A Collection of Stories

The Girl Who Signed

Summary:

My whole life, I've been different. When I was born, I never made a sound. When I was supposed to start talking, I never did. By the time I was two, the doctors told my parents I was mute, not deaf. Starting school was horrible. The first day, the teacher told everyone I couldn't talk. Ever since that day, I was a leper. No one talked to me except one person, Landon Duffy, my best friend in the world.

When I made it to high school, everything went downhill, so to speak. Landon moved in with me and my mom after my dad was killed in a hit and run. I was never the same after that day. We moved months after his death, going to a new school, new people, and new start. A new start for everyone, except me; I'd still be a leper to everyone but Landon.

*

My whole life, I've been different. When I was born, I never made a sound. When I was supposed to start talking, I never did. By the time I was two, the doctors told my parents I was mute, not deaf. Starting school was horrible. The first day, the teacher told everyone I couldn't talk. Ever since that day, I was a leper. No one talked to me except one person, Landon Duffy, my best friend in the world.

When I made it to high school, everything went downhill, so to speak. Landon moved in with me and my mom after my dad was killed in a hit and run. I was never the same after that day. We moved months after his death, going to a new school, new people, and new start. A new start for everyone, except me; I'd still be a leper to everyone but Landon.

~

The first day of school sucked. There was a translator following me everywhere, even though Mom already told the school I didn't need one. If people didn't know how to sign, I had a note book to talk to people with. Landon and Mom went straight to the school, telling them to get rid of the translator, and they did.

I was still treated like a leper, no one but Landon would talk to me. I was the only mute in the school. As weeks passed, I could hear people talk about me in the halls; it was as if they forgot I was just dumb, not dumb and deaf. They whispered about how I must have been a freak when I was born, that the doctors dropped me, so many horrible thing about me. I made sure I always sat in the back and avoided eye contact with people, which didn't help.

Now teachers thought I was flunking, or that I was depressed. In all truth, I missed my dad. He made the world feel right, and now he was gone and no one here understood that. No one here let me tell them that. They put me in a room, filled with people who didn't say a word. They were all put in here because the school thought they were hurting, or that they were suicidal. Imperfections the school didn't want others to see. The instructors here assigned me a translator, because I couldn't use my notebook here and the teacher didn't know sign language.

That really pissed me off.

The boy they assigned to me had graduated a year ago, and yet, he wouldn't come until next week because of college midterms. So they sent his brother, who also graduated last year. He came in right after first block started. He was tall, maybe six foot two, beautiful eyes, maybe Irish green or blue-green, fair skinned, and dark hair, almost black, I think. He walked over to me, a faint smile playing on his lips. He sat next to me offered me his hand. I shook my head and stuck my hands in my pockets.

"I'm James," He told me, looking at my face. "My brother, Daniel will be here by Friday, I promise. He's a lot better at this than I am. Please bear with me on this, okay?" He asked softly. I nodded and stared at my desk, fiddling with my locket in my pocket. He didn't push much after that, I just signed stuff and he spoke for my hands for the next four days.

Like that would help at all.