Chapter 14

     Chapter Fourteen: Just fun

    Lyric Spencer's POV

    "So how are you enjoying the break?"

    I sat at my reading desk while on a video call with my best friend. My phone was positioned on the seat where it could give her a full view of what I was doing - painting my nails blue instead of my usual black. I didn't know much about manicures or anything, but I was giving it a try.

    My shoulders slagged in exhaustion, I could feel my legs begging to collapse <<You mean how am I suffering through it? I got a double shift at the restaurant.>>

    "Wow." Lyric's mouth made an 'O' shape. For a minute, I glanced behind her at the photo of her mother on the wall. Like me, Lyric lost her mother too. Hers to cancer, mine... well, I don't want to talk about it. "No wonder you look exhausted."

    To that, I shrugged. When you're mute, body movements are the basics of communication. Sometimes I even think in sign language with all the hand gestures.

    "Well, how about the party I told you about?" Wren's voice pitched higher with excitement, her dark eyes sparkling. "It's this Friday, and guess what?"

    I raised a brow, the brush hovering over my unpainted pinky nail. I had totally forgotten about agreeing to attend that party with Wren.

    "Gavin is coming," she sang out, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

    I grunted in response.

    "You know," she drawled, leaning closer to her camera with a mischievous grin, "the hot goalie you can't keep out of your mind? He'll be there."

    In an instant , I blinked away the tears pricking my eyes. Signing, <<I don't want anything to do with him. Remember, he took Janice's side.>>

    "I know, I know," she breathed out, waving her hand dismissively. Her voice dropped to a teasing whisper, "But that wasn't what I saw in your eyes at the cafeteria. You were stripping him naked."

    My cheeks grew warm, and I shook my head vehemently to deny her claims.

    A loud laugh escape her throat, "Of course you were, girly. You think I didn't notice?"

    If Wren could notice, what if someone else did? What if Gavin knew I couldn't keep my eyes away from him? There was something about staring at him that had my heart fluttering. If he did know, I'd rather wish the earth would swallow me whole right now.

    Ahhhh!

    "Come on, girl," Wren urged, her voice taking on that familiar 'big sister' tone she used when trying to convince me of something. "You like him - shoot your shot already! It's been a year." She punctuated each word with a finger tap against her screen. "He's leaving next year. You don't want to live with that list incomplete, huh?"

    I didn't really care about the list anymore. I only prayed to survive this year.

    <<You really think Gavin would be interested in a mute girl?>>

    For some strange reason, I found myself asking instead of disregarding the possibility. Yes, Gavin had hurt me and refused to help me, but I remembered that time when he started clapping for me in mathematics class. He looked actually proud of me. Man, he was a confusing fellow.

    Picking up a comb, Wren began brushing her dark curls. Her gaze remained fixed on mine through the screen. "Of course. Don't make your disability your personality, sweetie. It would not work for you. Plus, it's college - you're supposed to be out there having fun and catching STDs."

    When I frowned, Wren's laugh erupted like musical bells, her head thrown back, shoulders shaking with genuine mirth. She wiped a tear from her eye, still giggling, "Okay, fine, no STDs, okay? Just fun!"

    I don't know why, but she appeared extremely happy tonight. It felt terrible to rob her of her moment with my sob life and love story. Almost love story.

    Hence, I made the okay sign, finding myself smiling from ear to ear. That was Wren to me - my laugh factory.

    "Before I go," Wren said, her tone suddenly turning serious as she leaned closer to the camera, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "Mr. Paulo Smith asked for your number today. I found it a bit strange."

    <<I don't think he's going to hit on me.>>

    After all, no one did. I was only a girl with a disability whom no one saw as worthy of their time and attention. Even Gavin, my crush. I dislike him!

    "You don't know for sure," Wren countered, her expression turning fierce with loyalty. She jabbed a finger toward the camera. "Lyric, you have a curvy body that some women crave."

    Wren was my biggest supporter in the whole world and she took ever minute to praise my body. While sometimes I pitied how skinny she was, that woman didn't have a single extra fat on her body. Excuse my English.

    <<Not according to American, Korean, and Japanese standards,>> I signed back. My frustration growing, my body was a another insecurity of mine.

    Asian body standards aim for women under fifty kilograms, while I was seventy-five. Seventy-five kilograms! I didn't have long legs, nor did I have their long arms.

    I was curvy - a fancy word for fat. I was a five-foot-five, figure-eight girl. A bust of thirty-seven inches, a waist of twenty-seven, and hips of thirty-nine inches. I knew because there was a period of depression where I only ate limes for weight loss.

    Weight - that was what junk food did to one's body.

    When I signed back about beauty standards, Wren's face twisted with frustration. "Forget about them," she scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically. Her voice took on a sultry tone as she continued, "Black men will hunt you down, you know." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, a devilish grin spreading across her face. "My people have good taste and bigger cocks."

    Hearing that made me laugh heartily. It was rare to hear Wren praise her culture and ethnicity. During our childhood, she was bullied for being the only Black girl in the class - in fact, the only Black girl in all of Velmont. Our town was very white; we had an Asian family, but they traveled abroad.

    Being a small town, some people were a tad racist.

    <<I think that's a myth.>>

"How would you know?" Wren shot back, her eyes widening in mock scandal. She pressed a hand to her chest in exaggerated shock. "You've never seen one, not even a photo. You're too much of a saint to even watch p**n."

    The thought of pornography sent a shiver down my spine. My last boyfriend, if I could even call him that, forced me to watch it. He wanted me to be 'open-minded.' It only grossed me out with all the fake faces, panting, and the entire act as a whole.

    I feel bad for those addicted to it. Just watching it made me feel humiliated.

    <<I just don't like it. Sex is something that's supposed to be intimate and private. I won't engage in anything otherwise.>>

    Wren's expression softened with affection, though she still rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Saint Lyric," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

    Her voice grew drowsy as she added, "It's past my bedtime. You know I get grumpy when I lose my sleep." She blew a dramatic kiss to the camera. "Good night, I love you!"

    The wonders of technology.

    My fingers moved swiftly, as I signed <<I love you too. Good night.>>

    Finally, I waved at her, and she waved back. As per our ritual, we both leaned in and kissed our screens. Wren pulled away, and I noticed the corner of her lips rising as she chortled, "You have a lentil in your teeth, babe."

    Shame engulfed me. I felt my cheeks getting red, which made me laugh, also making Wren laugh. A popping sound emerged, and Wren's face turned red. She farted.

    So, I covered my palm on my nose pretending that the smekl was foul which made her face redder than a ripen tomato. My friend was so cute when she flustered.

    We both fell back on our beds, laughing like children. We were silly most times.

    Next, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. My reflection stared back at me while my mind stirred back to what Wren had said.

    Just fun. Just fun...

    I replayed the statement in my head before I went to sleep. My tired body giving up to the darkness the engulfed my soul.