Silent Music

hello everyone. well i hate these little things before chapters and you probably do too so I wont be putting these on all of them so dont worry:) i just wanted to ask you wonderful people if you could please give me some feedback?? comment!! :D also, fan if you like what you see. thank you lovelies!! 

CHAPTER 1

I smiled as I watched Justin play the piano in his front room, loving the feelings of the vibration i felt on my feet. I longed to hear the beautiful sound myself, but I knew it was impossible. I, Mariana Toress, was born profoundly deaf on October 3rd, 15 years ago, much to the disappointment of my parents. They were both musicians and had goals for their first born child to follow in their footsteps, but their little deaf girl could never play. They wanted nothing to do with me and often left me home alone while they took my younger sister to piano lessons and voice instructors. I often sat outside on the swing, crying, until someone came over and told me to shut up. I was all alone until I turned 5 and I met my best friend, Justin Hoffner. He came by one day while I was crying and picked me up from the swing. His 7 year old self just held me until I stopped crying, then smiled. 'Are you better now?' he asked in silent words. I just watched him blankly, not knowing how to respond. He obviously didn't know sign language, and I didn't know how to form my own words, as no one had ever bothered talking to me, let alone teaching me anything. I taught myself to read lips when I turned 4, and how to sign a short time after. After realizing I wasn't going to respond, Justin brought me to his house and took me to his mom, who recognized me as the neglected deaf daughter of Jill and Gordon Toress. She took me to her kitchen and gave me and Justin cookies, telling me to wait there. I nodded and sat with Justin while he talked non stop, making my brain hurt. After a while his mom came in again, seeing Justin chattering and me almost in tears from frustration, she came over and slowly told justin that I couldn't hear him, and that if he spoke too fast or too much, it would make me upset. Justin watched me with wide eyes, then walked up and gave me a hug. He then looked me in the eyes and said 'Im sorry,' over exaggerating his words. I giggled as I watched his mouth move into strange forms as he tried to talk to me, him not knowing exactly how to do so. He smiled at my laugh and ever since then, Justin has been my best friend.

 Shortly after we met I began teaching him some sign language, and once I reached age 7 he took me to a sign language teacher who taught me how to sign everything, and before long I was fluent in ASL. Justin has taken piano lessons since age 5, and I always loved to watch him learn with his teacher. When I was very young Mrs, Ellis, the piano teacher, was fine with me watching, knowing I wouldn't pick anything up. But after a while she started to get angry, and eventually things got bad. One day she decided that she wasn't going to have some little girl picking up on her lessons, so she began to scold me. I wasn't paying her any attention that day, I was only watching Justin's fingers graze across the keys, so as you can imagine Mrs. Ellis got quite mad when I didn't respond. She came up and grabbed me roughly by the arm, yelling in my face. Tears started pooling in my eyes, clouding my vision so I couldn't see what she was saying. Eventually she pushed me down and I fell to the floor hard, letting out a small yelp as the cold floor hit my back. Justin came over and scooped me off the floor, yelling at his teacher while keeping me cradled to his chest. I saw him tell her i was deaf, and the look on her face was one of pure horror, though I could tell it wasn't directed at me, it was horror in what she had done. I just put my face in Justin's chest and waited until he eventually put me down. He wiped the tears from my face and pulled my hair back, his face filled with concern. Are you alright? he signed, studying my face. I just watched him for a while before slowly nodding my head. He gave me a small hug, kissed my forehead, then brought me up to his room. I basically lived at his house, since I wasn't really welcomed in my own, so it wasn't unusual for me to be in his room. As you walked in you could tell it belonged to a 10 year old boy. There was a hamper in the corner surrounded my clothes that over flowed, and toys strewn here and there. I held onto Justin's hand and towed him over to his bed. He sat down and I climbed into his lap. I fell asleep thinking about the piano in the front room… Ever since i was little I have wanted to play the piano, but of course a deaf girl could never. I grew up dreaming I would one day be able to hear, and now here I am, a 15 year old girl, still hanging on an impossible dream. I sighed and walked over to the piano, sitting beside Justin on the bench. I dragged my fingers across the keys, loving the feeling of the smooth wood on my finger tips. Justin watched me closely for a minute, before taking my hands and placing them on top of his. I looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going. He just smiled, then started playing. I watched in wonder as my hands flew across the piano, guided by my best friend. I laughed in delight as I watched myself 'play', loving every moment. All too soon the song was over, and I looked up at Justin with tears of joy in my eyes. Before he could say anything I flung myself at him, enveloping him in a tight embrace. I pulled away after a moment, and signed with as much emotion as I could muster, Thank you Justin. You don't know how long I've wanted to play, and you just gave that to me. I love you. He smiled at me, but there was something in his eye that made him seem sad. Love you too, May-Bear.

I smiled and gave him a hug, then looked at my watch. Crap, it was already six?! How was that even possible?! I looked at up from my watch to Justin in panic. He looked confused for a moment before the time caught his eye too. He cursed, then told me to go. I bolted out the door and ran down the block to my house. I quickly unlocked the door and let out  a sigh of relief as I realized my family wasn't home yet. I wasn't aloud outside the house besides school, my parents were afraid I would embarrass the family. I walked up to my room and sat down on my bed, waiting for my baby sister to some home, my only friend besides Justin. I lye there with my eyes closed, relaxing, when all of a sudden a small body is thrown on top of me. I screeched in surprise and bolted up, successfully throwing Emmy off me. She laughed at my shocked face, then got up from the floor. Hey sis. she signed, a smirk plastered in her pretty face. Emmy was a year younger then me, but many people mistook us for twins. We were both around 5' 2", with long strawberry blonde hair then fell in ringlets, mine down to my waist, hers right below her chest. We both had green eyes, but mine were a sharp dark green, hers softer and light. I was quite a bit more petite then Emmy, but we were both small. Everyone always complimented us on our looks, saying we were the prettiest girls in the whole school. All the boys went after my little sister, and some tried me before realizing I couldn't hear anything. Emmy was very talented in the music compartment, she played piano and guitar like a pro, and she sang with the voice of an angel. Or so I've been told. I sighed, once again wishing I could hear, if only to hear my beautiful sister sing to me. Emmy waved her hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my wallowing. Come on Mari, dinners ready. she signed. I nodded, following her out of my room and down to the dining room. Sitting at the table were the two people who I thought hated me most, my mother and father. 'Hello darling Emmy' I saw my father say, smiling at his daughter. Emmy smiled back but said nothing, looking at me pointingly. Even though they treated her grandly, Emmy hated that my parents didn't even act like I was there. 'Lets start dinner, shall we?' my mother asked, smiling slightly. We both took that as our cue to sit down. Emmy took her seat in between our parents, and I sat at the end of the table as usual. I silently started eating, not paying attention to the conversation going on around the table. It wasn't like they would address me while speaking…

After dinner I quickly cleared my plate and went up to my room, closing my door behind me. I looked around my room, taking in my surroundings. My bed was placed beside a window that faced out towards our back yard, a small ladder dangling over the edge that I put up when I was 10 so I could go down to the swings when I needed to. On the right side of my bed was a small dresser that Emmy helped me paint when she was 5,and on top of it were a billion photos of me and my two best friends. My walls were a soft green colour, Justin painted them for me, deciding that the old white was 'unfit for a little girls room.' My ceiling was deep blue, my lucky color, and glow in the dark stars stuck all over. Across the room was the door that connected my room to my sister's, but my parents rarely let us have that one open. That was it apart from a large chair sitting in the corner, covered in my books and such. I loved reading, it was one of the few things that you could do like everyone else, even if you couldn't hear a thing. Sighing, I went and threw myself across the bed, dreaming of myself playing the piano again, only this time without Justin's help.

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