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Throughout class, I ignore the teacher and my brothers and just watch her. She never looks up. She is constantly trying to hide within herself, even more than she usually does, and her breathing is staggered. Not able to fight it anymore, I tap on her shoulder, and she stiffens.
I notice everyone in our class is putting their things away, and I look over to Kade and he signs that the bell had just rang. I leave my stuff on my desk and get in front of Paisley. I angle my body between her and my brothers.
“Are you okay?” I sign.
She looks up at me with tears flowing down her face.
“What is going on? You can talk to me about anything. I will listen no matter what,” I sign while softening my eyes.
The fact is not lost on me that I can’t actually hear.
She shakes her head, looking me in the eyes as she moves her hands. “Not here.”
Silently understanding, I nod my head slightly and turn to throw my stuff into my bag. I watch Paisley slowly leave the room and then I get Atlas’s attention.
* * *
Lunch couldn’t come fast enough. All through history, I couldn’t keep my mind off of Paisley. I just wanted to have eyes on our girl again. When we all get to our normal spot, I search for her, but I don’t see her and the panic sets in.
Atlas starts signing before I can ask anything. “She stopped at her locker to get her lunch. I wanted to walk with her, but she had that look to let her be. Not only that, but she was looking around and people were watching her again.”
Twenty minutes into lunch, Paisley slowly walks out onto the grass and sits down in the sun. It doesn’t get past me that she doesn’t have her lunch with her.
Did she already eat it? Does she actually have a lunch?
“So, what happened with Paisley? Man, I need to know. I struggled in history. Ask Mateo,”I sign to the guys.
“Yeah, man, he wouldn’t shut the fuck up. ‘I hope Paisley is okay’ this. ‘I hope Paisley is okay’ that. I’m surprised we didn’t get in trouble with the teacher again today,” Mateo signs.
“She didn’t talk to me. She straight-up ignored me. Wouldn’t even look at me. All I got from her were body language movements. Her breathing was still ragged, just like in first period. She struggled to move around. She tried to hide it, but she was shifting her weight off her left foot as much as possible. Normal people probably wouldn’t notice,” Atlas signs with his shoulders slumped.
I’m struggling for words. So many thoughts are going through my mind.
Did she get hurt?
Did someone hurt her?
What can I do to help her?
I need to know what happened.
The guys let me know that lunch is over, and we gather up our trash and head to our respective classes. Glancing over at Paisley one last time, I get lost in thinking about her. The way her hair reflects the sun at just the right angle, and the way she carries herself. Wanting to see her one more time, I look over at her, and her eyes are shimmering yet again.
I move to head toward her, and a hand grips my upper arm, pulling me back. Looking back, I see Atlas shaking his head slightly.
“Not the time,” he signs.
I desperately want to scream. All I want to do is protect her. Sighing, I turn back around and head towards the computer lab, with one thing on my mind.
How do I protect someone who won’t let me in?
* * *
It’s eerily cold when I get to fourth period. No one is in the room except for the teacher. She isn’t the most welcoming, likeshedoesn’t even want to be here. I sit down and wait for Paisley to arrive. The seconds tick by even slower than they normally do in this place.
Right before the light goes off to start class, she limps into class. It’s a slight limp, but it’s definitely more prominent than it was at lunchtime.
She sits down beside me, and it’s then that I release the breath that I didn’t know I had been holding. I constantly look at her out of the corner of my eye, checking to make sure she is okay, and that’s when I see the bruise peeking out of her jacket sleeve. I wouldn’t have even noticed, but she’s fidgeting and constantly pulling at it. We aren’t supposed to have phones in school, but I can’t bring myself to care about that right now.
