Unspoken Words - 2. Chapter 2: Friends

~*~Side A~*~

As we make our way into the class, I take my seat in the last row, just beside the window, with Angelo following right behind me. He stopped right in front of the door. At first, I was confused, but then I realized that of course, he’s new and he still doesn’t know where to sit and stuff. I was going to motion him to sit at the empty desk in front of me, but our teacher, Mrs. Reese, notices him and starts introducing him to the class.

“Good morning, everyone. This is Angelo. He’ll be your classmate for the remaining year so please make him welcome.” She smiled then looks at him.

“Would you like to introduce yourself?”

“Uh. Yeah. Well, I’m Angelo Sy. It’s been a while since I've been in school. Um. That’s it. Nice to meet you all.” He seemed to held his breath as he looked around, waiting for the reactions he’s about to get.

When no one spoke up and some gave friendly smiles to him, I beamed and gave him a little wave.

“Alright, how about you take the seat in front of Chris there? You can get to know some friends after class alright?” Our teacher said as she gave me a smile, giving Angelo a little nudge to my direction.

This morning has been really nice. Something about the kid makes me feel like I’ve known him for a long time and I feel at ease with him. He didn’t really looked at me with pity, or worse disgusted, when he found out that I was mute. I really wanted to be his friend. His shy smile seems to make the morning brighter. I would really like to see more of that. He was so pale and nervous when I met him earlier. I thought he was going to pass out. I’m glad I managed to get him comfortable when I brought him to the rose garden. I haven’t brought my friends there since it’s my place of escape, but I felt like I had to share it to Angelo.

Speaking of the rose garden… What was I doing? Did I just try to kiss him? His lips looked so soft and it glistened under the morning light, just like sparkling morning dew falling off the petals of roses. I’d really like to feel those lips with mine and make it puffy and red. And then touch the nape of his milky white neck with the palm of my hand- Wait. Was I just fantasizing about a guy? Huh? This feels weird. I’ve never thought about guys that way. I mean, Angelo is too pretty for a guy so I guess it’s not bad. But still, he’s a guy. Does that mean I’m gay? But I’ve liked girls a lot before. Though right now, I’d rather be with Angelo than any girl. Oh shit. So I do admit that I like Angelo than girls. What does this mean??

“ – would you pay attention to class?” Mrs. Reese clears her throat then snaps her fingers in front of my face that I was pulled out of my daydream, refocusing my vision in front of me, seeing pass our teacher’s fingers, but looking straight at Angelo, who was staring at me, and realizing that the rest of the class are doing so as well.

“Sorry.” I signaled then looked down on my desk as I feel my face flush.

“Are you feeling okay, Chris? Would you like to go to the infirmary?” Mrs. Reese looked at me with concern.

I shook my head then gave her a thumbs-up, letting her know that I’m okay.

“Alright then. Pay more attention please.” She said as she walks pass me then goes back in front of the class.

After the lesson starts, there wasn’t much happening except for my friend Ray giving me a look that asks if there’s anything wrong. I shrugged then returned to taking notes for class.

Afterwards, the bell rings and Mrs. Reese reminds us not to forget our homework for tomorrow as she dismissed the class. I stood up just as my friends walk up beside my seat. Ray, is about 6 ft tall, with reddish brown hair, and brown eyes, while Nick is around my height but about an inch smaller so maybe around 6”2’ or 6”1, his platinum blond hair gives contrast to his really dark blue eyes, which almost look black in comparison. They’re both in my basketball team and we’ve been friends for as long as I could remember. They’ve been my neighbors since 2^nd grade, when they both moved to our town around the same time. Ray is very loud and outgoing, although he’s like the older brother to us, being overprotective and making us depend on him whenever we need to or not. Although he’s very emotional and could easily be provoked. In the other hand, Nick is mellow. He’s usually very calm and rational. Stepping in whenever Ray is too emotional to handle situations. Although he’s very kind and forgiving, he treats us both as brothers and will always help us with any problems. They balance out each other perfectly and I feel really fortunate to have them both as my best friends. Over the years, they’ve learned how to understand sign language, although sometimes I wonder if I need to do it because they can already guess whenever I need to say something.

---

I met Ray and Nick at the same time. During the summer before 2^nd grade, I was outside our lawn, playing with myself with a little rubber ball. While kicking, it shoots out to the neighbor’s lawn and I heard someone curse. I was petrified thinking that I might have broken something or hit someone. I gathered up my courage and walk to their lawn and there I see a dark redhead kid who’s a bit taller than I am, rubbing his head while holding my ball in his other hand. It was what I feared and I was about to bolt when he walks over to me and grabs the back of my shirt.

“Did you just hit me with a ball!?” He stares me down without giving up his grip.

I wanted to scream my apologies but I couldn’t do that so I just shook my head frantically.

“What’s wrong with you? Can you talk?”

Again, shaking my head, his grip starts to loosen up.

“Hey kid. You look like you’re going to shit your pants. I’m not going to beat you up ok. It must be an accident.”

I looked down on my feet then nods.

“I see. I’m Ray. We moved in just yesterday. You really can’t talk?” He looks at me with confusion as he returns the ball to me.

I nod then gave him a time-out gesture with my hand, crossing them to form a “T”. I ran back inside then grab a pencil and some paper then quickly run back to our neighbor’s lawn.

[My name is Christian. I can’t talk.] I held it up to him and he nods.

“Aw. That sucks kid. How old are you?”

[8. I’m going to be in 2^nd grade.]

“Oh. You don’t look like you’re older than me by a year. I’m 7 and I’ll be in 2^nd grade as well. You’re going to Valley?”

I nod at the mention of the school I’m going.

“Cool. Let’s be friends since we’re going to be classmates and neighbors!” He takes my hand and shakes it.

I smiled then scribble something.

[Is it alright for you to be using bad words? My mom’s gonna kill me if she found out I use those words.]

He laughs loudly while holding his stomach.

“My mom’s gonna kill me too. So keep it a secret, will you?” He snickers then taps my shoulder.

As I nod, he says “I’ll go ask Dad if I could go by your house to play then!”

Before I could agree or protest, he runs to their garage to find his Dad. I shrugged then waited at the front steps of my house. Did Ray just invite himself over? Wow. I just made my first friend. How am I going to tell Mom? Do I have to tell her or does that go without saying?

Before I could finish my thoughts, I see Ray running to me with a bunch of snacks and junk food in his arms.

“I snuck this over from our kitchen. Hurry up and let me in before Mom sees me.”

I shook my head in amusement then open the door to invite him in. I went straight to the kitchen as Ray makes himself at home on our couch. As I walk up to my Mom, I write down on the paper then tugs on her skirt.

[Friend.]

She gave me a really wide smile then said, “Wow! Really! Where’s your friend? I’m glad you finally made one. I’m proud of you, baby.”

I tugged her skirt then drags her to the living room then points Ray to her. He grins to her then straightens up.

“Hi ma’am. Nice to meet you. I’m Ray McKen. We moved next door yesterday.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ray. I’m Sandra Matthews. Be a good friend to my Christian here okay?”

“Sure Mrs. M. I’m even about to teach Chris here about the joys of junk food.” He grinned mischievously then winks. I just shook my head at him amusingly.

“Don’t eat too much because dinner’s starting soon. Would you like to stay for dinner, Ray?”

“Thanks Mrs. M. I’ll ask my Mom.” With that, he runs full speed back to their house.

“Interesting child.” Mom smiles at me then caress my hair.

He returns several minutes later then goes straight to the kitchen and gives my mom a heads-up that he’s staying for dinner. After that, we played the whole afternoon while munching on potato chips and some M&M. Just before dinner, our doorbell rang and when I opened it, a kid with pale hair is nervously smiling, holding a covered platter, was standing in front of our door.

“Hello. I’m from the house across the street. We just moved this morning and my parents told me to greet our neighbors.” He smiled kindly then holds up the platter.

“Hey! Another kid! Hey neighbor! I’m Ray. This isn’t my house but anyway, come in!” We slightly moved to the sides to let him inside. Seriously, this guy’s too comfortable. He didn’t just invite himself in, but also invited someone else. I thought as I tried to hide a smirk while I went further inside to grab my mom.

When my mom and I returned from the kitchen, Ray and the new kid were on the living room floor doing some kind of tangling or wrestling. It’s hard to tell with all the twisted limbs and stuff.

“Oh my. Boys are you alright?”

Ray smirks then replied, “Yes Mrs. M! I’m demonstrating some awesome wrestling moves I saw last night on TV. I’m going to tighten my grip Nick! You better tap out now before I break your bones!” He laughs as he squeezes the other kid in his grip and the kid starts tapping at the floor with an uncontrollable laugh. “I give! I give!”

As Ray let him go, the kid stands up and straightens himself as he collected his breath.

“Good evening, ma’am. I’m Nick Richards. I’m from the house across the street. We moved in this morning.”

“Hello dear. What a polite kid. I’m Sandra Matthews. This is my son, Christian. He’s a bit shy and he can’t really talk but be friends with him alright?”

“No problem ma’am!” Nick smiles then tap my shoulder.

“Hah! You’re not shy at all, man!” Ray blurts out while standing beside me, putting his arms over my shoulder as I elbowed his side.

“Ouch. See. He’s not shy at all! He’s beating me up!” He proclaims in mock drama then he lay down on the floor acting out pain as he keeps laughing.

With that, we’ve been together ever since then. Some small normal fights here and there, but we stayed the best of friends. We understood each other more than anyone. As years went by, Nick and I grew a lot more than Ray and we would sometimes tease him about it. Knowing how he used to tell us that he’s the boss since he’s taller than both of us. We’re all pass the 6 ft mark but I ended up getting taller than both of them. As much as Ray hated being smaller than us, he’ll let it go and act like a proud father and say things like “I’m so proud of you guys. You’re all such big boys now.” And we’d end up laughing in stitches.

---

Back to the present time, Ray and Nick are standing beside my seat as I collect my books and stuff them into my bag. I wasn’t really about to talk about anything but Ray decided to talk anyway.

“So… What was that this morning? You’re acting like a lovesick girl, man.”

“It’s nothing. I just made another friend.” I signed then shrug my shoulder.

“A friend, huh. Why don’t you introduce us then? We would like to be friends with him too.” Nick said.

“Sure.” I motioned. But I wasn’t really sure how I should do so. Instead, I look around to the room then bolted to catch Angelo as he stands up from his seat seeming oblivious to the stares he’s getting from my friends. I tapped his shoulder and he jumped a bit in surprise. He sees me then smiles.

“Hey Chris. Everything ok?” He asked.

I nodded then pointed my friends. He looked a bit nervous or maybe scared when he saw them. Well, considering how small he is and how big and intimidating my friends look, I’m not surprised to see that reaction from him.

“Hey man. I’m the awesome Ray McKen. I’m also the basketball team’s captain and this awkward guy’s friend.” He points at me with his thumb as he grabs Angelo’s hand and shakes it hard.

“Oh please. Keep that ego in check, dude. Nice to meet you, I’m Nick Richards. I regret to inform you that I’m unfortunately this guy’s friend. Please forgive his big head and be careful not to bump into it since it’s always seems to occupy the whole room.” He snickers as he gives a pointed look to Ray. Ray just responds by rolling his eyes.

“Hi. I’m Angelo Sy. It’s nice to meet you two.” I noticed that he seems to be trying hard not to laugh out loud about the banter between Ray and Nick.

“Just relax, man. We don’t bite. I mean, not usually. So, I heard you’ve become friends with our boy Chris here.” Ray grins as he slung his arms over Angelo’s shoulders.

“Uh. Yeah. We met this morning. What class are you guys going to next?” Angelo answered.

“It’s Physics next. So, anything else you learned about our Chris here?” Ray smirks with a raised brow. Shit. This guy has no delicacy. Please don’t embarrass me, man. I glared at him and he just continues smirking and teasing me.

“Ray c’mon. Don’t pry on their business. We should get going if we want to make it to our next class you know. It’s in the other building.” Nick sighs, noting at my flushed face. Thank you, Nick. Thank you for saving me from further embarrassment.

“What? I’m just getting to know our new friend.” Ray grins as we get out of the room.

Nick rolls his eyes and pulls on Ray’s ear.

“Ow! Ow! Alright! Alright! Sorry mom!” Ray says with a snicker that earned him a slap behind the head from Nick.

Angelo just stared at them, smiling. I can’t stop looking at him. That smile is just so cute. I could stare at him all day watching him smile. Sigh. I haven’t even settled what this means, but I’m starting not to care whatever it is and just let it happen. But I still don’t know what will happen. I mean what if this is a one-sided thing.

I couldn’t stop thinking as my mind is swarmed with those thoughts. We arrived at our science class; we take the seat around a table for four, with me sitting opposite of Angelo. I couldn’t stop staring at him that he would catch me most of the time and we’ll make eye contact. But after each one, it just gets me more and more confused at what is happening.