Voiceless

Chapter Five

Dedicated to everybody who is still on this crazy train

***

Mrs. Tina glanced at her nephew, then at me, then back at her nephew. Finally realizing that I obviously wasn't going to say anything, she cleared her throat. Elliot shifted from one foot to the other with a surprising rhythm and kept his eyes glued to the ground. I stood in the doorway awkwardly, not knowing what I just walked in on and hoping that it would soon end and I could go home and go back to sleep. I hadn't bothered to change out of my comfy sweats when I bolted to gather my things to leave. 

"Elliot, here, has been telling me he has some apologizing to do. Isn't that right, Ell?" Mrs. Tina said, finally. I almost chuckled at the nickname, but at the last second realized that I was still quite angry at Elliot... or Ell.

Elliot continued his shifting, but finally looked up. His eyes held a worry that I had never seen from him before and they were rimmed with red like he had been crying, or at least rubbing at them a lot. "I'm sorry, Kail." He started, his voice threatening to crack. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I lost track of time and got impatient with you. I honestly had no idea that Tanner would say such mean things. I went to follow you but you ran away so fast and into the girl's washroom. Even after that all of the football boys got an earful. I may seem like a jerk, but I do have some redeeming qualities." He stopped and almost smiled, but Mrs. Tina cleared her throat and looked over her glasses to indicate that Elliot had better keep talking. "Anyway, when you didn't come to any of out other classes and your car was still in the back lot, I didn't know what to think. I'm just so sorry and I cannot say that enough."

I nodded and Mrs. Tina leaned back in her chair with an approving look on her face. I went to respond by writing, knowing that Elliot knew zero sign, but found my notebook missing. I left it at home during my flurry to get to therapy on time. I looked up at Mrs. Tina and she was holding a notebook out to me to write on, almost laughing at my stupor. 

I wrote, 'Its fine.'

Elliot looked relieved but not quite satisfied. He sat down anyway and stopped staring at the ground. 

Mrs. Tina cleared her throat one final time and began, "I thought maybe we could have a bit of a group therapy session today considering the recent events and my understanding of you two. It has come to my attention that the two of you don't exactly see eye to eye." I thing Elliot and I both nodded. "Any thoughts?"

"He's Stupid" I finally signed. 

Mrs. Tina sighed, "I realize that we may have some hard feelings here, but lets not call names, okay?" I crossed my arms and pouted, sticking out my lower lip. Elliot looked confused but began to smile at my child-like antics. "Anything from you, Elliot?"

"Well, she doesn't seem to have any friends of her own so I tried to get her to hang out with mine."

Mrs. Tina shrugged, "Who's to say that she doesn't think that you and your football buddies aren't all idiots?" I chuckled. Wasn't Mrs. Tina the one to just tell me not to call names? Elliot blushed.

"I just wanted to help." he stated glumly. 

"And I realize that," Mrs. Tina quipped, "but if she doesn't want to hang out with you and your friends, then she doesn't have to. She showed you the ropes for the first few days and now you're fine to be on your own. You don't need to hold the poor girl hostage." 

"Sorry," Elliot muttered.

"Okay, I think thats enough for today, don't you? Kail looks about ready to fall asleep standing up." Mrs. Tina chuckled.

I snuck a look at Elliot. The redness around his eyes had decreased, but he still looked undeniably troubled and hurt. I felt bad for him. He apologized then got scolded.