Listen to Me

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It had only been fifteen minutes since class started, but I was already dreaming about school being over. I couldn't help but wish that I was like any other normal kid who could just zone out and let Mrs. SheDevil--I mean Mrs. Mead's voice just drift over them. But instead, I had to intently watch Mrs. Mead's every muscle movement. This is how I am able to keep up in classes at school; by reading lips. Sadly, this is harder than you may think. It has taken a while to perfect the art of reading lips and taking notes at the same time.

Today sadly, was not a day for note taking, but a day for something much, much worse.

"Would anyone like to share their persausive essay?" I read off of Mrs. Mead's lips while she wore an all too innocent expression. I could see through all her pretences. She loathed me and would use any excuse to make my life a living hell.

I was completely innocent of her unexplicable wrath. I had no clue what I had done to make her mad, but ever since I started this class this year, she had loathed me.

You may be asking for an instance of when she had made my life a living hell. Now was as good of an example as any. No one was offering to read their essays which means, guess who gets to be called on?

That's right, me!

Mrs. Mead was completely oblivous to the fact that I was deaf too. Having been "homeschooled" by Chris from seventh grade until my sophmore year of highschool, he had made sure I learned the art of speaking like a normal person. An involuntary shiver went down my spine as I thought of those dark years. Chris was a perfectionist, and things went bad fast when I didn't do exactly what he wanted. By the time sophmore year rolled around, Chris had done a good job of making me speak almost flawlessly. It shocked me to no end because of the fact that Chris had been drunk for most of the process. He decided it was time for me to go to normal highschool, so he enrolled me here at Commons High School without every mentioning to the school district that I had a disability. That would, of course, have ruined his perfect imagine. NOT.

I would not complain when she calls on me because I spent a lot of time working on my essay, and I was very proud of it. I just hated speaking in front of people. Sure, I can talk well enough for no one to notice that I can't actually hear the words I'm saying, but sometimes when I speak a lot, in front of many people, my words start to slur.

Chris's second rule: Noone can know that you are deaf. This is our little secret.

And I was helpless when it came to Chris's rules. If I disobeyed, then he would take away the one thing that mattered most to me. So I always obeyed. I did not want to give Chris even the slightest insentive to take Conner away and put him in a foster home. He is my world.

This means when she inevitably calls on me, I have to sound perfect. I took the essay out from my binder and started to rehearse it in my mind.

I will and can do this. You can do this Trinity. Oh gosh this is making my head hurt even worse then it did in the car.

"Trinity, why don't you read yours?" who guessed it? I did! Well lets hope I don't screw this up.

Taking a deep breathe to try and calm myself, I stood and walked to the front of the classroom. I almost started to hyperventilate at the thought of all eyes on me, but I just managed to keep my breathing under control.

For the essay, we had to take a side on the measure that was just passed and persuade the class to agree with the side we chose. The measure allowed hunters to kill wolves at any time of the year and it didn't matter if they were male or female or if the female was with child. It was supposed to be because of an extreme increase of wolves in the area. Up until a few years ago, our modest town rarely had any wolves. However, over the past few years we have seen a major increase in the wolf population. Many people thought that it was best to just kill them all. I thought that it was so cruel and I was totally against it.