ZHEN sat himself in his third period. He was flicking his pencil on his paper, bored out of his mind since he finished the assignment early. Zhen feels a buzz in his pocket, making him secretly pull his phone out.
"Stella wants to talk." He read from Charlie. "Who's that again?" Zhen typed with a confused expression. "The one with the short hair." It clicked now. "Oh. I know now. When?"
"I'll meet you in the front of the school when school ends. We can go together."
Zhen turns his phone off before a small smile appeared. He was glad he had a friend now, maybe even more depending on what Stella was gonna talk to them about.
Zhen ended up being late to meeting Charlie. But it was okay because for some reason he just went back for Zhen. They ended up going to Dante's pizzeria.
Zhen, Stella, Charlie, Olivia, Mo, Wen, and Lee all sat at a table while eating pizza. "We talked about this. It's not gonna happen." Mo immediately spoke, not taking it back. "Sure it is." Stella argues, "I signed us up for Rising Star this morning."
Charlie looks at Zhen, before signing what Stella said to them. He could read their lips, but Charlie wanted to make sure he understood. "So, no offense. I'm really trying to not sound rude. But.." Wen speaks as he looks over at Zhen.
"How is a band going to happen if one of our members are deaf?"
It was quiet now.
Zhen didn't even know what he said, but when he saw everyone look at him..he knew.
Charlie gulped in nervousness, hating the way he brought it up. "Can I ask you what you're good at?" Charlie signs. Zhen thinks for a moment as he stares at the table. There was a couple things. But for a band?
He knows ways to get instruments and he's good at wiring, connecting sounds but the sound part was before he lost his hearing. He use to help his father when he was little, connecting stereos and things like that.
But—he thought of another thing. Zhen loves writing.
It's all he did his whole life. He's journaled, text, even wrote in his notes for fun. "I can write songs." He replied with his hands. "Zhen can write songs."
Lee scoffs, "thank god. I would never."
"I signed us up for the Halloween Bash too." Mo instantly chokes on her drink. "Wait, how'd you pull that off?" Wen asked her. "It's amazing what a principal will agree to if he thinks his new 'problem student' is channeling her energy into something productive." Stella explained simply.
Mo takes a deep breath, "us making noises in detention doesn't make us a band." She defends easily. "So we'll practice. You have real drums, right?" Stella questions Charlie whom nods with a yes. "See?" She whispers to Lee, "I didn't even know that." This made her chuckle a little.
"So, Zhen? Right?" Stella looks at him. He reads her lips before nodding slowly. "You can write our song for the Halloween Bash?" He looks at Charlie, Stella talked a bit too fast. He signs the question and this made Zhen put a thumbs up.
"Wait. We can't play at the bash. Mudslide Crush is playing." Mo said. "And we are opening for them." Her and Wen high five each other. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I don't wanna be some random face in a yearbook. Or a kid people vaguely recall passing in the halls."
This stuck with Zhen as he read on. He did feel like that. He was a random face a in a yearbook.
"Wen and I are in. Who's with us?"
"I'll give it a shot." Mo answered. "Really?" Stella smiles brightly, happy to hear this. "But only if everyone agrees. Just one practice. If it works, great. If not, I'm out." She explains. "All right." They look over at Olivia, Charlie, Zhen, and Lee.
"Come on, say you'll try. It'll be fun."
After Olivia agreed, Zhen raised his arm up a bit to say he was in on this. "Ugh. Why not." Lee sighs. They all stare at Charlie, whom was bringing a coin out of his pocket. "All right. Heads, we do it. Tails, we don't."
Zhen watched him flip the coin in amusement, joining heads with Charlie as they watched the coin flip. Charlie could hear Zhen's breathing and by the time he looked up, he was too close. "Heads!" Stella exclaims with excitement.
Zhen and Charlie were staring at each other while the others cheered, happy to try this out. Maybe it will be fun.
"Come on, Charlie. It's a simple four-four beat!" Stella exclaims at him. "You're not even trying. It's B to B-flat, back to B, then an F-sharp. Ready?"
So, it wasn't going good. Zhen could tell they were all arguing and doing bad. He was hoping he could finish the lyrics in time before anyone thought of quitting.
He thought of making a fun song, something to get in ease with the school. He decided to write a bunch of words that reminded him of fun. He ended up with dance floor, dance until you can't, you and me together.
So, this song could be about dancing your heart out?
He decided to do a speed writing as he saw the tension ease up more as Mo got up from her spot. He stands up, holding the notebook in the air to let them know he's finished with the song.
"You're done?" Lee asked him, Zhen nodding in response. Olivia takes the notebook, "Determinate." She reads on the top page. The group scans through the lyrics, "this is good, Zhen!" Stella exclaims.
Zhen smiles, signing a thank you. "Now we just need to find the beats. You guys ready?"
Lee taps on her keyboard, "are we? Are you? You've been nagging at us for so long." "Get use to it."
....
Charlie and Zhen stop by the lemonade stand, buying both him and Zhen a lemonade. They sat around the seats while Stella was asking for a band name. "What about Soul Groove?" Charlie recommends, easily getting turned down. "Uh...The Anarchists?" Stella asks. "No. What the hell is that? We aren't a cult." Lee spoke up.
"Well, it's not bad." Olivia spoke. "No. You're right. It's terrible." Olivia goes ahead and excuses herself to get another lemonade. "Guys, I have one in here." Wen says as he flips through his pages of folders. "Oh."
"Wen."
"Wen?"
Lee smacks him in the back of his head, "no, shut up."
"Back off the bash!" Olivia exclaims as she came back in. "What kind of name is that? I love it." Stella chuckles. "No, this was on the door."
She hands her a paper, back off the bash...or else!!!
Zhen scratches his head, wondering who wrote that note.
Around lunch time, Wen and Charlie were sitting at a table. Wen easily noticed him looking around for Zhen—but he didn't know that. "Dude. Are you okay?" Wen asked him. "Hmm. Yeah. Why?"
Wen knew he wasn't stupid. "Who are you looking for? You're like scavenging the room for who? Is it Mo? Or Lee?" He questions once again. Charlie sighs deeply, finally turning his head to see Zhen sitting at a table by himself.
This clicked in Wen's mind.
"Oh..."
Charlie turned back around as he felt an extreme dose of fear caving in him. "I-It's not what it seems. I swear I'm not one of those—Charlie." Wen quickly stops him. "It's okay." The male reassures. "I'm not going to tell anyone."
The fear went away.
"Does he know at all?"
Charlie nods a nod as he frowned. "Wen, please don't tell anyone or him. Please don't think I'm weird. I-I can't help it." Wen chuckles a bit. "Look, I would never judge someone based off who they like. Unless it was like...really bad."
Charlie laughs a little bit, "all Im saying is, I wish you luck if you ever plan on telling him. Zhen seems like a really nice guy." Wen charity's which Charlie agreed to. "Yeah, he is."
He looks back at Wen, "I'm gonna go talk to him."
Wen watched as Charlie sat in front of the male. He loved seeing Zhen's face lit up when he noticed who sat next to him. "How are you?" Zhen signed. "I'm good. Are you?" He quickly nods at the question.
"I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out after school?"
For some reason, Zhen felt a weird feeling throw upon him. "Me?" Charlie nods, "yeah. We can go see a movie or go to the park." Zhen enjoyed this a lot. "I would like to enjoy a movie with you."
Charlie felt his cheeks get a bit warm, smiling a little nervously but that didn't stop Zhen from smiling back. He enjoyed seeing this reaction, it was cute to him.
Zhen stops himself from looking like he was in love with Charlie. That would be weird. "I'll see you after school." Charlie stood up, before the bell rung.
And now, Zhen was excited. This was his first ever hangout with a friend. He never thought this would happened. He felt...relaxed and at ease.
He texted his father he was going to see a movie with Charlie. Zhen was now patiently waiting out front for Charlie. He feels someone bump his shoulder, hard. "Sorry, deaf boy." Said Ray Beech, whom laughed with his friends.
Zhen rubs his shoulder, "hey, are you—" The male quickly jumps from getting scared, getting caught on his shoelace as he turned around. Zhen begins to fall back, until a pair of arms caught behind him.
He looks up and notices Charlie's arms were wrapped around him. The two were close, staring at each other and not knowing what to do. This was nerve wracking.
The sound a car horn made Charlie bring him back up, coughing to let himself ease up. "Are you okay?" He signs to him. Zhen just nods, "let's get going."
The walk was quiet, obviously.
Charlie wanted to start a conversation, but he didn't know how. He taps the male and earns his attention. "Can..I by any chance know more about you?" He began, hoping it was going the right way. Zhen nods with a smile. "Great! I...want to be a professional drummer when I grow up. What do you wanna be?"
Zhen thought that was really cool, he wishes he could hear him play. "I would like to be a writer or own a cat cafe shop. My cat would love it." Charlie's eyes brighten. "You have cat?" "Yeah, is that okay? You're not allergic or anything, right?"
Charlie chuckles, "No, I love cats! My mom never let me have one growing up. Or any pet really." Zhen giggles at that comment. "Charlie, you really look familiar. Are you sure we haven't met?" Zhen curiously looks at him.
He just rubbed his forehead. "Uh..." He didn't know what to say—again. "I don't know, honestly. I don't remember..either."
This was better than saying no, right?
"Is there a reason why you wanted to be my friend?"
Oh god..why is he asking questions now?
"You just.."
Charlie thinks for moment. He was trying not to explain his major crush on him for several months. "You just seemed lonely. Plus, my father told me detention is a good place to make friends. He wasn't wrong. I like spending time with you, I'm not bored all the time anymore."
Zhen smiles as his cheeks turned red, looking away to stop his embarrass look. He was thankful they made it to the movies. Charlie was kind enough to pay for it all, Zhen had five dollars which he offered back to him but Charlie told him to keep it.
After Charlie requested for subtitles, they finally seated to watch the movie. It was horror, not Charlie's strong suit.
This was only because his brother was a huge fan and use to put them on at night to scare him. This wasn't scary to him at first, until a jump scare came up making Charlie jump in fear. Zhen felt his shoulder touch him slightly, making Charlie instantly apologize.
He thought it was cute that Charlie was apologizing for being scared. It happened more than once throughout the movie. Zhen feels his body jump again, he could see why. That jump-scare even fucked with him—he didn't need to hear it to be frightened.
"This movie was scarier than I thought." Charlie signs quickly, making Zhen chuckle quietly. "It's almost over. You think you can spare a few more minutes?" The male thought for a second, before he shrugged.
He feels an arm wrap around him, making himself turn to look at Zhen. He used his other to sign—"how about now?"
Charlie felt like he should run a thousand laps right now. Zhen smiles, making it worse for Charlie. "Mhm." Was all he could say as he tried not to freak out, to burst out of his bubble.
And the funny part is, he was good with the movie until it ended.
—LIV!
this girl i like name
mia has a close relationship
with another girl. i love life rn..