DWTS 100 Prompt Challenge!

Genius

A/N: I am going to preface this by saying a few things. One, this is a story where dyslexia is a strong theme throughout, just a heads up. Two, if any of you out there are battling (and beating) dyslexia, this message is for you. Listen, you're not stupid, you're not dumb, you're not going to never able to achieve what you want to achieve, don't listen to any of that. Listen to this: I know a girl who is dyslexic, in fifth grade, they moved her into first grade reading. In seventh grade, she had to go to a separate room on the opposite end of the school, basically in a closet, with a tutor to help her with reading and math. And guess what? That girl graduated highschool and college both two years early. And guess what? She owns her own business now. She started it from the ground up. Back in fifth grade, she was always told she was never going to go anywhere, well look where she is now. So for any of you who relate to my friend, listen, you have so much potential inside of you to do everything you set your mind to. Don't stop dreaming, Love. Xoxo, Taylor ❤

A/N 2: I was gonna base my dance dedicated to a child I know who has dyslexia as this, but I ended up changing the treatment last minute so, this is me bringing a treatment to live through a Chmergess onehot 😂

~~~~~

It was nearing 11:45 at night when I was doing my math homework (gotta love late rehearsal nights) when my phone started ringing.

"Hello?" I asked. It was never like Maks to call, especially this late at night.

"Sharna, they--they got the tests back, and one of his teachers s-said something out l-loud about it, and--" He was sobbing.

"Maks," I said calmly. "Stay put, I'll be right over. Don't move, don't let Val move, stay put."

"Okay, Sharna." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Love you."

"Love you too." With the platonic message, he hung up.

I grabbed my phone and keys and left, speeding through my subdivision to get to the Chmerkovskiy's. I arrived in a matter of five minutes. I quietly ran up the stairs to where Maks and Val's rooms are. "Who do I need to kill? What happened?" I sat down on the bed next to Maks.

"All he's been doing is crying!" Maks exclaimed through his own sobs.

I stood up and ran across the hall to Val's room. I opened the door to see him sitting atop his bed, clutching a pillow close to his chest, sobbing. "Go away! How'd you even get in here?"

"I have a spare. You gave it to me, silly. Now come here, what happened?" I stretched his arms out from around the pillow, and held his hands in mine. He quickly pulled them away and wrapped them back around the pillow. I turned him to face me and started to dry his tears. "What happened?"

"I'm stupid! We got the stupid test back, and I'm dy-dys--" Val choked on sobs as he tried to finish his sentence. "I'm freaking dyslexic, Sharna! And by whatever rule, they had to tell the teachers about it, and I couldn't read what was on the board out loud, and it was taking me forever once I figured it out, and Mrs. Sullivan told me to stop halfway through, then she picked someone else to read. And then they sent me out of my English class and now I'm stuck with a tutor lady who talks to me like I'm five years old, and--" He collapsed forward onto my shoulder in sobs. I had known Val had always struggled with reading, especially when it came to numbers, but I never knew he was dyslexic. "And that girl from our gym class pushed me into a locker, and everyone said I'm dumb!"

"What girl from gym? Lauren?" He nodded. I made a mental note to kill the girl when I saw her next. "Listen to me, Valentin, you are not stupid, okay? This is just something--"

"Yeah, something that's harder for me, I know! I've heard it a million times, and I've only been dyslexic for a day!" I could tell the panicking had ruined his sense of judgement.

"You mean you've only been diagnosed one day." I chuckled lightly.

"Shut up! Stop correcting me!" He snapped. "Just talk down to me like I'm a baby, call me stupid, and leave like everyone else is going to!"

"Val, I'm never going to leave you. Ever. And you're not stupid, you're brilliant! Did you know that Albert Einstein was dyslexic?" I continued to run my finger under his eyes.

"He was not."

"You wanna bet? I did a whole history report on him." I laughed dryly. "V, believe me when I say--" I stopped at the sight of his desk. Paint was splashed everywhere and there was a painting in the middle of the table. "Did...did you paint that?" I walked over to the desk, not letting go of his hand. Avi stood up with shaky legs and stood beside me.

"I mean...yeah." He shrugged. "It's for my Art 3 class, it's horrible anyways."

"Val, no it isn't!" My eyes grew wide at the sight of the painting. "What was the assignment?"

"I had to paint contrast. A lot of people did light vs dark, Alan did a really cool halo and horns thing, but this was my idea. The left side of the brain being for more academic stuff, and the right side of the brain being more artistic." He sniffled in between words.

"Okay, okay, Val, listen." I pointed a finger to the left side of the brain on his painting, then pointed one to the right side. "The right side of your brain is stronger than the left side. See, the right side works out more," I chuckled and winked, knowing Val's hatred of exercising. "It was strong enough to come up with and execute this amazing piece. Now, the left side of your brain, hates working out, but the right side is trying to convince it to do better. That's what's happening inside your head. Your creative side is amazing, and so is the left side, but the left side just isn't as motivated as the right side."

Val shrugged. "But nobody cares about art. They want straight A's."

"Society wants straight A's, but I can hurt them too. What would this world be without art? Without people like you who can see the abstract patterns in things?"

"A world of geniuses." He muttered.

"Boring. The world would be boring, Val." I laughed. "See," I finally knew how to word this. "Dyslexia doesn't mean you're dumb, it means that you can see more complex things and patterns easier than others. You don't see the basics because that's boring. You see the complexity in things which is amazing." He frowned and looked at his painting. I kissed the side of his head and looked down too. "And that makes nothing short of genius."