Confused could best describe how Amy felt, until the optician called and said her glasses could be picked up. She'd decided not to wear her mom's old pair, or even try Bobbi's until she got her own, just to try to get along seeing things without correction.

And it wasn't easy, TV was a blur and street signs seemed non-existent. She was torn between wanting to see and the fear of actually having to wear her own glasses, and wouldn't discuss it with anyone. Until she'd tried Bobbi's, everything was fine, but now it seemed like the world was a fuzz.

All too soon, she was seated across a low table from the white-coated optician, looking down at the frames she had selected which now had sparkling clear lenses in them; lenses that were slightly thicker than the wire than held them in place. They weren't coke bottles, she thought, but you could definitely tell they were prescription. But the sunglasses were a different story, lying in the shallow tray with the very dark lens color she'd insisted on and the temples folded they looked like they could just as well have come off the rack at K-Mart.

"OK, Amy, are you ready for the greatest experience of your life?" the all-too cheerful optician chirped, picking up the wire frames and slowly moving them towards her with the temples open, ready to put them on the teenager's face. Amy bit her tongue and muttered "I guess" while seated next to her. Bobbi could hardly contain her glee. "Oh come on and enjoy it" she said, "I didn't get to do this part of it, you delivered mine to me in their case, remember?"

The optician stopped moving the glasses, holding them a couple of feet away, and said "take a look at something far away, like the store across the mall, before you try these on". Amy squinted at the letters on the shoe store across from the optical shop, and they were as usual, a blur. While she was concentrating on that, the optician slipped the glasses over her ears and rested them on her nose, perfectly balanced in front of her blue eyes. Amy was literally speechless.

"Oh, oh, oh my God!" she stuttered. "I can read those letters and those trees in the middle of the mall have individual leaves!" she exclaimed. The optician grasped the temples to remove the glasses for adjustment, but Amy instinctively clasped her hands on the sides of her head to prevent it. She stood up, and slowly turned all the way around, looking at everything clearly and sharply. So this, she thought, is how things are supposed to look.

She sat back down, and reluctantly allowed the optician to finish fitting the clear ones after which she did the same with the sunglasses. Amy very much enjoyed the experience of being able to see clearly while the temple tips were adjusted to fit perfectly and comfortably behind her ears while the bridge rested ever so gently on her nose. The sunwear then went in the case and Amy slipped on her new treasures all the while marvelling at the clarity of the whole new world she was seeing, but as they were leaving the optical place she took them off and slipped them into their case.

Bobbi was flabbergasted. "What in the world are you doing?" she asked. "You just about went wild when you put them on, wouldn't let the lady take them off even to adjust them, and now they're in your purse!" she said. "Don't worry, sis," came the reply because as quickly as the clear ones had entered their case the shades were out of theirs being worn. "Until it gets totally dark, I'm wearing these, and no one will have to know I'm wearing glasses. And by then we'll be home. And boy, things look absolutely great with either pair on".

As they walked through the mall and the parking lot, and in the car on the way home, Bobbi chuckled to herself as Amy would focus on a distant object, then pull the frames down and peer over them to compare how things used to look. Each time, she quickly put the lenses back before her eyes, obviously preferring how things looked with them to how they looked without them.

Not a word was spoken between them until a few blocks from home, when Amy said "she was right". "Who was right?" queried Bobbi. "The optician; it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And now, next week, I'll just trot over to the football field for the cheering tryouts wearing my cool shades and no one, absolutely no one, will know I'm nearsighted!".

Amy was very happy, having the best of both worlds, but inside herself Bobbi was asking if it could last. And, having been a varsity cheerleader herself while at the same high school, memories of the tryouts and being accepted as member of the squad were still vivid. Bobbi suddenly thought of a plan.

to be continued...