The Pretend Mute

VIII

Why are you writing it like that? He looked at me, chuckling lightly. "I'm writing it like that because it starts here, those are the reactants." He pointed at the letters on the left side of the small arrow. He then pointed at the arrow. "This means 'yields' which in simpler terms means 'creates.' These are the products, so when the reactants have a chemical reaction, they yield the products." His finger stopped to rest on the letters the arrow points at, and he turned to me with a soft smile and a questioning look, trying to make sure I understood. I nodded, and he asked me to color in the letters, thinking that I would be more creative with the colors, since he was better at staying awake long enough to learn the science. I used to be the top student in all of my classes, but since the accident, I have trouble staying awake in most of them.
~*~
After two hours, our project was complete. We agreed that Alex would bring the poster to school the next day, and that it would be easier if he just presented it while I held it up. My personal opinion is that I did a great job copying everything onto the poster board, and I colored it beautifully. The presentation went well, although it took twenty minutes for Alex to get the other students to stop asking if I was even in that class, and five more to convince the teacher that I was mute and couldn't do an oral presentation. After that, we had a math test, which I had no idea how to do. Then we went to Miss Holly's class, and I decided that Tessa's picture of a flower with the sun shining on it should focus more on the sun, and put a simple enhancement on it that brightened the entire picture considerably, though the colors were slightly distorted, meaning that I had to add a color enhancement. Then I believed that the photograph was perfect for the assignment. I showed the picture to Tessa, and she seemed to be angry when she said it was perfect. Then she showed me mine. And it was a disaster. She turned it black and white. Why would she do that? It ruins the entire picture completely, making it look dreary when it's supposed to be beautiful. I shook my head, and she huffed, "what? You don't like it?" I shook my head again, and she frowned. She asked what was wrong with it, and since I was already on the computer, I just pulled up a word document. The lack of color makes it dreary, and kills the beauty of the picture. She frowned again, "How? I like it!" She seemed to be getting defensive. How about you just put a different effect on it. You could do a light enhancement that makes the light shining through the clouds more prominent? Though she looked angry, she agreed that it would look better, and set to work on the simple enhancement. We turned in the photos ten minutes later.
~*~
I looked at the clock, and the bell to go home would ring any second. Alex had been pestering me about who knows what for twenty minutes, and I was officially getting annoyed. I needed to get out of there before he annoyed to the point of speaking. I mean, no one knows I speak; and I can't tell them now.