My Own Four Cents [2016]

Chapter 4: The First Day

I spend the weekend getting used to my new home and family. Mom and Dad have bought some cool boxes you can hook up to the telephone or the doorbell that blinks when it rings. I told them they didn't have to, but they did it anyway.

On Sunday, I am raking leaves in my front lawn (Mom told me I didn't need to, but I insisted) when a girl walks by. It's Tanisha. She doesn't notice me until I yell to her. And when I say yell, I mean make a loud grunty noise that I hope she can hear.

She whirls around and spots me. Her mouth opens in awe. She then breaks into a grin and runs over to me. She hugs me so hard I can't breathe.

I finally pull away from her. I'm so glad to see you!

Me too! When did you get out?

Same day as you, right after lunch!

That's awesome!

I know! And you're here, too! Do you like your family?

Yes! They're so nice.

Mine are too. I'm so glad to see you! It felt like so long without you. I'm starting school tomorrow.

Me too. What school are you going to?

St. Claire's. The public middle school.

She smiles excitedly and signs, That's the school I'm going to!

I scream with delight and hug her again.

Want me to help? Tanisha offers.

I nod. She picks up a rake and starts to help me.

That afternoon is one of the best days of my life. I have lunch with Tanisha after finishing the yardwork. We have macaroni and cheese for lunch, then I show her my new room and we go over to her house and she shows me her room. She has a beanbag chair and horse posters all over the walls. Her window overlooks a big grassy field with a small blue building in it. Her room is awesome.

After that, we play some of our old games from the orphanage: word games (signed or written down), hand games, games with chalk marks drawn on the sidewalk. We play a couple of board games and then sit and talk about our new lives.

It's time for me to go home before I know it. I say goodbye to Tanisha and walk home, feeling incredibly happy. I'd never guessed my life would be like this.

After dinner, I get to know Dad a little more-- I don't spend much time with him, he works so much. I teach him a little bit of sign language because he's not very good at it. I have to sign very slowly so that he can read it. Then I read for a while and then Mom comes into my room and tells me to get ready for school tomorrow. 

I pack myself a lunch in a brown paper bag and set out an outfit for tomorrow. A red hoodie, a pair of jeans and sneakers. I put a new set of pencils and a couple of notebooks in my new backpack, which is light blue and which Mom bought me over the weekend. 

Then I get in bed and set my alarm for 7:00 so I can wake up in time to get dressed and eat breakfast and still get on the bus in time. See, alarm clocks don't work for me because they only make noise, so I have a special alarm clock we bought over the weekend that has a bracelet attaching to my wrist, and the clock vibrates along with the wristband, and that will wake me up. I collapse in my bed and drift off to sleep.

I wake up to a vibration on my wrist at 7:00 a.m. The clock is making my bracelet jiggle. I press Off on the alarm clock and unhook the wristband from my wrist. Then I get out of bed. I get dressed and go downstairs. Then I eat breakfast and catch the bus. Tanisha is on my bus. Her stop is right after mine. I sit with her and we talk for the entire bus ride. I walk with her to the office to find out our teachers.

Mr. Seay, I say to Tanisha.

She grins with delight. Me too!

YES! We hug each other, overjoyed that we're in the same homeroom. I walk up with her to our classroom, room 345.

Twenty-five students are sitting in rows of desks, writing on lined paper. Ten math problems are written on the whiteboard at the front of the room. Tanisha says something to the man at the front of the room (Mr. Seay, I'm guessing), and he claps his hands together. All the kids sit up attentively.

The man tells us something. Tanisha translates, Stand at the front of the room.

Tanisha then tells the teacher something, and he nods. He writes his name on the board. Mr. Seay.

I shake his hand and smile. Tanisha and I go to the front of the room. Tanisha says some stuff, and then tells me, Tell them about yourself.

I sign some things and Tanisha translates to everybody out loud. I was in an orphanage for six years and then I was adopted on Friday. I'm new to this and I haven't been in a public school before because I can't hear. I've been to a private school and I had lessons at the orphanage.

The kids look at me oddly. Some look sympathetic, sorry for me. Poor kid, an orphan who can't hear. Others look nervous, almost scared.

Tanisha says something to the teacher, Mr. Seay. He claps a hand to his forehead and says something back. Tanisha's face lights up and she says something else. I want to scream! I have to know what they're saying.

Tanisha's shoulders slump and she says one more thing. Mr. Seay shakes his head and pats Tanisha on the shoulder. Tanisha signs, I told him you need an aide, and he said he almost forgot and thanks for reminding him. I asked if I could be your aide and he said he needs someone with a little more "experience".

Oh.

I'd love to be your aide. I really would.

Can you convince him?

Maybe. I'll try.

Thanks.

I watch her turn away and talk to the teacher some more.

A brown haired girl with blue eyes and a cold expression on her face walks into the room. She has a name tag with Sandy Greene written on it.

Sandy goes up to Mr. Seay and talks to him. Then they both glance at me.

I feel uncomfortable when people talk about me.