Listen With Your Heart [May Continue in Future]

Chapter 7

Oliver's POV

I sat in my desk as we started our real classes, it was different than normal/hearing classes since in hearing classes the teacher would lecture for most of the time and the last fifteen minutes or so of class was for classwork or a class discussion; but in this program, the teacher would lecture for about half the time and then we would discuss what was lectured as a class for the rest of the time. There wasn't a single piece of class work assigned for my first three classes since we were graded largely on "participation".

It was fine except that all of the teachers were trying to make me feel "welcome" so every so often they would directly ask me something to get me in involved in the class discussion which annoyed me to no end since I was usually fairly passive in class discussions and I didn't want to talk at all. This is exactly why I didn't like deaf classes. The upside was the classes weren't as exhausting as they usually were since I didn't have to lipread at all; usually in class I had to lipread most everything the teacher was saying since I never used an interpreter.

I didn't like interpreters at all and the times I was forced to use one, I would just ask my brothers or parents. Interpreters would follow you around and literally translate, interpret, everything that was spoken into sign language, and whatever you signed they would voice or speak.

The thought of a stranger speaking for me didn't sit right so when I was younger I begged my parents to enroll me in speech therapy and lip reading classes so I could speak for myself if needed; of course there were situations where I couldn't keep up with lip reading so I would just ask my family to help.

"Ok so" Mr Brown, the homeroom teacher, said "Right now is technically your art class but we couldn't find a teacher so teach it so I'm going to be your art teacher but I know nothing about art" the students chuckled as Mr Brown went on "So here's what we're gonna do instead, if you give me a piece of art that you made or did then you'll get credit. If you turn in two pieces of art every Friday for the rest of the year then you'll get an A, if you only turn in one every week you'll get a B, if you turn in one piece of art every two weeks then you'll get a C if you turn one piece of art the entire year you'll get a D. The only way you'll fail Art is if you never turn in anything at all".

A girl raised her hand "Then what are we going to do during class?" "You can work on your art or use it as a study time" Mr Brown said. I raised my hand "If I have a camera, can I use the time to take photos for art?" Mr Brown thought about it for a moment before nodding "It has to be a real camera though, no camera phones". I nodded and smiled to myself at the thought of a free class that I didn't even have to attend and since this class was right before lunch, I'd have an hour and a half lunch

When lunch came around I quickly left the room but I didn't know where to go; I got a text earlier from my brothers saying that they would both be late to lunch so I would have to be by myself today. I bought my lunch and as I scanned the outdoor lunch area, the baseball team waved me over; at least I think they were the baseball team, I wasn't too sure. One of them pulled out his phone and wrote "You're Tom's little brother right? You can eat lunch with us Oliver :)".

I smiled and sat down next to them before pulling out my phone to play on one of the apps I had; after today I was looking forward to be left alone. It's not that the guys I was with were unfriendly; it's just that none of them took the extra effort to talk to me, which suited me just fine.

I watched as the rest of my deaf classmates walked out of the administration building one by one, each one with an interpreter following them like a shadow. One of the baseball guys pulled out his phone and typed into it before turning it around and showing me "I'm glad you're normal, unlike those people" his phone said. I gave a half smile but the smile faded as I saw that stubborn, persistent guy from the beach walking towards me.

"I really think we need to talk" the guy said with his hands a split second before the interpreter's mouth started moving as she voiced what he was signing. "It's fine, don't worry about it" I signed, ignoring the interpreter who voiced what I signed as well.

"I still think that we need to clear the air" the guy signed, persistent as ever. "There is nothing to clear, I forgive you; just please don't jump to conclusions next time" I replied. He brought up his hands again and one of the baseball guys spoke up "Dude he doesn't want to talk to you, take a hint" he said, I knew he said it since the interpreter started signing which they only did when someone spoke.

"This doesn't involve you" the guy signed and as soon as the interpreter finished speaking the baseball player stood up "Oliver is my friend, so yes this does involve me". The rest of the baseball team stood up and the beach guy look at them before looking at me, after a moment he just turned and walked away. "Don't worry about him Oliver, you're one of us. Just because you're deaf also doesn't mean that you're one of them" the phone screen of the baseball player showed before he gave me a friendly shake on the shoulder.

When I went back to class that guy was waiting for me outside of the classroom. "Do you want to get a cup of coffee or something? It seems I can't exactly talk to you at school" he signed. "I don't drink coffee, I like tea but-" I started to sign but he interrupted "Tea? What are you, English?" he said with a laugh. I frowned and his eyes went wide "Seriously? Ok new rule: I'll keep my hands down until I have the full story, deal?"

"I'm not free after school but what about later tonight?" I asked. "Yeah just text me" he said before he pulled out his phone "Lets trade numbers".