Unheard of Love

Chapter 4

I pull up to the same familiar school I've been attending for years. I glance over at Travis who was sitting in the passenger seat, and put the car in park.

"Ready?" He signed.

"Really+ not" I reply.

Travis smiles at me sweetly as we get out of the car. Toby, Adam, and Thomas all pile out from the back of the car and start to follow in our footsteps. I watch all my other peers sign around me. Once they all see us, they immediately stop signing to stare at us. Apparently, everyone had heard about the accident.

Toby, Adam and Thomas take off towards the second floor of the school. The second floor had classes from grades 3-8 while the bottom floor of the school were full of the high school kids.

Travis and I just stood in the middle of the parking lot, staring back at all the kids. People kept turning their backs to us and signing something. This was Deaf peoples' form of whispering. I look over at Travis, desperately in need of some support.

Travis stood tall, and confident. He had a simple shirt on with some light brown, khaki pants. He nodded at me, indicating that it would be okay. Of course it would be okay. This was a school full of people who were all different because they were deaf. I have had loads of support at this school and this was probably the last time I'd ever feel so comfortable in a school. I have to go to a hearing school in Hollywood next year.

Together, we walk into the building, where I'm greeted by my best friend, Lauren. Her arms wrap around my body the second I walk through the doors. Finally, I was released from her bear hug so we could begin talking. At this point, Travis left us and headed towards the Chemistry room where all his friends would be. Lauren steps back and was just about to sign something until I put my hand on top of hers.

"No. About+ accident+ talk+ not." I sign before she had a chance to.

"O.k." Lauren replies nodding her head in agreement.

Lauren links her arm with mine and we walk down the hall together towards our lockers. When we reach our lockers, we unlink our arms so that we would have hands to open the lock. 9-3-27 was the code to open my locker. I remember this because 9 times 3 was 27. People always laughed when they heard the method I used to remember my locker combinations, but it seemed to work for me so I didn't care. My purple colored locker pops opened as I grabbed my textbooks for the first part of my day: Psychology, AP Chemistry, and AP English. We didn't need the books for class today since it was the last day of school, but all students had to turn in their textbooks today. I peer over at Lauren whose locker was right beside mine.

Lauren stood at her locker, looking at her reflection in a mirror, and putting on lip gloss. I looked over her outfit for today. She was wearing a jean-looking blue sundress with a brown belt around her mid-abdomen. Her cowgirl boots were the same shade of brown as her belt. Her light brown hair loosely hung a little past her shoulders in tight curls. Lauren looked so great compared to me. My cowgirl boots had been packed in a box, so I had to wear my white sandals instead. As for my outfit, I chose to wear a loose-fitting white tank top with a pair of dark jean shorts. I even decided to throw a white flower in my loosely curled hair.

Lauren eyed me, glancing over the mirror in her locker. She flips around, and closes her locker. The only thing she was holding was her phone.

"Books?" I ask her. Lauren just shrugs and grabs my arm again. Arm-in-arm, we walk down the hallway to my Psychology class. On our way to my first class, I pass by my sister, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's curly, reddish-brown hair was a wild mess. Her once perfect makeup was now running down her face as she cried in the arms of Jayce, her boyfriend. I could see Jayce's dark eyes begin to shimmer. I've never seen him cry before, but today, he seemed so close to tears. The girl he had been dating for 6 years now was moving away. I prayed that they didn't lose contact because it's not everyday someone finds their true love at the age of eleven.