Sea Wolves

My alarm clock roused me from my sleep the next morning. Unwillingly I hauled myself out of bed and went to my daily before-school routine: shower, wardrobe, make-up, etc. Although I was tired and feeling slightly down that morning - must be the weather outside; yes, it was gray again. Gray and gloomy - I was delighted that I would actually be driving to school this time, with my own car. Say goodbye to bus rides. I had a car.

I discovered that a thick fog had settled around our house when I got outside, and I couldn't help but groan. I can't tell you how much I'm hating it here already. Not a bit of sunlight could penetrate through these stupid clouds. I mean, I know it's only been two days since we moved to Washington, but come on. I expected at least a little bit of damn light here! But whatever... not even the fog could dampen the pleasure I felt at the sight of my new car sitting in the driveway, waiting for me. I hurried inside and fumbled with the keys for a second. The engine rumbled and purred when I turned the ignition, and the sound made me smile. In no time I was driving down the road outside my neighborhood, heading to school although I would have liked to drive anywhere else, maybe even back to California. Back to the sun and the ocean... and to the life I had been forced to leave behind. That life was my cure. Couldn't my parents see that?

The ride ended too quickly. In ten minutes I had arrived at the high school. A sigh passed through my lips as I parked and reluctantly turned the keys, shutting off the engine. I gathered my backpack and exited the car, suddenly realizing that in my excitement to drive I had forgotten to eat any breakfast. Oh well. Just think... slimmer body. Slimmer body.

The lawn was dotted again with students; this time I didn't receive any greetings. But that didn't matter much to me. I felt better when I was left alone, anyway. When I reached my locker, I pulled out the textbooks I would need for my first class. I glanced around, searching for Jared, but he probably had already stopped by his own locker earlier. Why did I care, anyway? We only talked once, it's not like he would go out of his way to speak to me again. He was just a guy. Not a friend, not even much of an acquaintance... just a guy.

US History was fine. We discussed colonization and settlement in early America, which was slightly interesting. Of course I learned all that before, but I had forgotten most of it so it was refreshing to visit the topic again. The sign-language woman was there again, but I quickly gave up trying to identify the deaf student. Jared was there too, but he sat nearer to a friend of his this time. Which was fine with me. I didn't have to feel his eyes on my back the whole time.

Art was a haven for me after having to put up with Mr. Tupper in Math. PE was alright, although I don't really care much for fitness or sports and today we did both of those things. And I got a bad feeling about the girl I sat with yesterday, Amanda. She just wasn't giving off a friendly vibe like she had on my first day, and I knew what that meant. It meant that she and her giggly friends had rejected me. It meant that I had to find another table to sit at for lunch.

And lunch came quicker than I wanted it to. Before I knew it, the bell rang and we all headed for the cafeteria and our social life. I entered the noisy room cautiously, feeling like a rabbit hesitating at the entrance of its hole, coming to a decision on whether or not it should emerge into the frightening wide world or play it safe and stay in the home that was its refuge. But unlike the rabbit in my metaphor, I didn't have a refuge. The world wasn't so inviting, but I had to face it anyway. And sure enough, Amanda and her friends were huddled close, leaving absolutely no room for anyone to sit at their table, watching me and whispering. Yep. I was definitely on my own now.

I scanned the room for an open seat. It would be my dream to spot a table that I could have completely to myself, but judging by how packed it was in the cafeteria, that wouldn't happen. So I would try to find the next best thing, if I could.

My eyes fell on the table the brown-haired boy was sitting at.

I was suddenly very nervous. Sure, the table had plenty of room, but what if no one sat with him for a reason? What if he was some table-possessive guy who just didn't want to share with anyone? I was probably going to get told off for even daring to ask if I could sit at it. I looked around the room again, hoping to find another alternative. There was none. Sighing in defeat, I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

He noticed me only after I had stopped and stood by the table for two seconds. His beautiful brown eyes looked up at me inquisitively. The words caught in my throat. For a moment we just looked at each other, until I finally broke the silence by asking feebly, "Can I sit with you?"

He nodded. I hesitated, expecting a bigger indication that it was alright for me to sit at the table with him. When none came, I slowly lowered myself into the chair opposite him, letting my backpack slide from my shoulder onto the floor. The boy looked down at his lunch, then out the window, at me briefly, then back out the window again. I stared down at my lap, my cheeks hot with embarrassment. Great. Now I've just made things awkward. I reached inside my pocket for my ipod and placed the buds in my ears, cranking up the music. Like I usually did to escape from bad situations. But I just couldn't help but glance at him every once and a while. He didn't appear upset at all, but that was of little comfort. I still felt terrible. He took a bite out of the apple he was holding. I examined his fingers curled around the fruit; his fingernails seemed flawless. Suddenly he caught me looking. I hastily averted my gaze, but not without stealing a look to see if he was angry. Instead a large, adorable smile plastered his lips. I watched as he set down his apple and pulled out a blackberry from his pocket. He began punching in numbers on the device as if he were texting. I removed the buds from my ears and shut off my ipod.

Then he handed the phone to me, still smiling. I took it, noticing that he had written something for me on the screen. Not the shy type, are you?

I must have looked like a fool then, because I didn't know how to react to this strange way of communicating at first. "Um... uh..." was how my reaction to it went. "I... no, I'm not... shy." The boy's eyes lit up with amusement at my confusion, and he gently took the blackberry from me and started typing up another message.

This one read: Hi, I'm Trase. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm the deaf kid at the school. Nice to meet you.