Firsts

Chapter One

Chapter One

I skip happily down the street, my brother by my side. He is saying things, but I'm not looking at him. I look straight ahead. We are walking down the campus of my college of choice. Well, more like his college of choice. I'm just happy to be here at all. After a few more feet of walking, my brother Trent taps my shoulder. I turn to look at him. He has a slight smirk on his face. He signs slowly,

"Have you been ignoring me this whole time?"

A laugh breaks from my lips. I say, hopefully not too quiet and just the way my speech therapist would want me to say,

"Yes. I'm sorry Trent. I can't help it. This place is simply beautiful."

He smiles at me and signs again slowly.

"Alright. Let's keep going. Next time I grace you with my words, I'll make sure you're paying attention."

I laugh again.

"Oh Trent, you silly goose. I could ignore you even if I'm looking right at you."

He playfully glares at me. I just smile. Then we continue walking. Finally we make it to my dorm. Trent had all my stuff ready here beforehand. I don't have to do anything except walk in and rearrange a thing or two. When we make it inside, I look at my dorm room. It's not too small. It's quite tidy. We both shuffle in, and I turn to Trent. In my excitement, I don't speak, just sign.

"Thank you so much for setting up the room! Thanks for helping me convince mom to let me come here at all. Ugh, you're such a good brother!"

I have a huge smile on my face. I put my arms around him in a tight hug before he can say or sign anything. After a few moments, we break the hug. I'm still grinning. He's smiling back. He signs and says back to me,

"I'm glad you're here. I've missed you."

I smile at him happily.

"I've missed you too."

I give him one more hug before he leaves to let me settle in. I sit down on my bed, letting everything sink in. I'm here. I've made it. I never thought that I would be able to go to college, and yet here I am. I smile giddily, letting the greatness of it all sink in even more. 

My dad and mom have been, well, they hardly ever let me leave the house. As a kid, I was homeschooled. I was even homeschooled in high school. All my other siblings went to high school, though they were homeschooled before that. I've always been sort of secluded. I've never had many friends.

 My sister Aubrey has always been a social butterfly. She always would hang out with me. Well, my mom would force her and her friends to hang out with me. Aubrey would just go to their houses most of the time until we got older. When we got older, she always tried to get me to hang out with them. I'm a good sport, so I do. It's insufferable. Not surprisingly, Aubrey married her one and only boyfriend, and at twenty-two, she already has a little baby and another on the way. 

Everett, my younger brother, is also in college because he graduated early and is going to college at age eighteen. I'm twenty, and I'm just starting college now at my brother Trent's college. My mom never let me leave the house even after I turned eighteen. It took a lot of me and Trent convincing her to let me go. I was sad to leave, but at the same time really happy. 

This is the longest I've ever been away from my house. My mom and dad are homebodies, so we never went on vacation and I've never gone to a sleepover before. I smile at the idea. I pinch myself to double-check that it's not a dream. It's not. Somehow, my smile widens. After a while of blissfully sitting and grinning like a fool, I stand up and fix up some things in my room. Then, I go for a shower.

This is the start of my new life. Well, more like the start of my adult life. Everything changes now. Nobody even has to know that I'm deaf. My mom would like me to tell everyone, but I want to see what it's like at least for a little while. The whole idea of it is enchanting. I smile yet again just thinking about it. I try to drift to sleep. I don't think I'll ever sleep again because I'm so excited.

My alarm blares in my ears. I sit up and grin when I remember where I am. I change my clothes hurriedly and skip out of my dorm room. My first class isn't until ten, but Trent wants to go out for breakfast. I find him just where we planned to meet up.

I smile at him and say, "Good morning! Oh, I'm so happy to be here." Hopefully, I was not stumbling over my words too much. I still have trouble talking. I didn't learn how to talk until I was older because I didn't have to. As a matter of fact, I had to beg my parents to let me learn. I hope I sound as blissful as I feel.

Trent smiles at me and says, "Yeah. me too. I can't believe we finally got mom and dad to say yes. I'm so glad though." He knew I could read lips pretty well. He pulls me in for another hug. We sit down.

"So how do you like your room?"

I beam. "It's great, almost perfect! Oh Trent I can't believe I'm here. I'm so glad."

We get our food. As we eat, I sign, not talking so I could communicate with food in my mouth, "I'm so excited to start my first class. I can't believe I'm going to be a biologist. I never thought, well, I only dreamed that this would happen. I'm so happy it did. Thanks again, Trent."

I'm smiling so hard my cheeks are getting a bit sore. Every time I try to relax my face, it bounces back up into a smile. Trent smiles as well.

After our breakfast, Trent walks me to my class. I say to him, hopefully just right, "Okay. Thank you, Trent. See you soon."

He smiles at me and responds, also speaking, "No problem." he then walks off, and I nervously walk into my first official college class.