A/N; This is just a cute little one shot about Beth's time in orthodontics, based on my current experiences with it (yes, I have braces). The procedures she went through on here might not be totally correct. Sorry about that, I'm not an orthodontist or anything (:. I hope you can enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Spitting out the contents of my mouth into the sink provided, I looked up and smiled. I had waited eight long years for this day, and it had finally come.

"Beth, sweetie, can I see your new teeth?" I heard my mom ask from behind me. I turned around and gave her the hugest grin I've ever produced in my life. It felt nice. For once, I could smile without having the brackets scrape against the inside of my mouth.

My mom smiled, revealing her own set of perfect white teeth. "Oh Beth, honey, you look beautiful!" she gushed, clasping her hands together.

"Really?" I turned around and studied my reflection. It was true. Eight years of ugly, awkward braces had been replaced with a beautiful, perfect smile. I could almost feel tears welling up behind my eyes.

My mom put her hand on my shoulder. "You sure have come a long way for this, haven't you?"

I smiled as the memories began flooding my head. She was right. It had been a very long, painful road...

-

It all began when I was eight years old. Yes. Eight. I think I was in second grade. At that age, teeth pretty much went unnoticed. I mean, we all knew we needed them to eat and stuff, and we knew we had to brush them twice a day (though very few actually did), but otherwise they served no importance to our young lives. Back then, I figured teeth came in all different shapes, sizes, and patterns. I mean, everybody's teeth were different. Some had gaps, crowding, overbites, underbites...you name it, somebody in my class had it. It never occurred to me that teeth were supposed to be a certain way.

I was brushing my teeth when my mom knocked on the door. I spit the toothpaste into the sink.

"Yes?"

"Beth, sweetie, when you're done with that, come into the living room. I want to talk to you about something!"

My mind began to race as I heard her feet shuffle away. Was I in trouble? I couldn't possibly think of anything I had done wrong...

Stay calm, Beth. I thought. Maybe it's something good!

I rinsed my mouth out with water and nervously paced into the living room. My mom was sitting in the recliner next to the couch with a huge grin on her face, revealing perfect white teeth. I sat myself on the very edge of the couch and smiled back, nervously.

"Beth, honey, what would you say if I told you that you could have teeth exactly like Mommy's?"

I studied my mom's huge grin. Her parents were both dentists, and it showed by her rather OCDish brushing habits and bright, white, perfect teeth.

I brought myself up to my knees and turned to the mirror that was placed behind the couch, studying my own teeth. There was a huge gap between my two front teeth (which had just come in a few weeks ago), and almost every tooth on top was turned in to some degree. My bottom teeth were fine for the most part, except for the one tooth that was almost completely turned in, and the fact that my top teeth came out way past them, making them barely visible. The right side of my top teeth overlapped the bottom, while the left side had the bottom overlap the top, causing some discomfort eating. My teeth were also slightly yellow, since all the crookedness made it hard to reach some places with my toothbrush. All in all, my teeth weren't exactly what you call "pretty".

"You mean you can fix teeth?" I asked, totally bewildered.

My mom chuckled. "Yes, honey, you can fix teeth. How do you think mine got so perfect?"

The idea continued to amaze me. This would mean my teeth could look good, just like my mom's!

Questions began to flood my head, and soon came spilling out of my mouth. "How do they do it? Does it hurt? How long does it take?"

My mom silenced me, stepped out of the room for a second, and came back with a picture of her from her teenage years. In the picture she was grinning, with mysterious blue growths attached to her teeth.

"These are called braces. They help straighten people's teeth out. I had them when I was about thirteen. Many of your fellow classmates will have them when you get older, if not all of them. You're just going to be first!"

I studied the picture my mom had handed me. I had seen some people around wearing what she had on. I figured they wore them just because. I didn't think they actually had a purpose.

"So, if other people are getting them later, can't I get them later, too?" I asked.

"But, sweetie, don't you want to just get it over with? I mean, think about it. Your friends will all have to deal with the pain of braces while you'll have perfect, straight teeth already!"

Pain?

"I guess..."

"Great! Your first orthodontic appointment is tomorrow at one thirty. I'll come get you from school so we're not late." My mom beamed, before standing up and leaving the room.

I took one last look at the picture my mom had handed me. Braces really didn't look so bad. They actually looked kind of cute. How bad could they possibly be?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Will Elizabeth Hemingway please come to the front office? Her mother is here to pick her up for the day." The intercom in the room blasted. I grinned and picked up my stuff.

As usual, I couldn't get myself out the door without a bunch of "Beth! Where are you going? Will you come back?" from my classmates. I released my grip from the door handle and turned around.

"I'm going to a...or....orta.....orthodo....orthadohontis? I don't know!" I shrugged my shoulders. The class looked back at me quizzically.

My teacher smiled and stepped next to me, taking my left shoulder in her hand. "I think what Beth is trying to say is that she's going to an orthodontist. People go there to get their teeth fixed. I went to one when I was a teenager!" She opened her mouth, revealing her own set of perfect white teeth.

"Oh..." the class muttered in response, not quite understanding it.

I took the teacher's hand as she escorted me up the stairs and down the hall to the front office, where my mom was waiting patiently.

"Good luck at the orthodontist, Beth!" my teacher shouted before marching back to her classroom.

My mom ran her fingers through my hair. "You ready, sweetheart?"

I nodded.

"Well, let's get going, we're going to be late!"

-

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hemingway, my name is Dr. Williams." The lady, who looked to be about forty, shook my mom's hand. "Now, if you two will follow me here to this back room and we'll begin.

I grabbed onto my mom's hand nervously as Dr. Williams led us to a room towards the back. So far, I was not liking this place. It reeked of rotten toothpaste and stale air and you could hear a bunch of drilling in the background, with the occasional scream.

"Mrs. Hemingway, if you would just take a seat right here..." Dr. Williams pulled up a chair and sat her down. "And Beth, please take a seat right here." She pointed to a large, padded chair positioned in the center of the room. I hoisted myself up and took a deep breath.

"Okay, so we're going to start by having me examine your mouth and have my assistant write some things down. Is that okay?" Dr. Williams asked in an annoying baby tone.

"Uh...sure..."

Another lady stepped into the room quietly and pulled up a table next to Dr. Williams. "Patient name?"

"Elizabeth Hemingway." Dr. Williams replied as she began to open my mouth.

She began studying my mouth, calling out random letters and numbers while the assistant marked them down. I could tell she was trying really hard not to cringe at my less-than-perfect chompers.

"So, next we're going to take impressions, x-rays, and photographs. Tomorrow we'll have your mother come back so we can discuss payment options and procedures that are going to happen over the next few years."

Years? Just how long was this going to take?

I gulped nervously and nodded slowly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Beth, sweetie, I know you're nervous but you're really going to need to calm down! You're a big girl, aren't you?"

I began breathing heavily as we walked into the orthodontist's office. The familiar smell of rotten toothpaste and stale air filled my nostrils. Yuck.

"Hi there! Just sign in and go on back!" The lady at the desk said, grinning unnaturally wide.

My mom wrote my name down on a sheet of paper and led me back to a room with four chairs similar to the one I had to sit on before lined up, along with supplies on a little station next to each.

Dr. Williams peered out from behind and grinned. "Hello Beth, you can just have a seat in the first chair to your left!"

I sat myself down. The equipment that was sitting on the table next to me looked scary and complicated. What were they going to do to me?

Dr. Williams sat herself down in a stool next to me, close to my head. "So, Beth, today we are going to be putting on your palette expander. What this will do is make more room in your mouth so that in a couple of years, when we put the braces on, we won't run into any complications."

I nodded.

"So we're going to put this on real quick and then we're going to show your mom how to turn the key. So if you could please lay down for me?"

I rested my head on the rather stiff headrest the chair had attached. Dr. Williams placed a pair of cheap sunglasses on my face and opened my mouth, beginning to work. I closed my eyes, too afraid to see what was going on. I heard a bunch of drilling and squeaking, as well as uncomfortable pressure throughout my teeth. I wanted to scream and run away.

After what felt like an eternity, with several people coming to gather around me and help, Dr. Williams finally finished. I opened one eye and noticed her grinning above me.

"You did great, Beth! Just stay put for a second while I go and get your mother and show her how to turn the key." Dr. Williams announced as she left the room. I began running my tongue through my mouth. My top teeth felt plastic-y and dull. I stuck my hand inside and felt around. They had covered my top teeth with a strange plastic thing. Was that temporary?

Dr. Williams stepped back into the room, with my mom, who was beaming, right beside her. Dr. Williams took her seat next to me again and pulled out a stick thing with a small metal rod coming out of it.

"Turning the key is quite simple. You'll need to do this once a day for three weeks, and it is imperative that you do this every day. You just stick the key into the small hole right there..." Dr. Williams stuck her hand in my mouth and positioned the key. "And turn it like this..."

Sharp shooting pain shot through my mouth as she turned the key. Muffled screams escaped my throat. I felt like I was being ripped in half.

"See? It's that simple! Do you want to try?" Dr. Williams asked, ignoring my screams.

"No! Donth! Pleath! Dat hurth!" I felt a metal-y object at the roof of my mouth blocking my tongue. I now had a lisp. Wonderful.

"Honey, you're going to have to get used to it. You do have to do this everyday..."

I groaned and braced myself for more pain.

-

"Mom! Pleath! Go bah and tell them to take it off!" A large wad of spit went flying out of my mouth and onto the driver's seat in front of me.

"Beth, honey, like I said before, you're a big girl! The pain will only last for a few days. Soon, you won't even realize it's there!"

Was she kidding me? With the throbbing pain, weird plastic over my teeth, and newly acquired lisp, it would be impossible not to realize it's there.

"But mom! The kidth at thcool are going to make thfun of me! And it HURTH!"

"It what?"

"HURTH! Ugh..."

"Look, I know you're upset about it now, but when you see those perfect teeth one day you will thank me! Now here, I got you some chicken nuggets. Go ahead and eat them in the car, since we're going to be heading to the store and I don't want you to get hungry there." She stopped at a red light and handed me a white bag. I pulled out a chicken nugget and attempted to bite down.

It hurt a little bit, but that wasn't the main problem. The bite kept sliding around in my mouth. The plastic made it nearly impossible to actually bite down. I finally gave up and mashed the bite onto the expander, getting it small enough to swallow. If you could even say I swallowed it. Half of it ended up stuck in my expander.

I wanted to shoot myself.

-

I stepped into the classroom quietly, trying not to attract any attention. I was an hour late due to the fact that I had screamed and hidden when my mom attempted to come and turn the key. After half an hour of chasing, though, she ended up catching me and sent me back into screaming pain.

"Hi, Beth! Glad you showed up. Why are you late?" My teacher asked. I kept my mouth shut and handed her the note my mom had written me.

The teacher looked at me quizzically. "Why aren't you speaking, Beth? Is something wrong."

I shook my head.

"Why don't you tell the class where you were? You need to speak, Beth!"

I sighed and gave up on my no-talking attempt.

"I...uh...thlept in. Thorry..." I closed my eyes, awaiting laughter.

Silence.

I opened my eyes and noticed shocked looks on my classmate's faces. Finally, one kid decided to speak up.

"What happened to your voice?"

I sighed. "I hath to geth thith thing called a palette ecthpander..." I opened my mouth and showed them the metal contraption in my mouth. "Ith making me talk weird...thorry..."

Cue the laughter.

"Beth has a lisp! Beth has a lisp!" The class began to chant. I felt my face turn several shades of deep red.

"Enough, guys! If somebody makes fun of Beth one more time they are going to have a time out, okay?" The teacher shouted.

The class fell silent, and went back to what they were doing.

"Now, Beth, please turn to page twenty one in your textbook and do the problems on the page. We're reviewing our times tables."

I nodded and took my seat. I had never been so embarrassed in my life.

-

Lunch, the most dreaded part of the day, came much sooner than usual. I pulled out my turkey sandwich and began inspecting it, hoping I wouldn't make a huge mess in attempt to eat it.

My two best friends, Gracie and Melissa, took their seats across from me, pulling out their own food and taking a bite, effortlessly. I envied them.

"Listen, Beth, we're sorry for laughing at you earlier..." Gracie muttered, hanging her head in shame.

"Yeah. Best friends don't laugh at each other." Melissa added in.

I smiled. "Awwww thanfs guyth! Apology athepted!"

Gracie covered her mouth, attempting to conceal her laughter.

I felt my stomach rumble and decided it was time to attempt to eat. I bit off the corner of my sandwich and sloshed it around with great effort. I probably looked stupid.

Melissa scrunched up her nose. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to eat!" I shouted, sending my bite flying onto her shirt. Gracie scooted away to the next seat while Melissa wiped her shirt in horror. I looked to my left and noticed the entire class looking at me.

"Beth just spit her food at Melissa!"

"Some friend she is!"

Melissa looked up and glared at me. "Yeah, Beth. Thanks a lot!"

Gracie stood up with her lunch tray. "We are so not best friends anymore!"

"Yeah!" Melissa stood up next to her and they both walked to the other end of the table.

I looked down at my sandwich, trying hard as I could not to break down into tears. In a matter of a few hours, I had lost my friends, my classmate's respect, and the ability to properly use my teeth! Stupid palette expander.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay, so fast forward four years. The expander had come off long ago and I was living mostly appliance free (except for the metal bands on my back teeth, but those didn't count, did they?). By now, many kids had gotten braces already, and even a few shared the torture of having a palette expander, including Gracie(who re-apologized later that year and was still my best friend). So when it came time for me to have my braces put on, I didn't sweat it one bit. I mean, if I could handle the expander, I could handle anything they would throw at me.

"You aren't even a little nervous?" My mom asked as we walked into the orthodontist's office. I shook my head.

"Why, should I be?"

My mom shrugged. "You were all freaked out when you got that expander put on, weren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, that was four years ago. Besides, nothing can be as bad as that stupid expander was!"

"You'd be surprised..."

I sat myself down in the chair and took a deep breath. Bye bye nasty teeth, hello braces.

Dr. Williams, along with a couple other assistants, peered out from their office and smiled.

"Beth, are you ready to get your braces on today?"

I nodded halfheartedly.

"This will take a while, so if you need to use the restroom or brush your teeth one more time..."

I shook my head. "No, no. I'm ready. Let's just get this over with."

Dr. Williams sat herself down near my head and put one of those bib things around my neck. She then put some freaky thing in my mouth that made my cheeks spread apart.

"This is a lip spreader. We're going to put this in to make it easier to put the braces in. You can feel around to find the little slot to put your tongue in."

I rolled my tongue all through my mouth. No luck. I pulled it back uncomfortably and hoped I wouldn't have to hold it there for too long.

And so it began. Almost two long, boring hours of drilling, scraping, and having some weird light thing press against my teeth. Finally, Dr. Williams pulled out the lip spreader and handed me a chain with a bunch of random rubber thingies on it. "Pick a couple of colors for your bands!"

I studied the rubber thingies and ultimately decided on light pink and orange. I clenched and unclenched my teeth together in my mouth. There was a slight bit of pain, but nothing too bad. I didn't see why people complained so much.

My mom popped into the room and smiled. "How do your teeth feel?"

I shrugged. "I can barely even feel them!" I smiled wide, showing her my bandless braces.

My mom snickered. "Wait until they actually put the bands on. And even then, it won't hurt too badly until an hour or two later."

I sat up and put my hands on my hips. "And what makes you so sure?"

"I had braces, remember?"

I rolled my eyes. "That was forever ago, Mom. Things have changed." I remarked, "duh" oozing through my voice.

Honestly, I don't know why I had such an annoying attitude back then. I think all kids that age do. Sure enough though, my ego took a few hits a couple of hours later.

"THESE THINGS HURT SO BAD! GET DR. WILLIAMS TO TAKE THESE OFF NOW!" I shouted to my mom as she stirred spaghetti sauce up for dinner.

My mom looked up at me and smirked. "Oh yeah Mom, it doesn't hurt at all. Braces have changed. Duh!" She began mocking me. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay, you were right! Just PLEASE let me go get these things taken off! I can't stand the pain!"

"Beth, honey, you're just going to have to deal with it. Why don't you take some more pain medicine?"

"I tried! Mom, do you have any idea how bad this pain is?"

"I know, I know. Just give it a few days. It will go away, I promise!"

I groaned and stomped back into my room.

I pulled up a mirror and began studying my new teeth. The braces looked really awkward on, not like everybody else's.

I sighed and tried to calm down. I mean, once the pain subsided, it would be over with. No more pain to come, right?

Wrong. Very wrong.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fast forward three more years. I was fourteen, and my braces had been on for a long time. All the adjustments and random appliances were starting to get on my nerves. By now, my teeth were perfectly straight. By now, my friends were starting to get their braces removed and I was sure mine were next. I might not have been the first person to get them off like my mom promised, but at least I wouldn't be the last.

I strolled into the orthodontist's office, feeling confident that they were going to tell me the braces were coming off soon. I mean, what else was there left to do?

Dr. Williams grinned as she handed me the little rubber band thingies and told me to pick a color. Nothing unusual. Yet.

"Beth, big news today!"

I jumped in my chair excitedly. "And what's that?"

Dr. Williams left the room for a second and came back with a funny looking contraption. "You're going to start wearing headgear!"

I felt my whole body go numb. There was no way I was wearing that!

"I...I...wha?" I managed to spit out.

"This is good news, Beth! We're almost done with your treatment!"

"B-b...can't I just wear rubber bands like everybody else?" I stammered.

Dr. Williams picked up my chin and studied my teeth. "There's no way. Your overbite is too severe for rubber bands to be able to fix. You're going to need to wear the headgear."

"There's...no... what? This isn't fair!"

Dr. Williams chuckled. "You'll only have to wear it when you sleep. And it will only be for about a year and a half to two years. It's not forever or anything!"

A year and a half to two years?!

I sighed in defeat.

"It's not that hard to use. You just slip it over your head like this..." Dr. Williams dropped the thing onto my head. It felt really heavy. I was pretty sure my neck would break from all the weight. "And then you attach these to your braces like so..." Dr. Williams hooked the strange mouthpiece to my braces, causing quite a bit of discomfort. Great.

Dr. Williams disconnected the headgear and handed it to me. "You're going to need to wear this at least twelve hours a day, which, while it will mostly be in your sleep, you might need to wear it around the house for a little bit. If you have any questions, feel free to call the office at any time."

I nodded silently, too shocked for words.

-

I slipped on the headgear as I got ready to go to bed. That neck crushing feeling returned, along with the painful pulling feel soon after.

Well, at least I'll be asleep, right? I thought as I crawled into my bed. I couldn't feel my pillow beneath the scratchy, hard material the headgear was made of, and I felt like my teeth were going to pop out of my mouth.

I can do this. Just distract yourself. Think about something else. Something boring. You'll forget all about it and fall asleep in no time!

I thought of every boring, sleep inducing thing I could. Math tests, English lectures, cooking, even counting sheep. Nothing worked. My mind would always wander back to the throbbing pain in my teeth.

Finally, after several hours passed by, I was so tired that I practically passed out. I just hoped the next night would be easier.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally, this day came. No more headgear, painful adjustments, getting food stuck in every nook and cranny of my mouth, canker sores, awkward smiles, or that god awful lisp, which I figured would come back with the retainer, but I didn't care. The pain of braces was finally over. I was sixteen, older than most people, who had gotten them off a year or two ago.

I smiled and studied my reflection once more. Mental images of my teeth before all of this happened flooded my head. My nasty, crooked teeth. And now they were replaced with perfection.

Even with all the pain I went through, in the end, I was glad it happened. I felt my self confidence soar, and I felt on top of the world. After all, I handled braces. After all the trouble that gave me, I felt like I could handle absolutely anything the world wanted to throw at me.

I looked to my side and noticed a rather hot guy, who had gotten his braces off as well. He spit into the sink and smiled at me.

"Hi!"

I giggled nervously and felt my face turn deep red. Words seemed to have escaped me as I stood there awkwardly.

Okay, so maybe not anything.