Random Dental Stories

Ethan

"DAD! WHERE'S MY HISTORY BOOK?" I shout up the stairs. We have the kind of household environment where this is a daily thing.

"On the kitchen table, next to the fruit bowl." He says as he walks down the stairs, dressed in his smart shirt and pressed trousers. I look over at the table, seeing the forest green cover of my history book. I quickly pick it up and slide it into my bag before zipping it again and shrugging it onto my shoulder.

I walk over to the counter where the toaster has popped with my toast waiting for me. I smear a coating of butter onto it and take a huge bite, my dad looking at me like I'm crazy. I chew and swallow down my bite and take another, making dead eye contact with him. He looks away, not before rolling his eyes at me. A smirk works its way onto my face.

My dad whirls back around, pointing a finger at me. Not in an angry way, more an 'I have something to say to you' way. "Oh, Ethan, I've just remembered, you don't need your history book today." I look at him with confusion.

"But I have history today?" I question, before taking another bite of toast.

"No, you don't. You don't have school today. You've got a dentist appointment with me today."

I almost choke on my toast. Well, that's a slight lie, I do choke on my toast. Once I regain composure, I glance at my dad, who stares at me with confusion and worry.

"Oh, I do? Does Lila? What about Jason?" Maybe I'm showing it by querying about my brother and sister, but I am petrified of dentists, which just so happens to be my father's profession. Lucky me, right?

My dad shakes his head at me. "No, they had their appointments last Wednesday, but you were at your JLT meeting." JLT is the junior leadership team at my school, comprised of the head boy, head girl and head person and various other members of the leadership team. I'm the head boy at my school, meaning I have to attend weird monthly meetings where we talk about the school and ways to make it better. We also get cookies, which my dad doesn't know about. If he did, he'd flip his shit.

"Oh, right." I start to fidget, already starting to get uncomfortable. Silence ensues. I take that as my cue to go and get ready for the day. Trudging my way up the stairs, I glance back at my dad. He's facing the wall taking sips of his morning cup of tea.

I enter my room, throwing open the doors of both my room and my wardrobe. I pluck a t-shirt and some jogging bottoms out from among the other garments of miscellaneous clothing items. I replace them with my school uniform before heading into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I do not want to be yelled at. I stay away from my lower left side since I have been experiencing some pain there for a while. Hopefully, Dad won't notice. I then move on, brushing out my fluffy ear-length brown hair.

Once that's done, I grab my phone and my earphones, spray some body spray and make my way downstairs to meet my dad to go. We get into the car together, an awkward silence filling the void.

Within a matter of ten minutes, we arrive at my father's dental practice. A sinking feeling enters my stomach and a sense of impending doom looms over my head. I clamber out of the car and drag myself into my dad's practice. I don't want to go, but it seems my legs don't care, carrying me to the doors. I wait for my dad to unlock the doors, twiddling my thumbs impatiently.

"Right, you can either wait in the waiting room while I get everything set up and all the systems online or you can wait in my office. Should only take about ten minutes, but it's up to you. Your appointment isn't until 11, and it's only.." he glances down at his watch, "8:25 now. I was going to suggest you could maybe help out before your appointment, or you can just chill in the office, and maybe finish some homework. Up to you."