*Title not decided yet* by Sofia Hantzaridis and Olivia O'Donnell (best books for 7th graders TXT) 📕

had expired, it'd been so tragic. She died when I was eight. That was six full years ago.
But I shouldn't talk about her now. Every time I do, I break into tears. I'm actually tearing up now.
Four more hours until school ends, I might just tell you then. Lunch was next period. I'm surprisingly not hungry at all. Social studies was just about to end.
Our social studies teacher is so bad looking. Grey and white looking beard, that goes up to his ears. Bald. I can't stand him, he has a mean personality too. I'm growing a little hungry. Can't wait to get to get to lunch.
And then there was the bell. Onto lunch. The eating period.
Today was our damn picinic for school. Everyone hates the annual picnics. It's disgusting.
The wooden picinic tables are all filled with gum and what not. They served the awful pepperoni, cheese, and turkey sandwiches.
The cheese was probably five weeks pasts it's expiration date. The turkey tasted like rotten apples. The pepporoni had no flavor.
What a picinic. Lunch ladies were done serving right about when everyone started to throw out their lunch.
Maya, Sam, Andrew, TJ, and I talking. This was all too hard! Reading everyone's lips, or at least trying to. If I looked at TJ, then looked at Sam, they'd be talking about two completely different things!
"Aarihan," Sam faced me, good thing I was looking at her. "What is that behind your ear!" My hearing aids. No. I couldn't respond. Andrew would find out I'm deaf. Maya would find out I'm deaf. Maya.
But everyone was silent. I looked at everyone. From Maya, to Andrew, to Sam, to TJ, no one was speaking. They were all looking at me, waiting for me to respond to Sam's question.
"It's," I began to tell them.
"A hearing aid. It's a hearing aid! Aarihan is deaf!" Maya exclaimed. She pisses me off.
"What? Since when?" Andrew asked. He kind of looked upset. But he can't be mad! It's all freaking Sam and Maya's fault! Well, I can't really blame Sam, because she was just being stupid and wondering.
"Yes," I got a knot in my throat. I gulped real hard. "I wasn't sick for a month and a half. Well, I was sick but-"
"Please. You were probably born deaf, bitch. And just never told us." Maya put her hand on her hip.
"Okay," I took a deep breath, and started to tell my story. "I was very sick, and instead of getting better, all I would do is just get worse over time. After a week or two, my father took me to the hospital. The nurse took my blood, and ran some tests. I took the sight test, and the hearing test. After running the hearing tests, results said I failed. After running some more tests, doctors revealed I was deaf."
"Then what's with those hearing aids?" Maya shot a hard question at me, but I was able to answer it.
"Well, I can hear some backround noises, it allows me to know what's going on around me," I quickly looked at Andrew, and tried to read his expression. Depressed, angry, confused, afraid. All at once. "like, I can hear the vibration in music,"
"Hmm, whatever," Maya hissed again. Wow, what a pissy day for her. "All we need to know is that Aarihan is different,"
Bitch. I knew it! I knew she would treat me like Abigail! Screw Maya!
I started walking away. I don't care about Maya anymore. I gave her everything, knowing that she is a total bitch!
"AARIHAN WATCH OUT!" Andrew scolded. Everyone else heard him but me. I had no idea he even said that, he told me afterwards. I just kept walking.
The next thing I knew, I was laying flat on the pavement. Andrew was on top of me. A second or two later, a call strolled by with a man with a shocked look upon his face.
Andrew saved my life. I was about to get hit by a car.
I sobbed into his arms almost immediately. We didn't let each other go. It was the best feeling I ever had, and it lasted for five minutes.
7

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse?" Andrew asked again, for the third time.
"I'm fine, really," I smiled at him. It's like we're already together. "If anything, you'd be going to the nurse, you're the one that saved me,"
"Alright, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Andrew responded.
Sam, Maya, Andrew, TJ and I walking through the halls. The "gang".
Everyone in this school was about to find out I was deaf. Maya's rumors spread like butter on toast. Maya was now going to treat me like Abigail, and all the "outsiders".
The "gang" split to go to our lockers. TJ was in my next class, which was English.
His last name is Smuteck, mine is Smith. Therefore, we sat in assigned seats next to each other in every class. You know, because we're in every single class together. The room had two desks only to sit next to eachother.
I stepped foot into the classroom and I spotted TJ already sitting in his seat. TJ was the late type of guy. I walked over to our two-desk spot and placed my books on the table, probably making no noise at all.
"Huh, early today?" I jokingly asked TJ.
"Yeah. I'm done with this late crap. I got way to many detentions," TJ smiled at me and laughed.
"Well, let's see how that goes," we exchanged smiles while I sat down.
"So," TJ's smile got wiped off his face almost immediatly. "That was some lunch,"
"Yeah," I knew what he was talking about. Finding out I was deaf. The almost-car-accident. "The food was so awful,"
"The pepperoni was bland,"
"Yup,"
"Good afternoon class," Mr. Shawn greeted us as he walked into the classroom.
"Good afternoon Mr. Shawn," the class answered him.
Mr. Shawn went right to his desk and grabbed some papers. Next thing he did was hand them out and say, "Class, read the passage to yourself. Then answer the questions with your neighbor."
Time flew as TJ and I both finished reading.
"Question one?" I quietly whispered to TJ. We were the smartest ones in the class, so we always finished first. It was awkward, but funny at the same time.
"Are we seriously going to answer these questions? Or are we going to do what we always do?" TJ whispered back.
"You mean, goof off and play would you rather, then do the questions when three other groups start? What the heck."
"So, would you rather eat paint out of a jar filled with spiders, or eat paint out of a jar filled with baby teeth?" TJ asked me, I shortly responded.
"Baby teeth!"
"Why?"
"Because I have this huge fear of spiders, and baby teeth are so cute!"
"Perhaps I chose I bad would you rather,"
"Whatever! Would you rather eat peanut butter off a hobo's foot, or eat peanut butter off the grass?"
"Neither, I'm allergic to peanut butter,"
"It doesn't matter! Choose one!"
"The grass."
We both giggled for a little while. We've been friends since pre-k. We go way back.
"I'll do the questions, you work on a would you rather paper," I told him, as he took a piece of loose leaf out of his binder.
I finished the questions after ten minutes. I tapped his wrist and we traded papers. I got his would you rather sheet and he got the answer sheet. His questions were deffinetly bazaar.
Would you rather swim in a swimming pool of jello or pudding?
Would you rather miss your birthday for a year, or miss New Year's for a year?
Would you rather eat-
TJ's finger tapped my shoulder.
His lips read, "I'm done with copying done the answers."
"Cool. There's like five more minutes of class left," just as Mr. Shawn started speaking.
"In these last five minutes of class, just review your notes for the test next Friday."
Five minutes went by like that. Off to my next class, which was Spanish.

8

Spanish class. Andrew, Sam, Abigail and TJ.
"Buenas tardes clase." Mrs. Martinez spoke. Which, by the way, means good afternoon class.
Since I'm in ninth grade now, all we speak is Spanish. Which is soo annoying. Teacher only speaks Spanish, and the students only speak Spanish. Even if we have a question, we have to ask it in Spanish. By the way, I'll be here to translate for you.
"Buenas tardes señora Martínez" the class answered her.
"Hoy en día, la clase, vamos a estar hablando con nuestros socios españoles en nosotros mismos." Mrs. Martinez said, "Today, class, we will be talking to our partners in Spanish about ourselves."
Abigail's hand shot up into the air. Mrs. Martinez asked her, "Sí?" which, I think, everybody knows what that means.
"Qué socios?" Abigail asked. "What partners?"
"Voy a asignar los socios." Mrs. Martinez responded. "I will assign the partners."
Mrs. Martinez turned on her computer, which took about five or ten minutes. During her struggle, the class talked to their neighbors.
Unlike my english classroom, each desk was by it's self. Almost like each desk was it's own island.
The computer finally turned before she said, "Por último. Sam, tendrá que trabajar con TJ. Abigail, tendrá que trabajar con Amy. Andrew, tendrá que trabajar con Aarihan," which means, "Finally. Sam, you will work with TJ. Abigail, you will work with Amy. Andrew, you will work with Aarihan,"
I stopped listening when she said my name. Andrew and I were going to talk to each other about ourselves in Spanish? Not the best way to start a relationship.
"Obtener con sus socios asignados y comenzar." Mrs. Martinez said, "Get with your assigned partners and begin."
Andrew walked over to me and held my hand.
"Let's go in the back of the room, to sit in the beanbags." he spoke.
"Okay,"
We walked over and plopped our bodies into two seperate beanbags.
"So, let's hear it," Andrew said.
"What?" I asked him.
"Talk to me in Spanish," a smile apeared on his face but not on mine.
"I can't talk Spanish anymore," I confessed.
"Aarihan, even if you can't hear yourself speak, and you sound like an