Chapter 1
Irma Lair was looking forward to her upcoming 14th birthday. It was her "golden" birthday--she was turning 14 on the 14th of March--and her parents had promised to buy her the most special gift ever!
Irma was deaf, and she had seen advertised on Insta a super cool pair of glasses that displayed captions on the lenses of everything being said by the people around her. Even though her mom, dad, several family members and lots of friends knew how to communicate with her in sign language, it was going to be amazing to be able to read the conversations taking place around her!
The morning of her birthday, Irma jumped out of bed and opened her bedroom door. WOW! The hallway was filled with balloons of all colors to celebrate her special day, and a "Happy Birthday, Irma!" banner was hanging across the stairs leading down to the first floor.
She pushed through the balloons and tore through the banner like she was the winner of a marathon! Irma felt a rush of excitement as she ran downstairs toward the dining room and the delicious smell of French toast--her favorite birthday breakfast.
Mom and Dad were already sitting at the dining room table, and with big smiles on their faces began signing the "happy birthday" song. She happily blew out the 14 candles on her three pieces of French toast, and the family started eating and talking about Irma's plans for her special day.
"Presents! Presents! When can I open my presents?!" Mom and Dad laughed at her, and Mom went to the kitchen and came back with three gifts.
"You can open these for a start", said Dad with a wink, "but you'll get your BIG gift later tonight." Irma rolled her eyes impatiently since she already knew what her big gift was and couldn't wait to open it!
She tore into the first gift--black high top Converse! The second and third gifts were a tie-dyed t-shirt and pair of ripped jeans! Irma hugged her parents, and started to run upstairs to get dressed in her new outfit. She stopped on the top step and waved her arms to get her mom's attention.
"I'm going to hang out with Hay Lin today, if that's okay with you guys", said Irma. "Have a blast", said Mom. "Just make sure to be home by dinner. You can invite Hay Lin to eat with us, if you want. I'm ordering your favorite--sushi, California roll and tempura shrimp." "Yum!", said Irma, "My favorite! I'll text you if she can come."
She gathered up her clothes and ran to her bedroom to get ready for the day. While she was getting dressed, Irma could see her phone flashing across the room. It was blowing up with happy birthday messages. She wanted to get to Hay Lin's house, so scrolled through them quickly, but stopped when she got to the one from Tabby, her best friend... Irma skipped the "happy birthday" part and focused on the rest of the text "You'll never believe it, Irma, but I've met the most amazing boy! He's deaf, too, and I can't wait for you to meet him! TTYL" Whaaaaat???
Irma sped out of the house, texting Hay Lin as she ran, "I'm finally on my way and you'll never guess what Tabby just told me!"