Silent Memories

Christmas!

"It's Christmas this Saturday! I hope you have a gift ready for me!!"

Bethany called to wake me up tree times already and I realized it was finally time to do so. I woke up, rubbing my eyes and everything was still a blur. Ooh, I really wished I could sleep for more time.. Just like my usual routine, I decided to check my phone. The brightness totally damaged my eyes! Evan's message was there like usual, and I found myself smiling again.

"I expected a good morning, you know! By the way, I still have to think about the gift :P "

The reply came instantly which was no shock to me, considering how free he usually is.

"Well, I think I've got the perfect gift for you!"

"Sure! I'll be waiting for it :P I'll get late for school if I don't get ready now, bye! See you at school :) "

I headed out for school 20 minutes later, with a piece of bread stuffed in my mouth. A sudden push from the back got me coughing.

"Sorry! I was just greeting you.." said Evan, giving me his water bottle, totally worrying about me. It was honestly one of the cutest faces I had ever seen.

"It's alright! No need to worry."

The two of us sat together and started discussing about Christmas. I told him that my mom wanted to meet him so both of us agreed to having the celebration at my home. He then took my notebook for conversations and wrote something down.

"I have to complete some work, so I'll head back to my seat."

"Okay!"

Studying got a lot easier since the new translator had arrived. Even my grades were quite good, which was still a surprise to most of the people at school. It was time for English period and Evan had borrowed my notebook to note down some points, so I decided to ask him to return it since he was busy with the work he was completing. Just as I approached him, he hid the notebook from me, quite startled as if I appeared out of the blue.

"Needed something?" asked he, using sign language.

"My English notebook. You still have it."

It took some for him to realize what I was talking about.

"Oh yeah! Please wait.." he took out the notebook from his bag and handed it to me, probably expecting me to go back to my seat. It kind of showed up on his face. Maybe he didn't want me to see what work he was completing. So being a good person, I went back to my seat. The rest of the day went smoothly and I was glad that all my work was complete.

"Hey, Iris!"

"Hey, Mr. Idiot!" I said, trying to annoy him since he always teases me.

"Oh, look who's talking! By the way, there's a competition coming up in February. I'm going to be singing, do you want to accompany me and play the piano like you did on my birthday?" he asked, hoping I'd say yes. His eyes conveyed it all.

Honestly, the first answer that came to my mind was "Yes.", but messing up was not a rare thing for me. And I really didn't want to drag him down by doing that.

"You know I could easily mess up, right?"

"I told you I've got your back! If you mess up, I'll make it work somehow. And don't worry about me losing or anything. I just want to participate. Moreover, I really want to sing once again while you play. Not to mention, it'll give us one more memory to think about later on." That was enough to comfort me. How does he find the right words to say?

"Don't blame me if anything goes wrong then!"

"Thanks! Thank you so much! Ugh, why is the competition so far away?" he said, making a sad face.

"It's alright! Doesn't time pass by fast when you're with someone close to you?" And I'm sure I made things awkward by saying that. The words just slipped out of my mouth. I really hoped he hadn't read my lips, but was good at it.

"Sure it does." said he, looking at me. Rather, staring at me for sometime and then looked away when he noticed that things got awkward.

I really wished Bethany's words just vanished from my mind but whatever she told me about the "signs" just used to appear as soon as something happened. Her signs sure do confuse me at times. Realizing I had reached home, I smiled and said bye to Evan.