It is 9.30 a.m. on a regular Thursday at Ocean View High School. Breanna and the whole class is waiting for Ms. Hart to turn up for English class. Finally, she walks in looking different than usual, almost unrecognizable by her students if not for her characteristically curly auburn hair and slender body. What’s new? The pair of round red-framed glasses that sat on her nose in front of her face. The lenses are strong and their edges noticeably stick out of the plastic frames that hold them.
Ms. Hart says, “You must be wondering why I’m wearing glasses today. I have an eye abrasion and can’t wear contacts for a few days. I am extremely nearsighted and my eyesight is really bad without glasses, about -20 in each eye.”
The class exclaims, “Whoa!” as some of her students exchange glances with each other.
Breanna looks around and notices Peter, Jay, Elena and some of the other glasses wearing students staring, some with a smile as if finding a certain comfort in the teacher needing glasses too, others with a look of apprehension perhaps in fear of eventually needing such a strong prescription. She also observes her friend Lisa, who is without glasses and one of the more attractive girls in the class looking at Ms. Hart with much intensity. Breanna wonders what she may be thinking.
Like Ms. Hart, Breanna has kept her need for strong glasses a secret. Her daily routine involves putting on contact lenses first thing in the morning and taking them off just before bedtime. She started wearing glasses when she was three years old but switched to contact lenses as she entered high school just a little while ago. Her family are newcomers to Pelican Beach so no one there has seen her in glasses before.
Breanna’s hair is auburn like Ms. Hart’s, though straight instead of curly. Its color is probably the reason why she gets more attention than most of the other students in her class. As Breanna sits entranced looking at Ms. Hart, she thinks to herself, “Ms. Hart looks amazing with her glasses on. Her red frames match so well her hair color. If only I could look as good as that with my glasses on.”
Practically though, Breanna is unlikely to turn up at school wearing her glasses on. Her only pair of glasses that are current are black rectangular plastic frames that look rather unattractive in her opinion. Moreover, she has always been concerned with how thick and strong they look, even though seeing how good Ms. Hart looks in her ultra-strong glasses does make her question herself about that. While nowhere as strong as that of Ms. Hart, the prescription in her glasses is stronger than most, being over -12 in her left eye and -13 in her right eye.
Ms. Hart’s class passes quickly and before long it is 10.30 a.m. and time for a 15 minute recess. Breanna overhears Peter and Jay talking, “Did you see Ms. Hart’s glasses?” Peter asks.
“Yeah, they’re pretty dope,” Jay replies.
“She looks so hot in them,” Peter says. Breanna agrees silently from a distance.
Jay adds circumspectly, “But I hope my glasses never get that strong. Did you see the rings in her lenses?”
Peter says, “Ya, I don’t know about that…” just as Lisa steps in front of Breanna and interrupts her focus, “Hi Breanna, what do you think about Ms. Hart’s outfit today?”
“Hi Lisa, her yellow dress is so summerly right?” Breanna replies.
“I love it so much. It’s so flowy. And I didn’t know she wore glasses, did you?” Lisa changes the topic somewhat.
“No, I didn’t know. But they matched her hair for sure.” Breanna flips her hair back.
“Must be brave of her to wear them though, given how thick and strong they are,” Lisa says.
Breanna concurs, “I know. They are scary thick. But she has no choice as I don’t think she can get off work just because she can’t wear contacts…”
“Look at my new watch,” Lisa changes the topic again, not wanting to think about glasses as she herself also needed pretty strong ones.
Elena who has been lurking about took the chance to join in, “It’s beautiful, seems like the newer model of mine,” showing off the one her wrist. Breanna already knew that Lisa and Elena went to the same elementary school but Lisa likes to say it again, “Oh, and did you know that Lisa and I went to the same elementary school?” but adding this time, “And did you know she used to wear glasses like me before switching to contacts?”
Lisa glares at Elena, “Hey, that’s a secret!”
“Sorry, I overheard you talking about Ms. Hart’s glasses and so it’s kind of on the same topic,” Elena says apologetically.
Breanna then says, “Oh Lisa, that’s okay. I’ll keep it a secret. I’m also…” stopping just in time before she let out that she’s wearing contacts too, worried that Elena may not be that good at keeping secrets. “I’ll have to tell her some other time,” she thinks to herself as the bell for the next period sounded.