Beautiful Silence- Chenry

■~7~■

Charlotte's POV-

It had never crossed my mind that Henry and I had an English class together. Since we were partners in this poetry project, I felt like maybe we had a shot at getting closer, which I was excited about. I loved poetry which should make this the easiest assignment I've ever had. In a little tin under my bed, I have a hand-written poem I've carried with me for as long as I can remember. I know the entire poem by heart, and sometimes I liked to think it was written by my birth mother. A special gift to me from her before she left.

Later after my last class was over, I went to my locker to grab my backpack and my jacket before getting a head start on walking home. Just as I was getting all the books I needed into my backpack, I felt a light tapping on my shoulder. When I turned around, I saw Henry holding up a spiral notebook in front of his face.

"Hi again, can I talk to you for a second?"

The corner of his mouth lifted a little bit as he lowered the notebook. I nodded, closing my locker gently. Henry took a minute to write another message in the notebook.

"I know you're probably busy with a lot of stuff, but I was wondering if maybe it would be a good idea for you to teach me sign language so we could talk without using this thing. You know, for the project."

Henry pointed to the notebook and I read what he had written very slowly. My heart was thumping in my chest, making it harder for me to concentrate. Half a second passed, I took the notebook and the pen from his hands to reply to him.

"That's a great idea, I'd love to teach you. But we can't meet at my house, my mom is renovating."

I felt a pang in my stomach as I handed the notebook back over for him to read. I didn't intend to lie at first, but I knew it would have been easier for me. Henry looked up at me, he passed the notebook back after scribbling on the page.

"That's okay, you can come over to my house and we can also get our project going."

I smiled at Henry, feeling a swell of gratitude in my chest for him.

"That's perfect, can I come over at around 3:00 pm tomorrow? Is that okay?"

Henry read my message and nodded.

"Yeah, that's okay that's absolutely and totally fine."

He replied.

Hoisting my backpack up onto my shoulder, I wrote in his notebook one last time.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, bye Henry :) Take care."

I waved a little bit before walking away, throwing a glance over my shoulder.

"Bye, Charlotte, you too."

Henry's lips melted into a lazy grin as he was walking backward down the hall. I smiled again to myself, looking down at the tips of my shoes.

Henry was the sweetest guy I've met at this school. I had a lot of gratitude for his amazing kindness alone. He didn't have to be this nice to me. Whatever girlfriend he ended up having, I really hoped she appreciated him for how sweet and considerate he was. Walking home with my earbuds in my ears, suddenly I was feeling anxious. The one thing that bothered me about my disability was that no matter what, I'll never be just Charlotte Bolton a normal girl from the small town of Swell View. I'll always be Charlotte Bolton, the deaf girl.

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