Desired Nose ring

By: Elizabeth Marin

Ever since I was twelve years old and saw my sister, Gabrielle, at the age of sixteen with a nose ring, I wanted one so badly. I begged Gabrielle to take me to go get one but she kept on saying no. I would draw dots on my nose and lips with an eyeliner pencil.

" Mom, can I get a nose piercing?" I had asked her. " No Liz," my mom had said. " Why? Gabrielle has one!" I had pouted. She said a scripture from the bible that she memorized and said, " If Gabrielle jumped off a bridge would you? She wasn't supposed to get that. God said-" Blah blah blah. I don't know what she said I forgot. Something about not to pierce thy body.

My parents were divorced so I play that divorce game. I went to my dad and asked if I can get a nose ring. He didn't know that I had asked my mom that was all part of my game. He started talking to me about Natives getting nose rings and stuff that was way off topic. He eventually started talking about my mom and then politics. So I asked him when he was sleepy. He said, " Sure."

I told Gabrielle what my dad said and she agreed to take me to Berkeley to go get my nose pierced. After school I was so excited. I told no one, because I wanted to surprise them.

Gabrielle pulled up in her green Mitsubishi with her nasty Trina music blasting loud. I got in and we drove down to Telegraph in Berkeley. We parked in a parking spot that we weren't supposed to park in and got out.

I thought we were going to Zebras. But instead we came to these little stands on the street. I thought how unprofessional. It was a stand made out of wood and had a little rug hanging down. I looked at the different varieties of nose rings and belly rings there were.

Gabrielle paid the lady twenty bucks. We went around to the back of the stand and I sat down in the chair. The lady put on gloves and like changed needles for the shot. That's when I became a little nervous. The thing looked like a stapler.

The lady gave me a sharpie and told me to mark the spot on my nose where I want it pierced. I thought about my crush, Brandon, and thought of what side he sat next to me. It was the left! So I marked my left side of my nose and… CHA CHING! She pierced my nose with a thick gold ball that was really big.

It had to be big when you first get it. My left eye became watery. Not from the short painful shot, but from the alcohol. I took the mirror and looked at my beautiful big nose ring. I smiled and asked Gabrielle, " Can you get me a hoop?" Gabrielle frowned and sighed and picked out a golden hoop for me. I lost it though.

After that, we went to Hot Topic and looked at the fascinating weird things. Then we went to the pizza shop and got pizza. My mom liked my piercing but frowned when she first saw it. She wasn't really mad. Gabrielle was bold enough to tell my mom what had happened as soon as we got into the door.

When school came again, everyone was shocked. I was the only one with a nose ring. They asked me questions and stuff. My counselor thought it was cute and sadly…my crush never said anything about it. But my Malagasge stepmother copied me. Yup. And that's how I got my nosering.