The Boy Next Door

1

Coffee never quite prepared me for the exhaustion of a school day. Up at six thirty, awake until ten. This particular day, I had accidentally grabbed my mom's normal cup of decaf in my rush to get out the door on time. I was miserable. I struggled through first and second period, barely awake, and in third period I nearly fell asleep.

"Good morning!" the principal's annoyingly jovial voice awoke me from my haze. "I have someone that I'd like you all to meet. He is a new student here, transferred from the charter school up north."

When my vision came into focus, I recognized him instantly. Tall and lean with dark brown eyes, and messy waves atop his head. Delicate pianist's fingers, and a shy smile.

"His name is Leo, and this is his interpreter Miss Emily. Leo is mute, and he speaks sign language, although he is hearing. We expect you all to welcome him with open arms. The school will be instituting a mandatory seventh period sign language course in three weeks at the close of the fall quarter for all of us to learn basic sign language to communicate with him. We hope that by the end of the course, he will not need an interpreter anymore."

I barely heard anything the principal said because I was so focused on the boy. I stared at him in awe, exactly the same as I saw him last night. 

 Leo signed something tentatively.

"Hi, I'm Leo" his interpreter said.

He glanced at me with a questioning look. I broke my gaze quickly, pretending to absentmindedly doodle as he walked over and sat at the empty desk next to me. I stared at my desk, trying not to look at him, and started a cartoon drawing of a cat. I finally gave in and quickly scrawled a note onto a piece of paper and slid it over to him.

"Hi, my name is Astrid"

"Hi" he wrote back, his handwriting rounded and neat.

I stared down at my desk again, trying not to catch his eye. I didn't know how to react to this. I tried to concentrate on the rest of the class, but I was continually drawn to the boy sitting next to me.

The bell came at last, and I rushed out of the classroom, anxious to get away. I excused myself to the bathroom at fourth period to collect my thoughts. I twirled my silky blond hair into tight knots, a nervous habit I never quite grew out of. I never would have imagined that I would meet face to face the boy I have been watching play piano every night for ten years. 

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, and thank you for reading!