Glasses are for people who can’t see very well, aren’t they? After all, if they could see well, they wouldn’t wear them. That was how I grew up feeling about glasses. I could see well, so I didn’t need them. When my parents asked if I could see well at school, it almost sounded like a stupid question to me, because if I couldn’t, I’d have been wearing glasses. Glasses were something other people wore. Like my sister, Amelia. She was four years older than me, and had been wearing glasses since before I was born. I only know that, because even the photos of the two of us together, when I was a baby, show her wearing glasses. I had never asked her why she wore them – I just accepted that she did, and that she couldn’t see very well without them. At Primary School, there were a couple of children who wore glasses in my class. I didn’t really think much of it; they just did. As I grew older, one or two more classmates would start wearing glasses every year. Some of them wore them all the time; others only put them on in class, but took them off at break and lunch times. Amelia got new glasses from time to time, as well. My vision remained perfect – so good, that I had never even needed to go and get my eyes tested. When I reached Secondary school, it became more common for girls to wear their glasses on top of their heads, almost like hair bands. I began to feel a little left out, and wondered what I could do to get a pair of glasses to wear in my hair. “What’s it like to wear glasses?” I asked my friend, Phoebe, who had got hers just a couple of weeks earlier. Phoebe looked a bit surprised by the question. “They help me to see a little better, I suppose. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with my eyes, but now I’ve got them, I can tell a bit of a difference when I put them on. Here, you try them!” I was more interested in wearing them as an accessory, rather than looking through them. “How do I look?” I asked her, when I thought I’d got them in the right place. “You’re supposed to wear them to see, Sophie,” she pointed out. “But there’s nothing wrong with my eyes. I can see perfectly well without glasses!” “So why did you ask me what it was like to wear glasses, then?” “I was just wondering, that’s all. It seems like I’m one of the few girls left who don’t wear glasses these days. You look round our Maths class; there are now only four of us girls who have never worn glasses. We’re a dying breed!” When I got home that evening, I was still contemplating my discussion with Phoebe earlier on. As our parents were out at work, there was just me and Amelia at home, so I asked her the same question as I had asked Phoebe. Amelia thought for a moment. “I’ve worn them since I was three, so it’s like they’re a part of me. I can see okay without them, but I get bad headaches if I don’t wear them, so I wear them all the time. You try them.” She started to take them off, but stopped. “Actually, I’ve got a better idea,” she said. “Wait there, I’ll be back in a moment.” When she came back into the lounge, she handed me a hard, red glasses case. “If you want to see what it’s like to wear glasses, try wearing this old pair until tea time.” I took the glasses out of the case. I remembered them quite well, although I had never really seen them up close before now. Amelia had probably worn them for a couple of years, until she got the pair she was now wearing about six months ago. I put them on very carefully. Amelia disappeared into the blur in front of me. “They suit you,” she said. I needed to see what they looked like in a mirror, so that I could judge for myself, so I took myself off to have a look at my reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. Getting closer to the mirror than I normally would have, I could see that Amelia was right – the frames did suit me, and the lenses made my eyes look quite a bit bigger. I took them off to have a closer look at the frames and the lenses. I could see that they needed a good clean, so I took the cloth out of the case, and cleaned them, as I had seen Amelia do so many times before. As I did so, I could feel that the lenses were quite a bit thicker in the middle than they were on the edges. Coming out of the bathroom, I went for a walk around the house, stopping from time to time to compare what I could see through the lenses and over the top of them. Things up close looked bigger, and books and things seemed easier to read, but I couldn’t wear them for watching the television, as they made the picture rather blurry, unless I got quite close to the screen. However, I had homework to do, so I kept the glasses on, shut my bedroom door, and settled down to work. I was so absorbed by my art homework, that Amelia had to come and get me from my room for dinner. “You’ve still got the glasses on?” She sounded surprised. “You’d better take them off for dinner, though.” Taking the glasses off, my eyes took a few moments to adjust back to normality. No mention was made of the glasses over dinner, and Amelia was going out for the evening, so it was quite a hurried affair. Afterwards, I went back to my room, as I still had another half hour’s work to do. I put the glasses back on, and settled down to my geography work. They certainly made life much easier when it came to counting the contour lines on the map! I also discovered that they were fine for looking at the computer screen, provided that I didn’t lean too far back, and it didn’t seem long until I was getting myself ready for bed. I did think about putting the glasses back in Amelia’s room, but in the end, I put them back into their case, and into the drawer beside my bed. It was another week until Amelia asked me for her old glasses back, in case she needed them. This put me in quite a dilemma. I had worn them most of the time I had been in my room over the previous seven days, and had become quite used to the better vision they gave me for my homework. I had even taken them to school on one occasion, but hadn’t dared to get them out of my bag in case I was asked a barrage of questions about them, which I would not have been able to answer truthfully. The next couple of evenings, I found it very hard to study, as I had some bad headaches. A couple of paracetamol did help to numb the pain somewhat, but it was still there, and only really dissipated after an early night and eight hours’ sleep. When I came home on the third evening, with another headache, I remembered what Amelia had said about why she wore her glasses all the time. I took a couple of painkillers, and plucked up the courage to ask if I could borrow her glasses again, to see if they helped. Amelia was a little surprised, but gave them to me willingly, saying that, if they did help to get rid of the headache, perhaps I ought to get mum to take me to get my own glasses. I couldn’t help but agree with her, but I did point out that I was busy doing a lot of revision for exams, so it might be better to wait until I’d finished them, in case that was the real cause of my headaches. With the glasses on, I was able to do several hours of revision that night, and by the time I was called for dinner, my headache had gone. When Amelia asked me, rather pointedly, how my headache was, I said that I could still feel it, but that it was a bit better after the painkillers I had taken. Mum didn’t notice the looks we exchanged between the two of us. I was beginning to think that I might actually need glasses, but was still not prepared to admit it to anyone else. In order to make my point to Amelia, I went to bed early, saying that I still had a headache. I didn’t want to be dragged off to get my eyes tested, as I could see the board at school perfectly well. The early night turned out to be a bit of a mistake. I was so concerned about not getting caught, that I totally forgot about the History homework we had due in the following day. It was only when I got to the lesson that I realised what I had forgotten, and although I offered to complete the work for the overnight, I wasn’t the only one, so we all found ourselves in detention the following Monday evening. It was the first detention I had ever been given, so I wasn’t going to say anything at all to Amelia or our parents, and just make out that I had been doing some extra revision in the Library before coming home. Over the weekend, I tried on Amelia’s old glasses once or twice more. They certainly helped with reading, but I didn’t want to be seen wearing them around the house. Amelia also seemed rather pre-occupied with something, so I hardly saw her, except at meal-times. It was while we were getting ready for school on Monday that Amelia announced that she had an extra lesson that evening, so she would probably be in just after five. I still didn’t let on about my History detention, as I would be in at least half an hour before her, and would still be there before either of our parents got home from work. My secret was safe – or so I thought. School on Monday was entirely forgettable. It was one of those days where nothing memorable happened. I did the detention with my fellow homework offenders, and set off on my usual walk home just after four o’clock. I was rather surprised when I rounded a bend in the road and realised that I was only about fifty yards behind Amelia. Except that it wasn’t just Amelia; she was holding hands with a boy I didn’t recognise. They weren’t exactly walking very fast, and on another occasion I would have called out to her and got her to wait for me, but as I didn’t want to have to admit to why I was behind her, I stopped to weigh up my options. In the end, I decided to go home a slightly longer way than usual. If I was quick, I could overtake her without her being any the wiser. Besides, she had said that she wouldn’t be home before five, so I was fairly sure that I would get there first – especially if she and her mystery boy stopped off at the shops on their way past. Once I got to the next turning, I quickened my pace. I knew I had to get home far enough ahead of her to have changed out of my school uniform, as that was what she would be expecting, and to be hard at work on a piece of homework. In fact, that’s exactly what she found when she got home. I had been working on my Maths for about twenty minutes at that point, and as long as she didn’t look too closely at my book, she wouldn’t be any the wiser. I had started working with her glasses on, but when I heard the front door opening, I took them off and put them back in their red case. When she put her head in the door to let me know she was home, she would have seen exactly what she expected to see – and exactly what I wanted her to see. Over dinner that evening, she made a casual enquiry as to whether or not I had a headache. I told her that I didn’t. It wasn’t 100% true, but I countered by asking her what she had learned about in her extra lesson that evening. She tried brushing me off with the idea that I was too young to understand, but when I suggested that she told me because I was interested, I could see her starting to blush. “Would anyone else like some more water?” she asked, downing two thirds of her own glass and getting up almost immediately to refill the jug. We all declined, but I decided to quit while I was slightly ahead, as I didn’t want to reveal how I knew what she had really been up to. For all I knew, she had been to her extra lesson with her Mystery Boy and I had just caught them up. They had only been holding hands; I hadn’t seen them kissing, or anything like that. It turned out that the Mystery Boy was called James. It was at dinner on Thursday that Amelia told us that he had invited her to the cinema on Friday evening, and that they were going to go out for something to eat after the film. Oh, and could she please have a lift home at about half past nine? I didn’t need to say anything more, as my parents gave her a suitable grilling. However, with a fairly early finish, and the fact that it was a Friday evening, they didn’t have any objections. We walked home together on Friday. I couldn’t tell whether Amelia was excited, nervous, or a bit of both. Either way, we walked home much faster than usual, in order to give her as much time as possible to get herself ready. Once she had showered, changed and put her make-up on, she looked absolutely stunning – and about ten years older! “No glasses tonight, Amelia?” “I’m going to leave them at home. I don’t really need them.” “But you’ve worn them every day since before I was born.” “Yes, but I’m not blind. I can see a big screen without them.” “Won’t you need them to read the menu at the restaurant afterwards?” “I’ll cope. I don’t want to look like I’m middle-aged, putting my glasses on just to read a menu. James knows I wear glasses, so just for once, I’m going to show him what I look like without them.” Once Amelia had gone out, I snuck into her room to borrow her glasses. They were a bit bigger than the pair I had in my room, and not quite as good a fit on my face. I could also tell the prescription was slightly different. Distant objects were clearer, and they didn’t make things up close look nearly as large. I wore them most of the time until I heard my mum’s car pulling up outside, and then rushed back into Amelia’s room to put them back where I had found them. I did wonder what had happened to all of her old pairs of glasses, but I didn’t dare rummage in her drawers in case I got caught out later on. I was pretty sure that she would drop me in it when she next had to get her eyes tested, so, in my mind, I was only getting myself ready for what the future held. The future came around rather sooner than I had anticipated. James and Amelia seemed to get on very well, and were spending increasing amounts of time together. It was not uncommon for me to get in from school a couple of hours before Amelia. If she went out again without her glasses, I would often borrow them, and wear them for watching the television – sitting myself at the sort of distance where I could see everything I needed to be able to see, without having my nose glued to the screen. More often than not, I would wear either her current pair or her old pair when doing my homework; it was so much easier. There were also times when I wished I had them in school. I did take them in once, but they stayed in my bag. There was always a chance I would escape the eye test if no-one else saw them, but if they did, I couldn’t count on them not saying anything. Friday nights out with James seemed to have become part of Amelia’s routine – and mine, too, as she liked me to do her hair for her. We always hurried home, so that she was ready at 4.45, when James (and his dad) would come around to pick her up. If she had had a tough day, she would wear her glasses, but more often than not, she left them at home. However, one Friday evening, she tripped on a paving slab and fell. Her glasses flew off, landed several feet in front of her, and the left lens popped out. As it was plastic, it wasn’t broken, but it had several very visible scratches. She was a bit shaken up, but was determined not to cancel her date night, so I thought nothing more about it. The following day, she went into town with dad to see if they could get a new lens made. I stayed at home, and spent the time playing computer games. “Can I have my old glasses back, please, Sophie?” she asked, when they returned. “Couldn’t they fix your glasses, then?” “Probably, but they said it might be a better idea if I got my eyes tested as well. We’ve got to go back next Saturday morning, but I need those old glasses for the next few weeks. They may not be the right strength for me now, but they’re better than nothing.” I picked up the case off my desk and handed it to her. It was only as she was leaving the room that what she had just said registered with me. “We?” “Yes. Me, dad, and you. I suggested it might be a good idea to get your eyes checked as well as you’ve never had them done.” “You…” I wasn’t sure whether to be angry, upset or even a little bit relieved. “I know you’ve been wearing my old glasses more than you’ve let on. You thought I’d forgotten that you’d got them, but I’ve seen you working with them on when you think I haven’t noticed, and taking them off hurriedly when I’ve come up the stairs. Go on, be honest – how often have you worn them?” There was no point in lying. “Most nights, when I’ve been doing my homework.” She opened the case, and put the glasses on. “That’s better. They’re not as good as my broken glasses, but I don’t think I could cope with only being able to see through one eye for the next three weeks or so. Oh, and I’ve brought you a present.” She gave me a pink glasses case. “These are the next oldest pair. They’re probably a bit small for you, but wear them when it’s just the two of us at home. We both know you’ll be getting your own glasses next weekend, so wear them as much as you like. I won’t say a word.” I did, and she didn’t. I could tell the glasses were a little stronger, and I could only wear them for reading. If there was one comfort, it was the fact that Amelia had worn them all the time when she was the same age as I was, and they were definitely too strong for me. They did make the text in books super-large, and they were great for seeing the text on my phone, but, if I had been tempted to take her other pair to school with me, I wasn’t with these. It never crossed my mind that they could be affecting my eyesight. With them on, reading was so much easier – and when I got my own glasses, I would no longer have to wear them in secret. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted next Saturday to come around or not. Amelia was going to be getting new glasses, and I was pretty sure that I was going to be getting my first glasses. I spent the week looking at what others at school were wearing. I didn’t want to have anything too outrageous, but I was quite excited at getting glasses which showed off my style. The main issue seemed to be whether to opt for brown or black. Black was more common, but brown would suit my complexion better. I could see myself wearing something very similar to the glasses Amelia had let me borrow – but with the correct lenses in them! When we went into the optician’s, we had a number of tests done before going into the testing room itself. Amelia went first, as she was the reason we were there. I watched everything very carefully, so I was ready for when it was my turn. From my seat at the side of the room, I could see the letters on the screen that Amelia was struggling to read – until the optician made the letters smaller! At that point, with a funny-looking pair of glasses on, she was able to read things that I couldn’t. The writing was on the wall for me. After what seemed like an age, the optician told Amelia that both her eyes had changed by the smallest possible amount, and that if her previous glasses hadn’t broken, it would probably not have been necessary to get new glasses. Then, it was my turn. Trembling, I climbed up into the large black chair. I went through all of the same tests as Amelia had, and some extras. The optician kindly explained that I was getting some extra tests as this was my first eye exam, and that they would not need to be repeated next time. One of the extra tests involved putting some drops into my eyes, and leaving me alone for what seemed like an absolute age. At this point, I was alone in the room, as Dad and Amelia had gone to choose her some new frames. When Dad and the optician came back in, I was struggling to see much. Things improved when the funny frames were back on my face, and then I was given something like a hand mirror to hold with some extra-small print. I didn’t remember Amelia being given this at all, but with a couple of changes of lens, I was able to read the very smallest print on it. When the optician had finished the rest of the tests, she told me that I would definitely find life with glasses easier. She sent me out to find a frame that I liked, while she had a quick word with Dad. It didn’t take me long as I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, so it wasn’t five minutes until Amelia and I were both being measured up for out glasses. The man doing my measurements seemed to take extra care over getting mine right, but I didn’t really give this much more thought than the fact that they were going to be my first glasses, so they didn’t have anything on the computer from the last time. Ten days’ later, we received two phone calls. The first was to say that Amelia’s new glasses were ready for collection. The second apologised for troubling us again, but that mine were also waiting for me. No matter how keen we were to go into town, we both knew it wouldn’t happen before Saturday, so we had to be patient. Once again, Amelia pulled rank and went first. Her glasses looked good on her – much better than her old pair. It took several goes at adjusting them to make sure they fitted perfectly, and that she was happy with how well she could see before it was my turn. One glance at the glasses, and I could tell there was something different about them – there was a small semi-circle at the bottom of the lenses. When I tried them on, I could see pretty well in the distance, and the semi-circle helped me to read without difficulty, too. They took a bit of adjusting until I was happy with them – and they suggested I take them off until I got home, and to be particularly careful when going down stairs. Back in the car, I put my glasses straight back on. Everything was a little blurry in the distance, although up close was really clear. Amelia wanted to try my glasses, but I wouldn’t let her. She even offered me her new glasses, but I was too busy trying my own out to want to swap with her. Once we got home, I shut myself away in my room, as I had a fair amount of homework to do. It was certainly a lot easier to see with my own glasses on – especially through the bottom of the lenses. I had probably been working for an hour and a half, when there was a knock on the door. It was Amelia. “So, you’ve finally got your own glasses. Do you like them?” I nodded. “I’m still getting used to them, if I’m honest.” “So, tell me, what’s it like to wear bi-focals?”
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