Unfiltered Story #32417

(This story happened when I was in fifth grade, about 10 years old. We were learning to play basketball in gym class, which was more or less just dribbling and passing. One of the boys in class decided, for whatever reason, to deliberately chuck a basketball full-force at my face. It hit me VERY hard in the jaw, and I heard and felt a loud snap in my mouth. The boy was made to run laps for the remainder of class while I was sent to the nurse’s office. Normally our nurse was great, and she knew me well because I was sick fairly often due to a weak immune system, but unfortunately she was out that day and we had a substitute. She was not so great.)

Me*timidly*: “Excuse me.”

Sub Nurse*rudely and without looking up from her trashy “women’s interests” magazine*: “What?”

Me: “Um, I got hit in the mouth during gym and I think I broke a tooth.”

Sub Nurse*still not looking up*: “You’re fine, go back to class.”

Me: “But it hit really hard and I felt something crack. I really think my tooth is broken.”

Sub Nurse*STILL not looking up*: “You’re FINE, now go away!”

Me: “But you didn’t even look!”

Sub Nurse*FINALLY looking up at me, glaring*: “God, I am so sick of you kids making up stupid excuses just to get out of class for a few minutes! There’s nothing wrong with you, now get back to class and stop bothering me!”

(Being an extremely very shy, mild-mannered child I didn’t know what to do so I left. Gym class was the second class of the day, meaning I spent the better part of three hours with a bruised jaw and a broken tooth. Finally it was time to go home and I told my mom what happened. She looked at my tooth, confirmed it was broken, and took me to the dentist, who easily removed the pieces of my tooth with a piece of gauze.)

Dentist: “Wow, you didn’t just break this you snapped it clean in half! What happened, hun?”

Me: “A boy in gym class hit me in the face with a basketball.”

Dentist*sympathetically*: “Yeah, boys are dumb at your age. But why didn’t you go to the school nurse?”

Me: “I did. She wasn’t in, and the sub told me I was fine and to go away and stop bothering her. She didn’t even look at my tooth.”

Dentist*silent for a moment*: “I see. What school do you go to, again?”

Me: “[Middle School].”

Dentist: “Okay. Well, here’s your tooth [My Name]. I’m sure the Tooth Fairy will give you something a little extra, considering the circumstances.” *knowing smile at my mom, who smiled back*

(He didn’t charge us for the visit, and the next day at school the regular nurse was back and she apologized profusely for what the sub did. Apparently my dentist had called the school after Mom and I left his office and told the principal what had happened. The sub was fired, I got a bag of candy from the regular nurse, and Mom got a VERY apologetic phone call from the principal!)