- Chapter 1
- It was the eve of the SATs, and Jake, my
- transfer–student crush, was mad at me again.
- Because I told him I didn’t want to see him.
- He told me to transfer schools.
- “Northwood High is pretty good,” he said. “I’ll
- have you back when she cools down.”
- “Don’t make this hard for me, Sarah.”
- I nodded and agreed.
- I packed my things, ready to leave.
- His best friend tried to reason with him.
- “You know Sarah has a hearing impairment,
- right? Do you think she’ll be okay at another
- school alone? Won’t she get bullied?”
- “You guys grew up together, you used to like
- her so much. Can you really bear to send her
- away?”
- Jake raised an eyebrow.
- “That was then ‘First love can’t beat the one
- L
- who comes after,‘ haven’t you heard?”
- “Besides, I’ll have her back in three months,
- tops.”
- Three months later, when Jake called to tell
- me to come back.
- A cocky, carefree guy next to me chuckled
- into my hearing aid.
- “Babe, you gotta close your eyes when we
- kiss.”
- “And no answering calls from random dudes.”
- 1.
- The day the practice SAT scores came out,
- I’d jumped from fifth to third in the year.
- While Mia had dropped from twentieth to
- somewhere in the thirties.
- Someone commented, “Wow, Mia’s score
- really tanked.”
- “And Sarah jumped two spots!”
- Her eyes immediately welled up as she looked
- at me.
- <
- “Sarah, are you happy now?”
- “Studying so hard every day, just so everyone
- thinks Jake made a bad choice picking me,
- huh?”
- With that, she stormed out.
- She didn’t come back, even when the bell
- rang for class.
- Our teacher, clueless about what happened,
- asked me, as class president, to go find Mia.
- Half an hour later.
- I found Mia sitting on the planter by the
- basketball court.
- Jake was bent over in front of her, whispering
- sweet nothings.
- I don’t know what he said, but Mia started
- smiling through her tears.
- The sunlight filtered through the leaves,
- dappling them both, like a scene straight out
- of a high school rom–com.
- Seeing me, Jake narrowed his eyes. As if to
- <
- avenge Mia, he tossed the basketball he was
- holding in my direction.
- It hit my hearing aid.
- After a buzzing sound, my left ear went
- completely silent.
- Jake clearly hadn’t expected that. A flicker of
- surprise crossed his face, quickly gone.
- He walked towards me.
- “Sarah, transfer.”
- “Mia has a temper, and she’s always fighting
- with me because of you.”
- Just a month ago, he’d asked me, “Sarah, will
- you be my girlfriend after graduation?”
- With the SATs so close, I instinctively wanted
- to refuse.
- But Jake said, “Sarah, don’t make this hard
- for me.”
- “Every day you’re here, Mia is unhappy.”
- “You don’t want to make things difficult for
- <
- your dad, do you?”
- My dad worked for Jake’s family’s company.
- He was using my dad’s job to threaten me,
- for Mia.
- I knew my dad had worked at the company
- for years, from age twenty–two to forty–five. I
- couldn’t let him lose his job in middle age
- because of me.
- “Fine.”
- Jake seemed to relax.
- “I’ll have you back when she calms down.”
- Mia must have overheard. She walked over
- and tugged Jake’s hand possessively.
- “Jakey, I think Northwood High is just fine for
- her.”
- Northwood was known as the worst high
- school in the city.
- Jake knew that, of course.
- He just laughed casually.
- “Okay, whatever you say.”
- <
- I clenched the broken pieces of my hearing
- aid in my palm. They dug into my skin.
- It hurt, but it also stopped me from crying.
- After a while, I threw the pieces in the trash.
- Then I turned and left.
