Sean sighed as he slammed his locker shut. He had two hours of basketball practice to get through before he could leave school.
"Have fun at practice, Loser." Jay said, walking by Sean and punching his on the arm.
"At least I do something at school other than just show up." Sean shot back to Jay. "You show up just to piss people off."
Jay pressed his lips together and nodded at Sean's words. "You're right. But I'm guessing you're not getting any and that's why you're pissy. What did Paige close the candy shop?"
"Screw you. I've got to get to practice." Sean turned and headed towards the direction of the gym.
"Oh yeah, getting all sweaty with a bunch of guys is a way to get rid of all that sexual tension." Jay yelled out to Sean. "Good luck with that."
Sean glanced back and raised his hand and gave Jay the one-fingered salute. He was too busy flipping Jay off to notice Emma coming out of the Guidance Counselor's office and he ran right into her.
"Damn it!" Emma cursed as the brochures she was holding fell all over the ground.
"Sorry," Sean said as he dropped to his knees to pick up the mess he'd caused.
"It's not your fault, at least not entirely," Emma told him. "I was looking at these brochures for college and not paying attention."
"I was flipping off Jay. Here you go." Sean stood up and handed Emma back her brochures. "So we haven't really talked since the party. I can back down from Paige's room and you were fast asleep."
"Yeah, I was really tired," Emma said as she had to stop herself from biting her lip. It was just a tiny lie.
"Are things okay?"
"Well my mom is bugging me about picking a college but other than that things are cool."
"Good. I'm still here if you need to talk, except I can't right now because I have basketball practice, but any other time."
"I'm fine," Emma said shortly. She just wanted Sean to forget about the other night after the party. He was looking for full disclosure and that wasn't something he was going to get. But she did like Sean and she didn't want things to be awkward between them.
"Yeah, I know you're fine. I know you say you're fine but I'm not sure if that's the truth."
"Just drop it, Sean," Emma hissed. "I want to be your friend but I can't if you keep bringing up this imaginary secret."
Sean's eyes widened at Emma's sudden anger. He must have hit a nerve. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong. Honestly, I'm just trying to help."
"I don't need your help! I just want you to forget about it!"
"Okay, I will."
"Good!" Emma took a calming breath. "I need to go home. I'll see you later."
Sean watched Emma's long legs take her down the hallway. He was more sure than ever that Emma was keeping a secret but he couldn't force her to tell him. Right now maybe the right thing to do was just to back off.
"I'm home," Sean called out as he entered his house. "Mom, are you home?"
Sean walked into the living room to find his mother's eyes glued to the TV. "What are you watching?"
"It's a protest in America. Students at Gallaudet University are protesting their new president. It does my heart good to see people exercising their rights."
"Cool." Sean's mind flashed back to this afternoon. One of Emma's brochures was on Gallaudet. "I think a friend of mine might go there. I guess she'll be going to a school with some notoriety."
"Gallaudet is already notorious but not for this." His mother told him and turned off the TV. "Is your friend hearing impaired?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Gallaudet is a university that is traditionally for hearing impaired students."
"What? But Emma's not…" Sean trailed off as things fell into place inside his head. Emma lied about having two left feet when she was asked to join the Spirit Squad. She was also reluctant to go to the party. It was hard to hear people speaking at either place. At the party she was watching his mouth and Jay's mouth. Was she lip reading? Could it be that Emma couldn't hear? But why was Emma so afraid to just tell the truth? Why was it such a big deal?
Some of you guessed Emma's secret. I don't think it's a big deal but in future chapters I'm going to be getting into more of Emma's past and why she doesn't want anyone to know.