Disclaimer: I don't own Portal, It is owned by Valve.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Monotonicity
Sameness or dull repetition in sound, style, manner, or color.
Chell
"Alright, gentlemen, prepare to be virtually re-educated on test rooms. Everything you know - or thought you knew you knew - has to be destroyed, overwritten, formatted, and then reformatted. Aperture Science has once again outdone itself.
Does that mean our term papers will need different material on them...? That means I have to rewrite mine...
I raised my hand in an attempt to get the teacher's attention. Maybe he didn't see me, or he was just ignoring me purposely. Even though he hadn't acknowledged me, I still kept my hand in the air. I'd be damned if I was going to fail because he ignored me.
...
Five minutes passed and I was beginning to get pissed. I didn't take to kindly to being ignored.
I have a question, dammit!
I slammed my hand down on my desk angrily, earning a few surprised looks from some students.
Fine. If he isn't going to acknowledge me, I'll just write a new one with this material and turn them both in.
It's a funny thing being mute. It doesn't feel like a disability... but people still treat me as though it were. I'm not frail or weak. I'm just like any other teenager. Yet people act as if I need help; they step around me and take extra care not to hurt "The Mute Girl's" feelings.
It's infuriating, but there isn't much I can do, since I can't necessarily "speak up". I don't feel like being mute would impair me. I'm not incapable of helping myself... Despite popular belief, I prefer to accomplish things on my own.
Of course, there are things I can't accomplish; but for those things I have C.C.; one time I got placed in a Spanish class that was mostly speaking and listening. I had to text C.C. to save me from a long- and very one sided- argument about how I need to grow up and stop giving the teacher the silent treatment and do the work. She had to come in and explain to him that I couldn't in fact do the work because I was mute. After that, she had to go to see Principle Johnson to help me get my classes switched to something... more suitable.
Needless to say, C.C. thought that was hilarious.
" I don't hate you... " My phone singsonged from my pocket breaking my train of thought and effectively silencing the teachers ranting.
I really have to remember to silence this thing in the morning...
"I thought I had made it clear that ALL cell phones should be silenced during my class," the teacher said, combing over the students as he searched for the culprit.
I waited for him to stop eyeballing the classroom before reading the text message.
✉Hey Chell! I decided not to stay after so I can walk home with you! :)✉
She couldn't have waited until we got out of class to tell me...? Jeez C.C...
.
..
...
It had only been twelve minutes since I got C.C.'s text and I was already beginning to dose off during the teacher's lesson. I had just gotten out of gym and they had the most athletic students demonstrate the best way to avoid turret fire during testing. I'm glad they filled the turrets with pellets and not bullets, or this welt on my arm would be slightly more serious.
After about thirty minutes, I had grown tired of listening to the teacher drag on about the easiest way to navigate a test room with Aperture Science's new invention: Panels.
Hoorah...
The day dragged on endlessly. I thought the bell was never going to ring. I swear I was seconds away from looking down the barrel of an Aperture Science Enrichment Center Dual Portal Gun... and pulling the trigger. I'm not suicidal or anything; I'd just prefer getting my head sucked off into a quantum space hole than this lecture.
"Obviously, you all know what the standard test room is: four walls and a ceiling. Good enough for science, right? Wrong! It's not good enough for Aperture Science. Throw everything you know about test rooms away, because Aperture has revolutionized the way Aperture Science Test Subjects take tests. They are... the planks of tomorrow! They're fully configurable and infinitely variable! They're safe and they help the test subject every step of the way."
I began to ignore the godforsaken lecture and instead doodled in my notebook. After a few doodles I wasn't pleased with I gave up and looked out the window.
I scanned the ground and sky hoping for something interesting but nothing outside caught my attention long enough to curb my boredom. My eyes began to feel heavy despite my obvious conviction to stay awake and allowed them to flutter shut.
I got B+ on my last test...I think I can afford a nap.
...
...
...
Something tells me I would have been sleeping at that desk all night if C.C. hadn't come and found me. You would think that for someone who can't speak, I would be harder to find.
"So, were you planning on spending the night here, or are you coming home?" a familiar voice called as an all-too-annoying finger jabbed me in the rib cage. I would have groaned for her to go away, but being mute, it was more of an angry sigh.
"Come on, Chell, my mom is going to worry if we don't get home soon," she said, poking me in the ribs again.
If looks could kill C.C. would have burst... twice, but instead she only flashed her trademark smile. It was always hard to be angry with her. It was just impossible. So, I just smiled back at her and yawned.
I looked around the now-empty room and my smile slowly lowered to a slightly annoyed frown. C.C. must have immediately guessed why my expression changed so suddenly, because she began to laugh. Her laugh was smooth and soft. Like the pitter patter of a river.
"No one wanted to wake you up, you seemed tired," she said, sitting in the desk next to mine.
In rebuttal, I rubbed my eyes and began to stand. I must have been sleeping for longer than I thought, however, and ended up tripping over my own feet. I would've ended up eating the dust on the glazed tile floor if C.C. hadn't caught me.
"Seriously Chell...you are such a klutz," she giggled, pulling me into an upright position.
I know anybody could have easily made that mistake, but for some reason I turned at least five shades of red. I didn't want C.C. to see, so I pretended to rub more sleep out of my eyes.
"Aww, Chell's embarrassed!" C.C. teased, clearly seeing through my attempt at hiding my face.
I ignored her and turned away, hoping to at least hide the new blush that crept on to my face.
"As much as I like seeing you embarrassed, we really should go" C.C. said grabbing our bags and walking towards the classroom door.
I could only smile as I watched her leave the room.
"Come on!" I heard her shout from the hallway.
I love that girl.
A/N
First I want to thank LadySchadenfreude for pushing me, encouraging me, and helping me turn this into something readable.
secondly i thank Valve for the Characters :D
I hope you all don't think Chell is OOC but it's hard to judge a silent characters..well character.
If you don't know who C.C. is you must not be a huge fan of Portal...but if you seriously can't figure it out it's Companion Cube.
Please review! It'll motivate me to make chapter two :).