My Brother, The Dentist

Chapter 19

The next morning, I jumped in Sam's car with him and he gave me a lift to school. He was heading there too, so it was no hassle at all. Sam parked in the staff carpark. I had a feeling today wasn't going to be particularly fun for me.

"You head into school Billy, I need to sign in at the office" Sam said, unplugging his seatbelt and going to head out the car.

"Wait, Sam" I said, stopping him. "You need to sign my consent form, you forgot to do it last night" I informed him, pulling the scrunched piece of paper out of my blazer pocket.

"Oh yeah" Sam said, as he flattened out the paper and scribbled his signiture in the box provided.

We both got out the car; I grabbed my backpack and Sam seized a big bag from the backseat of his car, presumably filled with equipment.

"Alright, see you later then Billy" Sam smiled, waving as he walked off. I waved back, slightly unwillingly. I didn't want anyone seeing me with him!

I walked into school, and found Kyle at the lockers, talking to our good friend, Charlie.

"Hey guys" I smiled, "got your consent forms?" I asked, rolling my eyes to show my dissatisfaction.

"Unfortunately" Kyle groaned.

"Yep" Charlie replied.

"Hey Billy, your chipped tooth is fixed!" Kyle mentioned, pointing to my tooth.

"Yeah, Sam fixed it last night. I can't believe he's coming in today, it's kind of embarrassing."

"I guess you don't even need him to check yours?" Charlie asked.

"I guess you're right" I answered. I hadn't thought of that actually! Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all!

We headed into the classroom together and took our seats at the back of the class. Shortly after, the teacher entered with Sam following close behind her, wearing his doctors coat and smiling enthusiastically.

"Goodmorning everyone!" miss Galeski beamed. "Now, i'll pass you straight over to Doctor Chespin here, so be polite and listen carefully."

"Thank you miss Galeski" Sam smiled. "Hi everyone, as you already know, I'm Doctor Samuel Chespin, and I'll be giving you all checkups today. Now firstly, i'm going to come round and check you all have your parental consent forms and collect them in. I'll also write your names on my list to call you out. You can either come out in partners or on your own, so decide amongst yourselves"

Sam began going around to everyone's desks;

"Hey Billy" Kyle muttered to me.

"Yeah?" I replied quietly.

"I'm gonna ask Sam if I can have braces soon."

"Are you being serious?" I asked, in shock. "You've gotta be joking, right?"

"I'm being serious Billy, I'd really like straight teeth you know" Kyle said, not joking about- for a change.

"Well, if that's what you want then go for it. But you're crazy in my opinion" I admitted, giggling slightly.

Sam finally approached mine and Kyle's desk, collecting in our forms.

"You two look like little troublemakers back here" he said in a questioning tone. "What are you whispering about?"

"Braces" I admitted proudly.

"Ah, well, fair enough" Sam replied, not having a snidy comeback like per usual. "Are you two getting your checkups as a pair or on your own?"

Kyle and I looked at each other briefly, but we both new the obvious answer. I gave Kyle a little nudge with my elbow and he informed Sam we'd go together.

After Sam had made it back to the front of the classroom, he cleared his throat and began to speak loud and clearly again;

"It's excellent that you all have your forms completed. Well done for that. Now, we're going to get started straight away." Sam said, rubbing his hands together. "Whilst you're waiting for your checkup, you'll be completing maths sums, is that right miss Galeski?" Sam explained, looking over at miss Galeski for clarification.

"Yes" miss Galeski replied enthusiastically, holding up a humongous pile of paper and grinning somewhat proudly.

"Excellent" Sam smiled. "Now first up, we'll have.... Lola Griffin, please"

Lola stood up on her own, she looked slightly nervous, but I knew her nerves wouldn't get the better of her. If only I could've gone with her! She followed Sam out of the room, and Miss Galeski began to hand out sheets among sheets of paper filled with who knows how many maths sums!

I worked through the sums with Kyle, stopping to talk about random stuff very frequently, until a girl called Sophie arrived back from her checkup and approached my workspace.

"I'd like a bit more than just your brother's hands in my mouth Billy, if you know what I mean" she winked, then walked off to her seat.

Kyle and I looked at each other wide-eyed, then began to snigger with our heads together.

"Did she really just say that?" Kyle sniggered unbearable.

"I think she did" I laughed, slightly shocked that somebody would have the audacity to say that.

After everyone had been for their checkup, Kyle and I realised it'd be our turn soon. And we were very much not mistaken.

"And finally, Billy Chespin and Kyle Vincent, please!" Sam exclaimed, as he entered the room for the final time of the day.

Kyle and I both stood up at the same time, looked at each other with big, glaring eyes, and headed towards Sam like two naughty puppies, with Sam smiling at us warm-heartedly, which made a huge difference from his usual grumpy self.

"Come on boys" he sniggered, leading us out into the corridor. "You both alright?" he asked, as we followed him to the unknown destination.

"I'm alright" I replied. "How about you, Kyle?" I prompted, giggling slightly for no apparent reason.

"I'm goooooooood" Kyle said, pulling a funny face and causing me to laugh.

Sam opened a door and allowed us to head inside before entering himself and closing the door behind him. As soon as we entered I realised we were just in the room people sat in when they felt unwell. I'd only been in here once before, almost two years ago, when I wanted to skip a maths test, so I pretended to have a painful headache. There wasn't a reclining chair like Sam had at his office, just a flat bed with plastic over it and a small pillow which didn't look soft in even the slightest way. Sam had laid out some tools on a table next to the bed and there was a chair which teacher's usually used, for Sam to sit on, as well as a school chair in the corner of the room, obviously for anyone waiting for their checkup.

"Alright Kyle, you're up first" Sam said, tapping on the bed with his hand, smiling slightly.

Kyle looked at me quickly with raised eyebrows, then climbed up onto the make-shift bed and laid down on the pillow.

"You don't need to give me a checkup, do you Sam?" I asked, whilst Sam filled in some paper and messed around with a few tools.

"I probably don't need to Billy, but I will anyway" he replied, giving me a cheeky grin to which I rolled my eyes and sighed in dismay.

"Now then Kyle, has anything been hurting at all?" Sam asked, stretching on a pair of gloves and placing a mask over his mouth and nose.

"Don't think so" Kyle replied, rubbing his two hands together.

Sam then put a strap light on his forehead and I started to laugh at him, and Kyle joined in slightly.

"What is that" I laughed at Sam, pointing towards the light.

Sam sniggered slightly too, "I needed some sort of light so I decided this was the most efficient method."

I sat on the end of the bed where Kyle's legs were situated, assuming Sam would moan and tell me to go sit in the corner. But to my surprise, he really didn't seem to care!

"Can you open up please, Kyle?" Sam asked softly, prepped with his mirror and explorer.

Kyle did as was told, and soon enough Sam was tapping all of Kyle's teeth, raising his lips up and down and stretching his mouth, doing a full examination from top to bottom.

"Now I know you may be scared Kyle, but try not to cry, okay?" I joked to Kyle, grinning at him sarcastically, to which he frowned at me and kicked me softly with his foot, causing me to giggle like a playful puppy and gently slap his leg. Just generic, friendly 'banter'.

"Billy, if anyone is likely to cry, it's obviously going to be you" Sam butted in casually, sniggering as the words came out of his mouth.

This put Kyle in stitches, he began to laugh like a hyena and even pushed Sam's hands away from his mouth so he could laugh properly. He sat up on the bed and laughed in my face, wiping away a few humoured tears, which made me slightly angry.

"Shut up Sam" I blustered, slightly embarrassed with what had been said. I felt myself go bright red in the face, yet tried to keep calm.

"Alright Kyle, lay back down for a second so I can finish the examination" Sam said calmly.

Kyle, for the most part, stopped laughing and Sam managed to finish Kyle's examination speedily.

"All done Kyle" Sam addressed. "There's no decay, but just make sure to brush at the gum line better, okay?"

"Alright, thanks Sam" Kyle said, hopping up from the bed.

"Your turn Billy, come lay down" Sam declared, leading me to express my unwillingness aloud with a gigantic sigh.

"It's not that bad!" Sam declared.

I layed down on the bed and Sam changed his gloves and tools to fresh ones. I was slightly scared of allowing Sam to check my teeth- incase he ended up finding any decay, yet I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Kyle, so I just let Sam get on with it. He quickly checked all my teeth, tapping on each one with his explorer, and I was done within what seemed like seconds.

"Yeah they're fine Billy" Sam smiled, looking very pleased with me, as he chucked his mask and gloves in the bin.

"Alright boys, you can head back to class now" Sam said, standing up to lead us out the door.

I quickly gave Kyle an elbow shove, and said; "Kyle, wasn't there something you wanted to ask Samuel?"

Kyle stared at me for a few seconds, then jolted his head towards Sam and shook his head no. Sam and I both looked confused, for different reasons. But I let it breeze by for that current moment, and Kyle and I left the room, with Sam informing me I had to come home straight away after school; for what reason, I wasn't completely sure.

"Kyle, why didn't you mention the braces?" I asked Kyle quickly, once we were in the empty corridor.

"I don't know" he replied, "I just got nervous!"

"Oh well, i'm sure there will be another time" I smiled supportively.

As requested, I returned straight home after school without any dawdling. I entered the front door and dropped my bag beside the stairs, took off my shoes and headed into the living room, where Sam was sitting on the coach, casually distracted by his phone.

"Ah Billy, you're home!" Sam smiled, getting up to give me a hug. This was unusual! "Come take a seat Billy, I think we should have a talk."

Without saying a word, I took a seat on the opposite side of the couch to Sam, slightly worried about what was about to be said.

"So..." Sam began, "Jasmine told me you were quite upset! Talk to me Billy, what's bothering you? Tell me everything, vent to me. I won't get angry, just talk."

Sam seemed genuine for a change, like he actually cared about my feelings. I inhaled; then exhaled; then told him everything I had on my mind. Everything I'd told Jasmine, everything I'd told Lola, everything I'd told Kyle, everything I'd said to Sam before, plus more.

Yet, I ended my speech on something Sam wasn't exactly prepared for.

"Basically Sam...I just miss mum and dad."

Sam looked at me with devastating eyes.

"I know it's been six years since the accident," I continued, "but growing up without real parents. Living with Aunt Carol until about three months ago. I've found it tough, and still am finding it tough. But you don't seem to care."

Sam didn't say a word. He just kept his eyes locked on me, so I decided to continue.

"Remember when Aunt Carol used to get angry with me for no reason, and send me to my room without any food? But you use to sneak me some food in the middle of the night? That was the kind Sam I remember."

Sam still spoke no words.

"Remember when you spent ages saving up your money, to be able to afford a house so we could move away from Aunt Carol, because of how I was being treated. Samuel, do you remember when you fought and fought for me to move away with you, because she wouldn't let me go? Samuel! That was the kind you I remember, and that's the kind you I want now. But all you do is work, work, work, work and work. You don't think of me as your brother anymore, you think of me as your patient, Sam."

I looked up at Sam, who was staring down at his hands, looking quite upset and teary eyed. He then cleared his throat and softly spoke;

"I'm happy that you've expressed how you feel to me, Billy. I'm glad we've been able to move away from the past. But I guess the present needs to be altered. I'm going to take into account what you've told me Billy."

I nodded my head in agreement to what Sam had said.

"And Billy; I miss mum and dad too. There isn't one day where I don't think about them. And Billy, I want to make them proud. I want to treat you how they would want you to be treated- with kindness, respect and love. Billy, I love you, okay?"

I jumped into Sam's arms and cried into his chest. Thinking about my parents and the horrible past with my Auntie made me feel so grateful to have Sam.

"I love you too Sam" I sobbed.