The Pretend Mute

VII

We went back to the classroom, and I went straight to the computer to send Tessa the very last picture I took of the sky before remembering that I didn't have Tessa's email address. I raised my hand for Miss Holly to come over after typing in Tessa's name. Miss Holly sent her over and I pointed to the empty space for the email address. She quickly typed it in before going back over to talk to James and Alex. After I sent the picture, I went to an empty desk near the window to watch the rain, only to be joined by Alex. I looked at him and sighed, knowing it would be useless to try to ignore him.
Poor me.
He had a pen and some paper in hand and placed it on my desk before saying, "when you come to my house tonight, would you rather have pizza or some soup?" Soup? Really? Soup? What kind of options are those? He seemed to notice the confusion on my face because his next words were, "I was just kidding about the soup, but seriously, pizza or Subway?" My mouth watered at the thought of an Italian spices footlong on Italian herbs and cheese bread with pickles being the only thing added...and then I remembered that it hurts to eat sandwiches now. Oh, who cares! I want my sub! I quickly wrote on the paper. Subway of course. I love that place. Do you mind if I just write down my order and you do it for me? He looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I'll order for you, Kira. Why would I take you a place that requires speaking and not be willing to talk for you? I simply shrugged and wrote down my order. He chuckled, "pickles only, huh? And a lot of meat. I would have seen you as one to get those ultra thin, toasted, vegetarian wraps." I smiled and took the paper back. Nope. I love meat. I would starve to death if I tried to be a vegetarian. He laughed until he cried at that, and told me he would see me later before going to talk to James and Tessa again. They were looking at him as if he'd grown a second head as he glanced my way, saying something about how funny I was. "How could she possibly be funny? She's a freak that won't even talk!" I looked back out the window as Tessa yelled across the room to make sure I would hear her. To my surprise though, Alex yelled back at her, "Watch what you say about people! You don't know anything about her!" Oh how wrong he was. Tessa was a close friend of mine before the accident. She knows that I have no family. She knows I don't talk anymore because I want to protect myself from people like her, like me before the accident. Sometimes I wonder how awful I would be if I hadn't had the accident and lost my family. If someone else's family had died and if they had become a pretend mute like this, would I make fun of them and call them a freak like Tessa does? Or would I be like Alex and reach out to them and try to be friends with them? I hate thinking about who I used tobe because I know that I would call someone like me a freak without hesitation.
When you really think about it, I've been completely changed. I've gone from number one girl, to number one hundred nobody. I'm still skinny. I've still got long black hair. I've still got half of my face, but my personality? Accidents happen, and this one took away my personality. It took away everything!
Alex is giving me a chance. I don't have any idea why, but he just gave me a chance, and now he's sticking up for me. Why is he doing this?
~*~
"KIRA! You're here!" I simply look at him; he is way too surprised that I'm at his house that he invited me to. "Overkill?" I just nod, and he laughs at my wide-eyed expression. "I have a peace offering?" He holds up my subway sandwich and I smile, though it looks like a grimace I'm sure. He smiles back and hands me the sandwich. He led me to a living room and sat on the couch, telling me I could eat there. He had a stack of paper and a wooden pencil sitting on the table, and I pointed at them questioningly. He simply looked at me like I was an idiot, "how else are we supposed to communicate and finish this project?"