Silent Heartbeats 7: Pity for a Dime
By Maureen
Disclaimer: still don't own the characters, don't own Little Shop of Horrors (but I did tech it in HS) and, yeah, I doubt I own the shirt I'm wearing. Poor, poor college students - I will gladly accept any 'donations' you'd like to give to the 'Send Maureen To College Fund' *insert picture of cute little me* . Thanks once again to my beta readers, Mad Cow and Be-A-Tle for poking me and saying "write the next chapter damnit!" so yeah, here it is. I haven't forgotten.
***
Jamie rode into the school parking lot dreading today's class. They would be spending the morning in regular classes at Bradford with students fluent in sign language. They were to try to follow and participate as much as possible in class in order to judge how much work they need to do. However, tonight was going to be interesting since he was going to see Catie in the Kingsport High School musical.
As he walked into school he absently practiced the signs of mathematics and the different countries, his weak points. He stopped at his locker as usual, placing his saddlebag on the back hook and pulling out the books he would need later. Someone tapped his shoulder and he whirled around startled. Standing behind him was Jeremy and his little friends.
*So, Doc, * Jeremy began, using the nickname he had bestowed upon Jamie, *Save any lives last night?*
*Shove it, Jermy* Jamie signed back, glaring at him, using Jeremy's hate nickname. He attempted to close his locker and go to class but they refused to let him move, surrounding him.
*No way, I want to know.* Jeremy continued. Jamie had dealt with his kind before, after all he had been friends with Kenny; however, this time it was different. This time Jamie was not about to be sucked into his asinine plots or his petty bullying. Unfortunately this usually meant that they tried to force him into submission so they could continue to terrorize the students. No one seemed to care.
Jenny, his favorite teacher's aide, then intervened pushing the larger boys out of the way. *Break it up! No fighting!* she signed quickly, clearly mad at Jeremy. She sent everyone to class and made sure they actually went there before going into her own class room where Jamie was sitting in his customary seat pretending that nothing had transpired.
*Care to explain, Mr. Waite?* she signed, looking at him.
*They're creeps.* he shrugged, *I don't know why they get their kicks from harassing me.*
Jenny pursed her lips thoughtfully, *I'm not going to tell anyone about this, but make sure it doesn't happen again.*
Jamie gave her a halfhearted salute in the general direction of his forehead, certain that because of her intervention it would definitely be happening again.
True to form they approached him once again at lunch. Sighing, Jamie stood up and picked up his lunch bag and can of Dr. Pepper* ready to walk away. Snorting he silently laughed at himself, the great James Waite, attempting to walk away from a fight. Two months ago he would have fought them and to hell with the detentions, now thanks to Alex's influence, his father and his psychologist he was walking away.
"I don't want a problem, guys," Jamie said, forgetting to sign. He knew that most could read lips well enough to understand. He didn't mind eating alone, but at least they could leave him to eat in peace.
*Well you've got a problem Waite!* Jeremy signed. Before anyone could make another move, Jamie turned and bolted across the small cafeteria and down the hall to his classroom. He sat on the windowsill and continued to eat his turkey and cranberry sandwich in peace, but was once again interrupted by his teacher coming in.
*Jamie,* she signed surprised, *what are you doing here?*
*I like the window,* Jamie signed back, knowing it was a lame excuse. It was also the best he knew how to say.
*Those boys still trying to beat you up?* she asked, sitting on the desk next to him.
*Yeah,* he replied, embarrassed. Sixteen years old and running from bullies. Of course, being friends with bullies had earned him nothing but trouble as well. It sucked, hardcore.
When the lights flashed for class, he left and headed towards the class he was assigned to for the afternoon, a sophomore history class studying world history. He sat down at the table in the back with the other kids from his class he recognized and they waved. He said hello back and then class started. Jamie followed the signs intently, only understanding a few; most we made too quickly for him to follow. As soon as possible, he left with his classmates, two girls and another guy he did not know very well.
Together they headed towards an algebra class. *That was hard!* the other guy said.
*Yeah,* the two girls agreed, walking into the class. Jamie followed along, slightly behind them, not quite included in their group. Jamie simply daydreamed through this class; he did not understand any of it. It may as well have been in Chinese for all he knew.
***
Finally school was over and he headed over to Kingsport High School, Catie was in the school musical, Little Shop of Horrors and since he was off that night he was going to see her in it. She had only tried out for extra credit in her theater class, and had been quite surprised when she was cast as one of the muses, one of the best female roles in the show.
He headed straight to the theater classroom where he found actors half in makeup and techies running around preparing for the show. Scanning the room, he finally spotted Catie at one of the boxes of makeup, beginning to apply her eyeliner. He headed over, "Hey Catie," he said.
"Hum?" Catie asked, without looking up. Jamie bent down and touched her shoulder, marveling at its smoothness. Like most of the girls in the room, she was wearing only a small tank top, obviously without a bra and shorts with panty hose and socks. The guys were not wearing much more, opting only for sweat pants and socks. Her dark hair was pulled back into two tight French braids with her bangs pulled back with pins. She had makeup on already, covering her ears, neck and most of her chest and did not look like the Catie Jamie knew and loved.
*Oh! Hey Jamie!* Catie looked up and smiled, gesturing for him to sit wherever there was space. *Hold on a minute* she expertly applied the eyeliner making the black lines thicker than usual. She looked back up looking a bit raccoonish. *Ignore the theater makeup, it's always odd.*
Jamie simply watched her apply the rest of the makeup transforming herself from Catie into what he thought looked like a clown on acid. She took a paintbrush and red lipstick, what she said was 'ho red', and put tiny red dots in the inside corners of her eyes and then added green eye shadow. Finally she put on blush and 'whore red' lipstick. Jamie couldn't tell the difference between the two colours. When she finished he revised his initial description of her into 'Thin Mimi from the Drew Cary Show'. "Catie, is your makeup supposed to look like that?" Jamie asked, unsure.
Catie quickly surveyed the other actresses in the room and nodded. Jamie noticed that they too had on the same odd makeup. The guys, Jamie saw with mild horror, were also putting on makeup, although they apparently were wearing what Catie called "flesh lipstick" and brown eye shadow. She left the room and came back a few minutes later in her first costume as one of the three muses from the show. It was a green sequined gown in a 1950's style. She carried the matching pumps and a wig. She sat down at a mirror and put the wig on, and began shoving bobby pins into it, completing the transformation from gothic warrior to a 50's R&B diva like the Supremes.
Jamie walked up behind her remarking, "Wow."
*I have to go now* she signed, before writing /it's time for vocal warm ups/ on Jamie's omnipresent pad of paper. *Come.*
She dragged Jamie backstage and showed him where the band would be sitting and the set. It was a one story, moveable set composed primarily of painted flats. Jamie was impressed that the cast and crew had built it. Back stage he could see what appeared to be hundreds of techies dressed entirely in black running around. Catie quickly led him to the front of the stage where the cast was standing around a piano. She joined them and Jamie sat in the front row watching the chaos unfold. It was quite amazing actually, sweeping the stage, lights flashing, the band entered instruments in hand, and techies moving set around until it was perfect.
Finally the cast and crew broke up from what Jamie assumed were vocal warm-ups and Catie signed to him to leave and go buy a ticket. He had to wait a few minutes by the ticket counter but he was the first to buy his ticket. He found a seat in the center of the second row where he would be able to see everybody and even perhaps hear some of the music. Finally the lights went down and the curtain, which had closed while he was gone, opened. There Catie was, and from his seat, looking nothing like a thin Mimi at all. She looked perfect.
***
Jamie followed the show as much as he could, but unfortunately did not understand what was going on. When intermission finally rolled around, he headed backstage to see Catie.
*How do you like it?* Catie asked.
*Um...I don't understand it.* Jamie admitted ruefully. *I like the plant though. And the doctor was funny.*
*If you don't want to stay...* Catie didn't finish her sentence.
*No, I said I'd see it and I will. I'm going to get a drink, now.* Jamie left so he would have enough time before intermission was over. While he was at the vending machines, Carlson walked over and joined him. "Mr. Carlson." Jamie said, in what he hoped was a level voice.
"Jamie. I heard about what happened, I'm sorry." He said stiffly.
"Figures." Jamie replied, leaving. As he walked away he said to himself, "idiot. I'm fucking deaf!!" he unintentionally said it louder than he thought he had and 'Maximum' Carlson heard every word. Mentally he kicked himself for being so stupid, no wonder he was accused of being out of touch with the students.
"Jamie! Wait!" Carlson cried, catching up with the boy. Jamie didn't turn around. Finally Carlson tapped his shoulder and Jamie whirled around, confused. "I'm sorry, I forgot, I," Carlson babbled on to Jamie trying to apologize.
Sighing, Jamie pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the older man. "Here, write whatever you have to say down."
Carlson pulled out a pencil and first apologized for forgetting and then expressed his sympathies. Jamie quickly read the paper and replied, "Thanks."
/So, how're you doing at your new school?/
"Alright. It's harder but less homework, emersion process to learn a new language. I need to go, the next act is about to begin." Jamie left before Carlson could respond, leaving all of his questions unasked.
While they were speaking Carlson noticed the hearing aids and wondered why he had them if he couldn't hear with them, sighing he walked down the hall to the auditorium to finish the last half of the show.
***
Jamie left the auditorium, completely confused. What was up with that man-eating plant? Oh the other hand he decided that Catie looked hot in the show. He sat in the dressing room being ignored by everyone while he watched Actress-Catie transform herself back to Goth-Catie. It was interesting and looked like it required lots of practice.
Once she was ready to go and the director had okayed the actors to leave they went out to Jamie's bike. Within minutes they were off heading towards Catie's house. Unlike many of the houses on the street, hers was ablaze with light pouring out of every window. He had never actually been in her house but knew that there were about 10 people living in it and it was cluttered to say the least. *I'll see you tomorrow* Catie signed, kissing him on the cheek.
Jamie unintentionally flinched as her lips touched him, wishing he didn't flinch every time someone touched him. Damn his father and what he did to me, damn him, Jamie thought. *I'm sorry* Jamie signed, helplessly. He took her hand and held it lightly, knowing that if he initiated the contact he would not recoil, holding it as long as possible until their arms touched no more. She ran into the house waving over her shoulder.
***
Alex was already asleep when Jamie came in, so he tried to be as quiet as possible. Instead of going straight to sleep, he sat down in front of the computer in the living room and logged onto the internet. Catie was already logged onto AIM. Now, they could truly talk.
Gothrebel: hey Jamie! You didn't understand the show?
ProbEMT: Hey Catie. not really. What was it about?
Gothrebel: the man-eating plant, Audrey 2 and the chaos it caused.
ProbEMT: what was up with the psycho doctor?
Gothrebel: he was a dentist and was a sadist. He dated the girl that the nerdy guy loved.
ProbEMT: right, I knew the nerd guy loved the girl.
Gothrebel: basically in the end the plant eats the flower shop man, the nerd, the dentist and the girl and takes over the world
ProbEMT: heh, cool
Gothrebel: I was a muse, designed to help carry along the plot. Well, it's late and I have another show tomorrow, will you pick me up afterwards? I want you to come to the cast party
ProbEMT: I'll come to the show again, maybe understand it better. Sure, I'll take you anywhere you want, babe
Gothrebel: night, Jamie!
ProbEMT: bye
With a smile, Jamie logged off and went to sleep himself, sleeping throughout the night for the first time in a couple weeks.
***
As he had promised, Jamie showed up in time for the show to start although because of work he did not get there early enough to go backstage beforehand. He took a seat in the middle again and was surprised to see Hank, Val and Tyler arrive with several other cheerleaders and football players.
Tyler and Hank broke away from the group and headed over to the two seats next to Jamie. *Okay?* Tyler asked.
"Sure," Jamie replied, somewhat surprised. They left the perfect people to sit with him?
They sat, immediately clasping hands. Ah, no wonder. They were still in the closet with the rest of the team. Jamie just shook his head in amusement. They did make a good couple.
At intermission Jamie got up to walk around and once again bumped into 'Maximum' Carlson. "Hello." Jamie replied neutrally. Maybe this time he would remember.
Carlson waved back awkwardly. He didn't know sign and felt like he should talk to the former fixture in detention. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote /back again Mr. Waite?/
"Yeah. So? You can't give me detention anymore." Jamie's attitude kicked in, figuring he may try something like that.
/You aren't a bad kid/
"Yeah, now that I'm out of here. You certainly had a funny way of showing that I wasn't bad, giving Catie detention and me all the time! Just because we're different, because we think for ourselves -" before Jamie could finish, Tyler clamped his hand over Jamie's mouth and Hank steered his towards the men's room.
"Sorry Mr. Carlson!" Hank called over his shoulder. Once inside the bathroom Jamie stopped trying to break away from Hanks grip.
"What was that for?" he asked, angrily.
/You were a little loud. And getting louder./ Tyler wrote.
"I was?"
*Yeah.* Hank replied, /you were making a scene. You need to control your voice./
"How?" Jamie asked pointedly, tapping his finger against the hearing aid in his right ear.
Hank and Tyler just looked at each other, eye brows raised. They didn't know. *sign* Hank finally replied. /Vent your frustrations at him through ASL. He may not understand every word but he could probably get the gist of it./
"Fuck you." Jamie replied, pushing past them and out of the restroom. He headed back to his seat for the second act, leaving Hank and Tyler stunned.
***
After the show Jamie pretended as if nothing had happened during intermission and gave Catie a big hug and a single fire and ice rose. The bright pink represented her vivacious side and the white for her cool, 'bleacher junkie' side. As soon as she was dressed and out of makeup the duo headed over to the cast party, which was at the assistant directors house.
To Jamie's elation there were no 'perfect people' in sight, only the bleacher junkies that had teched the show and the thespians, weird and wild by nature.
Someone's heavy hand fell on Jamie's shoulder as he surveyed the room. From the front door he could see food in the kitchen, a group of thespians playing pool and many more gathered on the sofa and around the living room. Jamie turned to see who it was since he did not know many of the people. "Faustus!" he exclaimed, smiling.
The slightly shorter techie god nodded and pushed his thick black-framed glasses higher on his nose. He pulled out a calculator and began to push buttons as only he could. When he was finished he handed the machine to Jamie, on the screen he had typed /thought you had given up on us/
"No way man," Jamie replied, heading towards the sodas. "Just decided I needed a change of life."
/You could've just bleached your hair. Didn't need to lose your hearing!/
"You know me Faust, I can't do a half-assed job!" Despite their bantering, both knew they were treading on delicate ground. Edward Faustus had been in foster care since before Jamie had met him and had every imaginable torture inflicted upon him either by his parents or his foster families. He had retreated for years into his computers and machines shying away from human contact only emerging in the past several years. "Come on, let's listen to the music!"
They duo took their drinks into the living room where Catie was sprawled on top of several thespians, seemingly comfortable. Jamie sat down near her by the stereo speakers. They were loud enough that he could feel the bass, which he was learning to be content to feel instead of hear.
A/n: *you know what coke can do? Among other things it can eat a nail in 2 days and eat rust. And yet people still drink it...eeew.
Turkey and cranberry sandwiches are my favorite! Especially on croissants.
Red dots in the inner eye are called 'sparkle dots' and they make the actors and actresses eyes seems to sparkle under the stage lights. Up close they look silly.
By Maureen
Disclaimer: still don't own the characters, don't own Little Shop of Horrors (but I did tech it in HS) and, yeah, I doubt I own the shirt I'm wearing. Poor, poor college students - I will gladly accept any 'donations' you'd like to give to the 'Send Maureen To College Fund' *insert picture of cute little me* . Thanks once again to my beta readers, Mad Cow and Be-A-Tle for poking me and saying "write the next chapter damnit!" so yeah, here it is. I haven't forgotten.
***
Jamie rode into the school parking lot dreading today's class. They would be spending the morning in regular classes at Bradford with students fluent in sign language. They were to try to follow and participate as much as possible in class in order to judge how much work they need to do. However, tonight was going to be interesting since he was going to see Catie in the Kingsport High School musical.
As he walked into school he absently practiced the signs of mathematics and the different countries, his weak points. He stopped at his locker as usual, placing his saddlebag on the back hook and pulling out the books he would need later. Someone tapped his shoulder and he whirled around startled. Standing behind him was Jeremy and his little friends.
*So, Doc, * Jeremy began, using the nickname he had bestowed upon Jamie, *Save any lives last night?*
*Shove it, Jermy* Jamie signed back, glaring at him, using Jeremy's hate nickname. He attempted to close his locker and go to class but they refused to let him move, surrounding him.
*No way, I want to know.* Jeremy continued. Jamie had dealt with his kind before, after all he had been friends with Kenny; however, this time it was different. This time Jamie was not about to be sucked into his asinine plots or his petty bullying. Unfortunately this usually meant that they tried to force him into submission so they could continue to terrorize the students. No one seemed to care.
Jenny, his favorite teacher's aide, then intervened pushing the larger boys out of the way. *Break it up! No fighting!* she signed quickly, clearly mad at Jeremy. She sent everyone to class and made sure they actually went there before going into her own class room where Jamie was sitting in his customary seat pretending that nothing had transpired.
*Care to explain, Mr. Waite?* she signed, looking at him.
*They're creeps.* he shrugged, *I don't know why they get their kicks from harassing me.*
Jenny pursed her lips thoughtfully, *I'm not going to tell anyone about this, but make sure it doesn't happen again.*
Jamie gave her a halfhearted salute in the general direction of his forehead, certain that because of her intervention it would definitely be happening again.
True to form they approached him once again at lunch. Sighing, Jamie stood up and picked up his lunch bag and can of Dr. Pepper* ready to walk away. Snorting he silently laughed at himself, the great James Waite, attempting to walk away from a fight. Two months ago he would have fought them and to hell with the detentions, now thanks to Alex's influence, his father and his psychologist he was walking away.
"I don't want a problem, guys," Jamie said, forgetting to sign. He knew that most could read lips well enough to understand. He didn't mind eating alone, but at least they could leave him to eat in peace.
*Well you've got a problem Waite!* Jeremy signed. Before anyone could make another move, Jamie turned and bolted across the small cafeteria and down the hall to his classroom. He sat on the windowsill and continued to eat his turkey and cranberry sandwich in peace, but was once again interrupted by his teacher coming in.
*Jamie,* she signed surprised, *what are you doing here?*
*I like the window,* Jamie signed back, knowing it was a lame excuse. It was also the best he knew how to say.
*Those boys still trying to beat you up?* she asked, sitting on the desk next to him.
*Yeah,* he replied, embarrassed. Sixteen years old and running from bullies. Of course, being friends with bullies had earned him nothing but trouble as well. It sucked, hardcore.
When the lights flashed for class, he left and headed towards the class he was assigned to for the afternoon, a sophomore history class studying world history. He sat down at the table in the back with the other kids from his class he recognized and they waved. He said hello back and then class started. Jamie followed the signs intently, only understanding a few; most we made too quickly for him to follow. As soon as possible, he left with his classmates, two girls and another guy he did not know very well.
Together they headed towards an algebra class. *That was hard!* the other guy said.
*Yeah,* the two girls agreed, walking into the class. Jamie followed along, slightly behind them, not quite included in their group. Jamie simply daydreamed through this class; he did not understand any of it. It may as well have been in Chinese for all he knew.
***
Finally school was over and he headed over to Kingsport High School, Catie was in the school musical, Little Shop of Horrors and since he was off that night he was going to see her in it. She had only tried out for extra credit in her theater class, and had been quite surprised when she was cast as one of the muses, one of the best female roles in the show.
He headed straight to the theater classroom where he found actors half in makeup and techies running around preparing for the show. Scanning the room, he finally spotted Catie at one of the boxes of makeup, beginning to apply her eyeliner. He headed over, "Hey Catie," he said.
"Hum?" Catie asked, without looking up. Jamie bent down and touched her shoulder, marveling at its smoothness. Like most of the girls in the room, she was wearing only a small tank top, obviously without a bra and shorts with panty hose and socks. The guys were not wearing much more, opting only for sweat pants and socks. Her dark hair was pulled back into two tight French braids with her bangs pulled back with pins. She had makeup on already, covering her ears, neck and most of her chest and did not look like the Catie Jamie knew and loved.
*Oh! Hey Jamie!* Catie looked up and smiled, gesturing for him to sit wherever there was space. *Hold on a minute* she expertly applied the eyeliner making the black lines thicker than usual. She looked back up looking a bit raccoonish. *Ignore the theater makeup, it's always odd.*
Jamie simply watched her apply the rest of the makeup transforming herself from Catie into what he thought looked like a clown on acid. She took a paintbrush and red lipstick, what she said was 'ho red', and put tiny red dots in the inside corners of her eyes and then added green eye shadow. Finally she put on blush and 'whore red' lipstick. Jamie couldn't tell the difference between the two colours. When she finished he revised his initial description of her into 'Thin Mimi from the Drew Cary Show'. "Catie, is your makeup supposed to look like that?" Jamie asked, unsure.
Catie quickly surveyed the other actresses in the room and nodded. Jamie noticed that they too had on the same odd makeup. The guys, Jamie saw with mild horror, were also putting on makeup, although they apparently were wearing what Catie called "flesh lipstick" and brown eye shadow. She left the room and came back a few minutes later in her first costume as one of the three muses from the show. It was a green sequined gown in a 1950's style. She carried the matching pumps and a wig. She sat down at a mirror and put the wig on, and began shoving bobby pins into it, completing the transformation from gothic warrior to a 50's R&B diva like the Supremes.
Jamie walked up behind her remarking, "Wow."
*I have to go now* she signed, before writing /it's time for vocal warm ups/ on Jamie's omnipresent pad of paper. *Come.*
She dragged Jamie backstage and showed him where the band would be sitting and the set. It was a one story, moveable set composed primarily of painted flats. Jamie was impressed that the cast and crew had built it. Back stage he could see what appeared to be hundreds of techies dressed entirely in black running around. Catie quickly led him to the front of the stage where the cast was standing around a piano. She joined them and Jamie sat in the front row watching the chaos unfold. It was quite amazing actually, sweeping the stage, lights flashing, the band entered instruments in hand, and techies moving set around until it was perfect.
Finally the cast and crew broke up from what Jamie assumed were vocal warm-ups and Catie signed to him to leave and go buy a ticket. He had to wait a few minutes by the ticket counter but he was the first to buy his ticket. He found a seat in the center of the second row where he would be able to see everybody and even perhaps hear some of the music. Finally the lights went down and the curtain, which had closed while he was gone, opened. There Catie was, and from his seat, looking nothing like a thin Mimi at all. She looked perfect.
***
Jamie followed the show as much as he could, but unfortunately did not understand what was going on. When intermission finally rolled around, he headed backstage to see Catie.
*How do you like it?* Catie asked.
*Um...I don't understand it.* Jamie admitted ruefully. *I like the plant though. And the doctor was funny.*
*If you don't want to stay...* Catie didn't finish her sentence.
*No, I said I'd see it and I will. I'm going to get a drink, now.* Jamie left so he would have enough time before intermission was over. While he was at the vending machines, Carlson walked over and joined him. "Mr. Carlson." Jamie said, in what he hoped was a level voice.
"Jamie. I heard about what happened, I'm sorry." He said stiffly.
"Figures." Jamie replied, leaving. As he walked away he said to himself, "idiot. I'm fucking deaf!!" he unintentionally said it louder than he thought he had and 'Maximum' Carlson heard every word. Mentally he kicked himself for being so stupid, no wonder he was accused of being out of touch with the students.
"Jamie! Wait!" Carlson cried, catching up with the boy. Jamie didn't turn around. Finally Carlson tapped his shoulder and Jamie whirled around, confused. "I'm sorry, I forgot, I," Carlson babbled on to Jamie trying to apologize.
Sighing, Jamie pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the older man. "Here, write whatever you have to say down."
Carlson pulled out a pencil and first apologized for forgetting and then expressed his sympathies. Jamie quickly read the paper and replied, "Thanks."
/So, how're you doing at your new school?/
"Alright. It's harder but less homework, emersion process to learn a new language. I need to go, the next act is about to begin." Jamie left before Carlson could respond, leaving all of his questions unasked.
While they were speaking Carlson noticed the hearing aids and wondered why he had them if he couldn't hear with them, sighing he walked down the hall to the auditorium to finish the last half of the show.
***
Jamie left the auditorium, completely confused. What was up with that man-eating plant? Oh the other hand he decided that Catie looked hot in the show. He sat in the dressing room being ignored by everyone while he watched Actress-Catie transform herself back to Goth-Catie. It was interesting and looked like it required lots of practice.
Once she was ready to go and the director had okayed the actors to leave they went out to Jamie's bike. Within minutes they were off heading towards Catie's house. Unlike many of the houses on the street, hers was ablaze with light pouring out of every window. He had never actually been in her house but knew that there were about 10 people living in it and it was cluttered to say the least. *I'll see you tomorrow* Catie signed, kissing him on the cheek.
Jamie unintentionally flinched as her lips touched him, wishing he didn't flinch every time someone touched him. Damn his father and what he did to me, damn him, Jamie thought. *I'm sorry* Jamie signed, helplessly. He took her hand and held it lightly, knowing that if he initiated the contact he would not recoil, holding it as long as possible until their arms touched no more. She ran into the house waving over her shoulder.
***
Alex was already asleep when Jamie came in, so he tried to be as quiet as possible. Instead of going straight to sleep, he sat down in front of the computer in the living room and logged onto the internet. Catie was already logged onto AIM. Now, they could truly talk.
Gothrebel: hey Jamie! You didn't understand the show?
ProbEMT: Hey Catie. not really. What was it about?
Gothrebel: the man-eating plant, Audrey 2 and the chaos it caused.
ProbEMT: what was up with the psycho doctor?
Gothrebel: he was a dentist and was a sadist. He dated the girl that the nerdy guy loved.
ProbEMT: right, I knew the nerd guy loved the girl.
Gothrebel: basically in the end the plant eats the flower shop man, the nerd, the dentist and the girl and takes over the world
ProbEMT: heh, cool
Gothrebel: I was a muse, designed to help carry along the plot. Well, it's late and I have another show tomorrow, will you pick me up afterwards? I want you to come to the cast party
ProbEMT: I'll come to the show again, maybe understand it better. Sure, I'll take you anywhere you want, babe
Gothrebel: night, Jamie!
ProbEMT: bye
With a smile, Jamie logged off and went to sleep himself, sleeping throughout the night for the first time in a couple weeks.
***
As he had promised, Jamie showed up in time for the show to start although because of work he did not get there early enough to go backstage beforehand. He took a seat in the middle again and was surprised to see Hank, Val and Tyler arrive with several other cheerleaders and football players.
Tyler and Hank broke away from the group and headed over to the two seats next to Jamie. *Okay?* Tyler asked.
"Sure," Jamie replied, somewhat surprised. They left the perfect people to sit with him?
They sat, immediately clasping hands. Ah, no wonder. They were still in the closet with the rest of the team. Jamie just shook his head in amusement. They did make a good couple.
At intermission Jamie got up to walk around and once again bumped into 'Maximum' Carlson. "Hello." Jamie replied neutrally. Maybe this time he would remember.
Carlson waved back awkwardly. He didn't know sign and felt like he should talk to the former fixture in detention. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote /back again Mr. Waite?/
"Yeah. So? You can't give me detention anymore." Jamie's attitude kicked in, figuring he may try something like that.
/You aren't a bad kid/
"Yeah, now that I'm out of here. You certainly had a funny way of showing that I wasn't bad, giving Catie detention and me all the time! Just because we're different, because we think for ourselves -" before Jamie could finish, Tyler clamped his hand over Jamie's mouth and Hank steered his towards the men's room.
"Sorry Mr. Carlson!" Hank called over his shoulder. Once inside the bathroom Jamie stopped trying to break away from Hanks grip.
"What was that for?" he asked, angrily.
/You were a little loud. And getting louder./ Tyler wrote.
"I was?"
*Yeah.* Hank replied, /you were making a scene. You need to control your voice./
"How?" Jamie asked pointedly, tapping his finger against the hearing aid in his right ear.
Hank and Tyler just looked at each other, eye brows raised. They didn't know. *sign* Hank finally replied. /Vent your frustrations at him through ASL. He may not understand every word but he could probably get the gist of it./
"Fuck you." Jamie replied, pushing past them and out of the restroom. He headed back to his seat for the second act, leaving Hank and Tyler stunned.
***
After the show Jamie pretended as if nothing had happened during intermission and gave Catie a big hug and a single fire and ice rose. The bright pink represented her vivacious side and the white for her cool, 'bleacher junkie' side. As soon as she was dressed and out of makeup the duo headed over to the cast party, which was at the assistant directors house.
To Jamie's elation there were no 'perfect people' in sight, only the bleacher junkies that had teched the show and the thespians, weird and wild by nature.
Someone's heavy hand fell on Jamie's shoulder as he surveyed the room. From the front door he could see food in the kitchen, a group of thespians playing pool and many more gathered on the sofa and around the living room. Jamie turned to see who it was since he did not know many of the people. "Faustus!" he exclaimed, smiling.
The slightly shorter techie god nodded and pushed his thick black-framed glasses higher on his nose. He pulled out a calculator and began to push buttons as only he could. When he was finished he handed the machine to Jamie, on the screen he had typed /thought you had given up on us/
"No way man," Jamie replied, heading towards the sodas. "Just decided I needed a change of life."
/You could've just bleached your hair. Didn't need to lose your hearing!/
"You know me Faust, I can't do a half-assed job!" Despite their bantering, both knew they were treading on delicate ground. Edward Faustus had been in foster care since before Jamie had met him and had every imaginable torture inflicted upon him either by his parents or his foster families. He had retreated for years into his computers and machines shying away from human contact only emerging in the past several years. "Come on, let's listen to the music!"
They duo took their drinks into the living room where Catie was sprawled on top of several thespians, seemingly comfortable. Jamie sat down near her by the stereo speakers. They were loud enough that he could feel the bass, which he was learning to be content to feel instead of hear.
A/n: *you know what coke can do? Among other things it can eat a nail in 2 days and eat rust. And yet people still drink it...eeew.
Turkey and cranberry sandwiches are my favorite! Especially on croissants.
Red dots in the inner eye are called 'sparkle dots' and they make the actors and actresses eyes seems to sparkle under the stage lights. Up close they look silly.