Muted Love

92∙11/15∙1/4 ∙19,288=?

This is ridiculous. Kaia glared down at her math book. She’d been staring at the problem for at least three minutes, mentally complaining about the absurdly large numbers. Two years ago, she would have probably let out a groan at that point. But now a frustrated sigh was all she could manage.

Kaia closed her eyes to block the problem from sight. Around her the café was bustling with sound; the grinding of coffee machines, the clattering of cups, the soft hum of the heating system. And, of course, there were the conversations, some boisterous, some solemn, all off limits to her.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

She opened her eyes in response to the accented voice. A tall teenager about her own age was standing next to her table, one of his hands resting on the back of the empty chair across from her. She shrugged and made a noncommittal gesture before looking back down at her algebra book.

Kaia listened as the chair scraped across the tile floor. Looking up, she found he had flipped the chair around and was sitting so his forearms rested on the back of the chair. He leaned forward and smiled. She gave him a slight smile in response; it was practically impossible not to. His smile was slightly crooked, just enough to make him seem perfectly friendly.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m Jacoby.”

Well, at least I’m not the only one in the room with a weird name. Kaia nodded and smiled, and then turned back to her homework.

“Do you have a name?”

She nodded.

He chuckled at her response. “Well, are you going to tell me it?”

Kaia looked back up from her book. He was still smiling at her, his intensely blue eyes bright with friendliness. Kaia, she wanted to tell him. I’m Kaia, and you’re extremely hot. Instead she just shrugged.

His smile faded slightly. “Are you mute?”

She nodded, glad he had caught on. It sometimes took people awhile before they arrived to the conclusion that she was actually mute and not just socially awkward. Although if anyone asked her classmates, they’d say without hesitation that she was just socially inept, and probably announce that she was also deaf and mentally challenged.  

“Sorry about that,” he said. “That must be rough.”

If he hadn’t been so hot, she would have been tempted to flip him off for the understatement. Going from being a champion in the debate team to perfectly mute in matter of seconds had been rough. Living with the muteness for two years had been pure hell.

He cleared his throat when he didn’t receive an answer. “Well, I’m new here,” he said. “I just moved into town with my brothers.”

She raised her eyebrows, and he seemed to read her silent question.

“Yeah, no parents. My brother Cyrus has raised me since I was like four.”

This guy’s family really has a thing for weird names. Kaia was slightly glad she could no longer say the first thing that came to her mind, and instead gave him a pitying frown.

“It’s not so bad,” he said. “My brothers and I are close, so we make do without parents.”

She nodded, and his smile returned. He gestured to her open math book. “Algebra, huh? I’ve always sucked at that subject. I don’t have the mind for math.”

She pointed to herself and mouthed, “Me too.”

He chuckled again. It was a soft sound, almost sweet. “I’m dreading my math class this semester. I start at Greenland High on Monday.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you go there?”

She nodded and made a mental note to transfer to whatever class the hot guy with the weird name was put in. The school’s secretary could get it done for her. She and Kaia had an odd friendship, with Ms. Dorr being half deaf and her being mute.

“Awesome,” Jacoby said. “So then I’ll know someone on Monday.”

You don’t want to advertise the fact that you know me. She wished she could warn him of this. He obviously would be a jock with his lean muscle and handsome features. But he wouldn’t receive the warm welcome from them he deserved if he told them he even talked to her.

He didn’t seem to notice her concerned expression. “Any idea why a school in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Idaho is called Greenland High?”

Because the entire school sucks at geography. She’d found this out when she had first moved there soon after her accident. Her classmates seemed to think that the world revolved around their tiny town of Spirit Lake, Idaho and the tiny school within it. And in some ways she’d found this was true. Without any friends at the only high school in town, she was left alone most of the time.

Jacoby didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t answer his question. He just smiled and nodded, like she’d said a clever response.

“White mocha for… Jacob?”

Kaia turned toward the serving counter where one of the waitresses was pushing a whipped-cream topped drink toward the edge and frowning at the name written on the cup.

“Jacoby,” he called back to her. Jacoby rolled his eyes at Kaia. “Yeah, I know. Weird name. No one gets it right.”

He stood from her chair, and Kaia tried to hide the disappointment on her face as she realized the conversation was coming to an end.

“Well, I’ll see you around,” he said as he took a step toward the serving counter. “Have a nice day, Kaia.”

She jolted at the sound of her name, but his back was already turned to her. She watched as she walked from the café after giving the waitress a polite “thanks”.

Kaia. He knew her name, a name she never mentioned. She smiled and looked back down at her math. Maybe we are soulmates…