Free What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

I hadn’t even gotten to bob my head above water.
    Reality hadn’t really sunk in yet, I knew that.
    I didn’t want to know what life was going to feel like when it finally did.
    “Here you go, Jake,” Principal Hill said, reentering the room.  He handed me a sheet of paper.  My new class schedule.  “A few of your classes have switched hours, to adjust for that independent study class, but a lot of them are still the same.”
    Well, about half of them were.  Physics, AP English and US Government were all different hours.  And I no longer had a single class with Rain and Carter besides Weight Training.  Great, I thought.
    “So do you think you’re feeling up to your first class today?” he glanced at my schedule.  “Calculus?”
    I clicked my pen again.  If that’s okay, sir, I think I’ll wait ‘til next period.  People are going to be staring enough without me walking in on the middle of a class.
    I watched Principal Hill’s face as he read my sloppy handwriting.
    “Understandable,” he said with a nod.  “I’ll let Mr. Sue know you’re excused from first period today.”
    I nodded.  Thanks.
    “If you need anything, you’re always welcome to come and see me,” Principal Hill said, standing and walking me out the door.
    I just nodded.
    It felt weird to be talking to Principal Hill like that.  Troy had been like another dad to me all my life, Carter and I having been best friends for forever.
    My muteness had changed every relationship in my life in one way or another.
    That was the first time I’d thought that word about myself.
    I tried not to pair the word “mute” with “broken”.
    The halls of the high school were long silent as I worked my way toward my locker.  It rattled deafeningly loud when I pulled it open.  A single sheet of white lined paper fell onto the ground.  It must have been folded up and slid between the vent slats.
    I bent down and picked it up off the cold tile floor and unfolded it.
    See you third period, was all it read.
    It was a girl’s handwriting, that was for sure.  Neat and organized looking.
    Third period was my new independent ASL class.
    Wondering who my new classmate was going to be, I stashed my books for my later classes and swung the locker closed.  Heading toward the stairs to the upper level, I heard someone call out behind me.
    “Jake, wait up!”  I turned to see River jogging up behind me, coming from the direction of the girl’s bathroom.  She smiled when she saw me, only briefly glancing at my beautiful scar.  “Rain said you might be coming back to school today.”
    I just nodded, trying to manage a smile.
    “Must be kind of awful, huh?” she said, her nose scrunching just a little.  “Talk about attention.”
    Seriously, I wrote on my pocket notebook.
    “Hey, look,” she smiled.  To my surprise, she started signing, her hands moving slowly and cautiously.  “I learned that on the internet a few days ago.”
    I gave a silent chuckle.  Sorry, I have no idea what that means.
    She laughed at me, giving me a disbelieving look.  “It means you’re a jerk .”
    I gave her a puzzled look and a hard glare.  Jerk?  Excuse me?
    “For leaving me hanging about the Homecoming dance,” she said in a very girl tone.  It only took me a second to realize she was joking.  She laughed all the harder.  “You really thought I was serious for a minute there, didn’t you?”
    I just shook my head, rolling my eyes at her. 
    “Hey, I’ll see you at lunch or something,” she said, turning in the opposite direction.  “I’ve got to get back to class.  And Jake, just be prepared for sixth period.”
    Before I could ask her to explain, she took off down the hall.
    With nothing else to do, I made my way to the upper floor, toward second period, Physics.  Dropping my backpack on the ground, I sank to the floor next to it.  I fished my cell phone out of my pocket, barely getting one bar of service on this middle-of-nowhere