The Brace that Changed Thy World. (First Part)

Desription:
This story will take you into the life of Garrett, a typical first grader. He had many friends and his life was a good way until he got some braces. This changed his world. #Anti-Bullying

This novel was written by Reick D.Ani for all bullying victims.

Stats for the first Part:

Words: 3.772
Time of creation Story: 3 hours
This story was created by a German teen, reader discretion is advised.
Proof readers: Wayne and JJ.

It was a hard day full of nonsense school subjects for Garrett. He was sick of all the teachers in his elementary school. “Why do they need to torture us all the time with that circles and numbers and squares and pluses and minuses and words and animals?“ he asked himself while he threw his backpack at the corner of his room. “Well at least it's Friday. School is off 'til Monday!“ he thought to himself and was just about to jump on his bed and turn on the radio, when his mother yelled at him.

“Garry, get ready sweety. We have an appointment with the dentist soon.“

it sounded through the house.

“Oh ya, how could I forget about that nonsense too.“ he thought.

None the less he had to do as his mother told him, so he stood up from his bed, changed his clothes and ran-jumped down the stairs. On the bottom floor his mom gave him a sharp look.

“You know that I don't like it when you jump down the stairs... Don't do it again, sweety.“

He stood ashamed and looked down at his shoes before he replied “Ok mom.“

With a suspicious look in her eyes his mom replied: “Guess what?“

Garrett also “What?“

“You always look at your feet before you lie to me, young man.“ she smiled.

Catched up that easily made him smile too.

“Now come on, let's move or we'll be late.“ she said while opening the front door.

Outside his house was a small gardenside between the street and the house. But the backyard was his real playground. There he had a tree to climb on and watch the sky. Not far from his home was a football field, where he could play football with his friends, or baseball. He really liked all kinds of sports, as long as a ball was involved.

They got into the car and drove to the dentist. The waiting room was entry and so he just had to made a point in his mind “Sure, nobody would go here on Fridays as I thought.“ The young lady behind the office table welcomed his mother and told her that the dentist will soon be ready for them. Garrett still didn't understand what he was doing here.

After a while the young lady his name, and Garrett followed her to the exam room. Then she pointed with her hand to the chair. The dentist welcomed him with a handshake then put on his latex-gloves, while Garrett sat down in the chair. The dentist ordered him to open his mouth and began to scratch on his teeth with a small instrument. Garrett never trusted dentists at all. All they want is to pull out his teeth. That's their job! He was very sure about that.

And he was right about, not to trust the dentist, again. When the dentist picked up the needle, Garrett immediately shut his mouth. Then they had an argumentation.

“Well you want to have nice teeth, don't you?” the dentist stated.

“My teeth are nice” answered Garrett.

“Well take a closer look, your frenulum between your incisors and your lip is pushing them away. We need to cut it and repair the damage with a brace if you want to keep a nice smile. Otherwise you will look ugly when you get older.” the dentist said indignantly.

Garrett gave him that point, but not without any resistance. “Still no needle needed. It's only a cut, I can take that!” he insisted.

“But without the needle it will be more painful.” said the dentist, meanwhile no longer in a nice tone.

“It still remains only a cut. It will hurt one second and then its over. The needle will disable my lips and poison me for hours.” argued Garrett.

The whole discussion went on back and forth for a while before the dentist could do his job.

The frenulum was cut, the position of his incisors corrected, a fix brace was installed and he had to take the needle before all of this. Garrett made a note in his mind to get revenge on this dentist someday. For the next hours he couldn't speak properly and was neither abled to drink nor to eat. He didn't have lunch today and now he had to wait 'til dinner and to hope his mouth would open 'til then again. Yes, he was really mad at this dentist. His anger flew away when dinner served and he was able to eat all the stuff his mom had prepared for dinner. Not even his older sister could annoy him now. None the less the dentist had some home made accidents this evening. But that was just a curiosity.

Garrett without brace, Aquarell by J.O.

The weekend passed by very fast for Garrett. What he did not notice yet, because his parents did not want to put him down, was that thanks to his brace he began to lisp. So when he went to school on Monday, he was happy to see his friends again, but he was already late, so he had to hurry to get into the classroom and no time to talk to his friends yet. The lessons were the same as every Monday morning. Math with pluses, minuses and circles. Soon he got bored and drifted away. So his teacher as usually well aware of this kind of situation called him to the table to explain the formula. He did get up and explained it. First his friends were whispering, which made the situation quite uncomfortable for him. Then some of his classmates began to laugh. He went back to his place as the teacher allowed it, but when he looked in his friends eyes he saw rejection for him and could not understand the reason why.

When he wanted to talk to them during breaks, they vanished like water in the desert sun. He never got snipped by his friends before. And during lunch it just happened.

“Hey lispy. You are the biggest joke ever huh?” said the schoolwide known bully from the fourth grade.

Garrett turned around and saw, how the bully looked right at him. “What thou mean?” he said.

“I mean you are lisping, fool.” replied the bully George.

Some other fourth graders joined the scene. Garrett even saw his friends, but “why didn't they come to my aid?” he asked himself. His friends looked away in hope not to get involved in this conflict. They had abandoned him, for no real reason.

Now he felt a push and fell on his butt, while he heard the bully say: “Take this Lispy”. Then the bully and the other fourth graders laughed. For Garrett it felt like the whole world laughed at him. Nobody was going to help him. Then he felt a kick in his belly, but he didn't scream or cry. It was like he had already left his body in sadness. And would watch this fourth graders punching on him from the outside, unable to react.

“Leave him alone” he heard somebody shout. This voice was completely unknown to him and when he looked up, he saw a boy around his age with a long shirt. The boy was positioning himself between Garrett and the bullies, who started to laugh again.

“What do you want dwarf?” said one of them.

“Want to get thumbed up as well?” asked the second.

With a laugh and arrogance in his voice “You wanna pick up a fight? You? Fool! You will lose.” said George.

Unimpressed and cool responded the new kid “Maybe, but not without dealing some damage.” Then he put his neck a little sidewards before continuing “Would be an improvement, when I think correctly.”

George was raising his fist already, when the kid kneed down and put up a random stone. Then he stood up again. “Wanna throw stones at me, huh?” said George and got ready to deflect the stone with his hands.

The kid did pull his arm to himself and pressed his hand together as strong as he could. Then he pointed with his fist in Georges direction and opened it. With the fingers widely spread and the hand opened only dust and dirt fell out of his hand, but the stone was gone. With their eyes wide open the fourth graders began to run. The schoolbully was retreating, too afraid to engage an unknown opponent. Garrett did not understand, why this boy was helping him, but he was impressed by his strength. No wonder, he was able to strike fear into the hearts of this bullies. The boy kneed down again, reached his hand to Garrett, smiled at him and pulled him up, when Garrett took his hand. Still unable to understand the happenings, Garrett asked questions.

But instead of asking who the boy is and such things, the first question was “How did you crush that stone? Are you really that strong? Or is it a trick?” Garrett wanted to know.

With a smile the boy answered “I never said else. Of course it was a trick. That fourth grader were just to stupid to get it.”

Now Garrett whispered “And what kind of a trick?”

The boy did look at him before replying “It's a secret. If you want to figure out, meet me after school.”

A new friend for Garrett...

After school Garrett waited at the gate in the fence that surrounded the school area. He was waiting for that boy, when he recognized that he should have asked for his name. But that was okay, the boy didn't know Garretts name either yet. After a few minutes the boy came out from his classes. Garrett recognized that nobody was walking next to him.

“Was he an outsider?” Garrett asked himself.

With the words “Hey there, I knew you would be curious.” the boy broke Garrett out his thoughts.

“Hey” was all he could respond in this situation, as he still lacked in knowing this boys name.

The boy managed to get Garrett to follow him and after a while they reached the boys home.

“My mom won't come from work before 8pm so we have some time.” said the boy and pointed on the backdoor.

They both made their way thru the kitchen, where they let their backpacks slide off, and entered the backyard. It was an empty backyard only some trees and a stony ground, not a good place to play. Garretts glace wandered over that place when he stood in the backdoor. Soon the boy waved Garrett to come to him.

“Welcome to my backyard” he said when Garrett got closer. “My name is Colt, and what's your name?” asked the boy.

“Garrett” replied Garrett.

“Nice to meet you Garrett.”

Garrett nod in agreement before he wanted to know why Colt helped him out earlier.

“Well my Mom told me, the easiest way to find new friends is to help them out. You were a perfect opportunity to make my first friend in the new school. We moved in here last Saturday. So I wasn't able to make any friends yet.” answered Colt.

“How did you crush that stone with your bare hand?” Garrett wanted to know.

“I told you it was a Trick. I actually didn't crush the stone, I let it disappear.”

“But how?” asked he again.

“It was possible because my Mom made me wear that long shirt today. When I grabbed that stone from the ground I also grabbed some earth. Wanna think about it?” asked Colt and made a break.

“No, just tell me.”

“Okay. When I pulled my arm to myself, nobody could see what happened and I just let the stone fall into my sleeve.” Garretts eyes got big and he slightly opened his mouth. “Then all that was left in my hand was the earth. I did act like I was crushing the stone, only pressing together the earth and release the pressed earth so that it fell down as dust and earth pieces. For them the stone was crushed and they revealed their cowardly nature, all bullies have.” Colt spoke with a big grin.

Garrett, who meanwhile had recovered from the first shock stated “That's a cheat. You are a cheater!”

“And I'm going to teach you. But you must swear me some things before I do, because if not we aren't able to get rid of those bullies.”

Again, all Garrett could do was to nod very heavy.

“Okay Garrett here is my plan. You will train this trick in secret with me, but you are not allowed to show anybody without my permission. Swear it!” said Colt.

“I swear it. I won't show it anybody until it serves our goals.”

“Good. Because their fear before me right now is the only thing that keeps them away from you. I can deal some damage. Even that I'm not as strong than they think now, I might be stronger than one of them.” said Colt while he began to make a handstand. Then he managed to stand on only one hand and switched easily between his hands, before he got back on his feet. “You see I have some strength in my body. It would be perfect if you could do it too. But your face says else.” Garretts face was signed by surprising and disbelieve. “Ready for the rest of my plan?” asked Colt.

“Sure”

“We will stick together every break. As they won't have the courage to engage us, they will search for a new victim. Whoever they pick, we will protect and make the third friend in our team. When he swears the same as you, I will show and teach him the trick as well.”

“But you showed me before I swore to keep it secret.”

“Well that was because I just came up with this plan while I were showing you.” Colt got red in his face when he had to admit this.

“I'm already on fire, count me in!” was Garretts last word to it.

The rest of the afternoon they spend playing in the backyard before Garrett returned home and made some scenes with his parents.

“How was your schoolday sweety?” wanted his Mom to know, when he came home.

“Okay” he answered.

“You are late, sweety. Where have you been?”

“With a friend, I just met, mom.” replied Garrett.

“You just met a new friend?”

“Yea”

“Can you tell me more?” she said and put down the plates she was cleaning.

“I started to lisp and got bullied. All my friends double-crossed me.”

“Oh sweety.” She was going to hug him but he rejected.

“He sthood... stood up for me. It is hard to speak normal, but I think I can do it.” he said, while his mom smiled softly at him. “He is new in school, so he thought it would be cool to friend me.” His mom got up again before she said that this new friend already had proven his value to him.

They prepared the dinner together. While his mom was cooking, he prepared the table with spoons, knifes, forks, plates, jars, napkins, the bread basket, butter, salt, pepper, the vegetable plate, the cheese plate and so on. This dinner they would have an European soup with onions, tomatoes and potatoes. And some grilled fennel and chicory as main meal. His mom cuts the chicory extra thin to make it not to bitter for him or his sister. Dinner in his family was always an adventure as he never knew what meal his mom decided to cook this day. Sometimes he thought she just write down tons of possible dinners of little pieces of paper and then throws all in the air to pick one, when they are falling down. Now that he met Colt, he was convinced, that this was exactly the way his mom decided the dinner.

On the next day, Colt already waited on the entry gate of the school for him, he would see if Colts plan might work. He wanted to believe it would. He was never bullied before and never cared for Georges victims, but now he wanted to change it. He would stand up for others and gain real friends, like Colt taught him. With his new goal and Colt on his side, he saw nothing that could stop them.

During the breaks they managed to stick together and it really happened that George did not engage them. Meanwhile it was lunch and Garrett made his way to Colts class. Colt waited outside his classroom and they both went outside as the teacher recommend the students to do. Today Mrs Chiffre, their math teacher with french origin, was the teacher in charge for the schoolyard. Mr. Rice, Garretts consulting teacher, seemed to have some unknown interests in Mrs Chiffre, as both talked and lowered their guard about the events on the schoolyard. George already had found a new target, another first grader. Colt poked Garrett and made him aware of the situation. “Time for some bully bashing.” were his words when he ran off. Garrett followed him.

Meanwhile George and his crew engaged a boy with middle long brown hairs. They had surrounded him, pulled his hairs and gave him girlish nicknames. The younger boy were cowed and did not offer any resistance to the fourth graders. But soon the cavalry arrived.

The third musketdeer? 

With a typical offending yelling Colt engaged the enemy. “Hey piggy head still getting on smaller. Still a coward? Come on, let's see how weak you really are!”

The fourth graders turned around. Colt was sort of worried Garrett would prefer to retreat, as they had no time to train a combat situation yet. But this worries were on no base, Garrett was lusting for revenge and up to fight till broken noses and blued eyes. The first grader looked up at this kid, which just came to his aid and now was bullying the bullies.

“Last time you ran away before me alone with your tail between your legs, coward. You still have the same two allies. But today, it's a three versus three. What shall it be? I still can't wait to improve your ugly face, piggy head!” Colt got a weird look in his eyes as if he would be a psychotic kid. Garrett could see sweating pearls running down on Georges forehead. And as expected George retreated again. The other two fourth grader fled as well as soon as their leader run off. Colt smiled. Then they talked to the boy they just had saved.

His name was Jordan he was in another first grade in this elementary school and also just moved here. “Nice to meet you Jordan, my name is Colt and this is Garrett.” introduced Colt himself and Garrett, that still not entirely had figured out what was going on.

“Do you think it was necessary to bully them as well?” Jordan wanted to know.

“They are bullies. Who cares what I do to them.” answered Colt.

“I would” replied Jordan.

“Fine, I will hold myself back next time and think on another strategy to get their attention.”

Jordan was happy with that and smiled. Garrett felt sort of left out, but trusted in Colts plan. This moment Mrs. Chiffre yelled over the schoolyard, that the lunchtime is over and all students should get back in their classes.

“Meet us after school at the entry gate, Jordan.” said Colt and Jordan confirmed it with a nod, while they already made their way in to their classes again.

After classes Garrett and Colt waited for Jordan to join them at the gate in the fence that surrounded the schoolyard. When Jordan arrived they went to Colts home. Today again his mom would not return from work before 8 pm. They sat down under the trees in the corner of the backyard. Then Colt spoke up “Okay, we are now at equal numbers. The next time we engage the bullies we will outnumber them. But we won't win until they understand that we are stronger.”  

“And how do you think we should achieve that?” asked Garrett.

“No idea!” said Colt. “It would go on and go on and go on until we united the whole school against them.” he continued.

“No way! I will never accept my old friends again!” stated Garrett.

Jordan was listening to them carefully, but he didn't even know yet, why they got the bullies to retreat without a fight.

“Jordan, why do you wear long hair?” asked Colt to break the silence.

“Because” began Jordan. “I have a scar on my head, so I keep my hair long to hide it.”

“Well then we all should let our hairs grow.” meant Colt.

“You mean as long as Jordans?”

“Yap, I'm sure you would look cute with longer hair Garrett.”

This words troubled him a bit. “Colt?” he asked.

“Yap?”

“Are you somehow gay?” he wanted to know.

“I don't know” answered Colt with a smile. Then he got serious. “Would it be a problem if I were? I thought we are already friends.” He put his right hand in his front. “Okay, now I wanna know. There might be the possibility that I am gay, you want to quit now or you stay with me?” Colt asked.

Jordan put his right hand on Colts and said “I stay. I don't care if you're gay or not.”

In this short moment Garrett managed to decide.

“He already saved me and I like to be around him. Also even if he is gay, what would happen, nothing really right? He is my best friend why do I even think on that. And if he is not gay, do I want to lose him just because of something like that? No way! I'll stay with him no matter what.” he thought while Jordan made his statement. And so the moment when both turned their looks at him Garretts hand already met theirs in the middle of the tree. “I stay as well.” he said.

“Then its a done deal.” noticed Colt. “One for all, and all for One!” - And Garrett and Jordan repeated it. Now they were brothers. 

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