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[ AND HAPPY PRIDE MONTH🌈🌈🌈 ]

Rue's POV
"...Niñita, call us if anything happens and remember, you're only going until lunch and then I'll pick you up-", Lin began at 7.45 am two days after being back home.
"And reply to all of our texts", Vanessa remarked. "Even if you're in class"
I nodded, trying to comprehend every little thing they said.
"I'll be fine, you guys. Seriously. I just want to be back in school, really", I rambled, checking the content of my backpack for the fourth time.

It was true. I didn't want to be there and find my only friend talking about all the hundred of stories I missed, and I couldn't tell Via why I'd been gone in the first place. I just wanted to minimize the time away.

Although, finding my old step siblings from my past placement home wouldn't be a joy - I'd be frozen by fright.

"SHE'S ALIVE!", Via shouted, happily smiling, as she ran towards me through the isle of bookcases since she'd been at her early meeting  with the speech & debate club. The librarian 20 meters away shushed us harshly, which made Via drastically put her hand over her mouth. I giggled as we crashed into a hug.
"Gosh, I missed you", I said, as her frizzy hair would tickle my nose.
"How could you not miss me?", Via giggled as we let go of each other. I nodded, agreeing with her.
And, so she quickly rambled about anything & everything, as we walked towards the first class of the day.
Burr's casual advice to Hamilton was something I never wanted to happen to Via. Her power of speaking, of speech, was to fight for. I wanted to hear the hundreds of stories she was telling me.
The familiar halls were quite scary, because I knew people were staring at me when I was knocking on each and every locker.
I looked down as I saw Ansel approach us from the other side of the hall, rather arrogantly.
His voice, quietly saying something.
"So you're back, Ruthleigh? I actually hoped that you killed yourself", his tone that was so confident, making me feel like I was so small, while everything around me was so big.
Blink 23 times 4.
"Go into space and take your helmet off, idiot. Tho, I am positive that you've got no idea about the consequences. Just back off from us, instead", Via snapped easily, and she seemed to be pretty satisfied with her choice of words.
She wasn't here for him.
I laughed inside.
The baffled Ansel just walked past us.
"That line was amazing", I breathed, so tempted to look back at him leaving towards his class.
"There's a reason I'm in speech & debate, Rue"

I sat down, fixing the order of my things in front of me for two minutes in a strict way of doing it as it was my last class before lunch. My last class of the day.
Do it for more times.
Although, that wasn't an explanation to why I was organising.
When I was done, the class had already started.
So, I did it another four times because of that.

I forced my hands to stay still after that, almost staring at the maths teacher as he went through what I assumed was algebra. I started to scribble down everything she'd written on the whiteboard, just to be sure.
Even if I'd done the work I'd been assigned, I still felt like I'd missed everything. Even Via had been talking to the guy behind us, that we barely knew.
Overthinking the situation, and letting my mind take over again.
Tap.

"...and apparently a certain student is still on vacation", my teacher said. I'd never felt so targeted in my entire life.
Blink. 72. Rhythm. Now. Or your family will die.
The bell rang, making my maths teacher sigh.
I quickly started to collect my things, in the right order.
"Homework for next Monday, and I want to talk to Ruth", and by that, the arrow hit the target once again.
Wait, did I do something wrong? I must've done something wrong? Did I forget to arrange my things? Or tap?

I walked up to her desk, thinking about every move as I worriedly waited for what she had to say.
"So, are you all caught up with the work?", she asked, fixing the glasses who'd slipped down on her nose.
I nodded frantically.
"Good. Remember to focus in class, you're already on the verge of an F", she said, scribbling something down. "You can either switch classes or work harder, Ruth. You may go now", I let out my breath that I didn't even realise I was holding.
I was near an F?
I couldn't get an F in Pre-Calc. I like Pre-Calc. I really liked maths. I just didn't like my teacher. She hated me.
And numbers just clump together like a lump of coal and the diamond never comes out?
This is your fault. You must've missed a routine. Multiple routines.
At the thought of multiple routines, I started walking much faster than before.
Via had run to her locker by now, probably waiting for me. But, I had to fix this.
If it would be fixed by my knuckles knocking on every 4th locker, half because I wanted to make up for every routine I'd missed & half because I thought Vanessa would get harmed.
As I walked, rather tip-toed, to the school's office I could feel everyone's eyes digging into my neck.
Don't step on a crack. If you do, you'll have to start over.
I started to worry about talking to the student counselor.
I mean, she's always nice - but what if, she occasionally hated a student - and she hated me?
She grinned at me, saying 'hello!' in that kind way she treated everyone.
What if she faked that for me? What if I was a burden?
"It's great that you're feelin' better, Rue", she exclaimed. I nodded nervously.
In my shaky voice I asked her something I found scary.
She gave me a look that just shone No Me Diga! afterwards.
"E-eh, could I switch a c-class?"
At least, that's what my math teacher wanted.

Lin texted me right after lunch, if you look away from the 24601 other texts I'd received & reply to in the group chat earlier. I was still overthinking the situation in Pre-Calc, debating over all the things I'd done wrong today.

>> There in 5, Niñitaaa.

I gave my backpack & sketchbook a quick glance, standing alone in the hallway as everyone else already had run to class.

<< Alrighty. I've just gotta run to textiles first, it won't take long, promise 🤞

When I jumped into the car approximately 7 minutes later, Lin narrowed his eyes into me.
"Textiles?", he said every syllable very carefully, like he was doubting my text.
"Yeah. Had to turn in my sketches", I excitedly said, smiling.
That's all I had to do to make Lin curious. He went from the worried Lin, to the hyped & happy Lin.
"And?", he asked, past patiently waiting for what I had to say.
"They're approved! We're starting to make the costumes, like for real, on Monday!", I squeaked.
"YES, RUE, YOU GO! High-five!", he shouted, making me giggle as we totally failed the high-five.
We calmed ourselves for a second, until we did another attempt at the gesture - completely smashing it.
"You ready to get your hearing aid?", Lin asked right after that, as I fastened my seatbelt 4 times.
I nodded unexpectedly eagerly. To be honest, I'd been nervous about this for days.
"Very"

After a long, yet not so complicated, doctor's appointment, I could hear everything around me. From both sides.
Ever so aroused & overwhelmed by the many sounds that actually existed, I squeaked at every surprise I could notice as we walked Tobi to the Theater.
Lin kept laughing at me.
"You don't understand, this is so cool!", I squealed as I tapped the wall next to me. All I could think about was nervous Lin at the hospital earlier as he'd explain to why he was here instead of Vanessa, who were supposed to come but couldn't, and how he'd read through every little document so carefully he could, then apologising to the Doctor that he had no idea what he was doing.
"I understand, Niñita, I understand", he assured me, beaming at me with a smile.
Even if I hadn't noticed it, this was so much better.
Blink your eyes 256 times.
Everything was heard so clearly.
So much louder.
"Ain't it cool, Tobi? I can hear you bark even more now!", I high-pitchedly said to the dog, who replied with a bark as we entered the Theater.
"And get awoken by Sebastian every night", Lin remarked. In his opinion, Seb never slept. I rolled my eyes.
I quickly ran backstage, holding Tobi's leash, leaving Lin to start rehearsals again. Strolling around backstage, until I found a nice spot by the window upstairs.
I could soon see Thayne approach me from the other side of the room with big eyes.
"SMALL CHILD, YOU BROUGHT THE DOGGO WITH YA!", he  happily exclaimed. "I just love dogs", he squeaked, giving Tobi a belly rub which she was rather pleased with.
I giggled.
"My friend's grandma has a dog shelter", I noted to Thayne, who clearly freaked out over the thought of a ton of cute pups.
"Take me to this friend of yours", he demanded. From somewhere in the building I could hear people singing Disney.
"I'll tell him that", I said to Thayne's satisfaction. "Is that Disney?", and by all of my excitement, the question came out more as 'is that Didney?'
Maybe I was tired from school, or from the hospital - but we were both completely set on the hilariousness of the moment.
Thayne nodded, smiling at my weird way of saying it.
"We've been having a Disney marathon going all day. Voltaire & Alysha started it spontaneously this morning", he explained. He quieted to listen to what was playing at the moment. "Tangled"
I stood up, making Tobi waggle her tail.
"Tangled's my fave", I said adoringly, already skipping towards the big room where the beautiful soundtrack - and the cast harmonising with it - came from.

As we peaked our head inside, Oak and Daveed were dancing to Mother knows best, rather intensively.
Touch the door knob 7 times.
The cast seemed to come and go between rehearsals, but I was positive that everyone had petted Tobi at least twice, or constantly, when they were there.
Oh, the perks of being a dog.
There I was, having yet another wonderful experience watching one of the most fantastic Disney movies of all time - this time so close I could get to perfect hearing.
Thayne made his way over to the whiteboard, which in his opinion was full of boring things, and erased every little thing that was written on it with his left arm's sleeve.
"Y'know there's an eraser right?", Oak kindly reminded him.
A bit baffled, Thayne took a look at his hoodie's sleeve, laughing at himself as he started to scribble something down on the massive whiteboard.

IT DIDNEY TIME!!!

I grinned towards him, letting everyone see my hamster cheeks.
In fact, only him & I understood this.
I saw my phone lighten up, the blue Twitter icon making its way through.

@Lin_Manuel :
My daughter @ruemarkable got her hearing aid today.
She keeps cheering when she hears something new.
It's adorable.

He'd attached a picture of me on the staircase when we were about to go, as I'd put Tobi's bandana on.

The thing was, I'd thought my hearing was perfect before.
This was a sign telling me that I actually needed help sometimes, from anyone who offers it.
The movie scene of Eugene & Rapunzel on the boat, singing I See The Light, I started to join the company of Hamilton who was singing to each and every song.
Yet, I'd been rather shy and hiding in the corner and discussing the movie while snuggling with the dog by my side.
People would come and go, and Renée was currently giving me big eyes as I sang a part of it.
"Oh, you can sing", she whispered in my ear.
I blushed. Lin approached me from behind, nodding towards Renée.
"I know right? She never does it tho", he commented, putting a sad face on after the last part. I blushed.
Like a proud parent, showing his child off.
I picked my phone up, scrolling through Twitter when I decided that this was an occasion to tweet.

@ruemarkable :
Yes, I'm part cyborg now🤖

With a picture of a side shot of my face, my hair curled behind my ear showing off something I'd been insecure up until this day.
Quickly, someone replied to my tweet, and if it wasn't

@Lin_Manuel :
@ruemarkable @VAMNit this is a good one. Tweet on point.

@VAMNit :
@Lin_Manuel it sounds like something you'd tweet. You sure he has nothing to do with this? @ruemarkable 👀

@ruemarkable :
@VAMNit @Lin_Manuel definitely sure. He's actually quite jealous of it😉

-----
Hey there humans!🌺
Sorry to be a late updater, I couldn't keep the one-chapter-a-week-rule this time... but;
I've been sick. Fever & all.
Then, I got headaches that took ages to go away🙄
But I'm alright now!

How did you find the chapter?
Exciting stuff are happening to Rue, huh?😌
(this one is full of references)
(I always try to put at least a few in, because I love them when I read other fanfics)
(do y'all like them?)

I've also celebrated the very Swedish tradition - MIDSUMMER🎉
It basically means that you make flower crowns and dance around a maypole like frogs and singing and playing weird games💐
The 18+ (grown ups) also drink a lot. While singing🎶
I'm not joking. Go check it out on YouTube, everyone's making a fool out of themselves!🌷

Question for lé day;
What do you wish will happen to Rue in the future?🌈
Me? Oh, I've got some things planned out - but hushhhh, you tell me!

If you liked the chapter - please consider to leave a vote & comment! They mean a lot to me💓

Have the loveliest of days,
Sincerely,
C