People knew Riley Matthews - but not for the reasons she wanted them to.

She was the one who had a shadow follow her into classrooms, who needed help to make sure she caught every word. She was the one who people made way for in the halls, who people whispered about - no, not whispered, because she couldn't hear them anyways so why whisper?

Maya. Maya was the reason they whispered.

Because Maya Hart was Riley's best friend, and she was the person who could hear what everyone said about her, and who would die to protect her best friend. Maya cared, even though Riley didn't.

Riley's shadow followed her into classrooms, but not into the lunch room, which was why lunch was her favorite class. At lunch, the only people she had to worry about were her friends, and they all knew her. They were the ones who cared enough to learn how to communicate with her.

Because Riley Matthews was Deaf. She could read lips, she could speak well enough when she absolutely had to, but she was fully and profoundly deaf, and Maya Hart was the one person in her life who had worked hard to be fluent in the language that she could understand better than any other: sign language.

At lunch, Farkle, Smackle, and Zay all signed some of the words they spoke - they signed the ones they knew, that is. And that was usually enough for Riley to understand what they were talking about and follow along in the conversation. But Maya signed in perfect ASL grammar, everything she spoke. And if there was ever something Riley didn't catch, Maya was her interpreter.

The people in her life were fixed; they were the ones who knew her language or knew how to communicate and act in a way she could understand. She supposed she could be considered 'secluded', but she liked her friends and she didn't need any others.

And then, he showed up.

He bumped into her in the hallway, and like all good teen romances, both of their books fell to the floor and he picked hers up, like a gentleman.

Maya helped her up, signing, 'You okay?' and Riley nodded, looking up at the stunningly hot boy who was handing her books back to her and saying something. Riley glanced to Maya, and Maya was automatically interpreting.

'I'm sorry, are you okay?'

Riley looked back at the boy and nodded, singing, 'I'm fine, are you?' Maya voiced her words.

'I'm fine…' The boy looked confusedly between the two girls, stopping in his speech and obviously noticing when Maya stopped moving her hands.

'He's cute,' Maya signed to Riley, smirking, and Riley knocked her with her shoulder.

'Shut up.'

The boy started to talk again, and Maya interpreted, 'Is there something I'm missing here?'

Riley was about to reply, but Maya explained vocally, "She's Deaf. I'm interpreting." She signed as she spoke, so that Riley could understand better what was going on.

'I'm Lucas,' Maya interpreted from the boy, fingerspelling his name with raised eyebrows, and Riley smiled at him, nodding to Maya to say, "This is Riley, and I'm Maya."

'Nice to meet you,' Maya interpreted from Lucas.

"Sorry, how do I say it?" Lucas asked, and Maya looked up in surprise, stopping interpreting.

"What?"

"The, interpreting? How do I say it in her language?" Lucas asked, and Maya's eyes widened; this was the first classmate that she and Riley had ever come across who asked how to sign to Riley.

"Um," Maya stuttered, before quickly signing to Riley what was going on. "Here. Nice," Maya slid one palm across the other, "to meet," she raised her pointer fingers and tucked her other fingers under, bringing her hands together to bump, "you," she pointed at Lucas simply.

Maya smiled as she watched Lucas clumsily sign the greeting to Riley, and Riley's eyes shine in excitement. This was the first time she had seen Riley so excited about meeting someone new.

Something told her this boy was going to be part of their lives.

Riley signed back, and Maya interpreted, "She says that she's never met someone new who wanted to learn how to say something to her." She looked Lucas over, noticing the paper in his hand. "Are you new?"

Lucas nodded. "Trying to find Mr. Matthews' history class."

Maya smirked, signing to Riley, 'He's got your dad's history class next, with us.'

'Not Dad!' Riley groaned. 'He's going to embarrass me, isn't he?'

'How long have we known your dad?' Maya signed back.

"Sorry, what are you saying?" Lucas asked, looking out of the loop.

"We have the same history class," Maya told him. "Come with us."

'Maya, what does he sound like?' Riley signed the question, staring dreamily towards Lucas.

Maya snorted. 'He's a cowboy,' she signed, 'but his voice is like… smooth. Like New York cheesecake.'

'I love it.'

A/N: I'm starting a new story! Yay! (Yes, I'm still blocked on Chrysalism, trying to synthesize an ending)

Background information for this story: Zay's not from Texas, he grew up in New York. Smackle has been in school with the group forever. Riley was born Deaf, Maya still met her at age 7. Riley's family is hearing, and they send her to a hearing school with an interpreter rather than send her to a deaf school or a residential deaf school - which a lot of hearing families do for their deaf kids.

I'm writing the signing in an English format to make it easier to read, because things like 'Maya, what does he sound like?' in ASL format would be something like 'He sound same-as what?' which isn't as easy to read in English.

I'm not sure how long this story will be or where it will go, but hopefully the chapters will be longer than this.

Please review! If anyone has any ideas for this story's plot or feedback on my writing style or advice, I'd love to hear it!

Kisses,

C