Sea Wolves

I made a beeline for my locker, trying to dodge the many teenage bodies crammed in the hallway. When I reached it, I applied the combination to the lock after checking my arm for the numbers, stuffed all of my textbooks inside except for the ones I would need for my first class, and pulled out the crumpled document from my pocket with a map of the school and my classroom numbers on it. US History was my first class. I scanned the paper briefly, trying to visualize where the History room would be. At the same time the buzzing sound of a million conversations filled my ears, which proved to be a big distraction for me.

"Need help finding your first class?" I heard a voice ask nearby. I looked up from the paper in my hands to find a guy with dark hair standing next to me; his hand was on the locker beside mine. So this must be my neighbor. I felt my cheeks redden a little as he looked at me with dark eyes.

I was too nervous to say anything at first. "Um... I think I can manage. But thank you anyway!" My voice reached a high note at the 'anyway', and I blushed even more. The boy just grinned at me and chuckled a little. He turned and gathered some books from his locker, then faced me again. I almost wished he would leave, I was so embarrassed. But he didn't seem to notice.

"What's your first class?" He asked.

"Um..." I checked my paper, because somehow during our conversation (if you could call it that) I forgot what my first class was. "US History."

"Hey, mine too! I'm Jared, by the way."

"Hi, Jared... I'm Megan." I offered him a small smile. Maybe I would make a couple friends here after all. Maybe I wouldn't go unnoticed like I had thought. Jared noticed me and went out of his way to offer to help me - though his locker was right next to mine, so he probably didn't have much of a choice. I studied his face for a brief moment. He was kind of cute, I had to admit.

Just then the bell rang, pulling me back to reality. "Well, see you there," Jared said with a smile before walking off. I watched him go, feeling a little abandoned that he didn't offer for me to walk with him. We both did have History as our first class, after all. Shoving the paper into my pocket again, I picked up my backpack and weaved through the crowd of students heading to their classes.

I found the History room easily, which was a surprise but also very relieving. The last thing I wanted was to be late to my class just because I couldn't find the right room. Again, the room was filled with chatter as most of the students hung around their desks with their friends gathered around them. I maneuvered around them, hoping to get a seat in the back, perhaps in the corner where I was less likely to be noticed. On the way I bumped into a woman with curly brown hair and dressed formally in light pink.

"I'm so sorry!" I sputtered, assuming it was the History teacher I had collided with.

The woman smiled and patted my shoulder. "You're fine, dear! Maybe if these loud students would sit down, we wouldn't have people bumping into each other, right?"

I nodded sheepishly and darted toward an open desk. I saw Jared watching me with an amused smile on his face. I blushed again and hurried to take my seat, breathing a sigh of relief as soon as I sat down. Now at least I was out of the way. Although I would have liked to sit further back, I was too nervous to face the teenagers crowding the desks there, so I ended up in the middle row. Better luck next time, I guess. I could feel Jared's eyes on me; he sat in the row next to me, one seat back. I busied myself with arranging my textbooks to distract myself.

"Good morning, everyone! Please take your seats!" I looked up to find a woman with blond hair rush into the room and set her briefcase on the desk. The woman in pink I had bumped in to stood in the corner, facing the classroom. This was weird. Did we have two teachers for this class, or was one of them a substitute?

The blond haired woman scanned the room. "I'm Mrs. Cobb," she said cheerfully. At the same time she spoke, the woman in pink started motioning with her hands. I stared at her dumbly for a instant. Then it hit me that she was using sign language.

"The only reason I'm saying this," Mrs. Cobb continued, "is because I see we have a new student in the classroom. Would you care to tell us your name?"

I was too absorbed in the hand signals of the other woman to notice that Mrs. Cobb had addressed me. I heard snickers around the room, and I finally looked around to see every one staring at me. Color burned in my cheeks as I slowly stood up. Mrs. Cobb smiled. "I'm Megan Rider," I said quickly before taking my seat again.

After that Mrs. Cobb dove right into a speech about her expectations and a little about her plans for the school year. I tuned in and out to what she was saying, only paying attention to the important things. Truthfully, I was a little distracted by the second woman to hear Mrs. Cobb. I tried to look away from the sign language and busy myself with something else, but my attention just kept drifting back to it. I wondered who in the classroom needed an interpreter. I studied the faces of the students around me carefully, hoping to tell who it was. But either their eyes were on Mrs. Cobb, or they were turned away as they talked quietly to their friends or texted under their desks. Jared was fooling with his pencil. Two girls were whispering when the teacher wasn't looking. So far everything appeared normal.

Then I looked over to my left and saw a boy sitting across from me. He had shaggy light brown hair that nearly touched his shoulders, and his soft brown eyes were staring ahead. He didn't seem to notice me, so I examined him closely. But it was impossible to tell from my angle which of the women he was looking at, so eventually I gave up and tuned in to Mrs. Cobb. But I couldn't shake off my curiosity. Which one of these students was deaf? Someone had to be, or else they wouldn't bring in a specialist to interpret what Mrs. Cobbs was saying. Maybe I would find out later...