There was no one else in the world like Nia. Sure, there were other girls who were born in the month of April, and there were other girls who had the same cashew brown skin as her, but no other, yes, no other girl, had just gotten their braces put in and was sitting at their desk, painting their nails bumble bee colors while making up their own funky beat.

Mm-mn, Mm-mn,
Paint’n my nails!
Mm-mn, Mm-mn,
Never gonna fail!
Mm-mn, Mm-mn,
Hope you got the time!
Mm-mn, Mm-mn,
‘Cuse I am so fly!

Nia’s mom opened the door, letting the door hit the wall with a slam.

“Ah, ouch!” Nia screamed, her bottom teeth sliding against the backs of her top teeth, which sent throbbing pain roaring through her mouth.

“Mom! Why’d you have to barge in like that!?

“I was just making sure I left you Kayna’s presents on your vanity. I did, right? ” asked Mom.

“Yes, Mom, you did, but that’s not the point right now!” Nia whined. “You made my teeth hurt!”

“Braces hurt, Nia. you’re going to have to get used to that,” said Mom.

“What!? They do!?” asked Nia.

Her mother nodded. “They hurt when you first get them in, and they’ll hurt every month when you have to get them tightened.” Mom laughed.

“Why are you just telling me this now!?” Nia yelled.

“Because you need this information now,” Mom said, her voice wavering before she laughed again, this time leaving the room as she burst out laughing.

“Uuuuhhhh Mom! You always forgettn’ something! Now I’ve got pain in my mouth and- ouch!” Nia yelped in pain. Her bottom teeth had once again scraped against her top. She stopped talking out of pain, and there was no use talking any further anyway. Her mother had already left. Of course Mom didn’t care if Nia was in pain. She wanted to laugh at her instead.

Nia went back to painting her nails bumble-bee colored again. Yellow with black polka dots was such a beautiful design choice, or at least to Nia.

The next day, Nia was just walking into class, when Kayna, her best friend, met her at the door.

“Nia! Oh ma’ gosh, today is my birthday!”

I know, happy birthday Kayna! I got you something for your birthday!” Well, that was partially true. Nia left out the boring part that her Mom had actually gotten these bracelets for her. Nia dug inside her backpack. She pulled out two bracelets made of little see-through fake-diamond beads. One was silver and one was gold.

“Pick which color you want, and we can wear them all day today!” Nia smiled.
“I love the silver one! I think it complements my chocolatey complexion!” Kayna smiled, picking up the silver bracelet. “Thanks, Nia! You commin’ to my birthday sleepover tomorrow?” asked Kayna.

Nia sat quiet. Her parents had always NEVER let Nia go on sleepovers for whatever reason. She wanted to say yes, but Nia wasn’t gonna lie.

“I don’t know Kayna. I’ll have to check with my parents,” said Nia. “Ouch!”

“Braces?” Kayna asked.

“Yeah,” said Nia. “I hate braces so much!”

“I don’t know how you feel. I’ve never gotten braces, but I really want you to come to my birthday sleepover, since Olivia’s going, Keera’s going,” and Kayna continued, but all Nia could think about was how she was going to bribe her parents to let her go.

Good thing today was friday. Nia was coming home with all her graded papers, and she had only landed one B. The rest were all A’s. Her parents HAD to let her go to Kayna’s sleepover!

Nia was walking to the front door when she saw her father sitting outside.

“Hey Nia, can you turn on the porch light when you pass it?” her father asked.

“Oh, sure,” said Nia uninterestedly.

Nia gave mother her graded papers. “Hey Mom, guess what!? Grades came back. Nothing less than B!”

“Oh, great Nia! That’s my girl!” said Nia’s mother. She was in the kitchen baking an apple pie.

“That reminds me… can I go to Kayna’s birthday sleepover tomorrow?” asked Nia as innocently as she could.

“Kayna’s having a birthday sleepover!?” Asked Mom.

Nia huffed. “Yes, Mom, I’ve told you this before. Kayna is having a sleepover for her birthday, and all my friends are gonna be there and I wanna go!” Nia said a tad impatiently.

“No. You know the rules. No sleepovers.” Mom said, putting all her focus into putting away the pie ingredients.

“But Mom, she’s my BEST friend, and y’all never let me go on sleepovers!” Nia complained.

“There’s a good reason for that too. No Nia, you may not go on this sleepover.”

Nia whimpered.

“Go upstairs with all that whining,” Nia’s Mom told her.

“I HATE YOU!” Nia yelled, and ran upstairs. She couldn’t believe it! She gets the best grades in her whole grade level! She was well behaved and everything and her Mom still wouldn’t let her go.

She ran to her room, flopped her bed and cried. Even when sad, she would never dare get her dirty school clothes and tears on her sleeping bed, so she cried on the other twin bed she had in her room that she used for doing homework. She cried for a long time, until it was dark outside out and it was time for dinner.

At dinner, Nia couldn’t shake her bad mood… or the smell of burnt crust.

“Uh, Mom, did you forget the pie in the oven?” asked Nia.

“Oh! Yep! Gosh!” Mom quickly hurried out of her seat and ran into the kitchen.

Dad only laughed. “Hunia, you should start setting a timer for your pies!” he yelled after her.

The pie was black and smokey. Totally inedible, which made Nia’s mood worse. She was looking forward to eating that pie. Why’d her Mom have to forget everything!?

After dinner, Nia ran back upstairs to change into pajamas and sleep early. When she was in her bed, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Please, Mom, don’t come in here, Nia prayed. But she heard the footsteps come right to her doorway and stop.

“Nia,”

It was a deep, voice. Her father’s. Nia turned and sat up to face him.

“Huh?”

“You forgot to turn on the porch light for me when you went in,” her father reminded her.

“Oh!” Nia had had so much else on her mind, she forgot about the porchlight. “Sorry Dad, I really didn’t mean to forget.”

“I know. You have a short memory span just like you Mother.” Her father smiled.

“No, don’t say that! Ouch!” Nia screeched. Her two front teeth were throbbing in pain once more. “I don’t want to be like her!” Nia would rather be a party of one than be anything like her mother.

“But that’s not a bad thing,” Dad said, looking at Nia with a smile. “You look so much like her, you both-”

“No! Please! I don’t want to be a thing like her!” Nia yelled, and put her face in her pillow.

“Alright, but calm down Nia, and don’t let some stupid sleepover mess up your whole weekend. There is a good reason we’re not letting you head over to that sleepover,” Dad said.

“Oh, yeah! What!?” Nia yelled, but her father’s footsteps were already receding.