Scribble

Sound and Silence || One

Olivia stood at the back of the room, holding her books in the crook of her elbow. She could see some of the girls glancing back every so often, obviously recognizing her. Two girls were passing notes, and she could imagine what was on them. Who's that girl? She looks weird. That's Olivia. The deaf girl.

She shifted uncomfortably, moving her books to hug them against her body, as if she could block out the rumors, the insults. She had seen them all, read them on the bathroom walls. Olivia can't hear anything because she was abused as a child. Olivia has a terminal illness. Olivia's stupid and dumb 'cause she can't hear anything.

The teacher looked up from the roll call and montioned Olivia up. She walked slowly to the front of the room, feeling gazes on her back. She stood next to Ms. Cavhin and stared out at the roomful of girls, mostly all glancing. They all looked the same; hair in perfect buns, uniforms spotless. Olivia knew her braid and ill-fitting shirt weren't helping her fit in with this group.

"Class, this is Olivia Marcs. She's had a schedule change and will be joining our class from now on. Olivia is deaf, which means if you're speaking to her you need to be clear and understand that she may not understand everything a lot. Thank you." She turned to Olivia and said, enunicating clearly, "You can sit by Kass." She motioned to a seat across the room and Olivia sat down next to a pretty chocolate-haired girl.

Ms. Cavhin clapped her hands once, quietly, as the class began to murmur about Olivia. She said, "Girls, please start working on your homework. I know that all of you have a science project coming up. If you have a partner in Mrs. Raymin's seminar or Mr. Cogssen's, they are going to come up here. Otherwise, please come see me."

Kass was instantly out of her seat and up at the teacher's desk talking a mile a minute.

Olivia glanced around the room as girls started talking and a few of them skidded through the doors, meeting their partners and beginning to plan. They were all busy except for two girls; one was working silently on what looked math, and the other was reading, noise-cancelling headphones cushioning her head.

It seemed like a tight-knit group of girls, and a loud one as well, although the noise level didn't bother Olivia too much. She couldn't hear it anyways.

~*~*~*~*~

Annalise was trying very hard not to show the discomfort on her face. As if ten extra girls coming and talking loudly around her wasn't loud enough, Kass was at the teacher's desk talking loudly in her shrill voice.

"Ms. Cavhin, isn't there another seminar Olivia could move to? Like having to talk almost silently for Annalise wasn't bad enough, now we have to enunciate?"  She said the word mockingly, like talking clearly was the bane of her existence.

Annalise pressed her hands to her headphones, trying desparately to block out Kass's whines. It was no use; the headphones only went so far. Only the background noise was quieted: rustling papers and the scratching pencils nearby. She could still hear the girls talking noisily about science and gossiping about the school.

"I heard there was going to be a dance with the boys' school in a few months. Like, a formal," a tall blonde gushed to her friend, who squealed with excitement.

"OK, sing again?" one girl ordered her partner, who sang a loud verse of Dancing Through Life. Annalise winced and lay her head on her desk, ignoring the book. She couldn't concentrate with all this noise.

Glancing around the room, her gaze settled on the girl who joined. Olivia, the deaf girl. 

Annalise stared at the serene look on her face. Not being able to hear, not having to listen to all the whispers behind her back. She's lucky, Annalise thought. She probably doesn't even know that people do whisper behind her back.

Annalise ducked her head again when Olivia's eyes flitted over to her. She could feel herself starting to blush and nervously messed with her hair. She hated when people looked at her.

Kass was still talking loudly, although Annalise was ignoring the words themselves rather well. It was the noise that was the problem.

"Kass, all the other seminars are too full, and I'm the only teacher other than Mrs. Logans who knows sign language. You may recall that Mrs. Logans is unavaible at this time for teaching because she's on maternity leave," Ms. Cavhin said softly. "I'm sorry."

Kass sighed and turned on her heel, walking away with an eyeroll. Annalise almost smiled, but then Kass started talking loudly to her friends.

Annalise winced and covered her ears again. Ms. Cavhin noticed this time and stood, clapping her hands twice sharply. The girls fell silent.

"Girls, those of you who are in my seminar usually know that we try not to talk so loudly in here, to be respectful to some of the girls with aversions to noise. So if you would all try and be a bit quieter if possible?"

There was a mumbled chorus of, "Yes, Ms. Cavhin." The girls returned to their work, slightly quieter this time, although Annalise could see Kass talking in an exaggerated whisper. Her friends were all giggling and occasionally throwing mocking glances at Annalise.

Annalise bent her head over her book and tried to ignore them, but it was hard when she could hear every word Kass was definitely not whispering.

"So, like it wasn't bad enough that we have to whisper every word so precious little Annalise doesn't get a headache," Kass huffed dramatically, "now we have to speak clearly for Little Miss Deaf Girl? Ugh!"

Kass leaned back in her chair and folded her arms sulkily. Her friends gathered around, making sympathetic noises and patting her dark hair softly.

Suprisingly, it wasn't Annalise who was most offended by this. She was used to Kass being rude. But Olivia, sitting next to Kass, could read every word she was saying on her lips. She swallowed hard and bent over her books, trying to forget the biting words.