Wendy. (Wattys2015)

Two

The entire school is hectic. Everyone has their eyes looking left to right, huddling together in groups by the lockers. I see some people texting with quick fingers, their reactions priceless. Just like grade school, the rumors have started, this time, within the first three minutes we see her.

I walk through the halls with Trevor next to me, glancing at everyone around us.

"Don't you think..it's a little strange?"

"What part of it?"

He stops at his faded, grey locker and fiddles with the lock. I press my back against the lockers next to his, and pull out my phone. I turned it off earlier because the constant texts were getting annoying, yet the group messages are still being sent out as emails to everyone. Why is she such a big deal?

Re: Wendy Who?

Joe: Lice girl?

Anna: Wendy? From elementary? I heard she left to be a prostitute.

Abigail: haha, I heard that 2

Gavin: I always thought something was weird about her

Joe: Someone said she has crabs now

Reuben: LOL I wouldn't be surprised

the list goes on, and I stare at it in discomfort. Trevor glances at me and frowns.

"Why do you look sad?" He asks, shoving a football into the locker.

I look up at him and shrug. "I didn't know I looked sad,"

"We'll you should be anything but sad. Maybe excited. You know, because of Wendy. I heard she was on the bus today,"

"Yeah, she was. Her house was on a dirt road with a house that was on some secluded property. It was like.."

"A house a murderer would live in?" He finishes for me. I punch his arm and we begin to walk to class as the bell rings.

" Hey, be nice. She looks like she's changed."

"Oh really? Look over there." Trevor points to Wendy across the hall, her back to us. It seems as if she hasn't heard the bell, and instead stands in front of her open locker, doing..nothing? Something?

I shake my head and him as he grins, and we part our ways. The hallways are empty as I pass Wendy, and I feel the urge to say something. Before I turn the handle of the door that leads me to Ms. Adam's class, also known as 'hell', I stop and think.

No one has ever heard her voice, and it's said that if you talk to her, she won't hear you. I take a step back from the doors. No dumb rumors are going to get in the way. She's just a teenager like me, no different. Maybe she's deaf? But then again, I've never seen her sign.

I stand mere inches away from Wendy with her back to me. Her floral blouse gives me the same shivers it gave me this morning, as it brings me to the previous years, her faded dresses never fitting her as she got older. Her hair is so long, in contrast to her pixie cut as a child. Too short then, too long now.

"Hey." I breathe.

She freezes for a second, and slowly turns around. Her ocean blue eyes pierce mine, something strange behind them, yet they look at me cooly, almost narrowed, but soft at the same time with lifted corners, giving the effect of curiosity.

"It's your first day, right? My name's James. You're Wendy, right?"

Wendy flinches when I say her name, but nods. I wait an awkward second that feels like eternity for her to speak, but she never does. Scratching the back of my head, I sigh inwardly.

"Would you like any help with anything?" The second bell rings, and I know I'm late, but I'd rather be late than spend an entire hour with the witch in room 23. I wait for Wendy again, but she just shakes her head and gathers her books and shuts her locker, leaving me in the hallway by myself.

I watch her as she walks away, but her floral blouse makes me want to look away.