Gold Studs
Ever since we were around seven years old, my twinny Amy and I begged our Mom to let us get our ears pierced. We thought it would be so "cool" to wear big hoops or long dangling earrings. Our beautiful babysitter who had long, jet-black hair wore them, and we wanted to be just like her. Finally, for our eleventh birthdays, Amy and I were so happy when Mom finally said we could get our ears pierced (True happiness!).
It was a Saturday afternoon when Mom shouted, "Time to go girls!" Amy and I jumped into the car and off we went to the jewelry store in town. It was one of our favorite places and all our friends from school went there. They had an amazing selection of dazzling gold, silver and sparkling diamond jewelry. In the back of the store was a separate room where a nurse would pierce your ears.
When we arrived, I immediately asked Amy if I could go first. Depending on the situation, sometimes I prefer when Amy goes first but this time I was so excited that I didn’t want to wait. Amy said, “Go ahead” (at times, my twinny is so agreeable). The first step was picking out our earrings. I immediately found a pair of long silver earrings and Amy settled on a heart shaped pair with diamond studs. But Mom insisted that we keep it simple and start out with small 14K gold studs. While disappointed, we knew she was right - that's Mom!
Before I knew it, I was sitting in a big white leather chair waiting to have my ears pierced. While the friendly nurse introduced herself and explained the procedure, I looked around and noticed that the room looked very much like a doctor's office. Everything was clean and white, the silver equipment was gleaming and the room smelled like it had just been cleaned with antiseptic. The nurse told me not to worry, it was just going to feel like a "little pinch" and it would be over before I knew it. I sat very still in the oversized chair while she marked each ear with a tiny black dot. A few seconds later, the nurse said, “You’re all done.” "Wow!" I said. "That went fast and didn’t hurt one bit."
While the nurse was giving me directions on how to clean my newly pierced ears, I looked over at Amy and was shocked to see her looking white as a ghost. Then she blurted out, "I don't want to do this!" And then she ran out of the room. Once we were back in the car, I asked Amy what happened and she said that it was the zapping sound made by the piercing gun that frightened her most (this was so unlike my twinny). I was shocked that she panicked! I tried to calm her down by explaining how painless it was, but she just didn’t want to hear it. I was confused and a bit annoyed with her. Even though we are best friends, at times Amy can really annoy me. She was acting like the biggest baby. Did I want to deal with this? After a few seconds, I thought about it and I decided even though she was acting like a baby, who I really had no patience for, I would give her some time. I knew she’d eventually have a change of heart.
When we returned to school on Monday, I wore a high ponytail so everyone could see my pierced ears. All my friends complimented me on my shiny gold studs and told me how great I looked. All the attention was now on me and I loved it. One of my friends said that this was a perfect way to tell Amy and me apart (as if anyone in the sixth grade still had doubts about who was who). I couldn't have agreed with her more. Word spread quickly, and soon the teachers, our classmates and the cute boy who I had a crush on (who normally mixed us up), were now calling Amy and me by our correct names. I couldn't have been happier.
But my happiness was short-lived. After Amy saw all the attention I was getting, she decided to bite the bullet and get her ears pierced too. I knew it wouldn't take her long to try it again. We went back to the jewelry store and this time she emerged smiling with her newly pierced ears. When I asked her how she did it, she told me that she closed her eyes tight, held her breath, and before she knew it, the deed was done. Amy was unsure why she carried on the first time, adding, "It was no big deal!"
Now that we both had pierced ears there was one little problem. My teachers, classmates, and the cute boy that I had a crush on, were mixing us up again. But luckily the confusion didn’t last long because a few months later, Amy got a second piercing in her left ear and my crush stayed faithful to me!
BTW: A couple of years later, Amy got a third piercing in her left ear too.