The next class, it seems everyone’s decided to keep their seats from the last time.

Which means my seat next to a certain someone is once again vacant and available. Mark, whose name I now know, still hasn’t arrived to class yet, so I settle myself in before he arrives.

When I see red in the corner of my eye, I unintentionally look up and meet his eyes. He smiles a little before sitting down and I quickly force a smile back before he looks away so I don’t seem like some uptight girl that ignores common courtesies.

Professor Avery walks in, without the interpreter behind him this time, and walks straight over to my side of the hall and passes out papers to what I’m assuming are the deaf students of the class.

I subtly peek at the paper in Mark’s hand and it seems like the interpreter couldn’t make it to class today and that’s all I can read before Mark’s head lifts and I have to divert my eyes to the front before he notices I was reading over his shoulder.

As we wait for the lesson to begin, I notice a folded paper slide onto my desk and I look down as I notice Mark’s hand retreat away from my desk. I try to keep my composure because I’m sure he’s watching my reaction. I look up at him and point at the note then to myself, trying to ask if it was for me, and he nods and gestures for me to read it.

I look down at the paper and tentatively open it and carefully read the neatly handwritten note.

‘Um, hi… My interpreter is out for a couple weeks and I was just wondering if I could take a picture of your notes after each class.’

I almost open my mouth to reply to him, but I quickly realize and keep my mouth shut as I grab the pen off my desk.

‘Yeah, of course :)’

I pass the paper back to him and wonder if that smiley face is too provocative and I mentally scold myself for even having such thoughts. Maybe it’s easier this way. At least I can’t stutter on paper.

The paper’s back on my desk after a moment and a ‘Thanks’  is scrawled below my reply. I wonder whether or not I should reply, but the lecture starts and I set the paper aside and grab my notebook.

Sure sitting in the front was a sure way of making sure I pay attention, but now I was responsible for someone else’s education and I suddenly felt the need to take extra detailed notes and make sure everything was neat and even color coded and highlighted if necessary.

By the time class is over, I have 4 pages full of notes that I normally wouldn’t have so diligently done. I look over it, hoping that my writing is legible enough and then hand it to the boy beside me.

He nods at me with a small smile as he places it down on his desk, taking pictures of each page and then making sure that each of them aren’t blurry or out of focus. He hands me my notebook back and places his hand on his chin and then forword and I recognize it as the sign language for ‘thank you’. I just kind of smile in response as I place my notebook in my bag and awkwardly wave goodbye to him as I stand up to walk away.

I’m mentally screaming on the inside on the way out of class feeling like I’d just won the lottery or something. I never would have planned for something like this to happen. To be honest, upon realizing that he was deaf, I almost gave up hope that I could even talk to him at all. My admiration for him would always be just that and I’d never even get to know anything about him.

Maybe I’m being a little pathetic because he just asked if he could borrow my notes for a picture, but after admiring someone for two years without ever speaking a word to them, my feelings can't be too out there.

As I’m a few yards out the door, I hear footsteps jogging behind me and I notice a figure beside me in the corner of my eye. I turn my head and I’m a little more than surprised when bright red clouds my vision. It’s so unexpected that this time I don’t have the control to stop my eyes from rounding.

Mark lifts his hands to sign something before realizing that I probably won’t understand, and then puts his hands back down. I watch as his eyes look up in thought before they come down and meet mine again. He points to the PA building, then to the both of us, then back to the building.

I realize he’s trying to say that we both have the next class in the same building, but only because this was information that I already knew. But I pretend to be oblivious and mimic his actions as if confirming his statement.

He’s about to sign something again before his hands fall back down in realization. He then swings his backpack around his shoulder and pulls out a small notebook and pen. He holds the notebook in his mouth as he zips his backpack close and swings it back around.

He opens it to the first page, which is blank, and quickly scribbles away on it before handing both the notebook and pen to me. I take them from his hands and read what he wrote.

‘What class do you have next?’

My head’s screaming at me again and this time it’s not as pathetic as before. He actually wanted to get to know me—and maybe because I’m holding something that was just in his mouth. I write my reply, but it’s a little messy this time considering the fact that we’re walking, but at least it’s still readable.

‘Piano. What about you?’

I was genuinely curious about what he would write back because of what I had previously discovered. It still didn’t make sense to me that a deaf person could be taking an actual dance class. He hands back the notebook and my previous assumptions were right.

‘I have dance next.’

‘Really?’ I quickly scribble as we near the P.A. building.

He writes his reply and before he passes the notebook back over, he holds the door open for me and then hands it to me when we’re inside.

‘Yeah… it’s kind of hard to explain.’

I’m nervous about what I write next, but I try to stay confident on the outside and nonchalantly pass it back to him.

‘Oh, then maybe you could show me sometime? (:’

We’re already at his hallway and I’m weak in the knees when he nods at me after reading my suggestion. He quickly scribbles something down then lifts his notebook. A big ‘See you on Thursday’ is sprawled across a page and I nod back and wave to him before turning on my heels and walking away.

I finally let the huge smile that was waiting to be released appear on my face and I can’t seem to ease it away even as I walk into my next class.

“What has you all smiley?” the talkative classmate beside me asks as I take my seat.

“Nothing,” I reply, smile still evident on my face. 

There was supposed to be more to this chapter but I suddenly lost inspiration so even though it's short I figured I might as well publish it before making you guys wait longer ;A;
Also do u understand the title now? hahaha cause they're marking their words? ok... im lame goodbye