Without a Sound
Disclaimer: I'm not smart enough to come up with that stuff. But man do I wish I was…
The next chapter of Without a Sound. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Please review and tell me what you think!
Chapter 2
What exactly do they want us to do on these free periods? Sit and look at a bunch of empty desks? Because I sure as hell don't want to do that!
I sighed and grabbed my satchel. I guess I could go and find something to eat. That sounds like a pretty good idea.
As I was walking down the hall to the stairwell, I heard someone call my name.
"Mr. Leonhart, do you have a free period this hour?" Sephiroth said from behind me.
I turned to look at him. "Call me Leon, and yes I do. Why?" I asked.
"Well, Cloud and I were about to go out to lunch and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us." He said.
I thought for a second. I might be here for a while. I should probably get to know my coworkers. "Sure." I said.
"Alright. Let's go get Cloud out of the Chemistry lab and then we can leave." Sephiroth said and started to walk down the hallway.
I followed him to room 215 and he opened the door. "Cloud, are you ready to go?" He asked a blond man sitting at a desk.
"Oh yeah. We can take my car. Did you get the new guy?" Cloud asked.
"Yeah, he's right here. Leon, this is Cloud. Cloud, this is Leon." Sephiroth introduced.
"Hey there." Cloud said and stretched out his hand.
I shook it. "Nice to meet you." I said and we all excited the building.
"Are you opposed to Italian food?" Sephiroth asked as we moved through the faculty parking lot.
"No. I'm not a picky eater." I said simply.
"Good. There's this place called Café Roma not too far from here. It's pretty good." Cloud said and stopped at his Volvo.
The car looked kind of small on the outside but it was surprisingly roomy.
"Yeah, the mystery of the Volvo. They always look so small on the outside…" Cloud trailed off.
Did I say something? I decided I would ignore it and I put on my seatbelt.
"Seph, did you finish that report you were complaining about?" Cloud asked.
"Yes, I pulled an all-nighter and finished it this morning. That's probably the only thing I dislike about being the head of a department. There's so much paperwork." Sephiroth said, rubbing at his temples.
"I wouldn't complain if I were you Seph, you get a fat paycheck at the end of the month compared to mine." Cloud said and pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.
I couldn't help but notice that the vibes between the two in the front were a little strange. Like they were closer than normal. I wonder…
We excited the car and entered the building. There weren't many people here so it was quiet, which was good because I hate loud noises.
We sat at a table near the window and a waitress handed us the menus. We all ordered our drinks and the waitress left.
"So how was your first class Leon?" Cloud asked.
"It was fine. I gave five kids a detention for coming in ten minutes late."
"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Cloud asked.
"No, Cloud you're just too soft. Good job, Leon." Sephiroth said. "I bet I can name the five kids. They're seniors right?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Alright, Marluxia Chaney, Axel Gonzales, Demyx Johnson, and the siblings Larxene and Luxord McCasey. They used to give me trouble all the time."
"They don't anymore?" I asked.
"Nope. The students in my classes do their work because I scare them. Sure they all think I'm a serial killer, but at least I have all passing grades."
"Excuse me! I only had two people fail last year! It's not like my entire class refuses to do work. I don't have to scare them or 'crack the whip' as you like to call it, Seph." Cloud grumbled.
"Hey, do you guys know a kid named Sora?" I asked.
They both turned to look at me and frowned. "He doesn't take Chemistry but yes, I know of him." Cloud said.
"What science class does he take then? Don't you need two years of science to graduate?" I asked.
"I wish I knew. I'm not the department head, Zack is. I really don't know what they do with him. They said Chem was too dangerous for him. But it's not like I couldn't keep an eye on him while he's working. It's not like he's stupid." Cloud said.
"He does fine in my English class. What I don't understand is that he's a senior in sophomore classes. I've seen his grades. They're pretty decent. I'm sure he could handle the senior classes. His brother is an exemplary student, I'm sure if Sora had trouble his brother would help him. They seem really close." Sephiroth explained.
"I put him up on the board today. He finished answering the math questions correctly in seconds. He seems to have so much potential. He told me he wanted to learn calculus. I think he can do it. By the way, do you know what study hall he has second period?" I asked.
"I think he has Saïx second period, is that right Cloud?" Sehpiroth asked.
"Yeah, that sounds right. Why do you need to know?" Cloud asked.
"Well, I wanted to see if I could take Sora out of his study hall to teach him calculus. I mean, I do have a doctoral degree in mathematics. I just don't like people calling me doctor. It makes me sound old." I said.
"Wow. No offense but I never would have tagged you as a math whizz." Cloud said.
"Most people don't." I said and when the waitress returned with our drinks we took our orders.
"So you really think he can do it?" Sephiroth said.
"I don't have a doubt in my mind. I can see how much he wants to learn. I think the poor kid has really been deprived." I said almost to myself as I looked at the plants outside the window.
"You know. At first I took you for an asshole. But I change my mind. You make it seem like you don't give a shit, but you do. Now that I really look at you, you seem like a really passionate person. Maybe you should start acting like you care. You'd be surprised at how many of the kids just want to be taken seriously." Cloud said.
At first I was a little offended. But I could tell that Cloud meant no harm in what he was trying to say. So I simply nodded and took a bite of my meatball sandwich.
After our meals were finished I took out a ten-dollar bill from my wallet and handed it over. "This should cover my food." I said.
"Put that away Leon. I've got this one." Sephiroth said and took out a card.
"I want to pay for this one, Seph. You always pay for my food!" Cloud argued and pulled a fifty from his wallet.
"No. I'm paying for it. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Cloud snatched the card from Sephiroth's hand and placed his fifty over the check. The waitress came to the table and took the bill.
"You can keep the change ma'am!" Cloud yelled before finally handing the card back to Sephiroth. "I win." Cloud said with a smug look.
This was definitely the first time I had ever seen two grown men fight over a check. There was definitely something strange about those two.
"I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but are you two together or something? It's just that you act like an old married couple." I asked.
They looked at each other and laughed. "You're the first one to notice. That, or the others don't like to bring it up." Cloud said with a smile.
So I was right. "I think it's the latter. You don't really hide it all that well." I said.
They laughed again. "We sure don't." Cloud said.
Sephiroth looked at his watch. "We should head back now. It's about twenty minutes before lunch is over."
"This was fun, we should do this more often." Cloud smiled.
-Without a Sound-
The rest of the school day was pretty uneventful. A couple of punks thought it was funny to play with a laser pointer during my class but it wasn't hard to confiscate it.
All I had to do was ram the kid's face in his desk and take it from him.
When I arrived back home I decided I would give my classes a quiz. So I retrieved my laptop and proceeded to make one off the top of my head.
Unfortunately, the new textbooks don't arrive until next week.
After printing the quiz, I placed it into my satchel so I could photocopy it the next morning before class.
For some strange reason, I could not get this Noah kid out of my head. He seemed like such a good kid, why wouldn't they let him excel in his academic advancement. It just didn't seem fair to me.
And then his condition got to me. To live in a world of complete and utter silence… Even though I hate noise, it sounded terrifying to me. And then to have no voice, no say in anything… that just… sucks.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. What was this feeling? Do I pity the kid? No. Sure I felt a little bad for him but that wasn't really fueling my actions.
Then what was it?
I was separated from my thoughts when my phone rang.
I was too lazy to check the caller ID so I simply put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"
"Hey there big guy! How was you're first day as a math teacher?" Tifa said through the phone.
"Not you again. What do you want?" I groaned.
"Is that really how you treat your bestest buddy? Seriously Leon, I know how you are. Did you kill one of the kids yet?" Tifa asked.
"No, as much as I wanted to, no. High school brats are so annoying. Some of them were doing drugs on the front lawn! Are you kidding me? What's up with our next generation of adults? Sure I was bad in high school, but I wasn't stupid." I vented.
"I hate to break it to you, Leon. But kids today don't really give a shit about learning or bettering themselves. Too much sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll if you ask me." Tifa giggled.
"Well, I wouldn't say all of them are like that. There's this one kid…" I trailed off.
"What about him?"
"He really wants to learn but everything seems to be against him. The poor kids an eighteen year old in sophomore classes. It's sad. He knows he can be better but the school wont let him move forward." I explained.
"Why not?" Tifa asked.
"The kid's deaf and mute."
"What?"
"He can't hear or speak."
"I know what deaf and mute mean, Leon. But aren't there schools out there made specifically for children with those kinds of disabilities? Why is he at this deadbeat school?" Tifa asked.
"Maybe it's too expensive. He does have a twin brother who also goes to Hillside. He doesn't have any problems though. Noah said, well wrote, that he wants to be with his brother in the advance classes." I said.
"So is that the kid's name? Noah?" Tifa asked.
"No. His name starts with an S. But I told him I would call him Noah because I knew I wouldn't be able to remember his name. You wouldn't believe the names these parents give to these children. There was this one kid named Marluzia or some shit. I mean, what kind of name is that. And to top it all off, he has pink hair!"
"You're one to talk, SQUALL. Besides, you know your gonna have to remember their names eventually. You can't just call them whatever you want. What happens when you have teacher parent conferences and you don't even know their kids name? That's gonna get you fired my friend." Tifa warned.
"I know. I'll get them eventually, but right now, the kid's name is Noah." I said.
"So are you going to do something about Noah's situation?" Tifa asked.
"I'm going to teach him calculus during my off period. I just don't think it's fair that he's being deprived of proper education. It's not like he's incapable of retaining material. By the way he whizzes through algebra I'd say he's perfectly capable of learning." I said.
"Well, I'm glad you're gonna help. Just don't fry the kid's brain okay?"
"I got it, I got it. See ya." I said before hanging up.