Soundless smile,

So, get this. It all started with a stroll through the woods of Yew. I'm walking along and I spot this kid, Max, sitting in the middle of a patch of wild flowers by a lake. Let me tell you, this kid's smile is infectious. He's grinning from ear to ear and looks like he's having the time of his life. I've seen him around school a few times, but we've never really talked.

Now, I'm not exactly the most popular kid in school either, but I figure since Max seems to be in a good mood, it's the perfect opportunity to make a new friend. So, I start walking towards him, trying my best not to step on any of the flowers.

But then, he turns around and sees me coming. I start blushing a little bit, but he waves me over. Oh yeah, did I mention he's mute? That might be one of the reasons he doesn't have many friends, but who cares!

I finally make my way over to him, carefully stepping through the flowers, and he grabs my arm, trying to pull me down. I take the hint and sit down next to him. He flashes me that beautiful, infectious smile and then pulls out a notebook that was just laying there next to him the whole time.

Anyway, Max had written in his notebook, "hello are you Jamie?" And I was like, "Yeah, dude! That's me! And you're Max, right?" I mean, I was pretty sure I had it right, but you never know with these things.

Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Max couldn't talk! I mean, he didn't look mad or anything, but I felt like I had to apologize. So, I started babbling like a crazy person, "Oh my goodness! I'm so, so, so sorry I forgot that you c- can't uh... talk!" I was tripping over my words and panicking, but Max was just calmly writing in his notebook.

He showed me what he had written, and I swear my face turned as red as a rose. It said, "It's okay, I can read lips pretty well! So you can talk to me normally, I'll just write to respond." Oh yeah, I forgot lip reading was a thing.

I was worried that I had insulted him or something, but I figured I should at least try to talk to him before asking him to be friends.

Anyway, we ended up talking and wowz, Max's got some serious writing and spelling skills. So, I figure it's time to pop the question. "Hey, sooooo we've been hanging out and stuff. Annnnndd now weshouldbefriends!"

He smiles and nods yes. YAY!!!!!!!!!

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