Disclaimer: All I want credit for is the order in which I put already existing words

Things I do own in this chapter: Rylan, Lucy, Janet, Clara, Chloe, Celeste, Darcy, Connor, James and Katie

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Waterloo Road\OC

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Chapter Two: Rylan's realisation

Rylan sauntered down the hall with the group of boys that had accumulated around him and Denzil. "Right lads, let's get this show on the road." He said confidently, when he saw Lucy on her own again. Janet had gone home, and Lucy was waiting to be picked up.

"Oi! Spaz!" Lucy turned, after hearing the noise thanks to her safely returned hearing aids. She saw Rylan, the boy who'd stolen them surrounded by a group of his friends. She turned and headed to the door. A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her round. "I'm talking to you, spaz. Oh, yeah. That's right you can't hear what I'm saying." The boys around him laughed at his tone.

Lucy swallowed and narrowed her eyes. She cleared her throat and said "I may not hear with my ears, but I can lip read. You think you're so great, showing off to your mates like that. At least I'm tolerant towards other people, rather than showing my ignorance through acts of blatant bullying."

Rylan was left speechless, taken aback by her impressive vocabulary. "You're still spazzy though." Denzil said, to laughter and back patting. Rylan didn't join in. He knew Lucy was right. He was proving ignorance by bullying. Having it spelt out to him by his 'victim' made him realise how bad he'd become. Realising he had a victim in the first place made him want to hit himself for being so stupid.

"Let's get out of here, guys." He said and stormed out of the school without checking they were following.

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Two weeks later:

Clara and Lucy were hanging out on the steps by the hall. With the help of Janet, Lucy was teaching Clara some basic sign language. Clara learnt that Lucy lived with her dad, and her mum had moved to Scotland with her new partner six years previously. They hadn't seen each other or been in contact since. and Lucy learnt that Clara's brother, Rylan felt bad about how he'd treated Lucy, but was too embarrassed to admit it. Clara invited Lucy back to her house, and Lucy texted her dad and he soon replied saying it was ok. The two were clearly best friends by now.

After school, Clara led Lucy to her house. It wasn't too far away, so they walked it. The two sat in the front room doing homework. Rylan burst through the door about an hour later and did a double take when he saw Lucy in his house. He dragged Clara into the kitchen.

"Did mum say you could bring someone back tonight?" He asked in a harsh whisper

"Yeah. I phoned her at lunch and she said it was fine."

"She knew I was having Chloe round. Why'd you not go out or something?"

"We're doing homework. It's a group project for English." she shot back "Why don't you and Chloe go out, or round to her's." He looked away "Oh. Chloe didn't tell her parents she was coming here, did she?"

"No." he sighed. "She said she's going to Katie's."

"And Katie's covering for her?"

"Yeah. She only lives two houses down. She's getting dropped off there then going to walk round here. So you guys go up to your room and do the homework or something."

"No. We were here first. You go to your room."

"Chloe has a no bedroom rule, you know that. Go to your room."

"You are so whipped." She laughed "Hang out in the kitchen."

"That's not... comfortable." The doorbell went, signalling Chloe's arrival.

Clara rolled her eyes and went back into the front room, where she'd left Lucy. She wrote on the page they'd been conversing with what had gone on in the kitchen. The door opened again and Chloe Mason, Rylan's girlfriend stepped through the door.

"Get out loser." she said to Clara "And take your little friend here with you."

"Actually, Chloe, we were here first. Maybe you guys could go somewhere else." just to annoy Rylan she said "Rylan's room is free."

She did not expect the response "Ok." Chloe said chirpily "Let's go upstairs, babe."

The two disappeared, Rylan speechless, raising a brow at Clara on his way out. The two girls were then left in peace to finish their project. Only interrupted when Rylan's stereo was turned on with the bass so high it shook the house.

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"...And that is our project." Clara brought the presentation to a close, grinning at Lucy, who smiled back.

"Thank you girls, an interesting presentation. Take a seat and Darcy and Celeste can go next." Mr Clarkson said from his position at the back of the classroom, writing copious notes about the five minute project presentation.

The two girls took their seats and were replaced by the next pair. Clara slipped Lucy a note, and the two held a conversation, ignoring the presentations going on. Clara took a particularly long time over one; 'So anyway, after you left, and Chloe had gone, I asked Rylan why Chloe had lifted her no bedroom rule, he said she was totally up for it. Apparently the stereo went on so that we wouldn't hear them having it on.'

Lucy read the note and sniggered, drawing Clarkson's attention their way. "Something funny, girls?" Lucy crumpled the note in her fist.

"No sir, Lucy just laughed at something I'd written in the project. It's nothing really."

"Oh yeah, what bit?"

Clara glanced at Lucy. Luckily, she'd lip-read and scanned quickly for a plausible line to laugh at. Thankfully, she found something and pointed to it. "I made a bit of a play on words in a bit."

"Well, I look forward to reading it then." He turned back to the current group presenting and said "Sorry Connor, James. Please continue." Lucy looked at Clara and mouthed 'sorry'.

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The two friends headed out towards the playground at lunch time. Celeste, Darcy and their friend Katie brushed past them. They had invited Clara to sit with them at their lunch table, completely ignoring Lucy. Clara had declined and had sat opposite where Lucy already was sitting. Celeste stopped and whipped around

"Hey Clara, do you want to come to town with us after school?"

"Can Lucy come?"

Celeste glanced uncomfortably at Lucy then reluctantly said "Ok. Whatever. Meet us at ten past 3 at the gates."

Clara relayed as much as she could to Lucy with the little sign language she had learnt, as the three girls walked away from them. Lucy grinned and the two continued to go outside. They went to their usual place on the steps, and were joined by the small group of friends they had. Clara did her best to make sure that Lucy felt included in the conversation, even passing on some of what she'd learnt so they could communicate with her themselves. Several misused signs meant Lucy was in stitches, and trying to teach them the correct signs. She glanced away from them and saw Janet running towards her. 'It's your dad.' she signed 'He's been in an accident.'

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