How The Deaf Boy Fell in Love

Summer's Here

Kurt was eight when it happened. His mother was driving him home from school, the two of them laughing and singing along to the radio when his world changed forever.

The doctors told his dad it was due to the trauma his ears endured from broken glass. He was lucky the glass didn't sever anything important in his head, they had said. But it all amounted to the same thing, Kurt would never hear again.

And then he found out that his mother had suffered injuries too extensive to fix in surgery, and Kurt would never see his mother again.

Burt didn't have the money for a cochlear implant surgery. His insurance honestly wasn't that good and his shop wasn't doing the best at the time, so he researched other options for his newly deaf son. In his research, he discovered American Sign Language and immediately put both Kurt and himself through lessons in order to give his son access to language. He decided to send Kurt to the state funded school for the deaf, and when Kurt turned nine, he was sent to live in the dorms of the Ohio School for the Deaf.

******

"Did you hear about Mr. Monroe?" Trevor, one of Kurt's best friends at OSD, asked. Kurt shakes his head, walking side by side with him as they headed to the dorms.

"I heard he was fired because everybody kept complaining about his shitty teaching," Trevor states, Kurt raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Seriously? I thought administration would never fire him. They love him," Kurt signs back. Trevor laughs as they start heading up the stairs to the boys dorms.

"I guess they finally listened to the students," Trevor shrugs, and Kurt waves goodbye to his friend as he reaches his dorm room, unlocking the door and heading inside. Zach, his roommate, had already cleaned out his side of the room for summer, so Kurt was left alone as he quickly packed his clothes and personal items before his dad picked him up for summer.

Kurt jumps in surprise when someone suddenly jumps onto his back, causing him to stumble and nearly crash headfirst onto the floor in front of him. Kurt looks behind him to see Paige, another of his friends, grinning and wrapping her arms around his chest.

"What the hell?" Kurt signs, straining his neck as he looks up at Paige. She just grins, looking down and causing her long black hair to fall around Kurt's face. She laughs as he brushes her hair away from his face, the vibrations of her laughter clearly felt against his back.

"You can't leave me," she signs, pouting as she holds on as Kurt tries to shove her off his back, feeling his clothes wrinkle against his back as she continues to laugh.

"It's summer, it's not like we won't see each other over it!" Kurt signs, still struggling to take the spider monkey off his back. Finally, Paige hops down from Kurt's back, and he straighten to turn and glare at her. Why he is best friends with her, he has no idea at the moment.

"But we live on opposite sides of the state! And you know my family doesn't sign. I should just stay with you, Burt wouldn't mind, he loves me," Paige signs, and Kurt feels the sadness he always gets whenever Paige mentions her family's inability to adapt in order to communicate with her. Paige was raised oral for the majority of her life, until her family moved to Ohio and enrolled her in OSD, where a majority of classes were taught in sign. She learned ASL quickly, and that was now her preferred language. But her parents refused to learn how to sign, which was why she always wanted to go to Kurt's or Trevor's house when the three of them hung out.

"I'm sorry," Kurt states, watching as Paige shrugs.

"It's okay. Only two more years until we are all off to Gallaudet anyways, right?" She states, excitement entering her once again at the thought of them going to Gallaudet University after their senior year together.

"Yeah, after ruling the school as seniors!" Kurt laughs, and a minute later, Kurt watches as his father enters the room. He looks at Paige with amusement.

"I'm pretty sure the administration wouldn't like hearing you're here, Paige," Burt signs. Paige shrugs, not bothered at all by the fact that technically it was against the rules for a girl to be in the boys dorms.

"Yeah, but it's the last day, nobody cares," Paige says. Burt laughs and turns to Kurt, who is closing his suitcase and struggling to zip it because of all the clothes stuffed inside.

"You ready kiddo?" He asks. Kurt nods, pulling the suitcase off his bed and turning to his best friend. The two of them hug, and Kurt watches as Burt takes a suitcase in his hands.

"FaceTime tonight?" Kurt asks. Paige nods and Kurt walks out with Burt as the two of them walk to the administration members overseeing everybody leaving. Kurt hands his dorm key to one of them, watching as they tell him he is good to leave. Kurt spies Trevor with his family, talking rapidly in sign language to his mother. Kurt waves to get his attention, watching as Trevor turns to look at him.

"See you next year," Kurt signs, grinning. Trevor laughs.

"Not if I avoid you," he jokes, watching as Kurt laughs.

"Paige and I are FaceTiming tonight, connect if you can!" Kurt tells him. Trevor nods and Kurt turns to look at Burt, who's standing there with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's up?" Kurt asks, seeing his father deep in thought. Burt shrugs it off, stating that he'll tell Kurt later. Kurt nods, grabbing his suitcase and helping his father load everything into the car.  Kurt gets into the passenger seat next to his father and they set off back to Lima, heading home. Kurt taps his father's shoulder, getting his attention.

"How's Carole?" Kurt asks, watching as his father quickly glances back to the road after watching what Kurt was signing. He drives with one hand, as he signs.

"She's good. She's still working at the hospital," Burt says. Kurt nods, letting his father focus more on the road than trying to keep up a conversation with Kurt. Kurt taps on his father's shoulder once again a couple minutes later.

"Can Paige come stay over for like a week sometime?" He asks. Burt nods his agreement, and Kurt smiles gladly.

"Yeah, no problem." Burt states. Kurt pulls out his phone and texts Paige the news, and the two of them start to figure out a week that would work well with both of their schedules.

It's not too much longer until Burt is entering their driveway, and Kurt puts his phone away as he parks, heading out and grabbing his suitcases. Burt helps him take them inside, and Kurt looks around the empty house. 

"Carole at work?" Kurt asks. Burt nods.

"And Finn's with Rachel," Burt explains. Kurt nods his understanding, and helps his dad take his suitcases upstairs to his room. His dad leaves and Kurt begins the process of unpacking. He hangs up all of his clothes, places his notebooks on his desk for next year, and takes out his pictures of his friend, setting them on his nightstand where they sit until he takes them back to school with him next year.

Kurt grabs a book from his bookshelf, sitting on his bed as he starts reading. He smiles as he thinks of how much fun he is going to have next year. His friends and him have been looking forward to senior year ever since they started high school at OSD, fully ready to be the "top dogs" as Paige jokingly says.

Little does he know, his plans would be completely derailed that year.