Carrying the Banner

Chapter 1

Spot was in a bad mood that morning. He'd woken up late and had to walk, plus it was raining. Now he sat in the back of his first period writing furiously in his notebook. Albert was sitting next to him, chair tipped back so far it was hard to believe he hadn't fallen over.

The teacher had long ago given up on trying to teach them and instead had given them some assigned reading, which they were now disregarding with pleasure.

Spot liked to write in his free time, it got his mind off what he was feeling. He didn't like to feel things. Albert was doing nothing but chewing gum loudly, wrapping it around his finger, then popping it back into his mouth.

"That's disgusting." Spot sneered.

"Shut up." Albert smacked. Spot rolled his eyes and went back to writing.

The door opened and the counselor came in, followed by a lanky blonde teen. He looked about their age, but sort of had a baby face. His scraggly blonde hair hung in his eyes, which were a brilliant shade of blue.

Albert sat up straight with an odd look on his face, then jumped up and trotted to the front of the classroom. He talked to the counselor for a bit, then made several hand gestures to the boy. Spot furrowed his brow.

Albert nodded at the counselor then lead the boy back to his seat. Albert sat down at his desk, the boy sitting beside him.

"Who's this?" Spot asked. The boy just kept looking at his feet, not even acknowledging Spot.

"This is Anthony."

"Can you elaborate?" Spot prompted.

"Uh, he's my foster brother." Albert tipped his chair back and started chewing his gum again.

"Albert!"

"He's also deaf. They put him in special ed because and he can't get along in there, so they want me to babysit him."

"What'd he do?" Spot peered at Race, who still didn't notice him.

"Apparently he kept flipping people off and then hit the teacher."

"Jesus, does he have anger issues too?" Spot gaped at the blonde who was just sitting. Doing nothing, just sitting staring at his feet.

"No, he's just sort of... I don't know, misunderstood? It's tough for him to not be able to talk to people."

"So he really can't talk?"

"Well, he sort of can, like he knows some things like how to say things, but since he can't hear himself a lot doesn't make sense."

"Wow."

"Yeah, a lot is just gibberish and sounds like words, but doesn't really make any."

Spot looked at Race again, and this time Race noticed. His eyes darted up and met Spots and it was like time stopped. Spots eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly.

Those eyes. He knew them. The fire behind them, just like Spot's had been. He felt he knew this boy better than he knew himself.

Spot couldn't even imagine how it must feel to not understand people. He'd feel so clueless all the time.

Their eyes were locked for a few seconds before Race looked back at his feet, resuming the same expression from before. Spot kept staring, he couldn't help it. Race was just so... beautiful. Beautiful and misunderstood.

"Spot, you okay?" Albert gave him a funny look.

"Uh, yeah." Spot said distractedly. "So how do you talk?"