The Language of Thaddeus

This boy—he spoke his own language… if you can count stares and silence as words he still probably spoke less than your average two year old. But it wasn’t his silence that made him special; it was his use of words to keep silent that made him special.

Thaddeus is not a boy anyone gets close to. Ever since transferring to Cedar Creek Prep he’s made it a point to keep everyone at arms length. By keeping everyone away he believes he can keep the past in the past so he can keep on stepping. But it’s this attempt at silence that catches Malia’s eye. Used to being the only black kid and suffering from acute disconnection from half her heritage, he seems like the logical first step towards understanding herself. When partnered together he doesn’t make anything easy with his silent nature. But Malia's more than a determined to understand the boy who says everything in his silence.