text: Sofia Hantzaridis and Olivia O&#39;Donnell *Title not decided yet* *The Book Isn't Finished* 
   
   
   1  
   
  I stood next to the hospital bed as tears slowly rolled down my pale face. I watched his hurt body just lay there. I took a deap breath in between sobs.  
  But, then again, this isn't where my life started to grow, then it fell. You need to know what happened before my heart shattered into a million small, broken pieces.  
  The story unfolds here. Andrew Kent, and his brother that was four years older than him, Isaiah, walked to their classes. They slowly began to split at the freshman and senior hallway. This was my chance to talk to Andrew.  
  I upgraded my walk to a slow jog. Passing people, I became closer to him. Before I knew it I was walking right behind him. But what would I say? 
  "Hi, Andrew," I felt my lips moving. What was he going to do? I don't know. 
  But actually he turned around and smiled. 
  "Hey," he slowed his walk and shifted his body over to the side, to walk next to me. I was actually next to him. "Sup," 
  "Oh, uh, nothin'. Where are you headed?" I asked. 
  "Math, extra help." 
  "Oh, well, you know, I'm pretty good at math. . ." oh my gosh. What was I doing? What was I saying? "I can tutor you, if you'd like," 
  "Sure, I'd love that. I just need to tell Mr. McGlide that I found a tutor. Want to come and wait outside the room for me?" he threw a smile. 
  "Yes," 
  And we were walking. Simple right? No, not really. I have to build up the courage to do that. 
  Outside Mr. McGlide's room, I planted my feet on the blue and gold tiled floor. Blue and gold are our team colors. Maya and Sam passed by. 
  "Hey Aari! What 'cha doin' waitin' outside Mr. M's room?" Maya spoke, as she chewed her bubble gum. 
  "Oh, nothing. I'm just waiting for someone." I itched the back of my head. Maya always made me feel a tad bit awkward. 
  Maya peered into the window in the door, to look into the classroom. 
  "There's no one in there but Mr. McGlide . . . and Andrew, why are you waitin' for him?" she growled. She took her eyes off Andrew, and darted her blue eyes at me. 
  "What's going on?" Sam asked Maya. Sam has always been the dumb one. I know this, because she had to stop playing with Maya's key chain to ask. 
  "Nothin'" I swallowed hard. I hoped Andrew would come out of the door at any second. 
  "Hey, what's that on your-" 
  "Nothing!" I cute Sam off. She pointed to my hearing aid. They didn't know I was deaf. I didn't know how Maya would react. They thought I was on vacation for a month and a half. 
  "Okay, bye. I'm going to be late for class." Maya left. Thank God. 
  Abigail followed shortly after Maya left.  
  "Hi," she waved. "I like your shirt!" Abigail flipped her long pink, green streaked hair behind her shoulder. 
  "Thanks," I put a smile on my face as she left.  
  I leaned against the door. Andrew was so popular. Everyone knew him, in any grade. He had a brother that was a senior, Isaiah. And Isaiah was pretty popular too. Andrew was so, so cute . . . 
  "Ready?" Andrew asked, as he pulled the door open. I nearly fell. 
  "Oh," I caught my breath. "Yeah. Let's go." 
  "So, what do you have this period?" Andrew asked me. 
  "I have science, and you do too," I smiled. 
  "Yeah," HE smiled this time. "You said it before I could," 
  This got pretty awkward. There was no lip movement. This continued, for about five FULL minutes. Then eventually he came up with something good to say. 
  "So, wanna meet me at the corner in the hallway after class?" Andrew looked up and smiled at my blushing face. My face blew up with releif. Then went back to normal. You know, to look like a normal person and not desperate.  
  "Yeah, sure." We broke apart and I felt so good. So good I can't even describe it.  
   
   
   
   2  
   
  Towards the end of class was awful. I hate it when you don't pay attention in class. And you're teacher freaking calls on YOU, out of all the people in the whole class. You. And you just sit there saying, "Uhhh, Ummmm," And it drives me crazy! I don't the answer! Call on someone else freaking teacher! 
  I, of course, had the pleaser of being that person. 
  And I was also the last one to leave the classroom. All my books and binders fell, and the papers fell out. This can't get any worse, right? 
  Oh, no. It can. 
  My pen exploded all over my shirt. What a day. AT LEAST I was meating Andrew at the corner of the hallway. Phew. 
  I walked. I almost ran. I didn't want Andrew to wait that long. He may leave. I was a turn away from the hall. And that, was when Maya tripped me. Yes, I stumbled over her eighty inch gold freaking heals.  
  I wanted to burst into tears. Between the black ink on my blouse, and the people almost stepping on me, this wasn't my day.  
  But I shouldn't cry. I couldn't. I was so close to Andrew. And that's when I realized I was in the middle of the hallway, laying down. I picked myself up, and started to walk. And when I turned, I spotted him, waiting paitently for me. He walked towards me. 
  "Hey Aarihan," Andrew called out. 
  "Andrew," I said under my breath, still grinning. We met. And that's when I remembered my blouse looked like crap. 
  "Here, take my sweat shirt," Andrew's lips spoke. He took of his navy green sweat shirt and put it around my shoulders. I wanted to just hug him and never let go. "You still wanna walk to lunch with me?" Andrews eyes met mine, after he zipped his sweat shirt up so it covers the ink stains. 
  "Yeah," I lost my self starring into his eyes. I don't know how long I continued to do this, but when I realized it, I quickly made it less awkward. "I mean," 
  "I'd be more than happy to walk with you," he threw a smile onto his face. And so we began to walk. Throught the halls, to lunch. 
  We arrived at the beat up two entrance doors to the cafeteria. We exchanged smiles, and then sat at our usual tables.  
  I plopped myself down in the seat next to Sam. Maya always across from us. Why? I don't know. Maya glared at me. I forgot I still had a grin on from brushing against Andrew as we walked to lunch together. I wiped the smile off my face. 
  "Why were you with him?" Maya spoke furiously. Of course, her anger was towards me. 
  "Who?" I asked, dumbly. 
  "You know who, you smart ass. Andrew."  
  "Oh. Yeah. He asked if I wanted to walk with him, so I said yes. Oh, and I wanted to thank you for tripping me a few minutes ago." 
  "My pleasure." Maya smirked. She met Sam's eyes. "Sam, look at Abigail! Doesn't she look pathetic!!" 
  "What is SO wrong with Abigail?" I asked Maya. I waited for a responce, watching her lips. 
  "Look at her. She has enough eye liner on her face, it looks like she did her makeup in the dark. She always wears that light rose lipstick, but occasionally wears that purple lipstick. Ugh! She presses hard on the lips to make her lipstick bold. She has pink hair, and to top it all off, she has green streaks in her hair. Her hair even goes past her arms when they're down. Aari, you can't tell me she's pretty." 
  I almost gasped. Abigail is beautiful!! 
  "Yeah . . . Abigail's hair looks like a lolipop . . ." Sam took a bite out of her hippo shaped sandwich after she spoke. A different shaped sandwhich everyday. Get used to it. I did. 
  "Whatever. Oh, no. Abigail is coming. Don't look into her eyes. You'll turn to stone." 
  I gave Maya a glare. Sam burried herself into her sweater. 
  I made eye contact. And smiled. And waved. I was a peace maker. Abigail smiled back and afterwards left. I can't believe she had no friends, even though she was so nice. 
  "Why'd you do that? You made eye contact!" Maya exclaimed. Sam began to feel my skin. 
  "She doesn't feel stone to me," Sam said. She stopped. "Maybe you guys are related!" 
  "Shut up, Sam." Maya's pissy mood created a smile on my face. 
  "Why!" Sam's eyes started to tear up. 
  "Here's a carrot." Maya handed her an orange thin carrot. 
  "Ooh! I love carrots!" Sam took it and shoved it into her mouth. I love Sam. She's halarious. I held in my laugher as she said, "Ooh . . . Brain freeze!!!"  
  But I couldn't allow Maya- or anyone in school- find out I'm deaf. How do I know they won't treat me like Abigail? 
   
   
   
   3  
   
  I sat in the driver's seat of my dad's light blue jeep. In Clarkdale, Arizona you only need to be 14 to get your driver's permit. 15 to have your actual driver's license. I was 14. I was driving to Andrew's house to tutor him, if you were wondering.  
  "Which house is it," my dad asked, tightly gripping the handle on the car door. No, I wasn't that good of a driver. But it would be cooler if I pulled up to Andrew's house in the driver's seat. Andrew was born in January- so he already got his driver's license. Of course I was born in August. Late birthday! 
  "Andrew said he lived in a small brick house," I said, keeping my eyes on the bumpy old road. 
  "Is it that one over there?" he pointed to a small brick house. Yep. Is was that one. 
  "Bye, dad. Love you," I hugged him and jumped out of the car. I slowly started to walk towards Andrew's house. This was going to be so amazing.  
  I finished walking up their dirt path, and reached the door. My dad had already jumped out of the passenger's seat of the jeep, and got into the driver's seat. He had already left. 
  I knocked on the door. I didn't know what else to do . . .  
  The door started to open. Isaiah. He opened the door.  
  "So, you're Aarihan. The one that's gonna 'tutor' my little brother. Treat him good," Isaiah said. What did he mean? 
  "What do you mean, 'Treat him good,'" I asked him. Isaiah smiled and laughed a little. 
  "Aarihan, a girl as pretty as you, and my brother, couldn't be 'just friends'." Isaiah made me smile. "You can set up your stuff on the kitchen table, help yourself to anything you want in our fridge or cabinets."  
  "Thanks," I couldn't let him think that me and Andrew were together. Though it sounded nice, I just couldn't. "But, Andrew and I have nothing going on," 
  "Right, I'll go get him." Isaiah left and headed left, there was no upstairs or downstairs to this house. Not even a basement or attic. One floor only. 
  I sat down on the wobbly, old wooden chair around his wooden kitchen table. The table and chairs looked homemade. 
  "Hey," Andrew said as he popped his head into the kitchen.  
  "Hey. You're brother's really nice. I set up my stuff here, now what do you have for homework?" I tried hard to not speak in a 'I really like you but I'm trying not to show you' voice. 
  "Mr. McGlide doesn't always do homework. I didn't get any tonight. Maybe you can just write down some problems and I'll try to figure 'em out." 
  "Kay, can I see some of your work so I can figure out what you're doing in math class?" 
  "Sure. I'll hand you my whole notebook," he reached into his dusty green backpack and pulled out a black and white marble notebook. "Gonna make some popcorn, want any?" 
  "No, thanks," I started writing down some problems on a blank sheet of paper. "Done," 
  "Man, you're quick." Andrew said as he set the microwave timer for one minute.  
  "I only wrote down three," I said as he smiled. 
  Andrew came a little closer and then went back to the beeping microwave. Okay, flickering. I don't know if it was beeping. If I didn't tell you yet, Andrew isn't that smart of a kid. That's why I'm not in his math class, I'm in honors!I have honors every class but science. Science is the one class I have with Andrew, besides Spanish. 
  Andrew came back with the bowl of popcorn and plopped himself down in another wooden splintery chair. 
  "You sure you  don't want some?" Andrew asked me, shoving the bowl towards me. 
  "Oh, no, thanks." I handed him the papers with the math problems. "These problems should be around where you're at in math."  
  "Andrew I'm going to Max's house. Catch ya' later," Isaiah said quickly. 
  "Okay. She'll be here 'til . . ." he look at me, and I whipsered to him 4:30. "4:30," Andrew responded. Within seconds Isaiah was out the door. 
  "Who's Max?" I asked, stupidly. 
  "Isaiah's girlfriend," Andrew looked at my nervous face and shot a smile at it. "So, you wanna help me out," I leaned across the beat up, wooden table. 
  "Uh, yeah. What problem don't you understand?" I asked caringly. 
  "Oh, not the paper," Andrew shoved the paper towards the end of the table, making it fall on the floor. "There's a girl I really like," 
  "Oh, really?" I almost cried, I know it's not me. "Do ya' think I know her?" 
  "Yeah, actually you two are pretty close," his blue eyes looked directly into my green eyes. Maya. Andrew liked Maya. Freaking Maya! I bet Maya would LOVE this. But then again, what chance do I have with Andrew? He's a freaking popular day dream.  
  "So, what do you need help with?" I kind of growled, but in the nicest way possable because I was still mad. At Maya. 
  "I wanna know how to ask her out," he explained. Ugh, the look on Maya's face when he would ask her out. I could be mean about it, but I'm just too nice. 
  "Well, I think you should just be casual. Be yourself. Don't do anything fancy," 
  "Thanks," he lifted his head up to look me in the eyes, once more. "Aarihan, would you like to go out with me?" 
  "YES!" my face lightened up. I was blushing all over my face, and forced myself to stop. You know, to look casual. 
  "Pick y'up at 7, on Friday night." today was Tuesday. I had about 5 more days. 
  I exploded with happiness.  
   
   
   
   4  
   
  "A date?" Sam asked me. 
  "With . . . ANDREW?" Maya was furious, but I loved seeing her like this. Andrew was the popluar guy. Maya was the popular girl. Should they be together? No. 
  "Yes, he asked me out." I responded to them. 
  "How did this even happen?" Maya is halarious when she's mad- at least in my eyes. 
  "Well, yesterday, I was at his house," 
  "You were at his house!?" Maya had steam coming out of her ears. 
  "Yep," I walked away and headed to my next class, which was with Andrew.  
  It'd be awkward if I see him up until Friday. Today, Tuesday. What would I do or say when I saw him? I hurried to my next class. 
  I reached the classroom and noticed all the desks were seperated. That means there is a test today. I wonder on what, we haven't done anything in forever. All my class does is sit around and talk while Miss Khans is never here. 
  But today, of all days, she was here.  
  The white test paper sat on top of my desk. My eyes stared at it. Mass? We learned that like five years ago. Maybe it's a review. 
  "You'll have until the last ten minutes of class to finish this test. You may begin, good luck." Miss Khans hated teaching, so much. She tells us that she only does this for the money.  
  Anyway, the test was going to be so easy. If it was all mass, I'd ace this class. Mass was a topic we did a while back. So far, so good. 
  Then, I hit the eighth question. I forgot everything there is to know about triple beam balances. How I hated this. I sat there like a moron. After a while I decided to skip number eight.  
  But I couldn't. The next fifteen questions were all about triple beam balances. At least I could do questions twenty-three through thirty. After I finished, I was screwed. I still had those sixteen questions left unmarked. 
  There were fifteen more minutes left of the period. Man, was I screwed.  
  Five, depressing, minutes went by and Miss Khans insructed the class to give in the tests.  
  I passed my test to the person sitting a desk infront of me, and he passed it to the kid infront of him, along with his test.  
  I was done. Failed. Right there on the spot. 
   
   
   
   5  
   
  At home, I lay flat on my bed. Andrew asked me out! I am still in shock from yesterday.  
  I slapped myself to wake up from my never-ending dream. No, it's definetly real life. Plus, that really hurt!  
  I walked down all twenty stairs to get some food in my kitchen. I haven't explained my house to you yet. Well, our house has five floors. And then there's the basement. My house is skinny but tall. 
  The main floor. The kitchen and the dining room. Bathroom next to the kitchen. Each floor has about two floors and a bathroom.  
  The second floor. The TV room on your right. Family, or dad and daughter, room on your left. No bathroom. 
  The third floor. My bedroom on the left. Guest room on the right, not that we ever have any guests. Bathroom built into my room. My bedroom has built in red flashy alarms with no sound. I'll get into that later. 
  The fourth floor. Mini lounge, other wise known as my lounge, on your right. Then, the huge lounge, or dad's lounge, on your left. 
  Finally, the fifth floor. My dad's bedroom straight ahead. Bathroom on your left. Living room on your right. 
  Well, now that you know this, I walked above 20 stairs. Ten steps each floor. 
  Anyway, I'm hungry. My microwave Mac and Cheese was ready. I could tell by the green flashing lights going off on the walls. Green is microwave. Orange is oven. Yellow is toaster. Purple is dishwasher. Blue is stove. Red is someone broke into my house, but those lights only go off in my room. 
  The Mac and Cheese was so good. I added the cheese sause into the plastic container filled of macaroni. 
  A cold hand touched my shoulder and I whirled around. Dad, I tried to read his lips. 
  "Aarihan, get to your homework. You know, you're almost a tenth grader. You don't want to fail now," 
  "No, I can just do it later," his shocked expression apon his face of me not listening made me shiver. "I'm having a snack. I can do it after, dad." 
  He walked away with no words said after that. He wanted me to go to some great deaf college. Theredore, he wants me to get my grades up and stuff. 
  I finished my Mac and Cheese and threw the rest out.  
  Onto my homework, I always do homework in my lounge. 
   
   
   
   6  
   
  Since my mom had expired, it'd been so tragic. She died when I was eight. That was six full years ago. 
  But I shouldn't talk about her now. Every time I do, I break into tears. I'm actually tearing up now. 
  Four more hours until school ends, I might just tell you then. Lunch was next period. I'm surprisingly not hungry at all. Social studies was just about to end. 
  Our social studies teacher is so bad looking. Grey and white looking beard, that goes up to his ears. Bald. I can't stand him, he has a mean personality too. I'm growing a little hungry. Can't wait to get to get to lunch. 
  And then there was the bell. Onto lunch. The eating period.  
  Today was our damn picinic for school. Everyone hates the annual picnics. It's disgusting. 
  The wooden picinic tables are all filled with gum and what not. They served the awful pepperoni, cheese, and turkey sandwiches.  
  The cheese was probably five weeks pasts it's expiration date. The turkey tasted like rotten apples. The pepporoni had no flavor. 
  What a picinic. Lunch ladies were done serving right about when everyone started to throw out their lunch. 
  Maya, Sam, Andrew, TJ, and I talking. This was all too hard! Reading everyone's lips, or at least trying to. If I looked at TJ, then looked at Sam, they'd be talking about two completely different things! 
  "Aarihan," Sam faced me, good thing I was looking at her. "What is that behind your ear!" My hearing aids. No. I couldn't respond. Andrew would find out I'm deaf. Maya would find out I'm deaf. Maya. 
  But everyone was silent. I looked at everyone. From Maya, to Andrew, to Sam, to TJ, no one was speaking. They were all looking at me, waiting for me to respond to Sam's question. 
  "It's," I began to tell them. 
  "A hearing aid. It's a hearing aid! Aarihan is deaf!" Maya exclaimed. She pisses me off. 
  "What? Since when?" Andrew asked. He kind of looked upset. But he can't be mad! It's all freaking Sam and Maya's fault! Well, I can't really blame Sam, because she was just being stupid and wondering. 
  "Yes," I got a knot in my throat. I gulped real hard. "I wasn't sick for a month and a half. Well, I was sick but-" 
  "Please. You were probably born deaf, bitch. And just never told us." Maya put her hand on her hip. 
  "Okay," I took a deep breath, and started to tell my story. "I was very sick, and instead of getting better, all I would do is just get worse over time. After a week or two, my father took me to the hospital. The nurse took my blood, and ran some tests. I took the sight test, and the hearing test. After running the hearing tests, results said I failed. After running some more tests, doctors revealed I was deaf." 
  "Then what's with those hearing aids?" Maya shot a hard question at me, but I was able to answer it. 
  "Well, I can hear some backround noises, it allows me to know what's going on around me," I quickly looked at Andrew, and tried to read his expression. Depressed, angry, confused, afraid. All at once. "like, I can hear the vibration in music," 
  "Hmm, whatever," Maya hissed again. Wow, what a pissy day for her. "All we need to know is that Aarihan is different,"  
  Bitch. I knew it! I knew she would treat me like Abigail! Screw Maya! 
  I started walking away. I don't care about Maya anymore. I gave her everything, knowing that she is a total bitch! 
  "AARIHAN WATCH OUT!" Andrew scolded. Everyone else heard him but me. I had no idea he even said that, he told me afterwards. I just kept walking. 
  The next thing I knew, I was laying flat on the pavement. Andrew was on top of me. A second or two later, a call strolled by with a man with a shocked look upon his face. 
  Andrew saved my life. I was about to get hit by a car. 
  I sobbed into his arms almost immediately. We didn't let each other go. It was the best feeling I ever had, and it lasted for five minutes. 
   
   
   
   7  
   
  "Are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse?" Andrew asked again, for the third time. 
  "I'm fine, really," I smiled at him. It's like we're already together. "If anything, you'd be going to the nurse, you're the one that saved me," 
  "Alright, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Andrew responded. 
  Sam, Maya, Andrew, TJ and I walking through the halls. The "gang". 
  Everyone in this school was about to find out I was deaf. Maya's rumors spread like butter on toast. Maya was now going to treat me like Abigail, and all the "outsiders". 
  The "gang" split to go to our lockers. TJ was in my next class, which was English.  
  His last name is Smuteck, mine is Smith. Therefore, we sat in assigned seats next to each other in every class. You know, because we're in every single class together. The room had two desks only to sit next to eachother. 
  I stepped foot into the classroom and I spotted TJ already sitting in his seat. TJ was the late type of guy. I walked over to our two-desk spot and placed my books on the table, probably making no noise at all. 
  "Huh, early today?" I jokingly asked TJ. 
  "Yeah. I'm done with this late crap. I got way to many detentions," TJ smiled at me and laughed. 
  "Well, let's see how that goes," we exchanged smiles while I sat down. 
  "So," TJ's smile got wiped off his face almost immediatly. "That was some lunch," 
  "Yeah," I knew what he was talking about. Finding out I was deaf. The almost-car-accident. "The food was so awful," 
  "The pepperoni was bland," 
  "Yup," 
  "Good afternoon class," Mr. Shawn greeted us as he walked into the classroom. 
  "Good afternoon Mr. Shawn," the class answered him. 
  Mr. Shawn went right to his desk and grabbed some papers. Next thing he did was hand them out and say, "Class, read the passage to yourself. Then answer the questions with your neighbor." 
  Time flew as TJ and I both finished reading.  
  "Question one?" I quietly whispered to TJ. We were the smartest ones in the class, so we always finished first. It was awkward, but funny at the same time. 
  "Are we seriously going to answer these questions? Or are we going to do what we always do?" TJ whispered back. 
  "You mean, goof off and play would you rather, then do the questions when three other groups start? What the heck." 
  "So, would you rather eat paint out of a jar filled with spiders, or eat paint out of a jar filled with baby teeth?" TJ asked me, I shortly responded. 
  "Baby teeth!" 
  "Why?" 
  "Because I have this huge fear of spiders, and baby teeth are so cute!" 
  "Perhaps I chose I bad would you rather," 
  "Whatever! Would you rather eat peanut butter off a hobo's foot, or eat peanut butter off the grass?" 
  "Neither, I'm allergic to peanut butter," 
  "It doesn't matter! Choose one!" 
  "The grass." 
  We both giggled for a little while. We've been friends since pre-k. We go way back.  
  "I'll do the questions, you work on a would you rather paper," I told him, as he took a piece of loose leaf out of his binder. 
  I finished the questions after ten minutes. I tapped his wrist and we traded papers. I got his would you rather sheet and he got the answer sheet. His questions were deffinetly bazaar. 
  Would you rather swim in a swimming pool of jello or pudding? 
  Would you rather miss your birthday for a year, or miss New Year's for a year? 
  Would you rather eat- 
  TJ's finger tapped my shoulder.  
  His lips read, "I'm done with copying done the answers." 
  "Cool. There's like five more minutes of class left," just as Mr. Shawn started speaking. 
  "In these last five minutes of class, just review your notes for the test next Friday." 
  Five minutes went by like that. Off to my next class, which was Spanish. 
   
   
   
   8  
   
  Spanish class. Andrew, Sam, Abigail and TJ. 
  "Buenas tardes clase." Mrs. Martinez spoke. Which, by the way, means good afternoon class. 
  Since I'm in ninth grade now, all we speak is Spanish. Which is soo annoying. Teacher only speaks Spanish, and the students only speak Spanish. Even if we have a question, we have to ask it in Spanish. By the way, I'll be here to translate for you. 
  "Buenas tardes señora Martínez" the class answered her. 
  "Hoy en día, la clase, vamos a estar hablando con nuestros socios españoles en nosotros mismos." Mrs. Martinez said, "Today, class, we will be talking to our partners in Spanish about ourselves." 
  Abigail's hand shot up into the air. Mrs. Martinez asked her, "Sí?" which, I think, everybody knows what that means. 
  "Qué socios?" Abigail asked. "What partners?" 
  "Voy a asignar los socios." Mrs. Martinez responded. "I will assign the partners." 
  Mrs. Martinez turned on her computer, which took about five or ten minutes. During her struggle, the class talked to their neighbors. 
  Unlike my english classroom, each desk was by it's self. Almost like each desk was it's own island. 
  The computer finally turned before she said, "Por último. Sam, tendrá que trabajar con TJ. Abigail, tendrá que trabajar con Amy. Andrew, tendrá que trabajar con Aarihan," which means, "Finally. Sam, you will work with TJ. Abigail, you will work with Amy. Andrew, you will work with Aarihan," 
  I stopped listening when she said my name. Andrew and I were going to talk to each other about ourselves in Spanish? Not the best way to start a relationship. 
  "Obtener con sus socios asignados y comenzar." Mrs. Martinez said, "Get with your assigned partners and begin." 
  Andrew walked over to me and held my hand. 
  "Let's go in the back of the room, to sit in the beanbags." he spoke. 
  "Okay," 
  We walked over and plopped our bodies into two seperate beanbags. 
  "So, let's hear it," Andrew said. 
  "What?" I asked him. 
  "Talk to me in Spanish," a smile apeared on his face but not on mine. 
  "I can't talk Spanish anymore," I confessed. 
  "Aarihan, even if you can't hear yourself speak, and you sound like an idiot, I won't make fun of you." Andrew's face grew a more serious look. 
  "I can't unedrstand Spanish either anymore, because I am still new to lip reading. I can pretty much only read it." 
  "Don't worry, we've got another twenty minutes left in the period. Then you have math, your expert class. Let's just talk and fool around within those twenty minutes." 
  I nodded and spotted Mrs. Martinez looking at Andrew and I. She knows we're not speaking Spanish! Oh my gosh, what am I going to do if she comes over? 
  Great, she was walking over towards us. 
  "How's it going guys?" Mrs. Martinez asked us, actually in english. 
  "Fine, Aarihan was just saying that she's an athlete, and she runs a lot." Andrew said. So kind! 
  "Yeah, Andrew just said how he," I started to say. 
  "Aarihan? Your voice sounds a bit different. Do you have a cold?" Mrs. Martinez asked me. I did have a deaf accent, I haven't talked to her in a LONG time. 
  "Umm," I began. Today everyone's cutting me off! 
  "Aarihan's always spoke like that," Andrew said kindly. "Aarihan y que debería volver a españoles ahora," "Aarihan and I should get back to Spanish now," 
  And she left.  
  Ten more minutes of class left. I can do this. 
  "Thanks," I began to say. 
  "For what?" Andrew asked me. 
  "Saving me, Mrs. Martinez was about to find out I was deaf." 
  "You know, that's not such a bad thing." 
  "What do you mean?" 
  "She could help you understand Spanish now that you're deaf." 
  "That'd be three complete languages. English, Spanish and Sign Language. No thanks." 
  "Bell's about to ring," 
   
   
   
   9  
   
  Listening to my iPhone's music on the bus, I got a text message from Andrew. 
  It read, "Hey Aarihan. Call me, I'll talk about the plans for tonight. I can't talk about it at school because you know Maya, anyway, call me." 
  As the text said to call him, I followed. Going into my contacts app, I searched his name.  
  I have over fifty contacts, so it's hard to "look and scroll" through my contacts for his name.  
  I hit his contact and softly tapped the call button. I wouldn't call it a "button". I'd call it more of a "spot on the screen". 
  Then I just remembered.  
  I can't call him.  
  I quickly ended the call and texted him back saying, "Sorry, Andrew. I can't call you. I know it takes a while to remember it, "by heart", I guess you could say that. I forgot, myself. Let's just text, can we do that?" 
  I send the message, and shortly after that I put my phone to "sleep". Not turned off. But on vibrate, and still on, but not being used. In my pocket it went, as I continued to listen to music. 
  No soonder did I put my phone into my pocket, I felt a vibration came from my phone. 
  Sliding the screen to unlock my phone, the bus stopped at yet another stop. I read Andrew's text. It saying, "Sorry, I totally forgot. But what do you want to do tonight? Where do you want to go?" 
  Damn, that was I text I couldn't answer. What SHOULD we do? 
  Should we go out to dinner, or the movies, or iceskating . . . 
  Another vibration shook my hand. Another text from Andrew. And this one read, "I'll do whatever you want to do, we could go out to the iceskating rink and stop for some icecream afterwards. That's a possibility." 
  I knew that was a good idea, it really was. I have the cutest outfit for iceskating. 
  I responded, "Iceskating and icecream sounds fun. I'll talk to you on the bus, it's almost close to your stop. Bye!" 
  I got a new message from Maya after I sent the one to Andrew. It read, "Hey, Aari. Wanna hang tonite?" 
  I didn't respond, because I knew what she was doing. *Trying to make me NOT go on a date with Andrew* 
  A pop-up occured on my screen just as I was about to turn my phone asleep. A text message from Andrew. This one said, "Oh, sorry. I'm not going on my bus today. I slept over a family member's house last night. Going on their bus. Sorry! See you at school" 
  Ug. I wasn't even going to talk to Andrew on the bus. 
  I went back to listening to my music, while we were four stops away from the school. 
   
   
   
   10  
   
  My dad picked me up after school that day.  
  He jumped out of the driver's seat and I jumped in, as he sat in the passenger's seat. 
  I drove home as seven hundred high-schoolers invaded the town. I some how managed to get around all of them. 
  One of them was Andrew. 
   
   
   Publication Date: December 28th 2012 https://www.bookrix.com/-oliviaodonnelleee