"Trina!" I yelled to my sister from the doorway of my room. She came out of her own room a few doors down and joined me.
"What's up?" she asked me. I held up two pairs of earrings.
"Which do you like better, the amethysts or the pearls?" I asked.
"Where are you going?" Trina asked me.
I blushed. "I have a date tonight."
Trina grinned. "Is my baby sister finally going on her very first date?"
"Shh! Stop it, Trina! Amethysts or pearls?"
"Who's the special guy?" Trina asked, completely ignoring my question.
"You probably know him. He's in your class. Ryder Daniels?"
Trina's face fell. "Yeah. I know him. Tori, what are you doing going out with Ryder?"
I shrugged. "He asked me and I said yes. Amethysts or pearls?"
Trina shook her head. "No. Nuh-uh. Tori, I know you feel like a dork because you're sixteen and you've never been on a date, but that does not mean you have to accept the first invitation that comes along."
"You, too? First André, then Jade, then André again, and now you. What's so bad about Ryder?" I asked my sister.
"Ryder isn't exactly Prince Charming, Tori," Trina told me. "He goes out with a girl, then he never calls her again. Not to mention that he's the biggest dick at Hollywood Arts. And with you…"
"With me, what?" I demanded.
Trina sighed. "I'm just saying…with you…he's got a lot of ammunition."
"Because I'm deaf?" I asked.
Trina hesitated for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah, Tori. Because you're deaf." I stared at my sister for a long time, then held up the earrings again.
"Amethysts or pearls?" I said.
Trina sighed, knowing I was going to do whatever I wanted to do. "Depends on how much attention you want to call to your hearing aids."
I touched my left hearing aid with my free hand. I hadn't even thought about that. "Are they noticeable?" Trina just shrugged. "Are they ugly?"
"You can't follow a conversation without them, so I don't think that really matters," Trina said. I knew she was right. "Go with the pearls if you want them to stay unnoticed. Go with the amethysts if you don't care."
I nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
"Sure. Good luck with Ryder. You'll need it." Trina went back to her room. I sighed as I put both pairs of earrings on my dresser before I stepped in front of the mirror and examined my reflection, wondering what, exactly, Ryder saw in me. It wasn't my generic brown eyes. It wasn't my huge cheekbones. It wasn't my long, frustrating, curly brown hair that went from smooth to frizzy in a matter of minutes. It certainly wasn't my scrawny, shapeless body. Why was he attracted to me? Why did he think that I was pretty?
"Stop it," I signed to myself. "You can't think like that, Tori. Just finish getting ready and everything will be fine."
Pushing aside my self-loathing thoughts, I grabbed the pearl earrings off of my dresser and carefully inserted them into the miniscule holes in my earlobes. The amethyst earrings were my favorite, but they weren't worth calling attention to my geeky hearing aids.
When people learn that I'm deaf, they automatically assume that I don't have any residual hearing whatsoever, but that's not the case. The meningitis destroyed ninety-eight percent of my hearing in my right ear, and ninety-five percent in my left. I know that doesn't seem like much, but trust me, it does make a difference. When I was four, my mom saw how difficult it was for me to follow a conversation, so I got my first pair of hearing aids. When the doctor turned them on for the first time, I cried, I was so happy. I could actually understand what people were saying. Most people don't know that only thirty percent of English can be seen through the lips. I can only understand thirty percent of what people are saying—I just pretend like I get more. With the hearing aids, it's more like sixty percent. They were a life changing experience, and even though I complain about them sometimes, I don't know what I would do without them.
Just after I was completely finished getting ready, Trina came into my room and told me that the doorbell was ringing. I ran downstairs and opened the door for Ryder, smiling at him.
"Hi, Ryder!" I greeted him cheerfully.
"Hey, Tori. Hey, Trina," Ryder said. I looked behind me and saw my sister glaring at Ryder. She didn't say anything to him.
"Let's go, Ryder," I said, shaking my head. So maybe Ryder hadn't acted like Prince Charming to every girl he had ever gone out with. He was willing to ignore my deafness and ask me out. I had to be willing to ignore the few mistakes Ryder was rumored to have made with other girls.
"Sounds good. Follow me." Ryder led me to his car and opened the door to the passenger seat for me. He got in the driver's side and drove us to a place called Nozu, just as André had guessed. When we walked inside, I was momentarily overwhelmed by the strong smell of fish and the bright, pink and orange neon lighting hanging on every single wall. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw that we were the only people in the restaurant.
"Where is everybody?" I asked Ryder.
"Nozu doesn't open for another hour," Ryder explained.
"Then how—"
"My parents are good friends with the owner, Mrs. Lee. I convinced her to let us in a little early so we could have some privacy on our date," Ryder explained.
I grinned. "That's so sweet! Thank you, Ryder."
"You are more than welcome," Ryder said with a smirk. "Come on. Mrs. Lee set up my favorite booth for us." He took my hand and led me to a booth in the back of the restaurant. Ryder sat down first, leaving me the seat with my back to the door.
"Have you ever been here before?" Ryder asked me. I shook my head. "Best sushi in town. You'll love it." I smiled and looked back down at the menu in front of me. Just after I had decided what I was going to order, I felt someone breathing down my neck. I glanced up and saw that Ryder wasn't sitting in front of me. Suddenly, everything went completely silent. I could usually hear the very, very faint buzz of my hearing aids, but the buzzing was gone. I touched my ear and was horrified to find that my hearing aids were gone, too. I whirled around and saw Ryder standing behind me, my hearing aids dangling from his hand.
"…deaf…don't need…right?" he said as he walked around the table. I could barely understand what he was saying.
"Give them back, Ryder," I demanded. He just smiled.
"No…don't think…will," he said as he put my very fragile hearing aids in his back pocket and sat down. I winced; if they weren't totally crushed, they would be in need of serious repair.
"Don't you want me to be able to understand you? We are on a date."
Ryder laughed. "…think…real date? …told me you…smart…they…wrong."
"What?" I breathed. "Did you say—"
"Yes…said that! …isn't…real date! …sure I'll…having…fun…friends…here."
I was devastated. They were right. André and Jade and Trina. They were all right. He never liked me. I felt like crying.
"Just take me home, Ryder," I said, starting to stand up.
"Sit. Down." Ryder said the two words with an expression so stern, it would have been less terrifying if he had sprouted vampire fangs. I slowly sat back down for legitimate fear of my safety. He started to say something else that I couldn't make out, but based on his expression, he was trying to intimidate me, and even though I couldn't understand what he was saying, he was definitely succeeding, especially when I could have sworn I saw him say something about breaking a deaf girl's fingers.
"Hey! Over here!" Ryder started waving to some people behind me. I turned around and saw the five boys who were making fun of my voice at lunch walking towards us. They huddled around Ryder and started to plot. While they were distracted, I discreetly pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted André.
Need help. At Nozu. PLEASE come.
I put my phone away just as they turned to look at me again. Ryder's friends grabbed my arms, ripped me from my seat, and started to lead me away. I asked where we were going, but I couldn't tell if they answered me; I couldn't see their lips. They ended up taking me out to the alley behind the restaurant. Once we were outside, the boys released my arms and shoved me to the ground. I hit my head on the concrete hard. When I opened my eyes, everything was a little blurry. I squinted at their lips to try to tell what they were saying. I could tell by their facial expressions that they weren't saying anything nice, so I lay my aching head back on the ground. I desperately hoped André had gotten my text. That he would come help me.
That he actually cared.