Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick

Author:Jordan Sonnenblick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

When I got home from school, Mom and Matthew were both helping Dad come out of the bathroom and walk up the stairs to the kitchen table. I smiled hugely at them, hoping they would notice my braces and say something nice, but they barely looked away from what they were doing. I sat there and watched Dad use one of his new, fat-handled spoons to eat some applesauce from one of his new bowls that attached to his new plastic table mat with suction cups, while Matthew made fake-cheerful small talk about his school day, and Mom worked on getting dinner into the oven.

And I smiled.

And smiled.

Matthew barely looked at me until Dad said, “Shiny Piggy!”

Both Matthew and Mom stopped and stared. Mom said, “Oh, Claire, I’d totally forgotten you were getting braces today! You look so cute!”

“Uh, yeah, Claire,” Matthew said. “Those look nice on you.”

Instead of making me feel good, this made me furious. “Mom,” I snarled, “you knew I was getting my braces on today?”

“Well, sure, it’s been on the calendar for a while.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I assumed you knew, Claire. And, well, we’ve all been kind of busy here.”

“But I brought all the wrong stuff for lunch. I couldn’t eat any of it. All I’ve had to eat all day is half a cracker. And everybody hated my braces! They laughed at me! This was the worst day of my life!”

“This was the worst day of your life, Claire?”

I said, “Yes. It was.”

“Really? After everything we’ve been through over the past month and a half? I want you to think really hard before you answer.”

I looked around at my mom, who looked like she wanted to strangle me; at my brother, who looked kind of horrified; and finally at my father, who just sat there with applesauce dribbling down his chin, looking confused. Then I stood and went upstairs to my room.

I felt like I had just been Cabrillo’d, Captain Cooked, and then Henry Hudsoned. Actually, no. Henry Hudson had had a few faithful crew members in his little boat. I was sinking slowly in mine, all alone.

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