Chapter 9: The stutter

1 September 1272 Tuesday:

I open the door that I yearn to open each day but like last Tuesday, the room lacks a tall handsome figure. I walk forward, looking around trying to find Levi.

Right as I was about to go to the far end door I found Levi the last time, the man I'm trying to find jumps in front of me and scares me. "Boo!" He yells, scaring me right out of my shoes.

"Levi! You scared me!" I yell, slapping his arm playfully, slightly gripping it for support as I calm down my speeding heart and catch my breath.

He just continues laughing, gripping his stomach from the pain of so much snickering, I assume. Annoyed I scoff and make my way over to the coach. With a huff, I sit-down, and cross my arms, showing Levi my annoyance.

He walks over to me, a troubled look on his face, and starts panicking. "I-I, I'm sorry, I didn't k-know you w-w-would get so scared." He says, his face showing assumptions, perhaps he thinks I'll be forever mad at him.

At that, my heart softens, "It wasn't that funny." I say, looking down and playing with my fingers.

He chuckles, "It was a little f-funny." I look up at him and see his goofy, yet handsome smile. I can't help but roll my eyes at him and say, "Only a little funny." I joke, to show him that I'm not forever-angry. He smiles and relief rolls off him just to see me joke and smile, even if it's just a meager smile.

"Alright so," I start, taking my backpack off my shoulder and rummaging through it, and taking out a thick book. Putting my pack down on the floor, turning to Levi in a cross-legged position, and placing the book between us. Turning to the right page and stating again.

"I did some research on stutters, not because I don't accept you but I just wanna help and-" Levi stops me, "T-thank you, I appreciate it."

I smile and continue, " There are some bizarre ways of curing stutters." I say showing his the pictures of people with their tongues cut, pebbles in their mouths and all the other odd "cures" there are.

"I-I'm not doing t-that." He says, his face showing complete shock and horror. I chuckle at his reaction, "However, we will not be doing those." I could see him exhale in relief, I then read him the first technique to help.

"Focus on your breathing. Before talking to someone, calm down by telling yourself to relax and calm down." He nods, clearly listening and very interested. I then taught him some breathing exercises we were taught in physical education. Which he does flawlessly and mostly without a struggle.

I smile watching him complete the last breathing exercise and he nods, showing me he's ready to move on.

I look back at the paper, reading the second way to help, "Slow down, try not to talk too. If you try to talk too fast it'll make you anxious which will make the stuttering worse." He nods, "Sounds pretty easy." He says with a smile, proud that he didn't stutter.

I smile and read the next point. "Avoid trigger words. Oh also-" I start, remembering something that I made a mental note to remember what I'm about to say, "We need to find your trigger word, then when I am not with you, you need to practice them." He nodded, clearly pre[ared to put in the effort.

We quickly made a list of some words that he struggles with most. Most of them being names; the letter "t"; "h" and "w" also quite a few long words. After that, we continued on with all the other methods I could find. Practicing them all and then moving on to the next one and eventually, we were done with all I could find.

After we finished we started talking about school, I told him about the different teachers and students. "So then the whole class starts searching for Ms. Sandra's glasses. While everyone else was looking I realized that she had accidentally sat on them!" I tell him, we laugh together and I just now realize how angelic his laugh really is.

"I'm still caught up about h-h-how every girl in the school has a crush on A-Alex and not me. I'm clearly t-the prettier brother!" He acted offended but then continued, "H-he is obviously  just a copy of me." He said, almost speaking as if he wasn't joking.

My eyebrows furrowed, he noticed and said, "I'm joking." He said, with an unreal-sounding laugh, but I decided to let it go. It's not like anybody has seen him, I thought but decided to bite my tongue and keep it to myself.

I looked over to the clock, as I know that it is late and that I need to head to bed. "I know th-that look. You h-have to go." He sighs. I nod, drinking the last bit of tea he had prepared for me earlier.

"I wish I didn't have to," I say while picking up the book, placing it back in my bag, and handing the paper with the tips to Levi.

He looked like he was making or planning something in his head, his forehead forming wrinkles as he frowns, before he says to me, "I have an idea, Kath. What about I come over to your room next Tuesday. That means I can come over while everyone else is in class. Then when you're done you can just go to your room."

He says excited at this idea, struggling through some of the words but much less than usual. Kath is a nickname he made for me after he decided my name was too difficult and long to say, however, he still loved my name. He was so upset that he couldn't say my name right, but I don't mind.

If he came over that would mean that we could spend more time together, which is what my heart yearns for, day and night. "Alright, it's a deal, Lev," I say with a smile, shaking his hand using the nickname that I have for him.