Six weeks had passed since Halloween and in that time a lot had changed. The cool crisp autumn air with its vibrant reds and oranges had disappeared and had made way for the onset of winter. Thick snow had fallen to cover the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs. Halloween decorations had long been packed away for the following year. Thanksgiving garnishings had been quick to appear only to be taken down once the holiday had passed and had joined the Halloween decorations in storage. Slowly, but surely Christmas decorations had begun to appear in homes and stores.
The Halloween weekend had only just passed when Caroline Frost had rung to request the presence of the Andersens at the Frost home for Thanksgiving. She had explained that it would only be herself, Jack and Emily, therefore, the four Andersens would make for a delightful and welcomed addition. Lillian Andersen had eagerly accepted, urged on by Anna who'd had her heart set on trying the famous pumpkin pie that she had heard about from her new school friends. Lillian had claimed that it would be nice to spend the time with her new friend.
Lillian Andersen had discovered a kindred spirit in Caroline Frost. She had found a caring, loving mother who doted on her children and who had been so welcoming to her own daughter, Elsa. She had appreciated the way Caroline had gone out of her way to teach Elsa sign language and had always provided a meal for her on the nights that she had her lessons. When Caroline had called after Halloween to invite her for coffee, she had happily agreed. With time, the two mothers had formed a friendship which had helped ease both their loneliness. Caroline had even suggested that Lillian considered changing the status of her visa which would allow her to work in the United States. She had claimed that it could help solve the boredom that she had felt since being forced to remain at home while her husband worked and her daughters attended school.
Caroline Frost, on the other hand, had found a kind, generous family who had not only accepted her, but her beloved children as well. She had been so impressed upon meeting the Andersen daughters, having witnessed the way the kind-hearted girls had treated her own children. When she had been invited to dinner following Halloween, she had accepted. The night that she had spent at the Andersen's for Halloween had been one of the happiest times that she'd had in a long time. She had watched as their children had gone trick-or-treating and had interacted like old friends. All the while, she had remained behind with Lillian and had shared stories and had gushed about each other's children.
Both mothers had agreed that Jack and Elsa's friendship had been the best thing that had happened to the respective teens since they had started at their new school and had inspired many positive changes.
Elsa shivered. Pulling her black trench coat tighter around her body, she stepped off the bus. Beside her, she felt Jack grip her arm as he stole her attention and pointed her in the direction that they were heading.
"Not far from here," he signed, smiling at her.
She nodded and followed Jack as he led her through the busy sidewalks of downtown Philadelphia. He had arranged to meet some of his friends from his old school in the city for a hot drink and had invited her to join them. The meetup, he had explained, was due to happen in a cafe that was owned by one of his former teachers and was quite popular amongst members of the Deaf community. To her surprise, she had agreed. She had been eager to meet the friends that she had heard so much about.
She felt a tap on her arm and realised that Jack had stopped outside of a small, well-lit cafeteria on a side street. She watched as he peered through the window and waved to someone inside. Suddenly, she felt the nerves overcoming her at the prospect of meeting Jack's friends. She couldn't help fearing that she would make a mistake, or that they would hate her.
As if sensing her nerves, Jack turned to face her and tapped her hand. "Hey, he spoke. "You will be fine. My friends will love you. They are all very excited to finally get to meet you."
She frowned. She knew that both Jack and Mrs Frost had said that her signing was coming along well. She also knew that she was able to recognise more words and was slowly building up to being able to hold longer signed conversations. However, this would be the first time that she would be spending in the company of people that were Deaf. One of the things that Mrs Frost had mentioned was how important and supportive the Deaf community was to those in it. In learning ASL, she was not just learning a language. She was learning about a culture, an entire community that came with its own set of rules and social niceties. It would be all too easy for her to make a mistake and possibly offend Jack's friends.
"What if I make a mistake?" she asked, looking at Jack.
Jack paused to look at her. Raising his hand, he stroked his chin before leaning forward and wrapping her in a hug. Stepping back, he blushed slightly before he spoke. "You are perfect. My friends all know that you are learning. You are trying your best. That is all we can ask for. Besides, they will be too busy trying to embarrass me in front of you than to pick up on any minor mistakes."
She was about to pull out her pad to write down another question when the door to the cafe flung open and a petite girl with dark hair leapt out. The girl tapped Jack on the shoulder before flinging her arms around him in a hug. She watched as Jack stumbled slightly underneath the girl's enthusiastic embrace. Pulling back, the girl stood to the side so that both Jack and Elsa had a clear view of her hands as she signed her greeting.
"Tia," Jack spoke, while his hands signed. "Good to see you too. We will head inside now. I will do a formal introduction inside where it is warm."
She smiled and watched as the girl traipsed ahead to hold open the door for her and Jack to enter. She felt Jack reach down to grip her hand and blushed, allowing him to lead her towards a round table situated near an open log fire.
Her eyes fell on Jack's friends. She could recognise them immediately from the photo's that Jack had shown her. Sandy, the small blonde boy with a splattering of freckles and green eyes sat closest to her. To the left of Sandy was Aster, the tall Australian-born boy, who Jack had nicknamed Bunny, the Easter kangaroo. Rounding up the group was Aster's girlfriend, Tia, with her colourful clothes and welcoming smile.
She watched as Jack greeted his friends enthusiastically before introducing her to everyone. Once the introductions were done, he pulled out a chair and invited her to sit.
Blushing, she took her seat. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Aster staring at her. "Don't be afraid to tell us to slow down," he said. "We've brought pad and paper to help you as well."
"Thank you," she replied, her eyes falling on the paper and pens that lay in centre of the table. She noticed that someone had also placed an iPad out and open to the notepad application as well.
Beside her, she felt Jack poke her. Turning to face him, she watched as he pulled his own iPad out from his bag and handed it to her. "Just in case," he spoke.
Bending her head down, she typed out a message. She could hear Jack speaking as he relayed what was being said amongst the friends.
'Jack said that you would tell me why he calls you Bunny and the Easter kangaroo,' she wrote, placing the iPad in clear view of Aster and the rest of the table.
Aster frowned and shot a look at Jack, who responded by poking his tongue out.
"Allow me, Elsa," Jack spoke, signing for his friends benefit. "You see, when we were in grade two, we had an Easter parade. We all had to dress up in an Easter theme. Aster came in a bunny outfit, but he couldn't hop properly. He looked more like a kangaroo than a rabbit. So, I called him the Easter kangaroo. Also, he was born in Australia so the name suits him.
Giggling, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Aster and watched as he signed the word for idiot and pointed at Jack. Turning to face Jack, she watched as he poked his tongue out again and responded with yet another name.
She felt a tap on her arm. Shifting her head, she saw Tia smiling widely at her. "They always tease each other. Talk to Sandy and I-"
Frowning, she pulled out her sign language book and asked Tia to slow down. To her relief, Tia smiled and repeated herself at a much slower pace. In the background, she noticed Sandy had bent his head down to scribble a note on the paper.
'Jack and Aster always fight like this. They have a complicated friendship. We know that they care for each other, but they love to tease each other. Like Tia said, they can carry on bickering for ages. Talk to Tia and I, we are the mature ones,' he said, passing the note to her.
Nodding, she sat back and watched as the playful banter continued around her.
Leaning back on her chair, Elsa watched as the friendly conversation slowly drew to a halt around her.
The time she had spent in the cafe with Jack's friends had been an eye opener for her. She had loved getting to see Jack relax and feel comfortable to speak in an environment where he'd felt comfortable. She had noticed that the patrons of the cafe were mixed. Although, there had been a large percentage of Deaf customers and the staff had all been able to sign. Jack had explained to her that the majority of the wait staff had their hearing, but had all been trained to speak ASL.
They had spent a little under two hours with his friends and had made their way through a few cups of tea and a slice of cake as well. She had been able to hold a conversation, albeit slowly, with Tia and had happily discussed her favourite movie with the friendly girl. Her anxiety had slowly faded away and she had realised that Jack's friends would not laugh at her. Instead, they had been only too happy to slow down and repeat themselves, or to point out the signs that she was unfamiliar with.
She had noticed a few things that Mrs Frost had told her about, namely how much the Deaf community relied on facial expression when talking and the importance of giving eye contact when signing. She had even noticed that Sandy had made sure that the table had known exactly where he was going when he had left to use the restroom. Body contact had been used a lot. She had noticed that they relied on taps on the hand, or arm in order to alert someone that they had wanted to speak to them.
She felt a squeeze on her shoulder and turned to face Jack. A wide smile had crossed his face as he looked at her. "See, I told you that you would be amazing," he spoke.
Jack groaned. His eyes fell on the bus that they were meant to catch as it pulled away from the stop. Beside him, he felt Elsa come to a halt as she realised that they had missed their bus. Shrugging, he turned to face her and pulled her out of the way of the crowd. Once they were safely out of the way, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the timetable that he had shoved in there. His eyes scanned over it and he shook his head.
"We have to wait 30 minutes for the next bus," he explained, showing the timetable to Elsa.
She nodded her understanding. He watched as her eyes lit up and she turned to stare at something behind him. Turning his head, he followed her gaze until he saw the small kiosk that was selling hot chocolate and snacks. He grinned at her. Knowing Elsa and her penchant for chocolate, she had already planned a way for them to keep busy.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to face Elsa, noting the wide smile on his face. "Do you want a hot chocolate? My treat," she asked.
He nodded enthusiastically. "You're on," he replied and followed her as she led the way towards the kiosk.
He waited patiently while Elsa purchased their drinks before he led her towards a bench under shelter and sat down. Gratefully, he took the drink from her and sipped it. He watched as Elsa dug into her purse and pulled out her phone. Placing her drink down and her phone on her lap, she let him know that she was sending a text to her mum.
He watched as a strand of hair fell to partially obscure her face as she bent over the phone and sent a text to her mum. Resisting the urge to push the hair back, he simply gazed at her. A small smile crossed his face as he thought about how amazing she had been with his friends.
He knew that she had been nervous about the visit. She was shy at the best of times and the fear of making a mistake with her signing had plagued her. However, she had trusted him to look out for her and to keep her safe. He'd had faith in her ability and had known that she was doubting herself for nothing.
Unsurprisingly, their visit with his friends had gone well. He had introduced Elsa, his only friend from his new school, to the friends that he had grown up with. As expected, his friends had been prepared and had made sure that there was pen and paper available so that they could communicate with Elsa. Elsa, in return, had been perfect. She had tried hard and had managed to sign a great deal of words and had remembered to ask his friends to slow down when needed. His friends had all loved her and had been impressed with the skills that she had already learnt.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and lifted his head to meet Elsa's gaze. "Bus is here," she signed, pointing to the bus that had pulled into the stop.
Nodding, he stood to his feet. He grabbed their empty drink cups and tossed them in the bin while Elsa packed her beginners sign language book back in her handbag and joined the queue for the bus.
After they had paid their fare, he pulled Elsa towards a seat and waited patiently for her to slide in before he settled down beside her.
He poked her and waited for her to face him. "Hey," he said. "Today was great. You were amazing. My friends loved you."
He watched as a blush crept over Elsa's pale face and her whole face broke into a smile. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Reaching down, he pulled the phone out from his pocket and swiped at the screen to read the text that had been sent by Tia.
Tia: 'Tell her'.
Elsa laughed. She watched as Jack pushed open the doors that led out of the school. Stepping into the cool air, he took a deep breath and pumped his fist triumphantly. He did the same thing every Friday. He would race her through the school hallway until they had stepped out to freedom. At that point he would raise his fist and celebrate the end of yet another school week.
She fell in step with Jack. Their shoulders lightly bumped as they made their way towards the school carpark to wait for his mum. Their silence was broken by the sound of a text beeping on his phone. She paused and stepped to the side while Jack pulled the phone out of his pocket. He swiped at the screen and read it before handing the phone to her. Frowning, she leaned forward to read the text from his mum. The message claimed that she had been held up by Emily's teacher and would be a bit late to collect them.
Nodding, she passed the phone back to Jack. She watched as he slipped it back into his pocket. They continued on their way towards the car park. She wasn't surprised to see that most of the student cars had already gone, except for a few stragglers.
She felt the hard impact of a body crashing into hers from behind, sending her falling to the ground. Ignoring the pain, she turned her head to see Violet and Tyler, along with a few of their friends, surrounding her. Their loud laughter filled her ears. She could feel the tears welling up and sniffed them. She was not about to let her bullies see her cry. No, they would not get that honour.
"Stop," she heard Jack speak, his voice firm. "Leave her alone."
She gasped. Jack turned around, his eyes had widened in surprise as he extended a hand to help her to her feet. Taking his hand, she stood to her feet. A dull ache ripped through her leg from the impact of the fall. However, all that paled in comparison to the shock of hearing Jack speaking in front of their bullies. She studied his face as the realisation of his action hit him.
Turning around, she glanced at their bullies. Their eyes were fixed on Jack, a look of shock on their faces. She knew that Jack was nervous of being teased for his spoken voice and for him, having spoken in front of their bullies was a big deal. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on his hand and stepped closer to him.
"He talks!" Tyler smirked, jabbing his friend before pointing at Jack. "Did you hear his voice? It was hilarious!"
She felt her heart sinking as their bullies broke into even louder laughter. Stepping forward, she narrowed her eyes and glared at them. She could feel the anger rising within her. For the last few weeks, both her and Jack had been bullied by these people for seemingly no reason and she'd had enough. The stress of not knowing when they would strike, or what they would do to her and Jack was one thing. However, the mere thought that they could be planning to attack him when he had just done something so incredibly brave, made her furious.
"Leave him alone," she snapped. "He has done nothing to you. Nothing to deserve this."
Gulping, she watched as Violet stepped closer to her boyfriend. Her hand settled on Tyler's shoulder before she turned to face her and Jack. Her cold, unblinking eyes fixed on them. "Oh relax, Elsie. It's not like your boyfriend can hear us anyway," she hissed. "Although, I do think that it's awfully cute how you two freaks came to be anyway."
She glared at Violet, watching as she broke into derisive laughter. Everytime she thought that Violet couldn't possibly get any nastier, she went and proved her wrong. Except now, she had gone too far. Opening her mouth, she was just about to respond when a car horn sounded.
She watched as Violet shifted her attention to Mrs Frost who had pulled into a park. Seizing her moment, she tugged on Jack's hand and pulled him towards the safety of his mum's car. She could hear their bullies mocking them in the background, but ignored them. Her gaze was fixed on the Frost's station wagon.
She watched as Mrs Frost wound down the window to speak to them. "Is there something that I need to know about?" she asked, her eyes glancing up and down her and Jack.
Blinking, she looked at her. Looking down, she followed the older woman's gaze until she caught sight of her and Jack's connected hands. Blushing, she released her grip on his hand and slid her bag off her shoulder.
Jack focused his attention on the blank ceiling. His mind continually replayed the events of the afternoon and evening as he tried to make sense of it.
He had been walking with Elsa to the carpark when Violet had struck. She had slammed into Elsa from behind and had sent her falling to the ground. He had watched as Elsa had fallen and had leapt into action, almost instinctively. He had spoken and had called for the girl to stop before he had bent down to help Elsa back to her feet. He had not even realised that he had used his voice until the attention had shifted to him.
His heart rate had escalated and he had watched as the bullies had turned to gawk at him. He had then watched as Tyler had said something which had caused the rest of his friends bodies to shake with laughter. He had no idea what had been said, but he'd known based off the look on Elsa's face that it had been really nasty.
Elsa had glared at the group and had stepped forward to confront them. Her action had spurred Violet to respond with something that caused Elsa to get even angrier. She had lowered her gaze and had stared at them. He had never seen her so angry before. Whatever had been said, had pushed her to her limit.
It had only been once they had reached the safety of the car that she had filled him in on what had been said. As he'd expected, Tyler had mocked his spoken voice. Elsa had snapped and had told Tyler to leave him alone. She had then explained that Violet had spoken up in support of her boyfriend and had cruelly pointed out that there was no need for her to react because Jack could not hear the taunts.
Despite the cruelty of Tyler and Violet's bullying, it wasn't they who were keeping him from sleeping. It was Elsa.
Little did Elsa know, that she had been the topic of conversation after she had excused herself to use the restroom at the cafe. No sooner had she turned her back, had Aster turned to face him with a wide grin on his face. He had wasted no time in accusing Jack of liking her. Naturally, he had responded and had pointed out that Elsa was his friend and it was natural that he liked her. That had been when Sandy had interrupted to point out that their conversations over the last few weeks had all been dominated by him talking about Elsa. He had blushed at the suggestion. That had been when Tia had piped up and had claimed that she had called it ever since he had first mentioned Elsa. She had said that having met Elsa, she now had no doubt that it was true. She had stated that it was obvious that him and Elsa had romantic feelings for each other.
The suggestion that he liked Elsa had risen once again after his mother had pointed out that him and Elsa had been holding hands when she had picked them up earlier. He had claimed that it was only because he had helped her to her feet after a nasty fall, but the look on his mother's face had told him that she didn't believe him.
To his dismay, his darling younger sister had not failed to notice that they had held hands. She had waited until Elsa's family had arrived for coffee and cake to inform Anna. She had happily blabbed to the younger Andersen about how their older siblings had been caught holding hands.
Groaning, he rolled over to his side. He couldn't like Elsa. Of course, she was friendly, caring, intelligent, kind, protective and incredibly beautiful, but that didn't mean he had deeper feelings for her...did it?
Elsa sighed. Rolling over to her side, she tried once again to fall asleep. She had tried having a warm bath as well as a hot chocolate to relax herself, but so far her efforts had proved to be useless.
Her mind had kept replaying the events of the last few hours repeatedly. After getting to Jack's, she had checked her knee. To her relief, it had appeared to be fine with only a small bruise which had started to form. Her anger at Violet and Tyler's cruelty had subsided almost as soon as she had arrived at the Frost's home.
Emily Frost had been in the car and had witnessed her and Jack holding hands. Despite their attempts to tell her that it had been innocent, she had not been convinced. Instead, she had waited until later in the evening to inform Anna that their older siblings had been caught out.
To her dismay, Anna and Emily had then joined forces and had claimed that it was destiny and that her and Jack were in love. They had spent the rest of the evening watching her and Jack's every move as if desperate for some kind of hidden sign that they were more than friends.
Groaning, she shifted onto her back. She couldn't like Jack. He was her friend. Sure, he was smart, friendly, funny, cheeky, caring, courageous and definitely good-looking, but that didn't mean that she liked him.