Becoming Normal

Chapter 8

As soon as he made it to school the next morning, Tanner told Max everything that happened with Autumn the other day.

"One minute she was all quiet and shy-" he explained, still in shock from yesterday "And the next she's bashing about herself and how nobody cares about her."

"Holy shit" Max gasped "What got her into that?"

"Well um-" he started to say while looking around to make sure no one was listening "I may or may not have seen a scar on her wrist."

"A scar?" Max's eyes widen.

"And it looked like it was done on purpose" he added with a worried look "And when I tried to talk to her about it, that's when she started getting all defensive."

"Oh damn," Max breathed in shock "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'll figure something out."

"But does this mean you don't wanna work with her anymore?"

"I don't know man" Tanner sighed "I have to see if she'll talk to me and if not then I'll talk to Mr. Turner about it."

But before either of them could say anything, Tanner suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around, he was surprised to see Autumn, and she appeared to have a guilty look on her face.

"Autumn," he remarked surprised.

"I'll leave you guys alone" Max offered as he walked off.

"Um-" Tanner started to say, wondering what she wanted "What's up?"

"I uh-" she mumbled a bit nervously "I just want to apologize about yesterday. I don't know what got into me."

Surprised that she was apologizing, Tanner gave a small smile, feeling relieved that she didn't avoid talking to him.

"Look you don't have to apologize" he assured.

"No I really do" she declared "I understand you were trying to help, and I pushed you back. But uh, about the scar, I was 14 when it happened, I don't do it anymore."

"Oh that's good" he breathed in relief.

"And um-" she continued shyly "If it's not too late, I would like to continue working with you."

He smiled once more "I would like that."

She gave a small smile while pushing her hair back.

"I um-" she added, "I'll see you in English."

"You too" he smiled back as she headed off.

Now that things were settled, Tanner could finally relax.

"So you're the guy who made my sister cry yesterday" a voice suddenly spoke behind him as he turned around to see a girl with dark hair and bare faced.

"Excuse me?" he questioned confused.

"You're working with my sister" she pointed out.

"Oh," he replied surprised "Autumn's your sister?"

"Older by a year, name's Kara."

"Well, nice to meet you, Kara."

He had almost forgotten that Autumn had a sister when he remembered hearing her talking to staff about her sister.

"Look-" she continued to talk "I really appreciate you wanting to work with my sister, no one has ever wanted to work with her, or even talk to her."

"Why is that?" he inquired "I mean I get that she's shy and all, but why is that? I've never seen anyone like her before."

"It's because she's not like other girls."

"What do you mean?"

She gave a deep sigh "If you're gonna be working with her, you have the right to know."

"Know what?"

This was it, Tanner knew this was the moment he would finally know what made Autumn so different.

"Autumn has Asperger's Syndrome" Kara informed.

Not what he had expected, Tanner gave a confused look.

"What is that?" he asked.

"It's a form of Autism."

Knowing what that is, Tanner was even more surprised than before. He knew that Autism was a disorder that affected a person's behavior, but how was Asperger's Syndrome any different?

"She's autistic?" he questioned surprised.

"As aspie to be exact, but yeah same thing."

"Uh, what are the signs of Aspergers?"

"Well-" Kara began to think "I only know a few, but they do share a lot of common traits to people with Autism. They don't like being touched, they tend to obsess over a certain object and they just love to talk about it, even if the person they're talking to doesn't have a shared interest. But for Aspergers in girls, it's pretty different than boys, girls with Aspergers tend to be really shy and insecure, they also tend to be really sensitive, both psychically and emotionally. And um... that's all I know so far. You can research it if you want."

Tanner couldn't explain what he was feeling, but it all made sense. When Dayna told him about Autumn being hurt when she tapped her pencil on her shoulder, the way she jumped when he touched her, her major shyness, and the way she's so focused on writing. It finally made sense to him.

"It all makes sense now" he gasped "I can't believe this."

"Well believe it," Kara said, "Now that you know, Autumn may not feel as uncomfortable as before."

"Well, thanks Kara, you really helped."

"By the way-" she continued "Please, and I mean please, don't do anything to hurt her. She's been suffering from this since we found out about her disability at our old town."

"Is that why she has the scar on her wrist?"

"She told you about that?" she raised an eyebrow "Wow, didn't think she would want to talk about that anymore. But to answer your question, yes she did cut herself because of her disability, although there's another reason why but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Well, I won't ask" he assured.

"But please promise me that you won't hurt her" she requested, "I've been watching her suffer my whole life, and I don't wanna see more of it."

"Don't worry, I won't" he promised.

"Thank you" she sighed in relief "And uh, don't tell her I said this to you."

"Okay," he shrugged with a smirk "And uh, thanks again."

She nodded with a smile before walking off. Now that he knew the truth, he needed to know more about Aspergers. So he took out his phone and began to search up Aspergers as he made his way to first period. He had much to learn about this disability.