Firsts

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I sit down to eat. It's my fifth day of college. It's also lunch time. Trent has a class at this time, so I have to eat lunch alone. I sigh as I bite into my boring salad. I was hoping that I would have friends by now. I don't have any. I didn't realize that it would be so hard to talk to people, especially strangers. Trent says he will introduce me to some of his friends, but it's not the same as meeting people myself. I take a big bite of my salad and fiercely chew it. If only life wasn't so hard. After eating my sad salad, I walk slowly to my dorm to sit and mope while waiting for my next class.

Finally, the class lets out. I'm free. Trent said that he would introduce me to his friends today. To me, this sounds great, considering I don't have any friends. I just hope that Trent's friends are nice. I walk to where Trent and I decided to meet.

I feel a tap on my shoulder. I whip around, startled. It's Trent. He signs, "Nia," He continues to sign, "we're sitting over here."

I smile slightly and say, "Okay. I'm coming."

He grabs hold of my hand and I follow behind as we walk. He presents me to a bunch of people that are sitting at a table. I don't recognize any of them. There is a pretty girl who walks up to us. She smiles at me then says very slowly,

"Hey," she continues, "You...must be...Nia...Trent's sister."

I gape at her confusedly saying, "Yes..." I look at Trent and see that he's chuckling. I frown at him.

"What is it Trent. What's funny?" says the pretty girl normally.

I look back at Trent quizzically while saying, "Yeah, Trent. Why are you laughing? Ugh." I turn to the girl and look at her. "So...um...what's your name?" I say this smiling and very softly; well, I think I said it softly. I can never tell what the volume of my voice is, even with the advice I get.

"Kim." she says. I put my hand out for her to shake. She takes it begrudgingly. I turn to Trent realizing he's saying something. Right as I turn around, he stops talking.

"What were you saying Trent?"

"Nothing. Sorry. This is my girlfriend Kim. I guess you already know that. Anyways. This is..."

I stopped paying attention. Girlfriend? He did mention he was dating someone, but he should have told me he was introducing his girlfriend to me. As he goes through the names of all his friends, I smile and pretend to pay attention to all the names he's telling me; I just tune him out, knowing I will probably never see these people again. If I do, we would reintroduce ourselves anyways.

"Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, let's eat." I smile very brightly at the last part. Due to my carelessness, I don't pay attention to half of what everyone around me is saying. I realize that they must have waited a little while for me because the food is set, but nobody seems to have served themselves. After I sit down, everyone serves themselves, and Trent helps me get food. Again, I look away from everyone and eat. I feel awkward about the whole situation since it seems everyone knows I'm deaf. Finally, after a few moments of collecting my thoughts, I look up at Trent to see him looking at Kim. I look her way to see that she's talking.

"Yeah...it wa-"

She abruptly cuts herself off and looks over at me. I smile back at her, glancing at Trent and then back at Kim.

"So. Nia. How have your first days at school been? I mean, especially since you're dea-"

Kim says this with a sweet smile. I choke on my chicken, then hurriedly recover. With a smile, I softly reply to her.