The Silence

Chapter Two

Julian:

I sat at my desk, silent and frustrated. It was always like this. I don't even know why mother had bothered to move me. I could deal with the bullying easily enough, but the teachers... Mrs Brussels had moved me to the front like my mother had asked, but she clearly hadn't listened to the 'my son is special' speech too well. The first rule was to always look at me when speaking.

Being hard of hearing was a pain in the ass. People always just assumed that it meant I was deaf, but for me it was somehow worse. I could hear very little, not always properly, and it frustrated me to no end. Especially right now, with my hearing aid being acting up. I'd just switched it off. Also, being able to hear a little helped me when I needed to lip read. At least, when someone allowed me to actually read their lips.

I sighed heavily, gave up trying to figure out what Mrs Brussels was harping on about and grabbed my pen so I could write down the timetable on the projector screen. I was just writing down the first class when I felt someone come up to my desk. The sharp "Hey." Made me freeze and suck in my breath. Calm down, I told myself. This wasn't East High. I tried to let go of my breath slowly, but before I could compose myself, whoever was standing next to me shouted again and kicked my chair.

I looked up, my eyes wide and worried because, damn, I hadn't expected to be picked on already, in the middle of class too. I also hadn't expected the person who kicked my chair to be so handsome. A stern face was looking down at me and I stared at his brown eyes that matched almost exactly with his dark hair, not quite as curly as mine. My eyes dropped to his leather jacket that was definitely not part of the school dress code and the second I wondered what he looked like wearing it without a shirt on, I blinked and forced myself to look forward. I caught Mrs Brussels eyes and sent a 'please help me' look that she answered by strolling over to my desk.

"He's in my seat." I heard loud and clear, his voice deep and gruff. I gulped hard. Shit. Day one and I'd already pissed someone off? Thanks mom. I let my head fall so he wouldn't look at me. Maybe after he went away he'd forget what I looked like and ... no, as much as I wanted to be invisible, I always stood out more. Because I was different. He had looked different too though with his leather jacket and were those headphones? I snuck another peek at him and, yes, those were headphones. I sighed silently in envy. When was the last time I had worn headphones? When was the last time I'd listened to music at all? I blinked when the stranger in the leather jacket looked down at me again, his face twisted with annoyance. I held my breath but he did nothing, walking away to find another seat, I think.

I sat straight in my chair, feeling like all the eyes in the room behind me were on me. It felt itchy almost. Like my skin was stinging with awareness. I squeezed my hands again to calm down and then I wrote down what was on the screen.

I could feel someone walking next to me for a while, and I waited for them to walk past me. When they didn't however, I stopped in my tracks and turned to face them. It was a girl. A pretty girl, with long red hair and green eyes that sparkled as she smiled at me. She was saying something and speaking way too fast for me to understand, so I reached up to turn on my hearing aid. It whined and I winced at the sound echoing deep inside my ear. After a while the sound went away and I caught the end of the pretty girl's sentence.

"...should have listened when they told me you're kinda weird." She said with a frown and I froze as she walked away from me. What? I don't know how long I stood there trying to control my breathing but I'd been having panic attacks since I'd started losing my hearing so I knew what this was. I stumbled around a little blindly until I saw a sign for the restroom and burst inside. I hurried to one of the stalls and shut the door behind me, gasping and clawing at my neck. Shit. Calm down. Calm...

I closed my eyes and counted my breaths. One in. One out. They were shaky and I hated the little hiccup at the end that made me sound like I was a 4 year old having a tantrum. I didn't even know why I was having a panic attack. She hadn't said anything I hadn't heard before. I'd just been hoping that what the school board had said about its low bullying incidents had been true. I should have known not to trust it. The school board rarely knew what was really going on in its school.

When I felt the door shake I gasped softly and my hiccups went away abruptly. I held my hand to my chest, my heart beating hard.

"Hey. Are you OK in there?" A voice asked and I stood up quickly, opening the door. I should have checked if the room was empty before I'd dived in here.

"I'm fi..." I said before I saw the leather jacket and my words dried up in my mouth.

"You can speak." He said. Not a question. I looked up into his eyes and he pinched his lips together.

"Of course I can speak." I said quietly. He looked affronted and held up a hand.

"Sorry, it's just..." He looked away at the door to the restroom and shook his head as he looked at me again. "I just heard...my friend told me you were deaf." He frowned and tilted his head as he looked at me.

"I'm not deaf." I said with a small sigh. "I can hear. Just not very well." I sniffed and wiped at my nose with the back of my hand. I don't know why I was explaining myself to him. God, were my eyes red. They were, weren't they? I suddenly felt horribly self-conscious, shifting on my feet, anxious to get away.

"Oh." He said simply and we stared at each other for the longest time. I licked my lips, a little uncomfortable. Was he trying to work out what else was weird about me? I puffed out my shoulders tried to be braver.

"Can I ...?" I pointed behind him to the sinks and he stepped aside without much of an expression. I hurried over to one and splashed water on my face. By the time I looked up again, he was gone.

A/N: AHHHHHHH This chapter was hard for some reason. Urgh.