`leave me speechless | amelia

[carter]

DIDN'T EVEN PUT UP A FIGHT
DIDN'T EVEN MAKE A SOUND

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It was hard to compare the worst parts of the day. Lunch was definitely at the top of the list, maybe just behind Ballroom Dance class. Only because they were back-to-back and Ballroom Dance was right before lunch. Now he was literally stuck in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, his sweat acting as an adhesive. It was like the fibers were fused to his body. He remembered his old gym teacher saying "if your not sweating your not working." Carter was one of those physically challenged kids who would sweat just from a warm-up. Then he was a puddle by the end of the class. There was never enough time to take a shower either, so he was stuck trying to fight his way back into his regular clothes as they stuck to him. Ugh, it was the most disgusting feeling until he finally cooled off and was dry again. At least he was one of the few students who remembered deodorant, but was also one of the few who was stuck next to the kid who smelled like B.O. in his next class and held his breath half the time until he would feel light-headed and have to breathe. He found himself getting out of his seat a lot to sharpen his pencil after he purposely broke the tip, or to get a tissue even though he didn't need one, or go to the bathroom when he didn't need to go. How many students did that though? A lot. Just to get out of the class and take a walk. It was all in the timing, come back too soon or too late and the teacher knows you didn't go to the bathroom, or you went then wandered around for a while.

Carter was heading for the dining hall just after another disastrous Ballroom class. He had stepped on his partner's toes three more times than yesterday, which did not make her happy and she demanded a new partner. So Carter ended up being the guinea pig for Miss Ackerman. He didn't mind at all, just the fact that they were touching in a way that may be seen as inappropriate had it been anything other than a dance class. On the other hand, it gave the rest of the class an excuse to chortle at his left feet and string bean movements. Miss Ackerman kept telling him that if he actually tried he would get it, but he really didn't want to try. He was happy with just scraping by so he could finally graduate. He didn't understand why a gym class was so important at a specialty school. Maybe if he was majoring in physical education, or ballroom dance, it would be but he was working toward sitting on his ass. The only physical activity going on would be the movement of the pencil across paper.

It didn't matter now though, because Ballroom class was over until tomorrow. Following the mas of people into the dining hall, Carter made it look like he was part of a group of friends, smiling when they laughed, even though he had no idea what they were talking about. The dining hall was over crowded and the line was weaving around the back wall. Apparently the main entree was good today or most people would be in the ala carte line getting fries. Or in the snack line for bagels and cookies. Carter just drifted to whichever line the crowd took him. The line moved steadily, and the tables were filling quickly, leaving Carter to stare into the corner table he usually sat at, alone. In a school for four years and still not a good enough friend he could sit with at lunch. He felt like a scared little freshman again ever year. He had friends, sure, but they usually skipped lunch and went out somewhere or went to the later one. Maybe he should go their way one of these days.

Grabbing a tray off of the pile, Carter flipped it over and looked at the selection. He had to admit that private schools did have better looking food then public schools. "Burrito with salsa. And I guess throw some salad on there." The lady took his tray and filled the order quickly then slid it back over the counter. Carter moved along the line, snatching up a couple packets of French dressing and an apple. He moved across the floor for the fountains and filled himself a cup of Hawaiian Punch before moving to the checkout. He scanned his meal card and passed back out into the main dining area. When he looked toward his usual table, he noticed that it was now occupied. Thinking, or more like hoping, the girl wouldn't remain their long, Carter got into the snack line, sipping at his punch while it shortened. He grabbed himself two chocolate chip cookies and still the girl was there.

He could find another seat. Looking around the hall, just about every table was filled except for one near the back. Heading over to it, he looked down at the group there. "Hey, this seat available?" They all stared at him. "No, it's saved." A blonde girl with florescent orange highlights said before sticking her bag down on the empty seat. Ouch, that burned. He was beginning to feel as if he was stuck in some twisted TV show where the geeks always got picked on. Unfortunately, they did and this was reality. Sighing, he decided to go for his usually table again in the corner, having to weave through tables and step over book bags to get there. Eventually he did and stood behind the girl who was in his chair. His grip tightened on his tray as he debated on confronting her or just letting it go and eating outside on the ground. "Excuse me." He nearly whispered, and with the noise in the dining hall no one within a few inches away would probably have heard him. "You're in my seat." He said a tiny bit louder, enough for a guy with a crew cut to look over his shoulder at Carter, then nudge his friend so he looked to. Carter saw them out of the corner of his eye, but pretended not to because of the smirks on their faces. He always hated that look.

`TAG amelia nobles
`WORD COUNT 1089
`LYRICS halo by beyonce
`AVATARS livejournal i'll bet
`OOC wow that was so much better than i expected. not having the television on is a real help!

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[sarahnobles]

A day at the Chicago School of Performing Arts was amazing as far as Amelia was concerned. She had two classes solely for drawing, a painting class and the best part was she didn’t have to suffer through a block of gym. Instead she was in ballroom dancing. The dancing, unfortunately was difficult, she couldn’t hear the music to find the beat. Unless her partner was excellent she was lost the whole class. Even her core classes where going well, except for maybe math, but at least was useful. Her day would be better if she had a few friends, but all in all she was happy. Rebecca had said she would see her again, that was something to look forward to. She felt heat rise her in cheeks as she thought about Rebecca. She still couldn’t explain why the junior had this effect on her, but she did know she was burning with a desire to see her again. Friends would also make meals more enjoyable. Sitting alone, eating alone, being alone, was starting to get very old.

Hunger drove her to the dining hall once again. As usually she had skipped breakfast and as to be expected she was starving. Picking a line was an easy choice for Amelia who was rather predicable when it came to her food. Every day she had a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, applesauce, and chocolate milk. It wasn’t even necessary for her to inform the women serving her what she wanted; she had started preparing her tray as soon as Amelia’s face appeared. Amelia smiled in thanks and moved on to pay for her lunch, grabbing her carton of milk before beginning her search for a seat.

As usual the hall was over crowded with students. Half of them probably where skipping class in order to eat with their friends. She weaved her way through the rows of tables and the hazards of book bags. Her search led her to the far back of the room to a small table with an open seat. Hopefully she could get in and out quickly, maybe she would go to her drawing room early and start working on her newest project. It had to be a portrait and although she hadn’t consciously decided who she would use for a model she was in a hurry to get started and Rebecca had lovely hair.

She opened her milk and allowed her gaze to drift around the room. Lip reading had its advantage, she didn’t like to use the word spy, she preferred observe. People watching was much more interesting when you knew what others where saying. Just a few seats away two girls where debating peeps. Yes, peeps, as in the yellow and pink marshmallow ducks. It was bunnies vs. ducks and which was better. After about a minuet though the conversation grew boring and she returned to her attention back to her meal.

When she was down she turned around, about to stand up and throw out her tray. Surprisingly though she couldn’t. Someone was right behind her. She looked up into the face of what she guessed was a senior surprised. How long had he been standing there?

OOC: That is the cutest title lol It fits this so well

[carter]

DON'T KNOW HOW TO SAY THIS RIGHT,
AND THE WORDS GOT ME CHOKING

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The two guys who had been staring at Carter, were still staring at him while talking amongst themselves. Carter couldn't hear what they were saying and couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Well, he probably didn't want to hear what they were saying, even though he had a good idea. They were probably calling him a queer, as most often did, because he usually never hung out with girls. Most of his friends were guys like him, comic book fanatics and cartooning majors. He was friends with just a few band geeks as well. However, his lack of girl experience made him weird around them. He didn't get nervous or anything, not really anyway, but he often found himself saying things that they maybe didn't want to hear. He should permanently replace his mouth with his foot since it was in there enough.

Thinking she was either ignoring him or... ignoring him, Carter began looking for another spot to sit. He really didn't want to have to eat outside. That just wasn't sanitary. Unfortunately for him it looked like he was going to have to, seeing as how this lunch was so filled some people were sitting two to a seat. Definitely people skipping class to eat during this lunch, but he didn't see what was so special about it. Timing maybe? It was the first lunch of the day so these must be some pretty hungry teenagers. Or, they would rather eat with their friends. Carter would certainly rather eat with his friends, but to get in trouble for skipping would be worse then sitting alone. However, he was now reconsidering this thought. It seemed that skipping to go to lunch was the new skipping to go hang around town. Come on Cohen, everyone is doing it! Yeah right, he was never a follower before, why start now? Besides, he would just get mocked for trying to fit in now that everyone branded him as "weird". He really didn't think liking comic books was weird. Maybe it was idolizing Charles Schulz they found odd. Carter didn't even think he looked like a geek, aside from the hair, and the tall string bean appearance... and maybe the clothes.

Giving up and ready to walk away from the table to head outside, he was stopped when he felt the chair that was once his bump against him. He turned around to see that the girl who had taken his seat was now staring up at him. Wow how must he look now? "Um, hi." He should have just walked away, shouldn't have said anything to her, but he couldn't just not say anything. "I was uh, I was just looking for a seat since you were in my usual one. But no need to leave, you were here first today. Sorry to bother you." He was stammering over his words it felt like vomit. He needed to leave before he ended up dropping his tray on her. He hesitated for a moment then turned and stepped over a book bag to make his get-away. He didn't make it any further than a few tables before someone grabbed his arm and turned him around, nearly spilling his punch over his tray. "Look I..." Thinking it was the girl's boyfriend come to beat him up, Carter was already looking for an apology. "Queer and stupid. I guess they go hand in hand." Carter heated up with frustration and embarrassment but didn't respond. "She's deaf you moron." Carter's mouth hung open a bit, ignoring the insults for the moment. "Deaf?" Oh, that was just great. Now he felt like a real imbecile. "That's what I just said. You hard of hearing too?" Carter frowned. "No, I just-" "Look, whatever man. I just thought I'd let you know so you could return the favor with your cookies." He grabbed the two cookies right off Carter's tray, patted him on the shoulder, and returned to his chortling friends. God, he really felt like he was still in elementary school.

Now standing among multiple tables of staring people, Carter decided it was probably best he went back to apologize for his lack of intelligence. His arms were getting tired of holding onto his tray so ended up setting it down on the other side of the girl when he returned to the table. "Uh..." He did know a small bit of sign language, but not enough to really communicate effectively. He rubbed his fist against his chest in apology. "I'm sorry." That was about the most of what he knew. "Um..." He looked at her now, wondering if maybe she could read his lips, most deaf people were pretty good at that, not that he ever met any before now.

`WORD COUNT 838
`LYRICS barriers by david archuleta
`AVATARS livejournal i'll bet
`OOC finally finished! lol felt like it was taking forever. >.<

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[sarahnobles]

Her brown eyes wide with surprised focused on his lips, it was hard to understand him with all his stuttering. She caught a few words; looking, seat, usual, leave. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before she could ask him to repeat himself he turned and walked away. Still puzzled she watched him attempt to leave. He was doing well and then another student dragged him off course. She didn’t know the entire situation or the boys relationship, but the second one seemed rude. He just grabbed him and spun him around. Now the rude one was facing away from her and the odd one who had stammered to her was facing her, but a little too far away for her to clearly see what he was saying. Their conversation was short, with little response from the student facing her. She was pretty sure he had said the word deaf, where they discussing her? Probably, as far as she was aware she was the only deaf student in the school. The rude one then stole her boy, he was hers because she knew him, well not knew him, but you know what I mean, stole her boy’s cookies.

Now her boy had turned around was approaching her table again. Should she say something to him? Was he coming to make her get up now? She would give him the seat, she was done eating anyway. If he was rude she might just stay there to annoy him, but if he just asked she would move. Instead he set his tray down next to her empty one and signed, while speaking. Again she raised an eyebrow, now he spoke, well knew, sign language? She was going to assume he only knew that much because he went back to stammering. Making a conscious effort not to roll her eyes in annoyance and exasperation she turned around and picked up her notepad and pen. This week she was writing in yellow, hopefully he had good eyesight. She wrote him a note and then presented her pad to him.

What are you sorry for? Do you know any asl besides ‘I’m sorry’? And I don’t know if you care, but I’m Amelia. You are? I can reads lips btw.

She didn’t want to bombard him with questions, but she was perplexed. A random student, apparently a lonely, at least two years older her stands over her for who knows how long then walks away with no explanation (well none that she understood). Then he comes back apologizing. Normally her notes where also brief to save time. Of course she was normally more polite as well, she didn’t mean to come off as rude, but her note probably sounded that way.

[carter]

NEVER REALLY SAID TOO MUCH
AFRAID IT WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH

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Carter would see it in her eyes that she thought he was a complete lunatic. Maybe lunatic was too strong a word, crazy was a better one. He felt a little crazy trying to speak without actually forming words. He knew a few other signs, neither of which would be particularly appropriate. He could still feel the eyes of the opposite table on his backside, waiting for idiot move number, what was it now? Three? He really didn't want to give them the satisfaction of giving them a good laugh, again. So he stopped stuttering over his mumbled words and hoped she would take over. To his relief, she leaned over for something in her bag, he could only imagine her reappearing with a baseball bat and hit him over the head with it. He braced himself, but soon relaxed when he saw it was only a notepad and pen. Oh, maybe she was going to whack him over the head with it.

She didn't. He leaned over her a bit to try and see what she was writing down, but the color of the pen was difficult to see at the distance, however short it was. He just watched the end of it wobble around and tried to match its movements with letters. That didn't work very well, he could catch some letters but not enough to combine into a logical word. When the girl handed him her pad, Carter took it and held it meaningfully in front of him to hide his own face. Why, he didn't know. After he carefully read her message, the yellow a bit hard on his eyes, he looked down at her. His mouth parted to speak, but again nothing came out. He knew as soon as he started he would start stumbling around words, so he didn't even bother trying. He also didn't want to talk too fast for her. Holding onto the pad with one hand he extended his other toward her with a 'may I?' expression on his face for the pen.

Moving his full tray over a bit so he could lean down and use the table to write on, Carter skipped a line from where her writing stopped and began his response. 'I'm sorry for walking away w/o letting you say anything respond. I do know some very basic asl, but not enough to carry a full conversation.' He paused in his writing to look up at the rest of hers to be sure he replied to everything. 'I'm Carter. Nice to meet you.' He had frowned slightly at the 'i don't know if you care' part, but didn't make any reference to it. He didn't not care about her name, if that's what she wanted to know. Laying the pen on the pad, he slid the whole thing back over the table to Amelia. He had plenty more questions to ask her, about being deaf specifically, but didn't want to appear as rude by bombarding her with them. They had just met after all and not under the greatest of circumstances, although there were worse ways to meet a person.

`WORD COUNT 541
`LYRICS light on by david cook
`AVATARS livejournal
`OOC sorry for the wait. been busy and distracted x.x

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[sarahnobles]

Amelia felt her shoulders and back relax as her boy stood over her. He was obviously nervous or scared? Maybe just embarrassed? She looked behind him to the table with the rude student and glared. They should mind their own business. Whether they where staring at her or her boy. However she wasn’t one to cause a scene so she turned her attention back to the student standing above her.

Curiously she watched him with her notepad, he was a little weird. Not in a bad way, but he definitely wasn’t normal. He was hiding his face, she hoped he had enough common sense to move it away from his face before he spoke. To her surprise he moved the pad away from his face and extended his hand for her pen. She willingly handed it over, he could speak, but if he wanted to write that was fine. She wasn’t in a rush. She preferred for others to speak, the conversation just moved more quickly that way, but she wouldn’t stop him. At least not until he looked more relaxed. She could swear she had seen him flinch out of the corner of her eye when she pulled out her notepad.

She took her pad back and read over his note. A small smile appearing on her lips when she got to the section he had crossed out. He was definitely trying not to offend her. He didn’t need to try so hard, she wasn’t that easily offended. She began to write her own response,
Hi, Carter. I guess u want 2 sit and eat? She was assuming he wanted her to move, why else had he come over. She added with a smirk, or do u just like to stand over people and stalk them. lol She added the laugh-out-loud so he would know she was kidding and not trying to yell at him.

OOC: Its ok

[carter]

THEY MIGHT TELL YOU I'M NO GOOD
GIRL THEY NEED TO UNDERSTAND JUST WHO I AM

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Gradually, Carter could feel himself start to feel better about what had made him so tense and odd before. He could still feel the eyes on him, but didn't really care as much anymore since he wasn't speaking out loud. At least if he were to say something stupid again no one else would know it but Amelia and him. Although, if the person who was watching and waiting were to get up to look over his shoulder Carter probably wouldn't do anything to stop him, except made shift over a little more to block his prying eyes. He wasn't one for confrontation, as was easy to tell, verbal or physical. If he were to get punched, he wouldn't retaliate, unless whomever it was had made him just that angry. When he was back in junior high anyone caught fighting was suspended or arrested, depending on what happened, neither of which were worth ruining the rest of his life by dirtying up his permanent record.

While waiting for Amelia to read his response and write her own, Carter decided to finally start eating before the bell rang for the end of the period and he had to hike to the basement for his next class. He didn't want to risk eating the burrito while he was still standing, guaranteed he would drip it on himself. Instead he grabbed his apple and took a bite of it, feeling it hit the pit of his stomach after he swallowed. The apple his gotten warm, the cool perspiration that had been on it once he grabbed it evaporated. That meant his burrito did the opposite and cooled, hopefully not to the point of being distasteful. He was hungry enough now that he would eat it anyway though. The salsa would help it go down easier at least.

When Carter realized Amelia had finished writing, he leaned closer to the table to read the words scribbled on the pad. He let out a nervous laugh after reading her final statement, glad she added the 'lol' so he knew she didn't really think that herself. Sticking the apple between his teeth so he wouldn't drop it, Carter took the pen again and moved the pad in front of him to reply. 'I can wait for another empty seat if your still eating.' He paused to look around the dining hall. 'The crowd seems to be thinning. I can always snack in my next class too.' Not really, the teacher was a stickler about food, but that never stopped people from sneaking it in anyway. 'Only on Wednesdays. lol' Look, Carter actually made a joke. A cheap one that Amelia had set up for him, but it was progress.

`WORD COUNT 467
`LYRICS real good man by tim mcgraw
`AVATARS livejournal
`OOC again, sorry for the wait. i've just been lazy with responding lately x.x hehe

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[sarahnobles]

Amelia rarely found herself in a fight, she had never hit anyone. Heck she hardly ever swore. She also didn’t have too many enemies, then again she didn’t have a lot of friends. Being mute and therefore quiet she did tend to go unnoticed. Being short was an advantage to blending in as well. Really she wasn’t a quiet person, well she was silent, but Amelia has a lot to say. She isn’t afraid to voice her opinion and she’ll talk all day if you letter. At Chicago though, because none of her new friends could sign or the teachers, she was forced to write down her every thought. This was inconvenient and annoying so she wasn’t quite as talkative as when she was signing. Hopefully soon Rebecca would be able to hold a whole conversation with asl. The junior had surprised her with the little knowledge she had as Amelia had been beyond excited to discover.

Amelia read over his note with an amused smile. How did he expect to wait for a seat when lunch was almost over? A smirk crossed her face at his little joke, he was cute. A bit of a dork, but that was what made him adorable. She wrote a brief response and handed the pad back over before standing up. Then took it back from to add something extra, just being friendly.

Its fine, im done anyway.

What class do you have next?

Her eyes cast down to his lunch, cafeteria food was awful as it was, but it was more unappealing cold. She almost felt guilty because she had been in his seat, but he didn’t own the chair and well she had the right to sit there. It wasn’t as if she planned to ruin his lunch. At the very least though she could at least make the remainder of his lunch pleasant, everyone else seemed to want to make it worse.

[carter]

THEY MIGHT TELL YOU I'M NO GOOD
GIRL THEY NEED TO UNDERSTAND JUST WHO I AM

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The guys at the table behind him, the ones who found it amusing to give him hell, had started making ridiculous faces behind his back. The girls they were trying to impress giggled, which only made them do it more. However, Carter could see others giving them odd looks and smiled smugly to himself. Their plan had backfired, not to mention he could see what they were doing, which made their antics completely pointless since obviously they were assuming he couldn't see them. Finishing off his apple, he set it on the tray, grabbing a napkin to remove the juice from his fingers. When Amelia slid the paper over to him he reached for it only to withdraw his hand when she snatched it back, scribbled something else, then let him have it again. He took the pen too before lifting the paper to his eyes to read it. He really hoped she didn't write in yellow all the time.

Carter absently shifted out of the way when Amelia got out of his chair, leaning down to reply. 'Alright, thanks.' He then skipped a line to answer her question. 'English, unfortunately' It was better than Ballroom, which was the class he had just before lunch, but he still didn't prefer it to any drawing class. Before handing over the pad and pen to Amelia, he added, 'Again, sorry. Hope to see you around.' He then handed her the notepad and yellow pen with a nice smile. Finally he made it through a confrontation without getting pudding dumped on his head.

He reclaimed his seat and took a few bites of his lukewarm burrito, ignoring the morons beside him, when the end-of-lunch bell rang. Shoveling down what remained on his tray, Carter jumped from the chair, accidentally clocking one of the morons in the face with his elbow as he too hurried to empty his tray. "Oh, sorry." He wasn't really, but he would be if he didn't hurry and get to English. Without seeing if he even drew blood, Carter dumped his trash, put the tray and cup on a cart and got lost in the crowd flooding out into the hallway.

`WORD COUNT ---
`LYRICS real good man by tim mcgraw
`AVATARS livejournal
`OOC sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry -deep breath- sorry sorry sorry, again for the wait. i suppose the thread is finshed though. lmao! >.<

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