He Never Knew

Chapter 3

The next day, they were supposed to pick partners for an assignment about the use of sign language. Lauren tried to steal Cara away, but Cara told her she already had a partner.

"Who?" Lauren asked in her usual snotty voice.

"Jeffrey," Cara answered confidently. She didn't let people push her around.

"Loser."

"My mother says that you shouldn't use negative words because words become your actions and actions become you character," Cara answered, forever trying to teach the people in the world to be more peaceful. She turned back to Jeffrey.

"Are you okay with being my partner?"

Jeffrey just nodded. The assignment actually turned out to be fun for him. He never had fun with partner projects because usually, his partners would just ignore him. They were supposed to create sentences using the sign language tutorials that their teacher had taught them earlier. When they had successfully understood each other enough to make a simple conversation they were supposed to write a short paragraph about their thoughts on what they learned and why this is important in the real world.

"Now students," Miss Mortemer reminded them, "remember that 'this is stupid' is not an acceptable answer. If you want to write that, you have to explain yourselves and talk about why 'this is stupid.'"

Each child picked up his or her pencil and neatly wrote a few sentences about how sign language helps those who can't hear talk to people around them.  Within five minutes almost everyone was finished with the exercise except for Cara.  She took an extra twenty minutes to complete her paragraph.  When Jeffrey glanced at it as Cara went to turn it in, he noticed that she had filled both sides of an entire sheet of paper. 

As Cara sat back down, the teacher entered a new subject until it was finally lunch time.  Cara sat down at Jeffrey's table in the corner.  She started humming and tapping her fingers on the table like she was playing a piano. 

"Have you ever heard of the band, Panic!At the Disco?" she asked suddenly, pulling out an Mp3 player from her pocket.  Jeffrey just shook his head, so she gave him an earbud and told him not to judge, to just listen.

"This is Gospel for the fallen ones," Brendon Urie's voice sang into their ears, "Locked away in permanent slumber."

The lyrics were beautiful.  Never had Jeffrey felt so entranced by music, but then again he never really listened to music just for fun. 

"I know it's not the original version, but the piano version is so beautiful that I had to let you listen to that one.  I think that I actually like the piano version better," Cara stated when the song had finished. "What did you think?"

"Um..." Jeffrey didn't know what to say. He didn't usually give his opinion to people, except for when the teacher asked him a direct question, but then he always gave a generic answer like: "It was nice.  I liked the message."  He knew that he couldn't give that to her.  She wanted his honesty.  "I think it sounded really good.  I mean, he sounds like he really enjoys what he's doing," Jeffrey stated lamely.  He wanted to say something meaningful, but just couldn't think of anything.

"Yeah," Cara answered, her eyes twinkling with inspiration.  Jeffrey couldn't remember how they had gotten under the tree after school, but they were there now.  "That song really makes me think about how everyone should be accepted for who they are and not have to have 'the fear of falling apart.'  Judgements shouldn't be given out harshly because words hurt more than any physical blows."

Cara sighed and looked down at her math homework, deep in thought.  "Hey, do you wanna come to my house for a while?  My mother loves when I make friends.  She seems to believe that I'm antisocial."

Jeffrey nodded.  She laughed as she picked up her backpack and led Jeffrey to her house.  It wasn't a long walk, maybe a few minutes.  She lived fairly close to the school.  The outside of her house looked a little plain, like any small town house would, but the inside was amazing.  Every room had beautiful paintings of hanging on its walls.  The floors were all hardwood, which added to the houses elegant look.

"Mom! I'm home!" Cara shouted from the front door, "And i brought a friend." She added a little quieter.

Jeffrey could hear footsteps coming from a hallway.  when a figure popped her head in, he realized that she had been in the kitchen.

"That's great, dear," the woman, presumably Cara's mother, said. Her voice sounded smooth, like caramel. "What's your name?" she asked, turning to Jeffrey.

"Jeffrey," he answered quietly, feeling small and fragile.

"You can call me Debbie," she answered, a smile spreading across her face.  "Would you like to stay for supper, Jeffrey?"

"Yeah, he would mom," Cara answered for him, "We're going to work on homework, okay?"

Cara shoved him gently up the stairs to her bedroom.  Apologizing for how creepy her mother was.

"She's not creepy," Jeffrey answered, feeling a little bit more confident. "She seems nice."

"Yeah, just wait.  She gets creepier," Cara answered, laughing lightly.

Cara opened the door to her bedroom.  It was crammed full of stuff.  In one corner there were bookshelves stocked with what seemed like hundreds of books.  Cara sifted through the books, pointing out a few of her favorites: Percy Jackson, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings.  Then she pointed out that one of the bookshelves was actually full of CD's, video games, and  DVDs.  Covering the walls of her room were posters, printed pictures she found online, and artwork that she had drawn.

Jeffrey's favorite part was the artwork.  It ranged from paintings of flowers, to drawings of ghosts, to some guy named Markiplier (who Cara apparently loved) and all of it was done well, considering that a fifth grader had done them.  The paintings meticulously painted across the canvases, oil pastels that were blended so perfectly, even the colored pencil drawings seemed to come to life.

Cara spouted excitedly about this thing or that, pointing out special or wonderful things about any specific object.  She liked talking about how Jacksepticeye was the sweetest guy ever, or how CinnamonToastKen needs to take a break (and he deserves one) to figure out his life a little bit, or even how Jensen Ackles has the most adorable little girl ever.  To her, these people were heroes. They were her only inspiration.

Eventually Jeffrey was drawn to a small clear patch on the wall.  He could see that her walls were painted a dark blue.  The only thing that covered this part of the wall was a small decal with the words "Dia Duit" written in fancy cursive.  Jeffrey looked at it for a while before he had enough courage to bring it up.

"What does this mean?" Jeffrey asked in his quiet voice.

"Really, it's just 'hello' in Irish or Irish Gaelic if you prefer that.  But the literal translation is 'God to you.'  I don't know, I just think that it's sweet to wish God to someone when you meet them," She looked at it thoughtfully for a second before her mother called them both down for supper.

As they sat at the small, but beautifully carved, oak table, praying over their food, Jeffrey finally felt like he was home.