“Do you want to hang out with me Lopez?” I asked as we walked towards the lockers at the end of the day. Kellin had afterschool detention.

                Lopez wrote and handed me the paper when he was done.

                “I want to, I really do, but my mom will expect me home. Sorry :/” he had written.

                I smiled. “Don’t worry about it. What bus number are you? I’ll walk you there,” I said. He returned the smile and held up five fingers.

                I led Lopez out to the buses and down to bus five. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow I guess. You can text me if you want,” I said with a shrug. Lopez nodded and hesitated before putting his arms around me and hugging me.

                I was shocked for a second before smiling and hugging him back. He pulled away and offered me a shy smile. He waved and climbed onto his bus.

                I turned and made my way to my own bus. I sat down and listened to my iPod until my bus pulled up to my house and let me off.

                I grabbed my key and let myself in the front door. I slipped my shoes off and made my way to the kitchen.

                “Hola padre,” I greeted my dad.

                “Hola chica. No detention? Or are you skipping?” he asked.

                I rolled my eyes. “Daddy dearest, I don’t get in trouble every day,” I pointed out.

                “Yea, and I’m the freaking queen of England,” he mumbled, sipping on his beer. “Go get me food. Make me a sandwich or something.”

                “I’m your daughter, not your bitch. You have a wife. Have her make you a sandwich,” I said with a snort, going over and getting myself some chips from the cupboard.

                “My wife wouldn’t know a sandwich from her own ass,” dad said, shaking his head.

                “You married her, not me,” I said with a shrug and left the room. I went up to my bedroom and turned on my laptop, deciding to kill some time lamely browsing the internet.

                As I went around on random websites, I found my thoughts wandering over to Lopez. I wondered what he did to entertain himself. Hell, I wondered what the hell he was doing right now.

                                                                                ***Lopez’s POV**

                I entered my house, shutting the door and taking my shoes off. I sniffed and smiled to myself. Kitchen. My mom was in the kitchen, starting dinner.

                I went into the kitchen and mom smiled at me. “Hi Lopez. How was the first day of school?” she asked.

                I made a circle with my thumb and pointer finger. Mom smiled wider. “Did you meet any new friends?” she asked. I nodded. Mom waggled her eyebrows. “Any girls?” I winked and she laughed.

                “Well, take a seat. Your father will be home soon, and we’re eating early. While you wait, I want to know your favorite and least favorite classes,” she said, handing me paper and a pencil before turning back to dinner. I smiled softly at her.

                I really loved my mom. I knew my parents had wanted another child, but they knew it would’ve been too hard to raise two kids when one was a deaf mute. I had seen them talking about it one night, when they thought I had gone to bed. I had hidden on the stairs, watching their lips as they talked about it.

                My parents, especially my mom, had worked so, so hard with me to make sure I could read and write. They had taught me how to read lips, and had me practice my writing every night someway. My mom liked me to read at least 10 minutes every night.

                A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped a little and stopped writing, turning to face my dad. He smiled at me.

                “Hi Lopez. Sorry if I scared you. How was school?” I nodded at him and smiled. He ruffled my hair before going over to my mom and kissing her.

                “So Lopez, how many girls did you meet? You know what, tell me about your new friends. I’m more interested in them,” mom said, setting plates down at the table. I turned back to the paper and began to write.

                “I met these kids named Kellin and Cameron. Cameron was the girl. They’re really nice. Cameron bought my lunch for me,” I wrote. Mom read it and smiled at me.

                “Good, Lopez. I’m happy you made some friends,” she said happily.

                I was good at reading people’s emotions. I had to be, since I couldn’t hear their tone of voice. I could tell what tone they were using by watching their features. It was tough, but I had gotten very good at it. I had to. It was the only way I would know if someone was angry, happy, sad, etc.

                Mom set food down and she and dad sat across from me. They always sat across from me so that they could talk to me.

                I grabbed the pencil again and scribbled on the paper my mom had given to me. I slid it to her when I was done and she read it.

                “Can I maybe hangout with them tomorrow? Whether they come here, or I go to one of their houses or something. Cameron wanted to hangout today but I knew you would want me home,” I had written.

                Mom nodded at me after dad had read it as well. “It sounds like fun Lopez!” she said. I smiled at her in thanks.

                My dad’s lips moved, but he had food in his mouth and I had no idea what he’d just said. I motioned at him to swallow and gave him a confused look.

                “Sorry. I asked you if you liked your classes,” he said after swallowing his food.

                Sometimes my dad forgot I was deaf mute, especially when he was eating. He just liked his food too much, I guess. It was amusing, but sometimes it was frustrating.

                I nodded at him. I clapped my hands together and unfolded them, pretending to read them like they were a book. I then flashed my parents a thumbs up.

                “English was your favorite, huh?” dad asked and I nodded happily.

                English class was usually my favorite. I loved to read and write, since it’s all I could really do. I was an incredibly fast and fairly neat writer.

                “Did everyone understand you alright?” mom asked.

                I shrugged. I held my hand out straight and wobbled it side to side. Kellin had struggled to understand me, but Cameron had seemed to understand what I was trying to “say”. It was nice to finally have someone understand me the way she had today. It was rare that people came to understand what I was trying to “say” so fast. Usually people had to get used to me and my gestures over a few weeks.

                I began to eat, staring at my food instead of paying attention to my parents’ conversation. My thoughts were on Cameron. She was such a pretty girl, and she had actually understood and accepted me. I smiled to myself, eager to get to know her better.