Free Jessi's Secret Language by Ann M. Martin

of course, but we invited kids over, or went to somebody else’s house. We were always with other kids, and Matt and Haley were eating it up.
    Plus, the secret language was spreading fast. Learning signs was a game, and the kids, especially Vanessa and Nicky Pike, learned them quickly. This was great, because Vanessa and Haley were getting to be friends, and Nicky, Matt, and Buddy Barrett were getting to be friends, too. They often needed Haley (or me) to translate for them, but the friendship was growing anyway.
    One day, the weather was warmer than usual.
    â€œSummer!” Matt signed to me excitedly. He crooked his right index finger and imitated somebody wiping a hot forehead.
    I smiled at him. It wasn’t summer, though, so I signed, “It feels like summer.”
    Matt nodded. He had just finished his snack and we were heading outside to play. We opened the front door and found the Pike triplets, Buddy Barrett, and Nicky crossing the Braddocks’ lawn.
    â€œHi!” Matt waved eagerly.
    The boys waved back.
    â€œWhere’s Vanessa?” Haley called.
    â€œShe had to go to the dentist,” Nicky answered.
    â€œOh.” Haley sounded disappointed.
    The boys began a game of six-person baseball. They didn’t need to talk much to play that.
    Haley and I sat down on the steps and watched them.
    Buddy hit the ball out into the street, ran the bases, and jumped up and down as if he’d scored a home run.
    â€œNo fair!” Nicky shouted angrily.
    â€œThe ball was out!” Matt added.
    I was about to remind the boys to sign when suddenly they remembered on their own. Nicky signed, “No fair!”, Matt signed “The ball was out,” and then Jordan jumped in.
    â€œNo!” he signed. “Safe.”
    Haley and I looked at each other.
    â€œThey’re not bothering to talk at all ,” said Haley, awed.
    â€œNope,” I replied. “They’ve learned every sign that could possibly have anything to do with football or baseball.”
    Haley grinned. “It’s a good thing Matt playssports so well. If he didn’t, I don’t know what I’d do.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” I asked.
    â€œWell, it’s sure helped him make friends here.”
    â€œI know,” I said, “and that’s great. But what does that have to do with you? You said if he wasn’t good at sports, you didn’t know what you’d do.”
    â€œI have to help him,” Haley said simply. “I have to watch out for him.”
    â€œYou do? I’m the baby-sitter,” I teased.
    Haley smiled. Then her smile faded and she looked sort of sad. “You’re not Matt’s sister,” she told me.
    â€œNo, I’m not.”
    â€œYou don’t know what it’s like.”
    â€œThat’s true…. What is it like?”
    â€œYou have to stand up for him when kids tease him. But while you’re doing it, you wish you weren’t.”
    â€œHow come?”
    â€œBecause it makes you as weird as Matt. And that makes you hate Matt sometimes.” Haley paused and corrected herself. “Well, not hate him. But … oh, what’s the word?”
    â€œResent?” I suggested. “You resent Matt?”
    â€œYeah.” Haley looked ashamed.
    â€œDon’t feel bad about it,” I said. “I resent my brother and sister sometimes, too. Like when Mama asks me to give Squirt a bath or something and I want to practice my ballet.”
    Haley nodded. “But your brother and sister aren’t deaf.”
    â€œSo? Why should you have to be a perfect person just because your brother is deaf?” I asked Haley. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. Matt’s not special, he’s just different.”
    â€œHe is too special!” cried Haley.
    I smiled. “I’m glad you think so. What I meant was that basically, Matt’s like most other seven-year-old boys. Except that