Kathleen gave my shoulders a squeeze and signed, WHY SHE NOT SUPPORT YOU? WE ALL BELIEVE I-N YOU.

I mustered up another smile but quickly averted my eyes. It was good that we were getting a head start on this, but this was far from over.

Mom texted me during lunch to tell me Connor had an appointment at Children’s Hospital in Aurora with his new doctor and that she might be late picking me up from school. To kill time, I dragged myself to the library after saying good-bye to Kathleen. My attempt at getting some homework done was proving to be an unsuccessful endeavor, since my mind was still on college and my future. It was hard to focus on chemistry when my head was spinning. I jumped a little when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked around to see Nina standing beside me.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “You okay?”

I nodded, signing, GOOD.

I could definitely see myself becoming friends with Nina, really the first person I’d met at Engelmann who had potential. Nina knew I was here, and most surprising of all, I didn’t mind so much using my voice in front of her. She hadn’t seemed fazed one bit when I used my voice in front of her for the first time, unlike Beau, who apparently thought my being able to speak was a miracle of epic proportions. Nina’s casual attitude toward my voice made all the difference for me, and I was a little tempted to ask her what my voice sounded like.

“Cool,” Nina said. “We’re about to . . . council meeting. Love it if . . . stay.”

Nina gestured to the people now coming over to the table, notebooks and backpacks in hand, chattering away with one another. And then there was Beau, who always seemed to be somewhere in the background with those green eyes and dimples of his.

Beau had not tried to sign to me again since that incident in Mr. Wells’ class, and I was happy about that. I think he got the picture when I snapped at him to keep his nose out of my business. I did not need him to stick up for me or tell people they needed to be nice to me because I was Deaf. Being coddled because I couldn’t hear was the last thing I needed in my life.

Beau stopped when he saw me sitting at the table, then pulled out a chair across from me and sat down, dropping his giant notebook down on the table.

I was not expecting him to sign, HELLO to me, followed by, HOW ARE YOU?

Apparently, my temporary reprieve from Beau’s signing was up.

FINE, I automatically signed back.

He seemed very unsure of himself, but he kept going, signing the words, NICE DAY? next with his eyebrows raised in question.