cool » l. hemmings

i

I believe in three things; the color black, the 1975, and the use of ancient proverbs such as 'go fuck yourself.' I pride myself on these three things. And also sarcasm, I believe in that. A lot of it. Especially right now, in the midst of an argument with my oh-so-lovely mother.

"It's not that big of a deal, mom." My mother, five-foot-three and still one of the scariest women I know, stood in front of me at the kitchen table. My grades are dropping, it's almost the end of the year, blah blah blah.

She rubbed her aging hands over her face, tilting her head back. "If you can't get the D up to at least a B by the end of the year, I'm going to have to send you to your father's, Michelle."

My grey eyes widened, almost letting go of my strong will. "You know you wouldn't. I'm not dealing with that creepy dude next door."

My mother sighed and sat in the wooden chair next to me, looking at me with a mix of concern and annoyance. What a combination. "You're going to need a tutor whether you like it or not."

Groaning, I push back the chair I'd been sitting in as it made a loud screech across the floor. "I'm picking up Grady from school. Then I'm going to Michael's."

"He's probably the reason you're failing!"

"I rarely see him anymore!" I was almost five feet away from the door, swinging my hoodie over my shoulders.

"He's nineteen, Michelle," she rushes into the living room before I was able to leave.

"Bye, mother."

My mom was a stressed out, fourty-five year old woman who not only spent most of her time worrying about money, but also worrying about everything and anything school related. My father, on the other hand, didn't really care about anything. Which was cool, you know, for a while. Until not caring about anything turned into not caring about his own children.

He lived not too far away, maybe about two hours. But it was still somewhere completely different; not to mention weird. Both me and my brother Grady stayed with my mother when they had divorced by the time Grady was three.

I looked at the ground as I walked, focusing on the small cracks that my eyes observed. My brother's school was only around the corner, I would be there in less than five minutes. This town was quite small, one of the few things I actually enjoyed about it.

"Hey, bud," I greet my younger brother as he walked out of his school. Looks like I was just in time.

His hands moved to greet me back, signing a 'hi,' as he smiled.

"How was school?" I asked him, being sure to sign as well as say it, just in case if he couldn't read my lips he could understand my question.

Grady just nodded, signaling that it was alright.

My little brother had attended one of the only deaf schools we had around here. I was quite grateful for it being so close, so he didn't have to cross any roads or risk getting into trouble on his way.

'There's a new boy,' I nodded for him to continue. 'he moved from far away.'

"Where?"

'I forgot,' he laughed a little, causing me to aswell.

There were days that I wish Grady attended my school with me. But others I had more sense of the situation. He wouldn't be able to, he'd need an interpreter everywhere he went and I already knew he didn't want that.

We both walked in silence with only the occasional bird or barking dog interrupting it. I tapped on Grady's shoulder to get his attention. He looked at me curiously.

"Maybe you could be this boys friend."

Again, he nodded and shrugged. My brother had trouble being a social butterfly, he'd never really had the desire to be talkative even before he had lost his hearing. Even when he could hear, when he went to a regular hearing school, he only had one or two close friends.

I opened the door when we reached our porch front, letting my brother run in before me. "Mom! We're home!" I yelled out to wherever she may be in the house.

She came quickly to the front room, greeting both of us and giving Grady a hug and signing a quick hello. "Are you still going over Michael's?" She asked me.

"Yes, mother," I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous question on her part. I wasn't just going to change my mind. I caught my brother's attention. "Do you want me to tell Michael you said hi, Grady?" I watched as his excitement grew when he recognized the name that my lips had formed. Michael still needed a sign for his name. I'll have to work on that with Grady.

'Please!' With that, he ran up the stairs to complete whatever work he had to.

† † † † † † †

"She's just so annoying," I groaned. "After the accident she's become even harder on me than she is on Grady." I sat on Michael's worn-down apartment couch as he listened to me stupidly complain with his television volume on mute. "Who, by the way, says hi."

"I miss the little dude," Michael laughed, shaking his head slightly in amusement. "Does your mum still hate me?"

"I still can't get over how Australian's say 'mum,'" It was my turn to laugh, this time at my own idiocy. "She just isn't fond of your age. And your hair. And your - okay, there's a small chance that she may dislike you."

With his bright red hair, and his more-than-noticeable recently added eyebrow piercing, it was hard for my mother to approve of Michael. It was hard for her to approve of anyone, really. But I'd known Michael since we first moved from Canada. My mom just never met him until he started getting into all of what we're into.

In case you hadn't noticed, my mom is a very quick judge of character.

"Have you seen the new people in that house up the road?" Michael asked, trying to catch a piece of popcorn in his mouth and failing miserably. He hit himself in the eye.

"No, who are they?"

He shrugged, wiping his left eye after the popcorn fell off of his face. "I have no idea. All I know is there's an older kid and a younger one. A mom, dad - you know, a normal family."

I nodded. Maybe the boy Grady told me about was part of this new family.

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random inspiration ????? that's what all of my writing is basically oH well

ANYWAy i wanted to try something kind of different and dont worry your little blonde cutie dude boy is going to appear shortly ok

its going to seem A BIT wierd for this chapter, and maybe like the beginning of the next. but it'll all come together bc i've thought through this book a lot