Chapter 5 - Mute, Not Deaf

Not knowing how the basics of having a crush worked, I assumed I would be fine the next time I saw Venus. Instead, my heart fluttered wildly as I couldn't take seeing her in front of me. She was even more beautiful up close, where I could see specks of gold in her deep violet eyes and a tiny mole on the left side of her nose that was sprinkled with a few freckles.

Venus smiled at me, and I tried to smile back. Holding up a finger to me, she pulled out a tiny notepad from the side of her backpack with a blue pen. 'I'm so happy to see you. It sucked not seeing you yesterday.'

I felt bad for disappointing Venus, but anxiety has always controlled me as a puppeteer.

'Do you want me to help find your classes?'

While I shrugged my shoulders, Venus rolled her eyes at me as she smirked and patted my shoulder, gently pushing me forward as she snatched my schedule from my hands.

As Venus guided me down the halls, I noticed everyone staring at us. None of the reactions were bad for once. It was more often shock or nods of surprised approval. It was obvious Venus was somebody popular, and on instinct, I instantly thought that this was a trap and that I was being set up for being mock and ridiculed and harassed all over again.

The best decision I ever made in my life was to ignore that thought.

When we arrived at my digital media classroom, Venus asked, Need an introduction?

I've got it from here.

She quirked her eyebrow at me and tilted her head.

I'm good.

Smiling with a firm nod, she wrote out, 'Want me to meet you after class?"

I shook my head and signed I'm good again.

Venus exhaled, her smiling turning sad as she nodded. She waved before walking away, and as much I wanted to reach out to her, I turned around and walked into the classroom.

The teacher looked up from his desk and smiled at me. "Hello. You must be the new student, Cameron. Is that correct?" he asked, and I nodded. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Davis. Welcome to digital media! Did you ever take this class at your previous school?" I nodded again. "What level?"

I held up two fingers and raised an eyebrow. Mr. Davis didn't seem phased that I wasn't speaking to him, and he was only asking brief questions. I hoped he wouldn't ask of too much of me and risk outing me as mute in front of the class.

"Your father called the school while you were being enrolled, and he informed us that you don't speak. There isn't much talking in this room, and people are usually blaring their headphones. Since this is an upper level class, all we ask is that you follow directions on assignments, but you have control over whatever you would like to design. All I ask is that you keep a file open so in case we need extra-long discussions, we can talk easily. Is that alright?" he clarified, and I nodded with a smile.

I sat down in the back of the computer lab where my computer was assigned, and I logged in with my school ID. As class went on, I worked on editing surrealism into different photographs, and I kept my headphones on. No one tried to talk to me, and while it was lonely, it was nice to be left alone.

The bell rang, and I went to my English class and math class after that. When it was my free period, I went in search of my locker. As I strolled the hallways with two textbooks in my hands, I startled as I spotted Venus lingering around the lockers across mine with two different guys.

I ducked my head and ignored them as I opened my locker. I didn't want to risk upsetting her by waving or smiling or anything. She may had been nice to me in the morning, but we were alone then. She was talking to her friends now, and she could have wound up being a completely different person.

"Yo, Venus, isn't that the freak you were writing to earlier?" one guy asked, and a smack echoed through the halls.

"Don't you dare call a deaf woman a freak," she spat, and I gasped to myself.

Everything was clearer in that moment. It was no wonder she didn't try to actually talk to me. She assumed I was deaf. I couldn't blame her since she saw dad signing to me when I moved in, and I couldn't exactly introduce myself when she first started talking to me. But then again, I was wearing my headphones around my neck. Did she think I was wearing them ironically or as a way to fit in?

"Sorry," the guy muttered. "What's got you so defensive over her. It's not like she can hear us."

"That doesn't give you the right to mock her behind her back," she argued.

After shoving my backpack into my locker, I pulled out my notebook and a pen and wrote a quick note to the guy. I didn't know what motivated me when I wrote that note, but I knew now that it was because for the first time in my life, I had someone who was there to defend me and was on my side. I felt confident and safe enough to retaliate, and after holding everything in throughout the years, I was ready to rebuttal.

I tossed the paper at the guy's head, and I quickly turned back to my locker to quickly grab my materials for my next few classes.

"I'm not deaf, asshole, so STFU," he read aloud.

I slammed my locker shut and stormed down the hall, feeling Venus watch me the whole way.