Sitting together with her friends at lunch several weeks later Mercedes brought up the subject of the Haverbrook students again. She had been making an effort to keep these references casual not wanting the others to tease her. But her 'subtle' comments and changes to her behavior had become more and more obvious recently. Kurt suspected there was more to this then Mercedes was letting on. He was sure it had something to do with the handsome guy Mercedes had been cozy with after their song. But he abandoned this train of thought temporarily and tuned back in to the conversation.
"I was just thinking the other day that it would be really cool to give learning sign language a go..." Mercedes said in an effort to sound casual, but despite her intentions the underlying enthusiasm seeped in. "Who knows, it might come in handy if we have to go out on one of Rachael's choir spy mission or if we want to talk in class and not get busted by the teacher for passing notes or…."
"That's sounds like a good idea" Tina piped up, cutting short Mercedes rambling. "I'm not so worried about the talking in class but I would like to be able to talk easier with the people from Haverbrook when we see them at the competition. It was fun last time but it was kinda hard work."
"Yeah, I'm keen" Mike chimed in. "Some of those guys that I talked to want to practice dance with me. Even though some of them could hear me pretty well, it would be great to at least know some basics. Who knows, maybe I can use some of the moves in an interpretive dance piece" he finished with a grin.
Mercedes turned to Kurt. "What about you? Are you in?"
"Sure, why not. It might come in handy one day if Dad goes deaf from all that loud rock music he plays at the garage." Kurt replied wrinkling his nose in distaste at his Dads choice of music. "Do you have a place in mind where we can take classes?" he asked Mercedes.
"Well not a class exactly," Mercedes replied, avoiding eye contact with her friends. "More like someone... Its the guy who I talked to at the performance the other week, I said it might be cool to learn some signs and he offered... His name is Marcus."
Kurt and Tina both took notice of Mercedes bashful behavior and exchanged a meaningful glance across the table. Mike continued happily eating his lunch, unaware of any extra significance to this conversation.
Lunch proceeded as Kurt and Tina poked Mercedes for more information about this guy Marcus but all she would tell them was that they had been IM-ing and texting each other over the last few weeks. She also confessed to wanting to be able to hang out with him more face to face and that she had thought sign language lessons would be a good excuse and also make communication easier. By the end of lunch she had also made arrangements for them all to meet up with Marcus after school on Friday to begin their lessons.
Everyone who had agreed to be part of the lessons met up at a prearranged location after school on Friday. It was a quiet café that none of the McKinley students had been to before. As Tina and Mike entered they spotted Mercedes and Kurt sitting with Marcus and another guy who they assumed was from the same school, all had drinks in front of them. Catching Mercedes eye they smiled and waved. Mercedes responded, causing Marcus, Kurt and the other guy to do the same. Tina pointed up to the counter and received another smile and nod from the seated group before they turned back to their conversation.
After they had collected their orders Mike and Tina joined the group sitting at the large booth seat. Mercedes introduced everyone to Marcus and the other guy Steven. Marcus then told them a bit about himself and explained that he was only partially deaf but that it was easiest to communicate in sign, as it avoided confusion. He also explained that both he and Steven used lip reading to help them understand what people were saying if they couldn't sign. They said this also wasn't totally accurate but could help them have some idea of what was going on or what was being said, just as reading body language and facial expressions helped a little bit. After further explanations about sign language and helping to fix some misunderstandings about their deafness the group started their lesson.
Marcus and Steven worked with two of the others each, getting them to copy what they demonstrated and then practiced asking and answering things of each other. There was frequent laughter and embarrassment on the part of the McKinley students as they continued to fumble, but by the end of their hour together they were beginning to get the basics reasonably accurate. At one point Kurt started using his phone camera to record the signs so he could practice them at home later.