lisp [e. kaspbrak]

one

start song— welcome to my life by simple plan

nikole elenski sat in the back of all of her classes; a foolish mistake made by her teachers. the girl never paid attention, she rather be doing other things than learn about why semicolons shouldn't be used that often to be grammatically correct. though, nikole loved art class. she fell in love with the artistic language she now called her own. the way a pencil or paintbrush fit into her hand made her heart flutter.

she sat etching her name into the wooden desk with the broken end of a pencil. her eyes fluttered up to the board every so often. on the black board the word partners was written. nikole rolled her eyes.

she wasnt big on talking. the lisp that tortured her tongue enchanted laughs from others. sounding like a third grader wasn't her favorite thing. she couldn't escape the nightmare that was her speech impediment.

"alright kids, we are doing this next assignment with partners," the female teacher beamed out with such happiness that made nikole gag. "i will be choosing your partners!"

the class booed the idea, and slumped back into the plastic chairs. nikole didn't have a lot of friends, well none to be exact. she flew solo. most kids were scared of her, and the girls made fun at her choice of transportation. skateboarding. they called her boyish names because she didn't have a brand new car that her daddy bought her. the name calling and teasing backfired, it never bothered the girl.

"alrighty! bill, you're with addison, klaire with greta, nikole with eddie, harry with dani—"

eddie? who the fuck is that? nikole pondered, looking around the room as her teacher finished up the role call. she was quite observant, but had never known anyone with the name eddie.

the students began to shuffle around to find their partners, yet nikole stayed put. finishing her masterpiece on the desk. she heard small patters of footsteps that stoped at her desk. nikole took her eyes from the desk to the person's shoes.

they wore plain sneakers, laces neatly double knotted. her eyes worked their way up the person's body. plain blue jeans were cuffed at the ankle, showing off a pair of white socks. a blue sweater hung loosely from their shoulders. forcing hand paws to be made by the way they hid their palms.

nikole made eye contact with her partner. she saw big, deep brown doe eyes. the aroma of autumn shined in them, capturing the crunching of leaves and howling of wind. a face rosy and full of freckles complimented the hazel beauties, though his eyes read fear.

"i-i'm eddie, you're nikole right?" he spoke, fidgeting with his sketch book. his voice was deeper than she was expected. it bellowed deep within his chest. the girl sighed, slouching in her chair at an angle.

"call me kole."

"kole, okay got it," eddie breathed out. he awkwardly swayed back and forth gazing anywhere but at her. he seemed lost. looking for a way to be found.

"you can sit," as kole gestured to the empty seat next to her. she cringed at the choice of the word sit. her lisp was noticeable and pretty prominent, and was not what she want to be known for. though, it was exactly what she was known for.

the boy sat where he was told and twisted his head to kole. he furrowed his brown brows before opening his mouth.

"you have a lisp?" he questioned, before realizing what he had asked. he slightly cupped a sleeve covered palm over his mouth. he could have phrased his question better.

"Yeah, and?" kole responded harshly, blowing her blonde bangs out of her face. eddie tensed up at the sudden yelling, and scratched the back of his neck.

"It's not a bad thing... I like it."

the girl looked up at him. getting lost in his eyes. melting at the kind words he spoke to her. she could stare at the master piece that was his face all day. her eyes wanted to take detours and travel along his bone structure. but instead, kole simply rolled her eyes, mumbling under her breathe.

"yeah okay whatever."