you want, and you are acting like a spoiled brat. Now get it together, we’re late.”

The ride to St. Mary’s seemed to take forever, but it was not long enough. As soon as his bag was out of the trunk, his mother got in the car and drove off. He was to meet the rest of the group at the main office, but stopped at a restroom for one final desperate attempt to pry the face-bows out. It was useless and he just stared in the mirror, looking at the straps and wires the encircled his head. Even the face-bows seemed to have more metal than others he’d seen. It was two oval loops that were positioned just past where his lips covered the face-bow. He had always meant to ask what the loops were for, or if he could get more normal style face-bows, but he really didn’t care about the first answer and knew the second answer was no. The only good thing about the metal bars was they took the focus off the over-sized bands and brackets he had just started to accept as a reality for the next six years. But here he was again stuck in a headgear even other headgear wearers shuddered to think about. Reluctantly, he walked down the hall to the office.

“Excuse me, where can I find the van for the college tour?” It was barely mumbled and the woman behind the desk hardly moved.

“Speak up please.” She glanced from her paperwork, and then did a double take, trying to control her surprise at the device on his face.

“I’m looking for the van for the trip to OSU.”

“Out the door at the end of the hall. The girls are meeting there.” She pointed to the left.

“Thank you.” His dread only got worse as he got closer. He could see a small group loading luggage into a van. He opened the door and walked towards them. He could see three girls speak to each other, but could not hear them. He had seen them last week at the football game, like every other guy at the game. All of them could only be termed as great looking, all with straight white teeth. They had been there with his biggest taunters, guys he tried to avoid but in a small school, saw them regularly. These girls seemed just like their male equivalents, people he just didn’t want to meet, especially today.

“Check it out. Get a load of this guy.” She was a blond, well dressed and the type of person who felt she was always in charge. “Great three days with another reject, first Bucky, now him.”

The second girl was shorter and smoking a cigarette. “But they will make such a cute couple,” said the third as they all laughed. A woman got out of the front of the van and walked towards Steve.

“Hi, I’m Phyllis, you must be Steve. The terrible threesome is Sandra, Cathy and the leader of the pack, Sharon. And let’s not forget Hannah over there.” As she was shaking his hand, a car pulled up with one girl getting out. Steve was surprised to see that she was wearing a cervical strap attached to a face-bow. As the car pulled away, she turned and saw Steve standing near the front of the van with the other girls huddled by the back. The new girl just stared at the girls and pointed in Steve’s direction.

“Very funny, don’t you ever get tired of this. What did I ever do to you that you make fun of me like this? No one wears anything like that, it’s just not funny.”

Phyllis tried to take control. “Steve, I am very sorry if you were embarrassed. This is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is Steve and since you both share your orthodontia in common, I think you owe him an apology.”

“I’m…I’m sorry, I thought they were playing with me again.” She was staring at the ground. “I really am sorry.” She was tall, almost 6 feet tall, with long, curly brown hair pulled back behind her head. Her freckled face was dominated by her jutting jaw, and the face-bow.

“This is just too funny, Bucky apologizing for slamming another geek, this is going to be a great trip.”

Phyllis had just started the van and was honking the horn so everyone would get in. It was a four hour drive to OSU. “Look you two headgears have a nice seat up front.” They weren’t even in the van yet and already the trip was becoming tedious. Even though he kept telling himself not to, he kept tugging on the face-bows, always with a low giggle from the back seats.

The first real problem came when they stopped for dinner, with McDonalds being the choice. Rebecca had removed her face-bow before they went in, and was embarrassed to ask why Steve didn’t do the same. She was obviously a shy girl, one who had endured childhood with the worst overjet Steve had ever seen. Rebecca was still very sensitive about it, she could not have been wearing her braces for very long.

Then the inevitable question from Beth, “Why don’t you take that thing off, mommy can’t see you here.” More laughter. Steve just walked up to the counter to order.

He noticed that the restaurant was almost empty. Still, there was a terror he felt, one that he got when he walked into a new situation, like walking into a crowded store, with all of the glances and muted exclamations of surprise. He knew he would have to get used to that feeling again, but what really bothered him now was the humiliation of sitting in a van of female high school seniors who looked at him as some sort of joke. He got a curious look from the cashier as she took his order. Then he saw her whisper to a coworker, who turned to look, smiled briefly revealing her own braces, then whispered something into the cashiers ear, as they both shook their heads.

“Business as usual,” he thought, “look at the freak.” He got his food and sat at a small table in the corner.

As he unwrapped his burger it dawned on him that he had never really tried eating like this with both face-bows in place. He soon realized the problem with dining with two face-bows on is the all food has to be cut small enough to be taken in one bite. He gave one attempt to see if he could bite down but quickly gave up and started to break up his dinner with his hands into chewable pieces. Then he got back up to get a straw, just another embarrassment he had forgotten. He returned to the table to find Rebecca already seated.

“Do you mind?” Steve nodded no and sat down. They both stared awkwardly at the table.

It looked as if she was not totally comfortable chewing either. He had never seen anyone’s teeth jut so far out of their mouth. Her lips covered none of her top teeth, which seemed to be well enough lined up, just too far out. Her brackets were lined up across the middle of her teeth and were never out of view. She seemed completely at ease as she talked to him.

“I am really sorry about what I said before when we met. I just thought they were being mean to me again. I…I mean I have never seen a headgear or braces like yours before, I thought wearing mine were bad enough. Do you have all full bands on?”

“Yeah, full bands on all my teeth.”

“I never saw them on anyone before. Wouldn’t it really be easier to eat if you took the headgear off for a while.” Steve knew she was trying to be nice, but here was the most severe orthodontic case he had ever seen taking pity on his braces.

“I can’t take them off.”

“Even just for dinner, I mean, if you are going to wear headgear in public and everything, you will get enough time in it.”

“I don’t have a choice, he wired them on today. Do you think I would be wearing this stupid thing if I had a choice?” His tone was harsher than he intended. “I’m sorry, I’m just pissed off. I hate these stupid braces.”

“Wired on? For good? I’m so sorry, I’ve never heard of that before. That is so mean. How can your parents let him do that to you?”

“I’m in a study, that’s why I have all the bands and this stinking headgear. I signed a contract saying if I didn’t wear it enough, he could enforce wear. I got caught cheating.”

“But can’t your parents just tell him to unwire them?”

“No, I was a jerk and they tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted on going to this guy. It’s bad enough with all his metal in my mouth, but I never thought I would ever get stuck in anything like this.”

“Why would you agree to wear that? I had a choice of surgery with my mouth wired shut, which would have been much faster, or the ‘slow hard way’. My aunt had a bad experience with jaw surgery when she was getting her overbite fixed, it’s kind of a family trait, mine is just worse than everyone else’s that we remember, anyway, she would not let them do the surgery, so I finally ended up with the headgear and braces. But I really don’t care right now since nothing could really look worse than my teeth did. My parents kept fighting over who would pay for my braces like it was a game or something. I was stuck in the middle of the divorce. I was so happy when my aunt let me live with her. She is paying for it and everything, but I had to let them do it the slow way. I should be done in less than four years, how about you?”

She was talking like she had not talked to anyone in weeks.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to sound nosy. I really never talked to anybody about my teeth. They all treat me like I’m deformed or something. Which I guess I kind of am. I will be so happy when I am finally able to close my lips like normal. But I mean your teeth don’t look straight but they don’t look bad enough to have to wear something like that. Why?”

Steve was surprised by the pause. “I’m getting money for college. I thought I was being slick and would get some plastic ones. Then he put all this junk on and it was too late. I was so stupid.” He threw the piece of hamburger down in frustration.

“So today is your first day in headgear. I remember how bad that feels. But you have to just ignore the looks and idiot princesses like them.”” She nodded towards the other girls.

“It’s not my first day, it’s my first day wired in both of them. I’ve been wearing some or all of this crap part or all the time for the last eight months. Now I have to wear it for the next two years. I’ll be lucky if I get these off before my sophomore year of college.”

“I started eight months ago too, but I only started wearing the face-bow during the summer. I decided right away to wear it all the time because it kind of made me feel better. After all the years and all the jokes, it feels good to do something. Maybe I will get tired of them soon, but I just feel like the braces are making me better every day. It’s not like I like walking around with it on, but for me it is really better than before. No matter what they say to me, I know soon it will all be over. When I saw you, I was mad at them because they don’t know how bad it feels to not have their cute looks, to have people making jokes about you all the time.

Like I never had someone call me Bucky before, real original.”

“Now I feel so bad because you feel so bad. I feel so funny trying to cheer someone else up. My aunt has been trying to do that to me for years. She got me out of public school because she thought I would make friends easier. That didn’t happen. I’m sorry, but I feel like you know what it feels like and I never found anyone like that before. I know that sounds silly but I always wanted to meet someone I could talk to. I hope you don’t mind.”

By this point Steve was carefully wiping both bows. He wanted to grab a bus and go home. He hated the thought that he was going to spend the next two days with these strangers. Too much had happened too soon and all he really wanted was to go home and go to bed. And then there was the problem of how to deal with Rebecca. He had just heard her say more about her feelings than she had probably said to anyone. She was lonely and certainly trying to be friendly.

“What are you two talking about?” It was Hannah. “Mind if I join in?” She put her shake down on the table. “Look I just want you both to know that I think they are jerks too. I used to wear headgear, but I never even had to wear it outside of the house. I don’t think I would ever have had the nerve. If you need any help with those leeches, just ask, I know a couple of secrets I am sure they don’t want known. Phyllis wants us in the van as soon as we’re done.”

They walked to the van arriving first, they took the back seat. “Hey we were sitting there.”

“Good use of the past tense.”

“Gee, antenna face made a joke.”

“Okay, cut out, everybody in. We will be there in an hour.”

And Phyllis was right. Within an hour they pulled up to the gates of OSU. It was 9 pm as they pulled up to the dorm.

“Okay let’s get unloaded.” Phyllis disappeared inside the door and two minutes later came out with an attractive coed, probably 21 years old.

“Meg will get you all to your rooms. And I will check in an hour to make sure everybody is there. Steve, will you please come with me.” They walked around to the back entrance. “Look its late, I know you’re tired, and I know you are not particularly happy with your look today. It’s kind of against rules, but one of the R.A. is gone this weekend, it’s no problem if you use her room. Its private, it’s got its own bathroom, and you can say you spent tonight in the girl’s dorm. Or, of course, you can go to the guy’s dorm across the quad, and spend the night. The choice is yours.”

“The single sounds good.”

“I thought so. Remember, you can’t hide all weekend. We have a full day tomorrow.” She led him into a small room. “See you in the morning.”

Steve laid down in the bed, turned on the TV, and tried to fall asleep. As he flipped through the channels he noticed everyone had nice straight white teeth. It didn’t make a difference what age they were. All Steve noticed was all the straight white teeth.

“Hey, wake-up in there. Its 8:30, everyone else is already at breakfast. The tour starts in half-hour.”

He stared at the ceiling of the strange room. Instinctively, he released the straps, and pulled on the face-bows to remove them. “I don’t believe this.” He got out of bed still pulling on the face-bows knowing they wouldn’t move.

“I’m not hungry. Actually I feel sick, I’ll just stay here for a while.”

“Steve, open the door please. I don’t want to use the keys.” With that he opened the door. Phyllis walked in. “Look, Rebecca gave me a clue as to what’s up here. You can hide on your own time. You came here for the tour and the interview, so that’s what you should do. I also understand there is a free concert tonight with a band I never heard of but the girls got all excited about. I am sure Rebecca would love to spend some time with you. To be honest, in the two years I have known her, I have never seen her open up to anybody like she has to you.”

“Great, we make an adorable couple, the two of us and ten pounds of steel.”

“Be as sarcastic to me as you like. If you want to be miserable, help yourself. But Becky is very sensitive and your aunt was sincere when she said you were a nice guy. If you get past her overbite and shyness, I think you will find a pretty girl and a pretty person. I don’t care if you never see her again after this trip, but for gods’ sake, be nice to her. Now hurry up, you have things to do. I will see you again at lunch.” Resigned to his fate, he got dressed and left.

The tour took over three hours, going from one end of the campus to the other. The guy giving the tour did the customary double take, as did everyone else that day, at the sight of the two of them in headgear, but it was otherwise an uneventful tour. Becky stayed at his side for all of it, a curious combination of timidity when someone talked to or looked at her and ferocity if someone even began to laugh at Steve. The rest of the girls just wanted to get through the day so they could party with the college guys that night.

It was the interview that got interesting. It was an ‘informal chat’ for those who wanted to actually attend OSU. Only Steve, Sharon and Cathy went. It was a constant give and take between Steve and Sharon, with Cathy tittering at all of Sharon’s insults aimed at “Mr. Martian” or “the Steel Avenger”. It was when she said “the geek in the iron mask” that the interviewer stepped in.

“Quite frankly, Miss Mathews, I question your maturity level. He is, in essence, working his way through college by participating in a study which requires a significant amount of self sacrifice. You seem to expect that with your marginal, but acceptable grades and one year on the student council you could just walk in here and be accepted. You have already said your parents would have no problem with your tuition. Your problem here is that we also look at other factors, such as attitude, and desire. Let me ask you, from my perspective, who in this room looks to be really dedicated towards getting a degree.” Sharon seemed, for the first time, speechless.

“Look,” Steve jumped in, “we have been trading insults for two days now. I keep warning her about peroxide poisoning and which brand of tissue would be softer in her bra, and she reminds me that I can get radio stations in twelve states. It is all meaningless to her and me. We had a long talk last night after everyone else went to bed. She did more to build my confidence about today that anyone else. And I know she really wants to go here, she told me she didn’t even apply anyplace else. I really think you have the wrong impression.”

“I guess I stand corrected. I think, Ms. Mathews, you might want to work on your interview skills, you see how easy it is in a short interview to get the wrong impression. I hope you all apply for the fall term.”

Outside the room, Sharon just stared at him. “Why?”

“Not because I care about you. I don’t need pity because I wear some stupid braces from some guy in a suit that thinks he’s cool.”

“I don’t owe you anything; I didn’t need you to help me.”

“Yeah you did, you almost blew it in there. And the only thing I want is to go home and be away from you. Later.”

As they finished dinner, Phyllis was very firm on two points, absolutely no alcohol and be back at the dorm 15 minutes after the concert ends. “Who is going to the concert?” The four girls all said yes, Becky just looked at Steve “Do you want to? We can just stay here if you want.”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet.”

“Drop it Sandra, lets just get ready to go.”

“What did I say, I just think their magnetism is cute.” Cathy and Sandra started laughing.

“I said drop it.” As they walked away.

“What’s up with her, being nice?” asked Becky.

“Not a clue.” Steve said.

“Cathy might tell a different story.” Phyllis stared at Steve and smiled.

“What are you talking about.”

“Nothing.”

“OK. Do you want to go tonight?” In a way, this is what Steve feared the most. He really didn’t want to go, but he also didn’t want to sit around with Becky staring at him all night. For better or worse, he figured they were going to be together one way or the other. They could always leave early.

“If I wasn’t here, would you have worn your headgear all day, here at the university?”

She hesitated. “Probably not. But I don’t mind. Really.”

“Let’s go, but leave yours off. I can’t stand it when people act differently because of this junk.”

“I know what you mean. I’ll go get dressed.”

As Becky, left Phyllis looked at Steve. “Why did you stick up for Sharon? She certainly never gave you a second thought.”

“I was just not going to give her anything else to have attitude about. It was none of his business.”

“Fair enough. You know Becky has never been on a date before.”

“It’s not a date. We’re just going to a free concert.”

“To her it’s a date. She has never been out with a guy before, call it what you want. Just remember she feels very comfortable with you. I know you’ll be nice, and I know you are probably not into the social scene, but to her it is a date, just try to relax and have some fun. It was nice of you to tell her to leave her headgear off, but if you don’t mind me asking, why did you have them wired on if you hate them so much?”

“You have it backwards, they’re wired on because I hate them so much. It’s all part of some study by my nutty orthodontist and my parents and I signed a contract, so now I have to wear them until he says so. I’m sorry I ever saw the guy. I know, it sounds weird. The only good thing is I am making tuition money for wearing the worst braces around.”

“I am sure it will all work out. And here comes Becky, you two have fun.”

Sitting at the concert didn’t really bother Steve, it was nice and dark. They got there late, and left a little early to avoid the crowd. “They have a coffee shop over there, and we are a little early, do you want to go get some?” Becky was really beginning to enjoy wandering around the campus.

Steve figured the place would be empty due to the show, but was wrong, the place was almost full. He could hear the smirks as they walked in, but they pretty much went unnoticed after they ordered. While they were drinking their coffee, Becky pointed out Sharon sitting in the corner with two guys. One was pouring something into her cup from a paper bag and pushing it towards her. After one sip she frowned and pushed it away. The more she pushed it away, the more they poured in and pushed it back. She stared over at their table with a look of controlled desperation. Steve walked over to the table with Becky.

“Excuse me Sharon, it’s time for us to get back to the dorm.”

“Go away little boy, it has to be way past your bedtime.” The three guys laughed.

“Yeah, nice look you got going there. Why don’t you go back and floss with some steel wool, or whatever you use.” More alcohol based laughter. Sharon did not look happy.

“I really think we should go Sharon.” His voice was wavering.

“Hey braceface, you already have a date, sort of anyway, buzz off. I would like to be around to see what you do for a goodnight kiss though.” More laughter. Sharon seemed frozen.

“Very original lines, do you get funnier the drunker you get? Should I tell the manager you are forcing a 17 year old girl to drink?” Steve said it loud enough to draw the attention of everyone around.

At this point the guys stood up. “Why don’t you take that crap off and step outside?”

It was then that Becky pulled out her cell phone. “I dialed campus security, all I have to do is push send and it will call them.”

The guys looked around and felt everyone’s eyes on them.“We aren’t forcing anyone to do anything. Come on guys, we got to go.” And with that it was over.

Sharon got up and the three of them walked back to the dorm. “I wasn’t having a problem in there. God, rescued by two dweebs.”

“Yeah, so you keep saying. I just felt like making a really weird two days even weirder. I figure the fastest way to get this junk off is to have some drunken goon tear my face apart.” Sharon got the joke, Becky was shaking. “Tell you what, we won’t tell a soul if you just shut up.”

Sharon started crying. They sat down on a bench to let her calm down. “It was too cool, just hanging with college guys. And they treated me like a blow up doll. He was putting his hand up my skirt and I just sat there. I am so ashamed. And then you two bail me out. I’m the one who is always supposed to be in control, not guys like you. I’m sorry, I can be such a brat. No more, I promise, no more.” She was still crying as they took her to her room.

“Walk me to my room?” So he took her down two floors. They could tell the concert had just let out as the residents started returning.

“I am in here with Hannah, she seems nice.” As soon as they got inside she reached for the face-bow and slid it in place. She put on the strap in one quick move. “I know this will sound stupid, but can I kiss you?”

With that she bent over for what had to be the most difficult first kiss ever. It more resembled Eskimos rubbing noses than anything else, but Becky smiled as if she had been named Miss America.

“I’m glad to see you two are getting along so well.” Steve spun to see Hannah and Phyllis standing in the door. “I guess we got here just in time. I never would have figured Sharon would beat you two into bed. But time to go Steve.”

“Goodnight Steve. Thanks.”

“Good night.” And Steve and Phyllis walked down to his room.

“I hope you had half as good a time as she did. I have never seen her so happy. Maybe your headgear is more of a babe magnet than you thought. I’m glad to see your aunt was right. We leave at 9 tomorrow, see you for breakfast. Good night.”

He was tired, it was after midnight, but had to start the lengthy routine of brushing his appliances. He had an array of toothbrushes, picks, toothpaste and mouthwash and spent about five minutes in the process. He stared in the mirror and inspected the stainless steel. One last futile pull on the face-bows and he laid down in bed.

The ride home was very quiet, especially Sharon. If not for the radio and the ongoing debate about which station was best, everyone, except Becky was content to just watch the miles go by. She seemed almost a different person, a happy person, so no one really seemed to mind.

“Well well well, it’s the return of Robodork.”

“Shove it Schbowsky, just shut up.” The return to school was being every bit as miserable as he thought. He knew it would be a couple of weeks of the stares and stupid humor again.

“So hanger head spent two days with five women and, tell me this isn’t true, ends up with Bucky, the ugliest girl at St. Mary’s.”

“Hey, shut up. Who the hell do you think you are to talk about someone else’s looks. And I would sure rather spend more time with Becky than any time with you.”

“That must be true, I hear you spent the whole weekend with her.” Looking at the others at the table. “It was love at first sight, as soon as he saw her wearing headgear. Too bad she only has the one face-bow or they would be a perfect match.”

“Just shut up. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be wearing this junk anyway.” As soon as he said it, he regretted it.

“You got that right, I wear the plastic and you are the worst heavy metal since the seventies. So why are you wearing that stuff again, violate one of the rules? Get used to the look guys, my guess is he will have the antennas on for what, the next year or so.” He reached out and swiped his finger across the face-bows.

Steve slapped the hand away. “I’m getting paid.”

“Not enough to wear those things. Man you look like something out of a low budget sci-fi movie. You know, the cheap looking freak the girls run from in terror. Oh yeah, now you think you are so cool because you took a car ride to a college with girls that are still laughing at you, except for your sweetheart Bucky. Asking her to the game this weekend?”

“More shallow talk from an a-hole.”

“Oh, I’m so hurt. At least Sharon is not like the over-sized, flat-chested beaver you hooked up with. How much taller than you is she?”

“She is a really nice per….What’s the point….” Steve grabbed his soda and started to leave.

“Don’t forget your straw coil head.” The whole table started laughing. Steve stumbled on the leg of a chair as he walked away. That made them laugh even harder. He went to the library and took his favorite chair hidden in the corner.

“Look, I just want you to know I think they are all stuck up with a capital S. I know you have smoked pot before and I have a joint of some pretty good stuff, what say we slide down to the grotto and spark it up. Um, you can smoke one with those…”

“Yeah, I’ll find a way. Don’t worry, you can’t catch braces, even these.” Ed Valone, or Eddie V, and Steve had lived a block away until fourth grade. They were friends then, but had not really even talked during high school. He had gotten in tight with Schbowsky and his clique and Steve had gone away from that group from day 1. Still Eddie V had never done or even said anything against him, so Steve went to the grotto to smoke the joint. It was an hour before the game and Becky was going to be there, and was expecting to see Steve. Somehow his parents had heard about Becky. He knew he had not mentioned it, so it had to be his aunt.

Regardless, he had gotten tired of hearing that he had to get out of the house, he had to “get over it”, he owed it to the girl who had called and asked him if she could go to the game with him. She had managed to call when he was out, but his mother had a “nice chat” with “that nice girl” and would not let it go. At least she did not know about the dance afterwards. He was still trying to figure how to get over sitting with this girl that the rest of the world seemed destined to put together. He hoped she would not be wearing her headgear, but figured the joint would make him care less.

The grotto was an area in the back of the property, overgrown with small trees and bushes. It had a small cinderblock bunker that used to house water and gas shut-offs before the new building went up. It was now unused and almost forgotten except as a place to sneak joints and beer. Steve had never been there before, it was not his crowd.

He almost turned around when he saw three other guys hanging there, but V kept saying it would be cool. And it was, for the first 15 minutes. By then the joint was gone and everyone was feeling good when Schbowsky showed up, carrying a case of beer. A boom box was playing from inside the bunker.

Looking straight at Steve, “God, they’ll let anyone hang here these days. And what’s up with this weak music?” He walked in the bunker and changed the station. Then it happened quickly. Steve was sitting on an old pipe near the door when two guys grabbed his arms and one held his head from behind. Schbowsky stepped out; walked up to Steve and pulled a small padlock out of his pocket, Steve did not see the length of chain dragging behind. In a quick motion the lock slid in the loop on the right side of the upper face-bow, placed a link of the chain on and snapped it shut.

“See, I told you it would work. And he can’t take it off. Check it out.”

Still stoned, Steve stood up to figure out what happened. A light chain attached by a small master padlock, draped from his face and ran inside the building. After several quick pulls, it was obvious it was locked on. Steve pulled on the chain and found it was locked to a large pipe inside.

“Get this thing off of me, now.” Now everyone but Steve was near hysterical laughter and pointing at him. “Get this off me.” They just laughed harder.

“Is that what you told Dr. S.? Look what we got here guys. He was so cool going up to OSU with the girls, even Sharon felt pity for the Elephant Man here. She told me to lay off this jerk. She even asked if we could sit with him at the game. Well, looks like he can’t make it. Almost game time, let’s hit it. See you after the game dude, or maybe the dance. Grab the beer and the box, I got the joint.”

Steve tried to grab him but his head snapped back as the slack ran out of the six feet of chain. He was locked to the building and they were gone, he was alone. He looked down at the lock and saw it was small, but real. He needed the key or a tool, but there was nothing but twigs around. At first it was anger, then tears of frustration, then fear of more humiliation with whoever wandered by. He could scream for help, and maybe someone would hear him, but probably not. And if they did, he would feel even worse when he had to explain he was smoking pot and got so stoned he let them do this to him.

The chain was a lot like the headgear, he kept pulling on it knowing it would not change anything. He walked into the bunker and saw the end of the chain with another small padlock wrapped around a cast iron fitting. He kicked at the lock, but it was too solid and the kicking had no effect other than to hurt his foot. He walked outside, sat down and just stared at the ground for what felt like hours. In the distance he could hear the dull roar of the game. He didn’t care. He just kept remembering how Marino told him how much he would hate wearing braces, especially the headgear, and how he just kept thinking how he could get a free car while wearing plastic brackets. Greed pure and simple. He insulted his parents, especially his mother, laughing at her orthodontic experiences as if it were the old ‘walked 10 miles through the snow’ stories. He never could have dreamed the headgear could even be wired in, nevermind being chained by it for their amusement and his humiliation. It was his senior year in high school and he was never going to another school event again, no matter what.

“See, there he is.” It was half time and four guys were being given a tour of the ‘zoo’. Eddie V looked at the expression on Steve’s face and just looked away. “C’mon guys, lets go find the beer.”

“Man, you did this. It’s outrageous. Lets get a camera, guys are never gonna believe this, locked by his braces to the bunker. Man, what a geek. Tommy has the key? Just too funny.”

“Let’s go.” Eddie never looked at him and led the others away. He was alone again as he heard the sounds of the crowd welcoming the teams back on to the field. He thought about just bending the face-bows until something gave, but then he would have to explain it and he just sat down again and stared at the ground.

“What the hell is this? What did you guys do? Are you sick? Are you nuts? Maria warned me you were twisted but this is demented. Where the hell is the key? You can not be serious. This is sick.”

The voice snapped him back to attention. Sharon looked as mad as anyone Steve had ever seen. “Give me the god damned key.”

“Hey, chill, just having some fun.” Schbowsky obviously had been both drinking and smoking some more pot. “He understands, don’t you Steve?”

“Understand this, I want that key now.”

“Its cool, here. No harm done. He’s okay.”

“To hell with all of you. If you even want to see a female at your stupid dance, get lost now.” She grabbed the key and handed it to Steve. “Now.”

“I had it under control.” He tried to make a joke, but was visibly upset.

“So I see, sorry for intruding. Are you okay?” The concern was genuine. “This was just sick, I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything. Can we just get out of here.”

“You going to the game?”

“No.”

“Becky is waiting there.”

“Why does everyone keep telling me about her? I barely even met her. Just because we both wear braces everyone thinks we are like dating. I just want out of here.”

“I understand. I’ll tell her for you. She’ll understand.”

“I don’t want her to understand. I don’t want anyone to know. I just want to go.”

Sharon grabbed his arm and looked at him. “Look, a week ago I probably would have thought this was funny. A week ago, I would have helped them. But you just Schbowskyed with my head last weekend. No one said anything to anyone about me last week, you were both so cool. Then Becky shows up at school all week, wearing her headgear like it was some sort of fraternity pin. She was a different person. And it was you that did it. I saw what those guys thought of me, and I thought they were cool, and they were just going to rape me. And the two people I thought were geeks stood up to them when I couldn’t. You and Becky are way cooler than my so called friends. You have a car. My sister and her husband are out of town. Hannah and I are staying with their dog this weekend. Why don’t we get Becky and go there. We can get some pizza and just talk. Don’t tell anyone, but we have a couple of joints. We’ll have fun. Please.”

Steve could not believe this was the same girl he despised just last week. He had trusted Vinnie and just got humiliated. But something in her voice just told him to listen to her.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“I’ll go get Becky and meet you by the gate.”

“No, I’ll get her. Everyone wants me to date her anyway. To hell with this place, and to hell with those guys.” And they walked up to pick up Becky, whose silver smile and face was framed by her face-bow. None of the stares mattered then, but he knew the next two years were not going to be determined by all the wire sticking out of his mouth, no matter how miserable they made him.