Stutter (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 1

“I h-ha-have four li-little sisters.”

“That’s nice. I have two sisters myself.” They reached Louis’ locker and he started to put a few things inside. “So we have english first and the teacher is kind of tough on grading, but bring her a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting with rainbow sprinkles and she can be a total sweetheart and a little more lighthearted with her grading. She’s just very passionate about literature and wants to really help her students so if you're nice in return and put a lot of effort in she’s a lot nicer.”

“T-thanks.”

“It’s no problem. Do you like literature?”

“L-lo-love it. Sp-spend a l-l-lot of time r-reading.” It was true, when you move a lot and don’t really have any friends and get picked on a lot you tend to find some way to escape and Louis’ way was through his books.

“Yeah I get it, well I don’t get it, but I can see where you’re coming from. I’m not like the rest of the school Louis and stick with me I can keep a lot of them off your back. My friends are quite popular around here and can hold them back.” Louis gave Liam a grateful smile as the bell rang. “Well come on then.” 

Louis followed Liam down the hall to their classroom. There were only about 15 other students in there. Louis’ first instinct was to head straight for the back, but Liam pulled him to the second row. “D-don’t like be-being c-c-close,” Louis whispered.

“She calls more on people in the back, and either way you’ll be fine. Remember, just stick with me,” Liam smiled at him.

Louis accepted the smile and took a deep breath. A tall beautiful woman walked in the class room her heels clicking across the floor with her black dress pants laying perfectly over them and her light pink blouse fitting to her form. Her long black hair and blue eyes made her look stunning. She was young and seemed so nice, but Liam said she was tough about literature. “Hello class I hope you all had a good weekend. We are going to start a new book today called The Glass Castle. Has anyone heard of it?”

Louis went to raise his hand eagerly, because yes, of course he heard of it. He’s only read it 50 times over. He stopped himself though because he knew he would have to speak. Liam though saw him stop and jumped in for him. “My friend Louis here has.”

She turned over to the two boys and smiled. “Ah Louis yes, you’re my new student. I’m Mrs.Goodwin. So have you read The Glass Castle?” Louis nodded. “Did you enjoy it?” Louis nodded. “Uh huh, Louis I’d like it if you could stay after class for a few minutes okay?” Louis nodded.

The rest of the class was quite calm. She handed out the new books and collected the old ones. She handed out the syllabus for the reading and a double journal entry sheet for the first set of reading. She discussed a few more things about independent reading and that their books needed to be cleared by the end of the week and then they had time to read. Before Louis knew it the bell had rung. “I’ll meet you at your locker okay?” Liam said.

Louis nodded and Liam left leaving him sitting there alone while the class filed out of the room. Once everyone left Mrs.Goodwin closed her door and pulled a stool up across from Louis. “Hi Louis. I know it’s kind of scary to talk in front of a class, especially with your stutter, but it’s okay. All my students are lovely and they aren’t going to make fun of you.” Louis just kept his gaze downwards. “Louis, can you say something, anything?”

“H-hi.”

“There you go. I know it’s scary, but you can trust me Louis. I checked out your records and you excel in english. I am happy to have you in my class. Don’t tell Liam but, you pass him significantly.” Louis let out a small chuckle. “That’s a lovely laugh you have Louis.”

“Th-th-thanks.” Louis looked up to meet her gaze finally.

“You’re welcome. Listen I would really like to talk with you about the reading and everything, is there anything I can do to get you to talk with me?”

“T-this.” Louis gesture between them.

“One on one?” Louis nodded. “Okay. How about this. If you say one sentence next class we can do that. We can set up meetings sometime before class so I can get your opinion and hear what you have to say so I can talk about it in class. Can you do that for me?”

“Y-yeah.” 

“Thank you Louis.” The bell rang. “Here let me write you and Liam a pass.” She wrote one up and handed it to Louis.

“T-thank yo-you.”

“Anytime.” 

Louis stood up and went right to his locker where Liam was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “There you are! Oh my god I’ve never been late before I’m freaking out right now!”

“H-here.” Louis handed him the pass.

“Mrs.Goodwin is the best! Let’s go, we have world history.”