Chapter 2
Kurt, Ryan and Blaine were up and heading to the restaurant to meet everyone. Ryan had come back that night and him and Kurt had worked everything out.
"Are you excited to get everyone together and meet?" Ryan turned to Blaine and asked.
"Very. How about you?"
"Same." They both turned to Kurt.
"Oh I'm thrilled as well. It's a chance to start new friendships." As they all walked into the café they saw the room they had reserved. It had French doors and a big table able to seat up to sixteen people. They opened the doors and sitting at the table already were two girls and one guy. They looked up as the three entered the room.
"Hello." Blaine spoke first.
"I'm Sharpay and this is Taylor. You already know Sam I'm guessing?" She asked.
"Yes. Hey man." Blaine smiled. Sam did the same.
"I'm Blaine."
"I am Kurt and you probably already know Ryan."
Sharpay smiled. "Yes he is my twin brother. It is nice to meet you."
Almost everyone had arrived and had already began chattering. As if they had all done this together multiple times before.
Although two people were missing. Rachel and Kelsi.
"Rachel it doesn't matter how you say hello to all of them. Now come on we are late."
"Yes but Kelsi people make first impressions of you in the first three seconds of meeting you." Kelsi rolled her eyes and pulled Rachel out of the dorm room.
They opened the French doors a few minutes later. Everyone looked up and Finn smiled at Rachel.
"Kels what took you so long? Did you all travel to China or something?" Taylor asked as she stood to hug Kelsi.
Kelsi laughed. "No we just got a little delayed." She took her seat next to Ryan. Rachel sat down next to Finn as he put an arm around her.
"Practicing your hello voice?" Rachel looked up at Finn.
"No. I was simply picking out an outfit to wear."
"Mhmm."
"I was."
Finn gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. "Ok I was practicing my hello voice."
Rachel looked around the table. She would like to consider herself an observant person. Everyone was in their own conversations with their new friends. Yet she noticed one girl was staring at her menu silently. She was to preoccupied with her order that she didn't bother to say hello when they walked in.
Rachel got up and went to the girls seat.
"Hi I'm Rachel." Rachel waited for the girl to turn around and smile; she didn't.
"Hello? I am talking to you." This is very rude, Rachel thought. She waited a minute to see if she would turn around. When nothing happened she tapped the boys shoulder that was sitting next to this rude girl.
"Is this your girlfriend?" Rachel asked once he turned around.
"Yes." He looked at Gabriella who was still intensely looking at her menu. He looked back up at the girl.
"I am Troy." He held his hand out. She shook it reluctantly.
"Rachel. You have a very rude girlfriend." By this time the conversations had settled down and everyone had heard Rachel's comment to Troy.
"Excuse me?"
"I said you had a rude girlfriend."
"May I ask why you say that? She hasn't even met you yet."
"I said hello to her and she didn't answer me. Your girlfriend is rude."
Troy smiled at the first comment. He was caught up now.
Everyone was silent.
"Why don't you tap her on the shoulder."
"Fine. Like that is going to change anything." Rachel rolled her eyes and did as she was asked.
Gabriella turned around and smiled.
"Hi. I'm Gabriella." She said as she signed also. Rachel just stared at her.
"What's wrong?" Gabriella asked.
"Oh." Rachel looked at Troy. "I apologize."
Troy smiled. "It's ok. But you might want to apologize to Gabriella."
"Will you interpreter?"
"She can read lips. But yes I will."
Rachel turned to Gabriella and smiled.
"Hi I'm Rachel." As Gabriella saw Troy interpreting in sign language she held up her index finger to Rachel. She did not like interpreters unless she was in a group of people. Or she was tired and didn't want to try and figure out what someone was saying. Other than that she liked to read lips. She was good at it and she didn't like an interpreter if she was talking one on one with someone.
"Sorry one second." She told Rachel. Gabriella turned to Troy and started signing. But she didn't say it aloud; she didn't want the other group of friends to know everything she said.
"Troy stop interpreting. I would like to talk to Rachel alone. I am just fine reading her lips. Go talk to your new roommate or something I'm fine ok?"
"Ok. I was just trying to help."
"Thank you but I don't want it right now. Maybe some other time." Troy nodded and sat down next to Chad once again.
Everyone started talking again. Gabriella turned back to Rachel.
"Sorry."
"No problem. So.. Well I need to apologize. I said hello to you a minute ago and you didn't answer. Well I thought you were just being rude and I got mad and told Troy you were rude. I apologize. I didn't know you were deaf." Rachel yelled.
Gabriella just stared at her lips. She couldn't make out many words she was talking so fast. She was worse than when she talked to Sharpay the first time they met. Since then she hadn't encountered a fast talker. Everyone talked their normal speed and she kept up with what they were saying.
Ok then I just need to work twice as hard to keep up, she thought.
"Again I am sorry." Rachel yelled again. Gabriella nodded.
"It's ok." She said. She didn't know what had just been said from her lips but she would find out later. Rachel sat beside Gabriella with Taylor on the other side of her. Gabriella went back to looking at the menu.
Taylor tapped Rachel on the shoulder.
"Hi I'm Taylor." She shook Rachel's hand.
"I'm Rachel."
"Rachel yelling at Gabriella doesn't make her hear you."
"Right." Rachel blushed.
"It's all ok. But next time try to talk a normal speed. Its hard for her to understand like that."
"That was a normal speed."
"Try to make it slower then."
"I'll work on it. That was my first time talking to a deaf person." Rachel smiled.
Taylor internally rolled her eyes. "Yes it is pretty cool."
"So Gabriella what do you want…." Rachel's voice trailed off as she remembered she couldn't hear her. She tapped her shoulder and Gabriella looked up.
"You have been looking at that menu for a long time. Have you decided what you want?" She asked.
"Decided?" Gabriella pondered aloud. That was what she got from reading her lips.
Taylor tapped Gabriella on the shoulder and started signing and talking.
"Gabi she said "You have been looking at that menu for a long time. Have you decided what you want?"." Gabriella looked at Rachel and nodded.
"Yes, I want a steak and mashed potatoes. What do you want?" Gabriella did not sign she just spoke.
Rachel did not understand the last part of her sentence because of her broken speech. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"She asked what you wanted to eat Rachel." Kurt told her.
"Oh." She turned back to Gabriella. "Yes I want a salad."
Sam looked at Gabriella from across the table. He remembered how to sign his name from second grade. That was about it though. The only person he could not communicate with was her.
"Taylor." He said.
Taylor looked up and smiled at Sam.
"Yes."
"Umm how do I sign 'Hi my name is Sam.'?" Taylor showed him.
"But Sam she already knows your name."
"I know I just want to talk to her. That's the only way to communicate with her."
"No she can read your lips." Troy said as he listened to this conversation. He had one arm across the back of Gabriella's chair. The other was deleting his emails on his phone.
"I know but she probably gets tired of having to work so hard at that. This is her language. I want to get into her world." Troy nodded and tapped Gabriella's shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled.
She started to talk and sign. "How did you like your food?"
"I liked it what about you?"
"It was good."
"Hey Gabs someone wants to tell you something."
"Ok who?" Gabriella looked across the table until her eyes fell upon the blonde boy named Sam that was smiling.
"Hi my name is Sam." He spoke as he signed.
Gabriella smiled. He knew sign language?
"You know sign language?" She asked excitedly.
"No only that. Taylor taught me that."
"Oh. Well that's ok. Now you can go up to people and sign to them."
"Yeah I bet they would be thinking I'm some creepy hobo or something."
"Creepy what?"
"Hobo."
"What does HB stand for?"
"No Gabs he said hobo." Troy signed to her.
"Oh. Sorry."
"No big deal you just misheard me." Rachel's eyes widened at Sam's statement.
"No wait I didn't mean that. I-" Gabriella didn't understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. It was too fast for her to figure out. So she just smiled.
The gang looked at Gabriella to see what she would say. Gabriella looked around at all of her friends, new and old, and everyone was staring at her.
"What?" She asked.
"I didn't mea-" Sam's sentence got cut off by Sharpay signing to Gabriella and talking.
"Nothing Gabs. You just misunderstood his sentence." She nodded and pulled her phone out. Maybe she should text her mom. She hadn't done that since she had gotten off the plane.
While Gabriella was preoccupied with her phone Sharpay turned to Sam.
"That wouldn't have hurt her feelings but it was just a slip up."
"I didn't mean it."
"And we all know that. Its ok."
Through the months the group of friends had become very close. They did everything together.
And as of right now Blaine and Finn were walking the streets of new York with Gabriella. Most everyone else had classes that afternoon. So as of right now it was just the three of them.
The new group of friends had been working on their sign language. They actually liked talking like that. The were far from fluent but they were working on it.
"So do you guys want lunch?" Blaine asked Finn and Gabriella.
"You know I do."
"What about you Gabi?" Everyone had decided that Gabriella was to long to say so they called her what everyone else had.
"What about burgers?"
"Ok lets go."
The three of them went to a burger shack and were eating when Gabriella's phone vibrated. She wiped her hands and got her phone out.
Hey Brie. I'm out of class where are you? I looked in your dorm and your not there. Text me.
Love you
-Troy
She smiled and started to reply back.
Finn waved a hand in front of her face.
"Yes Finn."
"Who is it?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Come on Gabi tell me."
"If you must know it's Troy. He is coming down here."
"Oh is Chad coming with him?"
"I don't know call and ask." Finn pulled out his phone and called Troy.
"Hey man what's up?" Troy asked as he answered the phone.
"Nothing. Is Chad coming with you? Oh and do you know where Kurt is? Blaine wants to know."
"Yeah Chad got out of class also. And no I don't know where Kurt is. He is probably still in class."
"Ok." Finn told Troy where they were and he said he would be there shortly.
Blaine looked up at Gabriella and saw her mouth open.
He tapped her and she looked at him with her mouth hanging open and her face shocked and nervous.
"What?" He asked.
Without talking Gabriella signed to him. "Marlee Matlin is in here."
"No way that lady from celebrity apprentice!" Gabriella rolled her eyes at his comment and nodded.
"Yes. Oh my gosh. Should I say something to her? No I'll just stay here."
"Gabi go and talk to her." Blaine smiled.
"Ok I'm going."
"Ok we will be here."
Gabriella got up from her table and went to where she was sitting. She was alone. Gabriella tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up and smiled.
"Hi." She signed and spoke.
"Hi I'm Gabriella and I'm a big fan of you." She quickly signed back.
"You know sign language?"
"I'm deaf." By this time they had stopped talking and just signing. As they talked a little Gabriella's mind wasn't working as fast as it usually did. She wasn't trying to keep up with conversations and reading peoples lips. She knew sign language. It was like speaking English to her. It was easy. Being around people like herself wasn't as much work.
"Was she nice? I would like to meet her sometime. Although I couldn't keep up a conversation." Finn said as they walked back to their dorms.
"Yes she was very nice."
The three of them walked in silence for a few moments until Finn tapped Gabriella on the shoulder.
"Yes."
"Show us what it's like to be you."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"I want to be you for one day. Tomorrow is Sunday and none of us have classes so lets get everyone together and be like you for one whole day." He turned to Blaine.
"Sounds good to me as long as its ok with everyone else."
All fourteen of them sat in the room they reserved the other day. It was eight in the morning and some were still yawning. Gabriella had thirteen pairs of head phones that were programmed to make a long beeping noise that only they could hear. Other than that they would have to rely on their skills on sign language and reading lips.
"Ok who wants to go first?" Gabriella asked.
"I want to." Mercedes said and she took the headphones from Gabriella's basket. Gabriella adjusted the volume so all she could hear was a loud beeping noise and nothing else.
"Ok Mercedes. Can you hear anything?" She signed. There was no use talking while she signed as of right now.
Mercedes looked confused for a second trying to make out what Gabriella had said.
"No I can't hear a thing." The beeping in her ears made her want to yell. It was like an instinct. To yell so they could hear her over the beeping. Everyone else covered their ears at her yelling.
"Mercedes stop yelling it won't help anything." Gabriella signed.
Eventually after scrunched up faces trying to figure out the hand motions, the group had gotten a little adjusted to not hearing.
"Gabi are we just going to sit here in a café room all day?" Sharpay asked a little later.
"No. If all my friends are like me for a day you are getting the full experience." Gabriella stood up and everyone followed her. They went outside to the busy New York streets. The noises of the honking horns and the people chattering was gone. They couldn't hear any of it. It was as if they were all in a dead silent room.
Rachel looked at Gabriella. This is what she heard everyday, absolutely nothing.
"Do any of you want a hot dog?" Gabriella signed.
All of the group raised their hands. Gabriella counted how many there was to get then turned to them.
"You guys can go wherever you want just put your phones on vibrate and in your pocket so you can hear it." With that she walked away and to the hot dog stand.
Although Gabriella said they could go somewhere they all felt the need to stay together. It was scary not being able to hear. And they all stayed close together, because for the moment they wanted someone like them, someone who was deaf and understood them.
"Gabi how do you do that everyday?" Sharpay asked the next day in the same room at the café.
"Do what?"
"Not hear anything."
Gabriella thought for a moment before answering. "I was born deaf so I guess I have become accustomed to not hearing. Yes, there is a lot to miss out on but at least I can see. And I do very well at keeping up most of the time so, in the end, it all works."
"Rachel where in the world are you!" Sharpay hissed into the phone. It was three weeks later and everyone was getting together that night for dinner.
"I'm at panera. I'm having lunch with Kurt, Taylor, and Kelsi. Where are you?"
"I thought we were going to practice our music today for the audition."
"We are but I need to eat lunch first."
"Ok com by my dorm when your finished."
"Bye Sharpay."
"Bye."
"Sharpay and I still have to go shopping. She has decided to let me pick out some outfits that aren't pink." Kurt said when they started talking again.
"I bet you will be shopping for hours." Taylor said.
"Yes but I love shopping." Kurt told her matter-a-factly.
"Yes especially when it's for someone else." Rachel told him remembering the time he dragged her to the mall in high school.
"Definitely."
