Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It by Kerry Winfrey

Author:Kerry Winfrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: 2018-07-10T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Another week of musical practice goes by, and I keep feeling weird about it, but I’ll admit: It’s getting easier to be in front of everyone. To have everyone staring at me. I start to think of the musical as a refuge from my real life, a way to take a break from feeling like Jolie: The Girl with the Jaw. I’m not Mandibular Prognathism Girl when I’m onstage, I’m Prudie, the love of Bobby’s life, temporary resident of the moon, and the owner of a whole lot of singing pigs.

What’s not getting easier is waiting for my surgery to happen. It’s almost exactly one month away, and I can’t believe that the moment that will change my life (presuming I don’t die, of course) is so soon. Every morning I look at myself in the mirror, zero in on my jaw like usual, and think, This isn’t permanent. It seems too good to be true.

I have to skip practice one afternoon to go to yet another appointment with Dr. Kelley so she can check my braces and make sure everything’s lining up in the right place for my surgery. Mom comes with me again, even though (as usual) I tell her she doesn’t have to. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to put on a surgical mask and sneak into the operating room, too.

Dr. Kelley is her typical brisk and efficient self, checking out what’s going on with my jaw and pronouncing everything “beautiful” as she snaps the gloves off. That might be an overstatement, I think.

“I almost forgot,” she says, grabbing a pamphlet and handing it to me. “This has more information about what happens during your surgery. Of course, you’ll be asleep, but some people feel more comfortable knowing exactly what’s going to be happening.”

I eagerly grab the pamphlet.

Mom asks Dr. Kelley something about how long the surgery will take, and I zone out as I flip through the pamphlet. There are cartoon drawings of women before and after underbites, technical terms explaining what’s going to happen, lists of the possible side effects (aka Numb Lip, Unintended Corn Syndrome). But there’s one paragraph that mentions something I haven’t heard Dr. Kelley talk about before. I read the small print under a before-and-after drawing of a woman’s profile.

“Some patients choose to have rhinoplasty while having their jaw placement corrected. This surgery can further enhance facial symmetry.”

A nose job? I self-consciously touch my nose, which I’ve never really thought about before unless I have a cold or a particularly prominent zit on it. But maybe there’s something wrong with my nose and I’ve never known it; maybe my face is horrifyingly asymmetrical, like a Picasso painting, and I’ve just been living in a state of blissful ignorance and assuming my jaw is my only problem.

Mom and I drive home, her phone shuffling through music from badass female rock stars who’ve spent years fighting the patriarchy and sticking it to the man. These are the women my mom’s always held up as heroes—Kathleen Hanna, Carrie Brownstein, Kate Bush.

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