Dyslexic
A/N Hi I'm Jessie, GD and many other things. I've read fics for a while but I've never really written one so here it is, my first fanfic! Hope you enjoy it. Con-crit is definitely as I'm not the best at writing so I need all the help I can get. I've been putting off uploading this but if I don't publish it, I never will. (Un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.)
Disclaimer: I don't own McFly and this never happened.
"Hello children, my name is Miss Bonred! I'll be your reading lesson teacher for the year." the teacher said happily, "If you could please get into partners. Choose carefully as these people will be your reading partner for Year 4!"
Great! I'm going to be alone again. It's not my fault the words jump up and down. If they just stayed still, I would be able to read like a normal person. Now I'm going to have to be partners with the teacher again and-
"Danny? Have you got a partner yet? It's just that I don't and I can't really…well I can't find anyone who would like to go with me…"
I looked up. A shy, fluffy-haired blonde stood next to me, staring at the floor.
"Why would you want to be partners with me? I'm the dumb kid remember? The one that can't read?" I replied, perhaps a bit too loudly. It was true though. Every year from reception, I was the weirdo, the one with 'issues'. When everyone was getting onto bigger books with smaller print, I was still 'reading' small books with the letters growing and growing.
"I don't think you're a weirdo. If you're a weirdo then I'm a strange flying scaredy-dinosaur thing." He pulled a face which I'm pretty sure meant that he had no idea why he said that. Okay, he was a bit strange.
He mumbled something else that I couldn't quite hear. I looked into his sad, brown eyes above his small frown.
"Fine Tom. But you'll regret it."
"I promise I won't." He answered, smiling shyly.
I didn't particularly talk to Tom, we liked different things. Tom was really smart and was always in the top set for everything. There was something odd about Tom. Every time he talked to me, he was always fiddling and running his hands through his floppy, blonde hair, super shy. And I felt butterflies fluttering through my stomach each time I talked to him.
"Okay class! Choose which person is A and which person is B" Miss Bonred told us cheerfully.
Tom looked at me and shrugged as if to say 'You choose.'
Well it was pretty obvious A was going to go first in whatever we were doing and in a reading lesson, it wouldn't be a great idea for me to start.
"You can be A." I said to Tom.
He did a little nod at me to show me he agreed.
"Person A reads to Person B for half the lesson and then you swap for the second half! Happy reading!" Miss Bonred beamed at the whole class before turning to me,
"Danny, Tom I just need to talk to you both. Tom, could you come first?"
It was obvious Miss Bonred was going to talk about my dyslexia. What else would it be? I was getting help for it and it worked, but very slowly. I watched our teacher talk to Tom, his face suddenly frowning when she started talking. He started nodding quickly at what Miss Bonred was saying before coming back to his seat.
"You can go to her now." He told me quietly. I didn't bother asking about what they talked about, didn't want to know what they said about me.
"Hello Danny. You know you shouldn't worry about being dyslexic. You're getting a lot better, you know! We'll go through anything you find too hard but Tom will help you."
I nodded slowly. This wasn't what I was expecting.
"You know you don't have to tell people you're dyslexic, right?"
I nodded again.
"That's everything, Danny. You can go back to read now!"
I sat down quickly, apologising to Tom for holding his reading time up before he started opening the front pages up.
Tom started reading his book, turning the pages carefully, trying not to damage them. I listened carefully, somehow interested in every word he was saying. Each voice had a different accent, all ridiculously exaggerated. It was like I couldn't stop listening, couldn't help look into is his chocolate eyes, full of concentration and happiness as he read each chapter. The book was finished, just in time. He looked up at me, chocolate-brown eyes meeting ocean blue and we both smiled, and I felt a mixture of bursting happiness and excitement.
"You can read really well! I mean really, really well!" I told him.
He chuckled a little, and blushed, "Trust me, I can't read that well."
"Time to swap!" Miss Bonred announced.
Tom gave me a reassuring smile. As I looked at him, I realised I couldn't do this, especially after how Tom had just read.
I raised my hand, "Miss, can I go to the toilet please?"
"Of course you can, Danny. No longer than 5 minutes!"
I ran to the toilet and buried my head in my hands, elbows on the edge of the sink. There was a small voice in my head getting louder and louder.
You'll never be able to read. Everyone in the world can read but you. You're stupid, stupid, stupid.
"SHUT UP!" I yelled.
"Danny?"
Oh, just the thing I need.
"What do you want Tom?" I sighed dramatically. I didn't want sympathy, I didn't want fake words, I just wanted to be able to read, was that too much to ask?
"I know you can do it, Danny. You can beat dyslexia, no problem. Before you know it, you'll be able to read way better than me." He comforted. He came towards me and hugged me awkwardly from the side. I couldn't help the tears that came out, not from the fact that I couldn't read but the fact that he cared. I suddenly felt a rush of warmth go through me, a rush of hope. I had to at least try, for Tom. I buried my head in the crook of his neck and whispered,
"Tom?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go back."
He nodded, taking my hand in his, standing close to me, leading me back.
I started staring at the book, but it wasn't any help. The words jiggled up and down and pieces were missing.
"Here." He pulled my hand out and put my palm on the table. He put his own delicate, warm hand on top and he closed his fingers around all but one, leaving my index finger pointing forwards. I lay my head back in his neck, still staring at the book.
He started reading to me again, running my index finger along the words as he said them. Each word flowed perfectly and everything just sounded…right. The lesson finished all too soon and it was the end of the school day.
"Hey Danny? I know dyslexia isn't something you can cure with a click of the fingers, but here! I don't need them anymore." He pulled something out of his bag and handed it to me.
It was a pack of different coloured pieces of plastic film.
"They're filters. They help people to read though it doesn't always work. I don't really need them now!" He grinned.
"Thanks, but why did you have them anyway?" I asked. It seemed a bit weird that he had them at his level of reading.
"I struggled with reading until last year. And anyway if they don't help you can always use your imagination! See you tomorrow!" He tapped the temple of his head with a wide grin before he left the room.
I couldn't believe it! He was always the teacher's pet, the class nerd, with reading problems! I had a look through the plastic. If he could do it, then I could at least try. I turned towards the book.
On top, there was a small piece of paper with some neat hand-writing. I put the yellowy plastic on top of the paper and it worked! It still wobbled, but it was good enough if I concentrated.
"To Danny,
If you're reading this then the filter worked! Yay!" I smiled to myself before carrying on.
"I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my house one day so we can read together. If you want, you don't have to." He was still shy even when he wrote things down. I felt my smile widen.
"From your strange flying weird scaredy-dinosaur, Tom :D"
I looked up. If I ran I could probably still catch him. I grabbed my bag and rushed out of the school.
"Tom?" I shouted at the top of my voice.
"Yeah?" He stood right behind me with a confused look on his face.
"Yes."
"Yes?" He asked, still confused.
"I would love to come to your house." I couldn't help grinning.
He surrounded me in a hug again and I hugged back tightly.
"We're gonna have to cut back on hugs though. I've talked to you for an hour and we've hugged three times already!" I laughed.
He let go and giggled nervously, running his hands through his hair.
"Friends?" I asked. I stuck my hand out.
He shook my hand and nodded. "Friends."