My Deaf World

Ch 2- First Friend

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To say I was nervous was an understatement.  The first person I talk to is too cute with those bewitching eyes.  I take in a deep breath and try to come off confident.  Hopefully he wont be able to tell that my palms are sweating.  The grin that appears on his face tell me that he knows.  That doesn't surprise me either.  Deaf people were accustomed to paying attention to everything the other person does.

"Are you new here?" He asks, staring at me intently.

I wipe my hands down the side of my jeans. But it still feels wet with sweat.

"No. I just don't get out much."  I sign and then realize how insanely lame I must sound.  No wonder my dad wanted me out.  I still wouldn't forgive my parents when I finally came home.  I think I should stay out really late just to scare them.  I shake my head at the thought, that would be rude.

Fritz raises an eyebrow when I shake my head.  Probably thinking I'm crazy and he's better off leaving me.

"I'm homeschooled." I tell him.

He nods in understanding, "So you don't get out much do you?"

"I don't get out at all." I sign truthfully.  He nods and starts thinking about something.  I don't really mind as I start to look at the group of girls who were laughing earlier.  To my surprise they were staring wide eyed at me and Fritz.  What is with those girls?

Fritz curious at what I was looking at turned to see the girls.  Instead of being angry like I thought he would be he just shrugged, "They're surprised to see someone else who can sign."

I give him a look. I've read a lot on the internet about kids being bullied because they're different.  And the month I was learning sign language I read a lot of stories of kids who were bullied because they were deaf.

Fritz just laughs at my look, "I'm not being bullied if that's what you're thinking."

I frown. I have to remember that deaf people can read the simplest face expressions.

"Hey-" He starts signing but a group of boys come over and crowd us.

I stand there frozen.  It was hard enough trying to interact with one boy but now a whole group?  This was too much. Mind overload.  I tried to speak but nothing came out.  I don't think it would've mattered anyway since everyone was talking all at once.

"We found Fritz!" One of the tallest boys said. Seriously this guy towered over me. I guess not a hard thing to do since I wasn't that tall for a girl.

The talking didn't affect Fritz obviously but he looked so happy even though they were handling him roughly.  Wrapping their arms around his head and giving him punches on the shoulder.  Is this bullying?  Am I seeing it first hand?  I knew I had to say something.

"Hey you leave Fritz alone!"  I yelled at them.  Immediately the boys all stop and look at me. The boy who had Fritz in a headlock didn't even let go of him.  He just froze and looked at me like the rest.  I had also forgotten to sign what I said for Fritz so he looked confused.  Probably not able to read my lips since he was in a headlock.

I was proud for stopping the violence but now that I had everyone's attention I just wanted to run for hills.  Which in this small country town there were a lot of hills.  While thinking of hills to go run to the tallest boy from before steps forward.

"Hey, Fritz made a friend!"  The guy yelled.  Did this guy have to yell everything that he said. Maybe it's something that people did around deaf people. Yeah I actually read that on the internet.