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Post by daniellemarks on Dec 7, 2010 18:18:42 GMT -8
give me one more shot with everything you've got, [/size][/color] [/center] - - - - - - - - - -
The last few months had gone by quickly, and before she knew it Christmas was just around the corner. With the last few weeks of school left before break was to begin, it left them to try and organize as many festive activities before the holidays. Well, them being the student activity and leadership committee, which right now was only consisting of a couple useless freshman, a small group of her friends and herself. Over the last week everyone had come forward and began to plan out the school events. Between a huge Christmas lunch that was going to somehow feed the whole school (she wasn't too sure how that was going to work out), candy cane grams, Christmas tree decorating, the dance and so much more, she wasn't sure how she was going to balance out planning these activities in to her already busy schedule. Dropping AP Chem had been a great idea, which was supposed to give her more free time, yet she found herself even more busy than when she was actually taking it. Sighing to herself as she stood on the table propped up against the wall, she crossed her arms and watched as quite a few freshman ran around stapling posters for these events everywhere they could.
“Don't just put them anywhere, be useful and put them up where people will actually SEE them,” she commented, throwing her arms up in the air. The group just looked at her for a moment, before running off and gigging. She swore that she had never been like that when she had been there age, and if she had been she definitely needed to try and burn all evidence. Propping one hand on her tiny hip, she looked up at where she was supposed to be trying to hang this banner for the dance. They hadn't even decided on a theme yet, but they still insisted to advertise it and have suggestions. Shaking her head at the thought, she looked up at the wall. She didn't think she could reach that, standing up on her toes and reaching as high as she could, she was much too short. Grumbling about her height (or in this case, lack of) she jumped off the table and stalked down the hallway to find the people who were supposed to be helping her hang things up.
Running her fingers through the ends of her long blond hair, her bangs pinned up in a slight poof. Blue eyes scanned the hallways in frustration, they were supposed to stay in a group and everyone had already walked off. She didn't even like this whole school planning thing, but apparently it looked good on college resumes (which she wasn't all that sure she'd make it in to anymore after how badly her grades had slid) so she had stuck with it. The sound of the first bell ringing indicated that people needed to make their way to class, of course this was the block where she was supposed to be having Chemistry. One of her friends pushed passed her, apologizing for not helping but they needed to go to Physics. Talking to no one but herself, she made her way back to the other hallway. “For fuck sakes. It only takes two seconds out of someones day to help them hang up paper.”
Needless to say, she wasn't all that impressed with the situation. Climbing back up on the table, she tried once more to reach up and hang the other side. Evidently she wasn't going to grow any, and it wasn't getting her anywhere. Sitting on the table and resting her back against the wall she decided that she'd just find some random person passing by to help her. It wasn't like she had anything to do this block. Shoving her hands in her hoodie pocket, she played absentmindedly with her cell phone. Looking up at a boy wandering down the hallway, he was definitely tall enough to help her.
“Oh! Hey. Um. Excuse me,” she said, bouncing up to him. “Hi. I'm Danielle. You're tall, would you mind giving me a hand with hanging something up? I'm just not tall enough to reach it.”
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RESERVED FOR-- jess
WORD COUNT-- 711 // complete
NOTES-- longer than i intended, sorry! && she be wearing this.
CREDITS -- images/text banners etc all copyright to their respectful owners. C:
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Post by martin on Dec 8, 2010 11:44:04 GMT -8
Being tall was definitely a curse... at least it was to people who didn't want to be noticed like Shane. He would have liked nothing more than to blend in, unfortunately, being just slightly taller than a lot of people his age, he tended to stand out a bit. People tended to ask him regularly if he played basketball... to which the answer was no. Sports were not his thing at all. He was an excellent rider, mind you, but the normal sports that people did that actually required a lot of athleticism... well he just was never any good at them. Perhaps if he wasn't so impossibly shy he would have gotten into sports anad excelled at them, but it was far too late for that now.
Truthfully, Shane wasn't really all that much smarter than anyone else at the school, but because of his intentional lack of a social life, he had all that time to put into homework and studying, and because of that his grades were nearly flawless. For the most part after school he went to the barn to ride, then went home and studied, end of story. Since moving here, even though it had been quite some time, he'd made no effort to really make friends with anyone. To him, the concept of a new school filled with people he didn't know, people who didn't know about his "condition," people who would likely never understand and would always treat him differently, was very far from where he wanted to be. He'd had a few friends back before they moved the first time, several really good ones, in fact, but after moving away, everything changed.
The next block, according to his schedule was supposed to be a speech class, but seeing as how he couldn't speak... well, they gave him a pass on that one for obvious reasons. He had every intention of simply going to the library to finish his homework so he could stay at the barn longer and work with Dublin on agility. That horse had all the makings of a champion, but he was clumsy as hell. Shane had lost fount of the number of times he'd fallen off because Dublin tripped over his own four hooves while on the flat or several strides after a jump. The horse was always horrified when Shane fell off, but he never seemed to realize that to make it stop all he had to do was pick up his feet a little more. Sunny was definitely going to go places and didn't need much work, but Shane still had every intention of riding him every day though. Then there was Fancy who was only a few months old, but he figured the more he did things with her at a young age, the more likely she was to turn out like Dublin as far as personality went.
He was on his way there when he was suddenly being confronted by a rather bubbly sounding girl. For a moment his mind just stopped working, and it took him several moments to realize that he did, in fact, have to respond to what she had just said, or asked, rather. Now he just had to decide on how to respond. Should he just help her and leave, hoping she wouldn't have anything else to say, or should he "say" something to her via his ever faithful post-it-notes. Taking the time to get out the post-it-notes just to write something like "sure" seemed a little... well, not like a great plan... so he decided on just helping her, hoping she wouldn't try to have some sort of conversation with him wherein he would have to respond with words. He bit his lip slightly out of nervous habit and nodded, hoping she would just lead the way, show him where to hang whatever she was trying to hang, then let him continue on his merry way... then again, the odds of that working out were just about non existent, and he knew it... but he could always hope, right? Being so shy and uncomfortable in any situation where he had to interact with people seemed a bit odd for someone his age, but he had always been this way, and he'd never really found a reason to change, so until someone gave him the reason he needed, he would be that quiet guy who didn't seem to have any friends. Not much of a reputation if you ask me.
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Post by daniellemarks on Dec 8, 2010 22:27:48 GMT -8
give me one more shot with everything you've got, [/size][/color] [/center] - - - - - - - - - -
It didn't quite feel like Christmas, let alone December to her. Of course, by the time November had fallen across the small town of Connecticut snow would be tumbling lazily from dark grey clouds. Apparently in Texas it didn't snow, and in this part of the state it was unlikely that they'd ever see snow. The fact wasn't something that really pleased her, she loved snow and couldn't picture a Christmas without it. Apparently now she was going to learn what it was like to now have a thick blanket of the stuff covering the ground. The cold, miserable weather made her feel like she was stuck constantly in March, since that was really when it rained and stormed like this. Glancing outside for a moment she wasn't all too surprised to notice that it was pissing down rain like it had been for the last week. Eventually it had to stop and the sun would come out once again. Well, at least she hoped it would. One thing she had learned over the years is that the sun would always come back.
Looking back over at the taller boy, she smiled at him as he nodded at her. For a moment it looked like he didn't quite know how to take her. That wasn't an uncommon look by any means, to most she wondered if they felt like she was like a wad of gum stuck to their shoe. Something that just wouldn't go away no matter what they did. She just hoped that people actually wanted her around, and didn't just pretend to like her. Eventually they'd tell her to fuck off or shut up, but so far everyone seemed content just to let her chat and fill the silence. Everyone except Aubrey, the twenty one year old had no troubles telling her to shut the fuck up. She didn't take it personal though, the relationship between the two of them was something she didn't quite understand, it didn't make sense to her (and a lot of others).
“Thanks,” she said to the guy, spinning around on her heels she walked back over to the table she had been standing on. Glancing over her shoulder she made sure he was following her. If he decided to turn around and book it in the other direction, she'd be seriously pissed off and would not hold back from letting him know that. Luckily for him (and her) he silently made his way. Pointing to the banner she had attempted to hang up, she sighed. “I just need you to hang this end up here. My friend was helping me until she had to go to Chemistry. Like I said, I'm too damn short. It sucks being really short, you're lucky that you're tall. Even standing on the table didn't help me out much. ”
Standing barely at five foot three, the only positive out of the whole situation was that she could ride the ponies without much trouble. That was something she wouldn't trade for the entire world. “At least I can still ride and show the ponies, that's probably the only up side of being short,” she told him. There wasn't any real reason for it, just the current train of thought that was running through her mind. When people said speak your mind, she took that literally to a new level. Except it was harder when she was thrown up on the bigger horses when she couldn't wrap down her horses barrel. It was a bit problematic, but she was learning how to cope with it. She watched him as he hung up the banner for her. “I seriously can't thank you enough for that. I owe you big time.”
She paused for a moment, thinking of how she could repay him. “Hey. I know. Do you have a spare right now? I'll buy a coffee from the campus coffee shop. Or hot chocolate if you don't like coffee. Does that sound like a good plan? Don't think I'm going to let you wander off without me paying you back,” she said, smiling at him and reaching in to her pocket for her phone. Tapping the screen, she still had over an hour before she actually had a class to attend. It didn't quite occur to her that he may not want to talk to her, let alone get a cup of coffee with her.
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RESERVED FOR-- jess
WORD COUNT-- 738 // complete
NOTES-- bleck
she be wearing this.
CREDITS -- images/text banners etc all copyright to their respectful owners. C:
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Post by martin on Dec 12, 2010 21:28:45 GMT -8
The people Shane had always liked best were the ones who talked a lot without expecting him to respond very often. It was fairly obvious as to why he preferred them, because he always felt like people were annoyed that they had to wait longer to get a response from him, so the less he had to respond, the less awkward the conversation became for him. Being able to speak was one of those defining human characteristics, and he often felt like the animals in those ASPCA commercials that called on people to "speak out for those who can't" and let me tell you, it wasn't a good feeling. He was young enough that he was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, but he was so shy and seemingly incapable of functioning when he was in uncomfortable situations, that he was gaining absolutely no ground in figuring it out.
He was relieved when she started chattering on without waiting for him to respond before moving on to her next topic. Hanging the banner was easy for him. He was a good seven inches taller than she was, and could reach even higher than that. It took hardly a moment for him to get it up, so he really wasn't sure why she seemed so grateful for him doing it. It wasn't as if he'd done some great public service or saved her life or something. Then again, maybe things like that were a bigger deal to people who were vertically challenged than it was to those who were taller like he was. Again, he just nodded in response, fully prepared to be on his merry way to head to the library as he had planned on doing before she had asked him to help her. That had been easy enough, and he hadn't needed to say anything.
Just as he was about to turn to go, though, she spoke up again, asking him to let her buy him a coffee or something of that nature. Well now he was in a pickle. He really wasn't big on the whole hot drinks thing... in fact, he really wasn't big on anything that had to be ordered unless it could be done online. He had fashioned his tastes and preferences around his desire to have to interact as little as possible. However, just a gesture couldn't convey that. Just shaking his head would seem rude, which meant he did actually have to respond, and since he'd already been interacting with her for a few moments, it was only going to make the explanation more awkward than it normally was. It wasn't that he didn't want to be around her, it was just that he didn't really know how to just hang out like a "normal" person would.
He hesitated a moment before pulling his post-it notes and pen out of his pocket and writing "Thanks, but I'll pass. It's not really my thing." and peeled it off the stack, offering it to her a little timidly, just waiting for the typical response. Normally when people found out they had all kids of questions which he had long since gotten tired of answering. He couldn't talk, was the rest of it important? He supposed he would probably ask the same questions if their roles were reversed, but he would rather people not shower him with questions right away. It would be nice if people would kind of get to know him a little first before they started asking him for the details behind his inability to speak. He didn't like feeling like people were only friends with him because they felt bad for him, he would much rather they treat him like a normal human being instead of like some freak. He really was just like everyone else, he just couldn't speak, that was all.
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Post by daniellemarks on Dec 13, 2010 19:46:45 GMT -8
give me one more shot with everything you've got, [/size][/color] [/center] - - - - - - - - - -
Never in her life had she ever been turned down by a boy, whether it was to go on a date or just to hang out. Apparently there was a first time for everything. Bright blue eyes watched him for a moment, her expression softening in slight confusion as he reached out and pulled out a sticky note. Danielle didn't say anything as he did so. She was more curious toward why he was writing his answer down on a post-it note. He looked at her for a moment before offering the note to her. Taking it from his warm hands, she looked at the tidy printing scrawled across the note. A slight frown faltered her expressions, but she quickly washed it off and smiled slightly at him.
"That's fine," she said softly, her tone less cheerful than earlier. Ignoring the slight hurt and shock that she felt, she just looked up at him for a moment. "I understand. I guess I should take that time to actually finish my essay that I've been putting off." Her tone was more cheerful now, trying to ignore the same shock of someone actually saying no to getting coffee with her. She didn't ask why, she didn't question him for that decision. Grabbing her purse off the table and swinging it over her shoulder, a soft sigh slid through her lips as she reached in to her pocket and took out her cell phone to check the time.
She still had an hour to put off, and she really wasn't in the mood to try and finish her essay. Apparently her spare would be spent alone in the library once more. Pushing a couple strands of hair behind her ear, she glanced up at the taller boy. "What direction are you headed in? Do you mind if I walk with you?" She asked. Apparently she just couldn't take the hint that the boy didn't want to talk to her. Most would just tell her to shut up if they didn't want to talk to her, and she took the fact that he hadn't done anything along those lines so she was still okay.
A spare in her old school had meant everyone went out for coffee and bitched about homework. But here things had proven to be a bit different. No one actually had spares here, cramming in their work with duo credit courses for university and colleges. At first it had been good for her to encourage herself to push past her usual academics and try her hardest to succeed even more- but now she had gotten sick of the workload on her shoulders with everything she had tried to take on. It was sad that she had only lasted a few months, at the end of last semester in grade eleven (when she first arrived) things had been a bit different to say the least. The whole college thing was not going in the direction she had planned.
Her life had taken a turn in the opposite direction throwing everything off from planned.
Looking over at the boy (whose name she still didn't know), she waited for an answer in which direction he was heading. A good part of her hoped that he was heading toward the library like she was. In all honesty she didn't want to have to go sit in the library and do her essay. It was always nice to have someone to talk to, even if he didn't seem like he really wanted to talk to her.
[/size][/color][/blockquote] - - - - - - - - - -
RESERVED FOR-- jess
WORD COUNT-- idk D: // complete
NOTES-- short- sorry DD:
she be wearing this.
CREDITS -- images/text banners etc all copyright to their respectful owners. C:
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Post by martin on Feb 6, 2011 15:58:00 GMT -8
Shane really wasn't used to people being so friendly towards him and wanting to hang out with him. After all, he really didn't know anyone here, and for the most part he didn't hang around long enough to be able to get to know people. Being unable to speak made everything more difficult, and that was putting it lightly. It made meeting new people nearly impossible unless they came up to him first, it made calling people impossible, it made conversation exceedingly difficult, it made having any sort of real relationship very nearly out of the bounds of what was possible. He had essentially given up on the idea of ever having a normal relationship with any girl... and yes, he did wish he could have one... but he knew it wouldn't ever happen. Women liked to be told they were beautiful, that they were loved, and countless other things... none of which he could tell them. Friends were hard enough to make and keep, he couldn't imagine how he would manage to uphold a relationship.
The poor kid had been trying for 17 years to find a way to fit in, to function like a normal human being, but no matter how hard he tried, without a voice he was severely crippled when it came to interacting with other people. He often felt like the animals in the ASPCA commercials talking about how people needed to speak out for the animals because they didn't have a voice. Needless to say, that wasn't much good for his already low self esteem. He would like nothing better than to be able to say even so much as one word... even just to know what his voice would have sounded like had he been able to speak... but that was never going to happen, and he knew it. There were a lot of things that he would like to do but knew just plain old weren't possible. It was a depressing reality for him.
He just shook his head when she asked if he minded if she came along, then turned and pointed to the arrow with "LIBRARY" written on it. Not that he really needed to go there, but that was his routine. Whenever he had a break that was where he went, mostly to avoid conversations. He wasn't going to lie, though, the thought of some company was rather appealing. Even as much as he tried to avoid people, he was still human and there was only so much being alone that he could take. Back where he'd lived first he'd had a couple of really close friends who he missed dearly, but maybe he could find a new one in her... maybe.
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Post by daniellemarks on Feb 7, 2011 20:32:30 GMT -8
give me one more shot with everything you've got, [/size][/color] [/center] - - - - - - - - - -
Studying him for a moment, she took his head shake as a “I don't mind you coming with me” rather than a “no, don't.” She would like to think that he wouldn't mind her tagging along. Never in her life had she truly had anyone turn her down, and she decided that his earlier written comments hadn't been shooting her down, just providing her with a challenge that she had to work around. A good mind set for some things, but not everything. Something that she had to work on one day, and for now everything that got in her way wasn't a setback; merely a challenge that she had yet to overcome. Riding had given her that state of mind, and it was something that was going to stick for as long as she rode.
Glancing over as he gestured to the Library, she smiled slightly. “I'm headed in that direction too, ironically. I promise I'm not following you,” she said, laughing quietly under her breath. Adjusting her bag over her shoulder, she continued to walk beside him silently for just a moment. Glancing up at him again, there was something about him that was oddly familiar. She had never seen him until now in school though, she knew for a fact that he wasn't in any of her classes. She tried to talk to every single person in her classes to make new friends, and he was one that she had yet to talk too- not that he actually talked, yet. She didn't mind it though, she just continued on and didn't think much of it.
“You look familiar. I swear I've seen you before, just not in class.” Frowning, she continued on. “Do you ride horses at all? Maybe I'm totally off, but I've come across a lot of people who do in this town. It's hard to put a name to a face when people aren't in show clothes without a helmet.”
[/b] Walking in to the library that was completely silent with a few students reading and working, she set her things down at an empty table and hoped the boy would join her. Pulling her binder out of her bag, she set it on the table. Resting her elbows on the table, she leaned forward, resting her face on her hands as she smiled at him when he sat down with her. Looking down at her binder, she sighed. “I hate writing essays. I don't mind English, but writing essays is just so ridiculously long, it's such a pain. It takes me forever too because I get distracted.”[/blockquote][/size][/color][/blockquote] - - - - - - - - - -
RESERVED FOR-- jess
WORD COUNT-- idk D: // complete
NOTES-- bleck crappy im tired D:
she be wearing this.
CREDITS -- images/text banners etc all copyright to their respectful owners. C:
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Post by martin on Feb 16, 2011 17:39:42 GMT -8
To be perfectly honest, Shane hadn't thought anyone really noticed him at the barn or at shows. He always made a point of going to the barn only when he knew there wouldn't be very many people around, and he was never at shows any longer than he needed to be. Some would say he went to extremes to avoid confrontations, but really it was just natural for him to stay away from conversations because it had been what he had done for his entire life. He was shy, more so than most people, and not being able to talk to people when he was confronted only increased his desire to avoid them. Of course, he didn't take into consideration the fact that his horses were rather high quality and did have a tendency to place in the top three at most shows which did tend to draw attention to horses and riders.
He just nodded when she asked if he rode. His whole life practically revolved around riding. His horses were the only comfort he had, since they didn't care if he couldn't speak. That was one of the reasons he loved animals so much. You didn't have to speak to communicate with them. Sure, most people talked to their pets, but everybody knew that they didn't really understand what was being said. To Shane, that was the best thing ever. They didn't expect anything from him by way of conversation, so when he was around them he didn't feel pressured into trying to fit in like everyone else.
Shane had never had a problem with writing anything... since that was the only way he could communicate. For him, writing a 10 page paper was easier than having a five minute conversation with someone. Naturally, his writing was exceptional, and his teachers were always impressed when he went to new schools. After all, it was a well known fact that the public school system tended to fall short when it came to teaching people writing skills. Shane, though, had spent most of his life writing. He learned to read and write at a rather early age in order to compensate for not being able to speak.
He smiled when she mentioned hating essays and shrugged slightly, writing "I don't mind it, but I have to write a lot anyway." on a sticky note and peeling it off, setting it on the table. Of course, he would much rather not have any school and just spend all his time with his horses, but seeing as that wasn't an option... he would just have to wait until he graduated. He was a junior now, so only one more year and he was done. School was a bit of a nightmare for him, so he just couldn't wait until he didn't have to deal with it anymore. College, obviously, wasn't an option for him, so after high school, he was done, and all he had to do then was ride.
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Post by daniellemarks on Feb 27, 2011 21:00:24 GMT -8
give me one more shot with everything you've got, [/size][/color] [/center] - - - - - - - - - -
She studied him from across the table, then glanced down at the notes she had written for her essay. In all honesty, she didn't quite care about any of this. Hamlet, literature. It was all unimportant to her. She could already speak and write well enough, taking an advanced literature course probably had not been the best idea. But of course she had set it up so she could get in to law school. That goal had failed after she dropped AP Chemistry and let her math grades drop because of Aubrey. A frustrated sigh slipped through her lips at the thought. She shouldn't have done it, and she regretted it every single day. Running her fingers through her hair and glancing back up at Shane, she smiled slightly. She knew she had seen him. He rode, so he must compete against her (well, she assumed that he competed). “Are you Shane Martin, by chance?” She asked carefully, “I know that sounds weird, I'm just trying to go through the people I've shown against. And you seriously look quite familiar.”
It took her a moment before she realized that she hadn't given him her name. “I'm Danielle, by the way... Danielle Marks. You've probably either seem me on the giant gray, or chestnut.... or the little bay mare who has a bit of an attitude problem. Or riding my ponies, because I have a tendency to get thrown on them.” Laughing lightly, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Naughty little things... the smaller they are the worst behaved they seem to be, seriously.” The worst of her injuries had never been from the big horses, but the ponies. Except the one time Warwick threw her in to the ground and stepped on her, that had taken awhile for her to heal and get back on (it took even longer to convince Grace that she could get back on).
Leaning forward, she peeled the sticky note off the table and read it silently. Nodding, she looked up at him. “I'd imagine so...” pausing, she didn't want to hit a nerve or offend him in any way. “I bet you're exciting to get out of here,” she said, “well. I sure am, some people aren't. I don't think I'd be able to put up with another year.” Laughing lightly, she just shook her head to herself. She was ready to move on from school and get away.
[/size][/color][/blockquote] - - - - - - - - - -
RESERVED FOR-- jess
WORD COUNT-- idk D: // complete
NOTES-- sorry short and sorry for the wait
she be wearing this.
CREDITS -- images/text banners etc all copyright to their respectful owners. C:
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Post by martin on Mar 6, 2011 17:44:29 GMT -8
Shane was even more surprised that she knew who he was than he was when she recognized him as someone who ride. He had always just assumed that he was just another competitor who was nothing more than a wallflower. There, then gone, never noticed by anyone else. Having become so withdrawn, he had also become rather naive as well. He had no interest in being a famous rider or to go to the big levels of eventing. That would draw far too much attention to him and that was definitely the last thing he wanted. He was content to just go to the smaller shows and not really do anything with his skills beyond that. He simply nodded in response to her question, still mildly taken aback by the fact that she knew who he was, though he really shouldn't have been surprised.
He quickly wrote another note and stuck it to the table saying "I've been pretty much over school since it started." School was rather like a nightmare to him. so many people, so much need to interact with those people.... he would rather do a million things beside school. For him there was nothing good about school. Most people who liked school only liked it because of the social aspect. That was the biggest reason he hated it. He didn't like conversations at all... or at least most of them anyway. This conversation he didn't find nearly as stressful as most of them tended to be, possibly because she was talking about ten times as much as it seemed she expected him to, which he was grateful for, the less he had to restpond the better. He'd really only had one really great friend, and he'd known her for so long that she could almost always tell what he was thinking without him having to write it down. Unfortunately, after their most recent move they were separated. It was also possibly because she didn't seem to have any interest in the details of his life and why he couldn't speak... she hardly treated him like he was different from anyone else. Not many people did that.
After seventeen years of finding mostly people who were more interested in his disability than actually being interested in knowing him, he had coem to expect nothing else from the people at the new schools. Having found someone who at least appeared to not fit into that stereotype was a pleasant surprised, though he was still wary, knowing all too well that it was entirely possible that she, like so many, would eventually drift to the other side. He was hopeful, though, that she was different and that he might possibly have finally met someone who he could legitimately call a friend.
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