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Jennifer’s tooth needed to come out.
“Why on earth are you standing around, girl? Get back to your chores! I’ll not have you slacking off again!” Hoffman snapped as he passed by the dormitories, catching Jennifer standing with the broom in one hand, unmoving as she concentrated on working the tooth with her tongue.
It had been loose for a time, for weeks even, but hadn’t even come close to falling out. She thought to reach in and pull it out herself, but couldn’t bring herself to for fear of the pain. Jennifer pushed it with her tongue constantly, stopping only when it ached- and now it ached most days, which only made her want it to fall out even more.
Going to Mr. Hoffman wasn’t an option. Aside from his general dislike for her, Jennifer’s skin crawled at the notion of being alone in the infirmary with him, of his hands being so close to her body.
Martha wasn’t an option either, for different reasons.
“She went and ripped mine out,” Xavier griped, rubbing his jaw miserably from the memory of it. “Just reached in and tore it out. Hurt so badly, it did.”
Jennifer definitely didn’t want that. Martha wasn’t really known for being a gentle touch anyways.
Clara, she suspected, lacked the skill and willingness to do anything significant, and so she was struck from the list as well- this, unfortunately, ruled out anyone who could pass for an adult or authority figure in her world. And obviously, Jennifer had no intention of asking any of the other children to come up with a solution.
Especially not the Aristocrats.
And yet, the most awful thing about the Red Crayon Aristocrats was their ability to notice things that one absolutely did not want them to notice.
And by ‘they’, Jennifer of course meant Diana.
The older girl was like a cat, alternatively charming and vicious in utterly unpredictable ways. Well, in fairness, Jennifer did actually suspect that there was a pattern to Diana’s moods, but that perhaps she was simply too young or too ignorant to recognize what set them off. Whatever the case, Diana was an unstable and unpredictable part of Jennifer’s world and she did not want to give the older girl another chance to torment her.
Unfortunately, Diana was the sort of girl that could smell such opportunities on the wind whenever it turned the right way.
“Good God, has that tooth still not fallen out yet?”
Jennifer jumped. Unlike Hoffman, who had no motive to hide his presence in his own orphanage, Diana had perfected the art of sneaking up behind people without being heard at all. She stood behind Jennifer with her hands on her hips, eyeing the younger girl in that condescending, probing way she always did.
“No,” Jennifer said meekly. “Not yet.”
Diana’s hand shot out, gripping Jennifer’s jaw and forcing her mouth open with her thumb. She pushed at the tooth with it, and Jennifer didn’t dare move until she pulled away. “I can pull that out.”
“No, no,” Jennifer said quickly, stepping back and away and putting the broom between them- as though that would stop Diana if she really wanted to get her. “No, I’m- I don’t want that, please.”
Diana cocked her head, looking Jennifer up and down. “Fine,” she huffed. “At least tie a string around it.”
Jennifer frowned. “What?”
“Tie a string around it, silly. That way when it falls out, you don’t swallow it. Is this the first time you’ve lost a tooth, baby?”
Jennifer could sense that Diana was verging into her usual mocking behavior, and capitulated solely for the purpose of avoiding it. Diana produced a fine thread from a drawer and handed it to Jennifer, eyebrows raised. Fortunately, the tooth was towards the front and not quite as difficult to wrap the string around as she thought it would be. Eventually it was secure, the end of the thread hanging out of her mouth.
“Test it,” Diana remarked lightly, twirling a finger into her hair. “Give it a little tug, make sure it’s tight.”
Jennifer hesitated, wary of being tricked. She reached up and gave the thread a light tug- and yes, the thread held. “It’s tight.”
“Good.”
And then, lightning-fast, Diana grabbed the thread and gave it a hard yank.
Jennifer’s head jerked down, and her hands flew to her mouth; the thread was gone, and the tooth-
“See?” Diana smirked, wiggled the string that was now in her hand. A drop of blood fell to the floor from the tooth dangling from the other end of it. “Now you don’t have to worry about swallowing it.” She held out the string, pinching it between her fingers. Jennifer took it with dazed hesitation, staring blankly at the tooth and swallowing the blood that rose from the spot it had come from. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to really taste it, and it made Jennifer’s stomach turn.
“That hurt,” she mumbled, careful not to open her mouth too wide.
“Oh, come off it, a new tooth’s growing in already and now you won’t have to fiddle with it all the time. You’re welcome, baby,” Diana sneered, turning on her heel and tossing her hair over her shoulder as she headed for the door.
“Thank you,” Jennifer managed to squeak out before she left- partly because it was best not to give Diana a reason to hold a grudge, and partly because she knew Diana was right about the new tooth coming in soon. Besides, there were far crueler ways she could have done this.
Diana wheeled around, mouth twisting into that smug smirk of hers that Jennifer knows all too well. “You’re welcome, Jenn-i-fah. If ever you need me to rip out any more of your teeth, you let me know.”
Jennifer nodded, all while thinking, no, no, I don’t think I will.
Diana’s acts of kindness were far and few between, and she wasn’t interested in testing her luck a second time.
-End