A/N: I've only written two chapters for this but I caved lol.
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"Grassi, you will be working with Hoying-"
Mitch immediately looks up at Mrs. Penny with wide eyes.
Oh no. That sounds like a bad idea!
"Uh, Mrs. Penny? Is that such a good idea?" Kirstie asks, instantly seeing the worry in Mitch's eyes.
"Why would you ask that?" Mrs. Penny asks curiously, glancing over at Kirstie.
"They're both disabled, have you forgotten? They're going to have... a difficult time working together," Kirstie says, frowning. "I think it's a little unfair to have them partnered up."
"I think they will be just fine," Mrs. Penny says.
Mitch glances over at Scott, but Scott's only staring down at his hands, and Mitch can't help but feel a little bad for the guy because he's the new kid and he's disabled just like him. Mitch can only imagine how difficult his first day is going. Mitch wants to be able to make his school experience better.
But, how can he when he's in the exact same boat as him?
Well, Mitch can't just give up on him. He knows how that feels.
So, what do you want to do our project on?
Mitch looks over at Scott and watches as he thinks before writing again.
We can make a poster about Shakespeare.
"Too boring. I'm sure someone else will already be doing that," Scott mumbles.
Mitch frowns, and he continues to think. He looks around the room for a few seconds and then he smiles, and looks over at Scott before he starts writing something down again.
What about J.K. Rowling? She's the author of Harry Potter, and she's also very famous. I've already read all of her books and I've seen the movies. Everybody loves her, don't they?
"Okay, but how are we going to create a poster about her?" Scott asks.
Easy. We gather a bunch of facts and pictures about her and write an essay as well.
"Well, I call dibs on writing the essay," Scott says.
Mitch rolls his eyes. Of course he would have to do all the hard work.
Fine. I spend most of my time online anyways so I'll just get some facts, and send some stuff to you.
"Um, maybe we should do this together? It's due in two weeks and I don't want to fail my first assignment. Can't we just... go over to each other's house?" Scott asks, biting his lip.
Okay. Should I come over to your house today?
Scott nods. "My aunt doesn't like me going to other people's houses because it might not be easy for me,"
That's fine. I'll just have to check with my mom about coming over.
Scott sighs as he reads the note and then pushes it away.
Mitch frowns as he watches him, and instantly sees the sadness in his eyes.
Mitch gently taps on Scott's shoulder and shows him the note.
Can I have your number so I can text you later?
"I'm not allowed to give my number out to people so you'll just have to come over sometime after school. I'll give you my address-" Scott grabs the pen from Mitch and writes down his address.
Sorry. This must be really awkward.
"Why awkward?" Scott asks curiously, looking over at Mitch.
Because I can't talk and it's makes it more difficult for us to communicate.
"Whatever. It's not your fault you can't talk just like it's not my fault I'm in this stupid wheelchair,"
I'm sorry.
"I don't need your apology," Scott mumbles, waving him off.
Mitch bites his lip and glances over at Kirstie, who's with her partner.
"Help me," Mitch mouths to her.
Kirstie frowns as soon as she sees. "I'm sorry," she mouths back.
Mitch sighs and then he starts doodling on his paper.
Today is definitely going to be interesting, that's for sure.
Mitch has never been to anyone else's house other than his own and Kirstie's, but that's mostly because his parents didn't trust anyone to look after Mitch so he understands and he never complains about it, and it's not like he has many friends anyways so why does it matter to him?
Luckily Mitch's mom agreed to drive him to Scott's house, only because it was for a project.
"Bye sweetheart, have a good time! And text me when you're ready to come home,"
Mitch waves to his mom and then gets out of the car and shuts the door. He takes a deep breath before finally walking up to the front door. He looks back at his mom and sees that she's still there. He hesitates before finally knocking on the door. Mitch waits patiently for a moment before the door opens.
"Oh, hello-"
Mitch looks up and blinks a few times when he sees a girl standing there, and not Scott.
"You must be Mitch. Scott told me that you were coming over. Come in,"
Mitch looks back at his mom once more and gives her a thumbs up before walking inside.
"My name is Claire. I'm Scott's aunt, and he told me that you couldn't speak?" Claire asks.
Mitch looks up at her and nods.
"I know someone who can't speak and I also know sign language so if you need anything, let me know,"
Mitch smiles and nods.
"Scott! Mitch is here!" Claire shouts. "I'll get you a drink." She gives Mitch a smile and walks out.
Mitch looks around as he waits for Scott, and then he looks over and sees Scott wheeling himself out of a room. Mitch raises his eyebrows and glances up at the stairs. Scott's bedroom must be downstairs.
"Did you bring your laptop?" Scott asks as he looks up at Mitch.
Mitch nods and pulls his laptop out of his bag.
"Okay, let's just go to the living room then," Scott leads the way to the living room. He places himself next to the couch and then he grabs a hold of the arm chair and pushes himself up.
Mitch watches in amazement as Scott sits down on the couch.
Scott looks over at Mitch and rolls his eyes when he sees the shocked look in Mitch's face.
"I'm not completely useless," Scott snaps.
Mitch's eyes widen and he quickly shakes his head.
"Lets just get started on this stupid thing. The sooner we finish this the better," Scott mumbles.
Mitch hesitates before walking over and sitting next to Scott. He pulls out his pen and paper, and laptop.
It's about an hour later when Mitch is sitting by himself in the office at Scott's home. He's currently printing some facts for their poster and to give to Scott. Luckily Scott has a printer at his house so they don't have to go to the library whenever they need something from online. Mitch is also very bored.
"I wouldn't take what he says to heart,"
Mitch jumps at the sound of the sudden voice and he immediately looks over, and sighs in relief when he sees that it's just Scott's Aunt Claire.
Claire sighs and walks into the office and shuts the door so that Scott won't hear her talking to Mitch.
"Scott's been through a lot in life, as I'm sure you have, but he's taken it a lot harder. I'm not going to give you any personal details because we're all still shaken up, but don't ever take what he says to heart. He's just mad at the world and has decided to take it out on others."
Mitch frowns and nods his head, understanding what she's saying about Scott, though it will be very hard for him to listen to Claire because Mitch is very sensitive. He's been bullied before due to his disability, and he knows what Scott is going through but he has a feeling Scott won't open up to him.
Claire gives Mitch a reassuring smile and then she turns around and walks out of the office.
"Aunt Claire! Can you get me a drink?"
"Give me one second!"
Mitch smiles a little and then he looks over and grabs the papers that had finally finished printing.
Scott looks over and sighs when Mitch returns, and then his eyes widen slightly when he sees how many papers Mitch is holding in his hands. "Fuck, did you print the whole internet or something?" He asks.
Mitch grins and plops down beside Scott and hands him the paper.
Some for you to have for the essay and some for me to put on the poster.
"Oh," Scott says as he goes through the papers.
I tried to find as many facts as I could but they're mostly for you since you haven't read much about her.
"I'm sure this will be fine," Scott says, shrugging.
Scott reaches over and he grabs his drink, Mitch looks over and frowns when he sees a scar on Scott's hip, as Scott's shirt lifted up slightly so Mitch had been able to see.
Scott looks over and quickly covers up the scar when he sees Mitch looking at it. "Don't,"
Mitch looks up at Scott and frowns.
"Don't question anything. It's none of your business,"
Mitch sighs and he pulls out his laptop to start writing the five paged essay they had to write.
This is going to be the longest two weeks of his life.