sunny;
new school, same me; deaf, lanky, remarkably not cute. i approach the school, kids brushing past me. i walk to the guidance office and i'm greeted by my 'helper-lady'. she signs her name as jennifer. i 'say' hi and we leave for my first class: geometry. math is the hardest subject for me, for obvious reasons; I can't hear the explanations and trying to learn from textbooks is very difficult for me.
the teacher says hi, reddening after he realizes that i can't hear him. I just nod and mouth: 'it's okay!' with a chuckle. he speaks to jennifer, who signs that he wants me to sit up front next to 'jimin'.
jimin is a blonde kid, shorter than me (obviously), and he has an infectious smile. he says hello and i sign/speak back to him. jennifer nudges me to sign me what the teacher is saying.
proofs. fucking proofs. amazing.
after an hour of true hell, i walk to my study hall (with jennifer). jennifer is 20, short, chubby, fucking hilarious, and she smells like melon. she signs to me: "that kid was cute, right?"
i blush a bit and respond: "he was!"
"you gonna hit that?"
"shut up."
that bitch. we walk into my study hall and i see my fucking old sewing teacher from my old school. she says hello, jennifer tells me she said to sit by jimin. jennifer nudges me and tells me to talk to him. he just looks up at me and grins, making me smile back. he asks me what my name is, i sign and say my name.
i can see him get confused, making everything awkward; our smiles fade and my eyes dart down to my hands. jen starts up a conversation between us.
why don't you tell him where your from? she signs.
"i'm from queen anne, washington." i say and sign to him.
he smiles and says, "i'm from busan, south korea."
"really?! that's cool!"
"thanks! i moved here a few years ago."
"same, but my move wasn't as far!"
"yeah. i never caught your name?"
"sunny. nice to meet you."
"jimin. nice to meet you too."
jennifer signs: yesss! that's what i'm talking about!
i sign back: shut up and translate, jen.
"what were you guys saying?" jimin chuckles out. one thing that I've developed is the ability to read lips.
"nothing important." i respond.
"oh. ok! what's on your schedule?"
i hand him my schedule. he says that we have every class together.
"that's so cool!" jen says.
yeah, right. i sign to her.
i look at our electives; he's signed up for american sign language? i did it to be a teaching aid.
i want this class to end so i can go to art. jimin says that art is one of his favorite subjects. i can't believe he's in all of my classes; i won't need to make any friends i guess.
jen goes to the principal's office after study hall, leaving me alone with jimin. we arrive at our class and sit together. i throw my stuff on the table and wait for the teacher to start talking.
she says: "today we will be doing a partner project. illustrate a word you both like in a style that you both like."
jimin asks me what kind of style I like. I write down in the style I like to work with.
"really?!" he says smiling, i nod and smile back.
we choose watercolor and the word ethereal. for some reason. we alternate letters, making it similar but unique. the blue fades into the purple colors that we picked out. we were the first group to finish, making the teacher gasp.
"this is awesome, guys! good job!" she says, earning a small bow from jimin (who blushed after) and me signing 'thanks'.
jimin tells me how embarrassed he is after bowing in front of the teacher.
i write down: 'it's fine! no one was looking.. you'll live, dude'
"but still."
'it's force of habit. brush it off.'
"damn you right."
we both start laughing. his eye-smile was so cute. i want to hear his laugh. honestly, i don't think about hearing that much but when i do i think about the surgery that i've since wanted a few years ago.
i feel an already familiar nudge from jen. she signs: did you two already finish?
'yep.'
jimin taps my shoulder with his dopey grin on his face again. this boy-
"do you have any siblings?"
"younger sister. you?"
"younger brother! and a half sister."
"cool."
sign language rolls around and i introduce myself in asl. i'm regretting this already; all of those pitying eyes from my classmates. my face heats up until i see jimin smiling up at me. that boy-
the teacher starts to teach the alphabet, which jimin had already memorized. he and i just go over it quickly.
~
the rest of the day goes by fast with jimin trying to get me to teach him stuff. he learns fast.
a boy named taehyung sits by us at lunch; he knows a bit of sign language. the day ends and jimin and i ride the same bus home. he lives next door.
~~~
new story!! hope you like it so far !! :))
