"I have only heard you speak 6 times since I have met you." She whisper shouted. "Say something or there is no point to keep being your friend and asking for advice." Autumn was clearly frustrated. I kept on staring at the board and copying down our focus statement. "Owen. Nobody cares about math class. Could you please tell me what's up?" She snapped in front of my face but I didn't blink. I stared at her and smiled and continued to copy the meaningless words down onto my notebook.
Autumn leaned back into her chair and sighed. She was trying to hide that she was staring at me. I looked at her and sighed back and slouched in my chair to mimic her. "See. Your good at being funny and being you without words. I mean I couldn't stand not to talk for a full hour and you go days without doing it." I nodded and looked at Mr. Plotter as he began to speak.
"Today we won't be focusing on math. Raise your hand if you actually decided to copy down the plot statement." Everyone looked around and I slowly raised my hand ashamed. "Good job O. Now what did it say?" He said. My face became red and I looked at Autumn. Heat filled my body and she rolled her eyes. "I can use math in the real world. I can also use math relations towards other subjects such as writing and science." Autumn read from my paper. The teacher sighed. He knew that I didn't like to talk. I nodded at Autumn and she smiled.
"Mr. Kindler, I will bring down your grade if you don't respond to my questions. I trust you. I have heard you talk and I know you are capable of it. Are you embarrassed that I called you out like that? That's perfectly okay. But you need to speak for yourself. One day your going to graduate and Autumn isn't going to be by your side. Your going to have to speak for yourself and be confident." He said. Autumn stood up. "Mr. Plotter I agree, but Mr. Owen Kindler can't. He's tried trust me. I keep on getting onto him but he is scared. He has approach anxiety."
Mr. Plotter sat down and gulped. "Are you seeing a counselor about this?" He said. I shook my head, no. He sighed and scratched his forehead and then placed his face in his hands for only a second. "Owen. If you have this type of diagnosis it's important." He said. I stood up walked to his desk and stared him in the eye. My diagnosis isn't like that. I'm afraid to talk. I am. I don't know how people are going to judge me. He needs to know that. I'm never going to outgrow it. I only talk when it's just one other person in the room like Autumn, or my sister and maybe my dad, but not when there is a classroom of 23 other students. I sat back down. I was hoping he could get the message but he wrote me a counselor note.
✨
I walked down to room C9 and knocked on the door. I opened the door without her coming to open it. I always knock just to let her know I'm coming in. There she stood, my sister. She is in college and will be our counselor til she graduates. Mr. Plotter doesn't know she's my sister because she goes by Ms. Isabel. Her middle name. I sat down in the desk and she sat across from me. "Your teacher is stupid. Go back to class." She said staring into my eyes. Her Hazel eyes made me fearful. She can be so daring and so mean sometimes. I didn't move. "O, you need to go back to class. I can't help you. Unless one day you can talk because I said something I can't. I don't know what that something is. Your teacher needs to realize that. I'll go tell him if you want." She said standing up and about to leave. "No. That's not what I want." I said. She smiled. "Do I have to say that over and over again for you to talk."
👀
I stayed in the room C9 all day long. I sat there and didn't talk though. Hazel kept on trying. "I hate you. I hate you so much." She said sighing. I laughed and and she smiled. "What? What's so funny?" She said. My smile wiped off my face and she raised her eyebrows. She was clearly confused. Her eyes looked behind my head. For some reason eyes tell a lot of things. They can tell emotions and they can explain things. They can tell secrets but the way they contact with each other. They help you know what to say. They describe a lot.
"Mr. Plotter!" She sighed. I closed my eyes tight thinking that this might be a dream. Maybe he would disappear or maybe he didn't even stand there in the first place. When I opened up my eyes again, I had been defeated. Now he was in front of me. "Owen Kindler, please get back to class." He said pointing at the door. I sighed looked at my sister and then left the room. I heard whispers behind the door when I entered the hallway. He was talking to Hazel. I didn't like that at all. I just stood outside of the door. Maybe something good would happen. But probably not. It's not like it's all gonna go my way. I heard a voice. "Mr. Plotter, I do work here and you can't tell me what to do sir. I'm sorry for your disappointment but I will be emailing the principal what you just said to me. Owen and Autumn will learn in here from now on and maybe we can break his fear. And maybe the rest of the students can find a better teacher." Hazel said clearly frustrated. I walked into the room and Mr. Plotter stormed out. "Hello, Mr. Gardner, there has been an incident with another teacher I would like to explain...." Her voice was sharp into the phone and she wanted to share her anger with someone. When the call was over she would share it with me. But I didn't know what he said. Mr. Plotter is normally very..proper and doesn't say anything inappropriate. Hazel hung up the phone and wheeled her chair across from me. She sighed and smiled. "Thank you for that." She said. I raised my eyebrows. What did I help her with? "He said some very bad things about you. And Autumn and me." She wrote it out on a piece of paper and my eyes grew huge. She sighed more heavily and Autumn walked in. "Hello Ms. Isabel, I am addressed I will be learning here." She said smiling at me. "Call me Hazel. Please." she said back smiling. Autumn looked at her and then at me. Realization had struck her. I had a sister named Hazel.
