"Alright," Maya sat down across from Lucas at a table in the library, "so I'm not much of a teacher."

"I didn't expect you to be," Lucas agreed, playing with his hands nervously.

"But I'm going to do my best," Maya assured him. "I'm fluent in ASL - at least I think - so I'm going to teach you the way that I can figure."

"I appreciate anything you can do for me," Lucas reminded her.

"I looked up some lesson plans online for ASL - just like some groups of signs to teach together. I'm going to teach you signs, grammar, and fingerspelling." Maya opened her laptop. "We're going to start with our name signs, and then go into the first 100 signs."

"100 is a lot," Lucas pointed out nervously.

"It seems like a lot, but it isn't," Maya explained. "But first, name signs."

"What's a name sign?" Lucas asked, placing his hands on the table in front of him.

"A name sign is basically what it sounds like. Fingerspelling people's names every time would be kind of extra, especially if they're someone who is a big part of the Deaf person's life. But, generally, it's just Deaf people who get and give name signs. An exception to that rule would be a hearing person having a name sign if they are a part of the Deaf world - it's kind of like a rite of passage into the Deaf community." Maya took a breath. "But Riley and I aren't really a part of the Deaf community anyways. Riley's interpreter Jana gave Riley her name sign, and Riley gave me mine. For Isadora, Farkle, and Zay, we just use their initial shaken by the forehead." Maya demonstrated with an 'I', an 'F', and a 'Z'. "It just makes it easier to understand who we're talking about, but it's not a 'real' name sign. As for me and Riley," Maya made two 'R' handshapes and brought them up to her mouth, making a smile with the 'R's, "Riley's name sign is the sign for 'smile', but with 'R's. Mine," Maya made an 'M' handshape and moved it from the top of her head down to her shoulder, in a waving motion, "is kind of like my wavy hair, except with an 'M' handshape."

"Alright," Lucas nodded. "Will I get a namesign?"

Maya shrugged. "I think that would be up to Riley." She pulled up a website on her laptop. "So, the first 100 signs. This lesson is split into thirteen categories: Family, places, time, temperature, food, clothes, health, feelings, requests, amounts, colors, money, and animals. I'm going to sign something to you and say it at the same time, and you're going to sign it back to me. We'll sign things three times before moving on to the next one. Then we can go over the whole thing again at the end, just a quick overview."

"This sounds pretty intense," Lucas admitted. "But if it means I'll get to talk to Riley," he smiled, "I'm in."

"Hey, where's Riley?" Farkle asked, falling into step with Maya on their way to the lunch room. "She wasn't in History; neither was Jana."

Maya shrugged. In truth, she was a little nervous too. She hadn't heard from her best friend all day, and usually when Riley was going to miss class, she at least sent Maya a text.

"Hello dearest." Isadora joined them in their walk, coming from Advanced Trigonometry, placing a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. "What are we discussing?"

"Where Riley is," Farkle informed her. "She wasn't in History. Have you seen Zay or Lucas?"

Isadora shook her head. "Last period she had Photography, didn't she? Maybe Zay is with her now."

"Maybe," Maya agreed uncertainly, chewing her lip as they turned the corner and the cafeteria door came into view.

As they crossed through the doors, all three pairs of eyes zeroed in on Riley and Lucas already sitting at the table together, clearly fully focused on each other while Zay pouted on the other side. A notepad sat between them, and although Farkle, Maya, and Isadora couldn't see what was written, they all guessed that it was being used as a communication device.

Isadora and Farkle shared a small smile as they headed towards the table, Maya breaking off to get lunch from the line.

"Hi Lucas, Zay," Farkle said aloud before signing a greeting to Riley.

She smiled and waved back. 'Lucas is learning sign language,' she signed slowly and clearly so that everyone could understand.

"Is that right?" Farkle spoke and signed, smirking at the taller boy. He glanced over at Zay and signed, 'What's up with him?'

'He dropped his cookie on the floor and then was upset when we made fun of him for eating it anyways,' Riley explained, laughing a little.

"I ate the cookie and it was good!" Zay exclaimed, able to get the gist of what was being said.

"Sup losers?" Maya asked and signed, plopping down on the other side of Riley as Farkle and Isadora took a seat on Zay's side of the table. She took a bite of whatever it was on her tray and leaned over to read the writing on the notepad, seeing basic phrases and words that she guessed Riley was clarifying, since Maya knew for a fact that most of what was written were signs she hadn't yet taught Lucas.

'Maya, Lucas is learning sign language!' Riley informed her gleefully, unaware that Maya was the one teaching him.

"Is he now?" Maya said and signed, smirking at Lucas. "I bet he's a quick learner too. Well, he was bound to learn the basics with all of us signing most of what we say."

'But he's learning on his own time!' Riley gushed, elated. 'No one's ever done that for me, no one except you.'

'He's a good guy,' Maya signed quickly and silently, so that no one would understand. 'He cares about you.'

'Really?' Riley signed, her eyes flicking back to Lucas.

"What?" Lucas asked, signing the basic word.

Farkle and Isadora, apparently having caught a few of the signs, laughed a little before busying themselves with eating their own lunch.

'I like him, Maya,' Riley admitted bashfully, signing to her best friend basically in her lap, seemingly in the hopes that no one would understand.

Maya smiled. 'I know you do, Peaches.'

A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while! Things have been weird with my family and with my mental health, and I've been working more on proofreading and rewriting my novel. I'm hoping to get back to this story and to Petrichor, and I'll probably start a few more stories in the next few months.

I'm going to admit that since I haven't been in the Deaf community, I do not have a namesign. The Deaf Culture parts that I write are based on the only knowledge that I have from my limited experience, so if there is anything that seems wrong concerning Deaf culture, please do not get mad! Just send me a message or leave a review and I will try to fix it!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Reviews and feedback keep me motivated and remind me to get back to my fanfics!

Kisses,

C