Mute, not Deaf

Chapter 23

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Chance yelled as he walked into the house with arms full of food. I ran up to him and helped him with the load of food. Why did he bring so much? It is only the four of us this year. I am actually kind of dreading Thanksgiving dinner. It was a tradition to have a sit down dinner every year with my father.

I wonder what Derek and his family are doing?

C: Hey! What are y'all doing for thanksgiving?

D: Nothing really. We wanted to give Mom the night off from cooking.

C: Why don't you come over? Chance brought tons of food that we need help devouring!

D: Your family won't mind?

C: Nope.

D: We will be there in 30 minutes.

I went over to the other three people in the house and wrote down all that was happening. My mom looked excited. She started running around the house trying to make sure everything was perfect. After numerous attempts at getting her to sit down, Chance calmed her down by saying the house looked perfect.

I rolled my eyes and started messing with Grant and chasing him around the house. He was laughing so hard that he tripped over air and ran into the wall. He sat there for a second in shock before he lunged at me and knocked me to the ground. Grant started jumping up and down on me and I pushed him off.

You win this year, I wrote. This was atradition that we did every year. The last two years I had won the battle. Grant is getting harder to beat every year. We sat on the floor and stared at each other before laughing. Our laughing stopped when the doorbell rang. I hopped up and ran to the front door and swung it open.

My eyes widened as I saw Dean Brooks came barreling inside and picked me up in a huge hug.

Derek chuckled and walked past me not even trying to help me out. Some friend he was. I started slapping Dean's back when his mother came in the room. She looked at me and gave a sympathetic smile as if she had been on the end of one of Dean's hugs.

"Dean, honey, you are going to suffocate the poor girl! Let her go right now." She said sternly. Dean looked sheepishly at his mother.

"Sorry Momma." Dean mumbled. He then turned and ran to harass Grant. Apparently they had become buddies in the last two weeks. Adorable.

My mother and Chance came out of the kitchen and gasped when she saw Derek's mother.

"Penny?" Derek's mother turned around at the sound of her name. She gasped.

"Jessie?" The two women an up to each other and hugged. The rest of us looked around confused. Chance inched his way towards us.

"What is going on?" He whispered. I shrugged and looked at Grant who also shrugged. It was no used asking Derek and Dean since they were staring dumbly at their mother. Mom looked at us with a sparkle in her eye.

"This is Penny. She was my best friend since childhood. We stopped being friends when our husbands became rivals." Mom explained. Derek and I glanced at each other and shrugged. Dean nodded and threw Grant over his shoulder and took him to the kitchen.

"I am happy for you Jess." Chance said as he walked over to my mother and pecked her cheek. Mom grinned excitedly at him and dragged Penny over to the couch so that they could catch up. Chance and I went into the kitchen to help set the table up. Derek joined soon after.

We all sat at the table. Derek was next to me, Dean next to his mother and Grant, and Mom was between Chance and Penny. I looked around the table and smiled. A lot had happened this year. A lot of good and a lot of bad. I am just happy that everybody else is happy.

We all grabbed hands and Grant said a prayer. It pretty much consisted of "Dear God, thanks for food. Amen.".

Everyone spent the dinner stuffing their faces with food and talking about their year. Much to my dismay, Penny told my mother that she thought that I was pregnant when she first met me. Everyone thought it was hilarious and I was so embarrassed.

Derek squeezed me into a hug and i punched his chest playfully. No way he was getting out of laughing at me. He leaned over to my height.

"Want to go watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier?" I nodded my head furiously and ran out of the dining room and into the living room. I set up blankets and pillows. Derek took forever to get into the living room but all was forgiven since it was to bring me pie.

When I saw the pie, I had a Dean Winchester moment. It happens.

Amusement danced in Derek's eyes as I tried to carefully watch the movie and eat my pie at the same time. I glared at him when I noticed that he was staring. It is rude to stare. That's when I noticed that there was something behind the amusement, i just couldn't place it. Whatever. It is probably nothing.

My stomach was so full that I started to get tired and my eyes started to shut. Derek pulled the blanket up to me closer and I fell asleep.

*

"They are too cute!"

"I know right? It reminds me of Jacie and James in High SChool."

"I definitely like him better than Drew."

"Who is Drew?"

"Can we go back to playing video games now?"

I jerked up when two flashes of cameras went off. In the process I must have acciedentally elbowed Derek in the rib cage because he groaned. I sheepishly looked at him as he glared at me. Chance shook his head and walked out of the living room. Wasn't he supposed to get mad that I fell asleep on a guy?

Derek sat up and looked at me. He chuckled and mumbled something under his breath. I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged at me and feigned innocence. I glared at him. Penny looked at us and cooed. I blushed and shook my head.

I grabbed my phone and tried type in my notes to explain that I had a boyfriend. She shook her head.

"I know you have a boyfriend but don't worry. High school relationships like that don't last long." Penny explained. What could she possibly mean by that? "Besides, I have a bad feeling about him." When she said that, my stomach felt sick. How is it possible that she and I had the same feeling? It is probably just a coincidence.

Definitely a coincidence.

The Brooks left soon after Penny and I talked. We invited Chance to stay the night in our guest room but he protested that Ralph would be mad that he stayed in his room.

When everybody left, I went in my room with a sickening feeling in my stomach. Probably just because tomorrow is my first time ice skating.

No big deal.

**
Hey Kae's Baes!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY nichole112900 ! She's growing up so fast!

Anyway, after talking to my friends and reading y'alls comments, I have decided two things.

1. I'm not on Team Cap or Team Iron

2. I am going to continue this book instead of doing a sequel.

YAAAAAAY!

I'll update this book on Sundays. The new book is called "Forgotten Twin" and the authors note is up for that. I'll post the first chapter on Wednesday.

THATS ALL!

TTYL