Okay so this will be difficult to write because it is from Daphne's point of view. I will try to include everyone but it might be hard. Bear with me. Chapter eight will include those original characters I told you about so don't worry, they'll be there. Feel free to tell me if I don't quite live up to what you expected. I will do what I can with what you gave me and guess with the rest. Okay, here it goes…
I run towards my father. I must have been shouting because he turns to me before I get there. I say something else and point to the swings. He puts down his piece of cake next to pink birthday balloons and picks me up. He puts me on his shoulders as we go to the swings. He sets me on a "Big kid" swing. I stare at him, puzzled and point to a sign that reads "Three and up". Dad nods towards my party. I know that I won't be three until tomorrow, but decide not to say anything. I turn to thank him, but I don't get the chance. Next thing I know, I'm flying! The sky comes towards me, and then I see mom, then the sky again. I begin to smile, as my last happy memory with Angelo Sorrento fades to black.
Before I can get my bearings I'm thrown into another memory. This time, I hold the straps of my new purple back pack. I looked out the window at my new classmates. They're all talking to each other with their hands. I look back at mom. "You'll do fine. They're just like you, you have nothing to worry about." Mom tried to use the language her new friend Melody had taught us, but in the end she had to write it down for me. "Can we practice again?" I write back. This language was hard, but everyone here knew it, so I tried my best to learn it. Mom and I ran through the whole alphabet. I only messed up on 'T', 'N', 'M', 'P' and 'K'. "You'll get it," wrote mom. I looked back to the school, hugged my mom, and then walked towards the building. Just before I reach the door, a blonde boy taps my shoulder. It was Emmet! The boy who saved me from Hannah. The boy who helped me learn to speak with my hands. He didn't sign or say anything. He just took my hand and walked me to my classroom. As my first day at Carlton's elementary building fades away, a new memory comes in clear.
Bay and I are walking around the mall, both signing. She's practicing, but I'm just glad I don't have to keep asking what she said. We're only window shopping but we're having fun. When we walk through the food court one of Bay's friends recognizes her. She somehow talks him into getting us free drinks. We walk out of the mall with our sodas laughing the whole time. as we sit down in her monster of a car, she turns to me with a serious look on her face. "Promise you're not still mad about Emmet? I know I've asked you a million times, but I'm just trying to keep things straight." I look at Bay and laugh. "Yes, Bay, I promise, I'm over Emmet. I'm kind of into someone else." Her eyes widen just as I knew they would "Oh my god. Who?" she demands. "W-i-l-k-e." she smiles wide "I knew it." "How long have you know?" "Oh you know since you both skipped school on the same day." "And that was all you needed to know? You didn't ask him or look for any other clues?" "Nope," "Wow. You must be a descendant of cupid if you're that good." I sign sarcastically "What? I'm just that good at reading people. And you guys aren't exactly subtle either. The car wash was a dead giveaway." I glare at her playfully "Drive" I command her, pointing at the wheel "Yes, ma'am" she laughs. As the memory ends, I can feel myself smiling.
I am with Melody and Emmet at our house. Emmet and I are about ten years old. Melody is technically babysitting me, but it's more of a play date. Emmet and I run around the yard smiling and laughing and playing tag. Neither can hear the other, but both know that we're both having fun. Next is 'hide and seek'. We're both pretty good at hiding, but I have to say Emmet is much better than me. Half the time he has to come out because it's been ten minutes and I haven't found him. I'm determined to beat him this time. I hide in the garage under a shelf, it's dirty, but I want to beat him so badly, I didn't care. He walks into the garage and I hold my breath each time he looks in my direction. He smiles as he sees me. I wiggle out from beneath the shelf. "You weren't supposed to find me!" I sign in false anger. "Actually I was. It's the point of the game. Remember?" he smiles. I playfully shove him backwards. A guitar case falls off a shelf. It has locks on it, but it sat on the floor, wide open. Emmet and I walk towards it. There are pictures of a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes. "Is this your mom?" Emmet asks. "I don't know." I've never seen these pictures before. Both of us being deaf, neither of us knew mom was home until she came into the garage. She walked towards us, snatched the pictures from our hands, put them back in the case and slammed it shut. "Never open this again." She signed furiously.
It's about a week before I go to Buckner. I'm nervous and I know it shows. I wander around a lot of the time, thinking if I should go or not. Once while I'm pacing on the basketball court, Kathryn comes up to me, "Daphne" she asks "Yes" "Are you alright?" "I'm fine." I lied "Do you need help with anything?" "Actually, yes. I want to do my hair so no one will see my hearing aids" I admit "Well, why not ask Regina? She does hair for a living." "If I told her I wanted to cover my hearing aids, I'd get a long lecture on deaf pride. I don't want that." "Do you want me to help? I've done Bay's hair for plenty of dance recitals." "Seriously? Thank you so much." "Sure. Anytime how about later tonight. After dinner?" "Thanks Mom." I caught myself and turned back to Kathryn "I mean Kathryn. Sorry." "Don't be. You can call me mom if you'd like." "Thanks Kathryn" sometimes I wish I'd signed Mom again. Others I'm glad I caught myself. I know Kathryn was happy that I'd called her 'Mom' but I felt like I was betraying my mom somehow. I didn't get much more time to ponder this though as I was shown another memory.
This time Jon and I are sitting in his car the night we had dinner together. "So," he began awkwardly "Thanks for dinner," I said "no problem," I could tell my staring at him made him uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell what he was saying if I didn't. "So, if you ever want to come by again just call. Or text or something." "I'll text." I tried not to make this anymore uncomfortable than it already was, but I knew that if we didn't keep talking, the awkwardness would feed on the silence. "I really like your house," I tell him "Thanks," he says "turn left." I tell him "thanks" he says again I knew he didn't know what else to say, but I wished he'd say something. Anything. "Right here," I told him as we pulled up to the house "okay," I don't remember much of our conversation, but I remember hugging him and not wanting to let go. This is my Dad. I thought. It felt right, but I tried not to cling when he began to let go. I walked up to my porch wordlessly and opened the door, thinking about Jon and Kathryn and Toby the whole time. Even if I was the only one who saw it as luck, I felt lucky to have two families. Even if Bay didn't like me very much.
Hope you liked it. I will write an actual chapter next time. I just wanted to get more Daphne scenes. Let me know what you think. Did I do well writing in a point of view or did I botch it? Review to let me know. I'm sorry if it seems short. There are still spots open for characters! Only two, spots left! PM me! Come one people! Okay that's all. Review!