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ZHEN sat himself in his third period. He was flicking his pencil on his paper, bored out of his mind since he finished the assignment early. Zhen feels a buzz in his pocket, making him secretly pull his phone out.
"Stella wants to talk." He read from Charlie. "Who's that again?" Zhen typed with a confused expression. "The one with the short hair." It clicked now. "Oh. I know now. When?"
"I'll meet you in the front of the school when school ends. We can go together."
Zhen turns his phone off before a small smile appeared. He was glad he had a friend now, maybe even more depending on what Stella was gonna talk to them about.
Zhen ended up being late to meeting Charlie. But it was okay because for some reason he just went back for Zhen. They ended up going to Dante's pizzeria.
Zhen, Stella, Charlie, Olivia, Mo, Wen, and Lee all sat at a table while eating pizza. "We talked about this. It's not gonna happen." Mo immediately spoke, not taking it back. "Sure it is." Stella argues, "I signed us up for Rising Star this morning."
Charlie looks at Zhen, before signing what Stella said to them. He could read their lips, but Charlie wanted to make sure he understood. "So, no offense. I'm really trying to not sound rude. But.." Wen speaks as he looks over at Zhen.
"How is a band going to happen if one of our members are deaf?"
It was quiet now.
Zhen didn't even know what he said, but when he saw everyone look at him..he knew.
Charlie gulped in nervousness, hating the way he brought it up. "Can I ask you what you're good at?" Charlie signs. Zhen thinks for a moment as he stares at the table. There was a couple things. But for a band?
He knows ways to get instruments and he's good at wiring, connecting sounds but the sound part was before he lost his hearing. He use to help his father when he was little, connecting stereos and things like that.
But—he thought of another thing. Zhen loves writing.
It's all he did his whole life. He's journaled, text, even wrote in his notes for fun. "I can write songs." He replied with his hands. "Zhen can write songs."
Lee scoffs, "thank god. I would never."
"I signed us up for the Halloween Bash too." Mo instantly chokes on her drink. "Wait, how'd you pull that off?" Wen asked her. "It's amazing what a principal will agree to if he thinks his new 'problem student' is channeling her energy into something productive." Stella explained simply.
