AND I'M READY TO HOPE *//

[NATHANIEL CALEB WOLFE]

i'm damned if i do and i'm damned if i don't

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 20px 0px 0px 0px; border: solid 1px #c1bcbc; padding: 5 px,bTable] nate's eyes opened, feeling the vibrations from his bed shaker underneath his back. he turned around, eyes barely alive, turning the alarm off. it was eight in the morning on a saturday. struggling to get out of the blankets, he sat up with feet on the ground, a bent back, and hands supporting on the corner of the bed. he looked across the room and sighed. as much as he enjoyed early-bird runs, he also had to convince himself every morning to get this work out over with. it was always tempting to just go back into the covers and fall back asleep. saturdays were created for relaxation. honestly, he was just content with the fact he survived his first week of school. idly going from class to class, not paying much attention to his surroundings. as if he had a choice. the halls were always cluttered. no noise, though. the teachers always talked. no noise there, either. of course he didn't know the abstractness in sounds and couldn't understand what made them horrid or beautiful. vibrations he felt on his body were the closest he would ever get to hearing an octave or melody of some sort. lifting himself off the bed, he placed his feet on the colder hardwood floor. the danky air vent in his room let out a cool air that kept the room around seventy degrees. he would have preferred a nice seventy five, but his parents thought the house would be slightly too warm if they did that. he rolled his eyes at the thought. when he first enrolled into manchester, his parents were worried about their son. those were the years of his optimism, before nate ever became who he was now. it was rather ironic how an eager child was turned into someone so...uneager. he remembered begging his parents to enroll him into a regular school. what an idiotic move that was. a slight comparison to icarus struck his mind. the boy who flew to close to the sun, thus his wings melted and he drowned in the ocean. was he not equipped mentally to go into high school? had he been drowning in an ocean these last three years? either way, he was stuck here for one more year. his parents saw the quick change in his demeanor and worried sometimes. in his white t-shirt and boxers, he opened a drawer on his dresser and searched for some athletic shorts. quickly, he slid his legs through one at a time. the mirror above his dresser only reflected an average sized boy with messy hair and laid back eyes. he puffed, pulling out socks out of another drawer. his bum fell back onto the corner of the bed, and he slid on his socks neatly, and then continued to pick up the tennis shoes next to his bed. sighing, he quickly slid those on with gentle hands and tied them so they were comfortable around his foot, comfortable enough to run in. getting up, he took a broken ipod that didn't even turn on and quickly unwraveled the earphones. they always managed to tangle within themselves by some mystical force. his fingers grasped and plugged the earphones into his ears, something he often did before leaving the house. nate couldn't remember a day when he didn't do this. the kid avoided covnersation as much as he could. he disliked the look and reactions he received when he told people he was deaf. it discouraged people from talking to him like a normal person and he didn't need to be treated differently just because he had a disability. leaving the house, he shouted to his parents he was leaving. they were probably asleep still. his voice sounded so odd compared to others. taking a pair of house keys, he locked the door behind him. he took the bus and paid and sat for a good twenty minutes before he reached the park. he was sure not to talk to anyone. his earphone trick worked. no one ever talked to him either. he just wanted a quick jock. an adequate amount of people labored in the park. some jogging like he planned to do. and some were just enjoying the morning. he stood next to a tree, setting out a leg and stretching it. nate remembered the alst time he didn't stretch before a long run. it was the worst decision he ever made. his muscles were sore the day after and he didn't want to walk the entire time. after stretching, he started an easy jog, steadily picking up pace. he kept running and no one managed to bother him. content with the day, he took in his surroundings. because sound was out of the question, he just enjoyed the view of the park. there wasn't much to smell but the greenery and earthy atmosphere. it wasn't long before he noticed a lady and her dog. the dog was barking and although he couldn't hear it, he could see it's gaping mouth snap open and close quickly. he turned his head back as the dog continued walking in the opposite direction as he was running. it was weird, knowing you couldn't hear something and wondering what it sounded like. the concept of sound was so mysterious. his head whipped back forward and he realized he needed a break. he looked at a picnic table a few meters to the side of the trail. someone was sitting there and he didn't want to interrupt but he was tired and wanted a place to sit, so it was his only option. excuse me, is someone sitting here? his voice wavered a bit. he wasn't used to speaking. he had been told deaf people speak differently because they couldn't actually hear what they were saying and their annunciation of the words were somewhat off. almost like a toddler's. he sighed. he hated speaking, but he didn't want to take the seat if someone was already sitting there. no one new asl anyways.

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[STYLE=height: 20px; width: 355px;border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; border: solid 1px #c1bcbc;background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; text-align:center; font-family:georgia;font-style:italic;letter-spacing:3px;]notes from the author

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; border: solid 1px #c1bcbc; width:357px;padding:5px, bTable] this post is dedicated to jk it's open and it has one thousand words. i had a fun time listening to shake it out by florence and the machine while writing this post. and also, i'd like to say please take this and make an interesting plot with him. he swings both wais c;

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no stealing pwease.
love, shrimp.

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[ARIZONA KATIE FROST]

[STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #e4a26e; border: 5px solid #d66553; padding: 5px;] [/style][STYLE=width: 436px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 35px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -9px; letter-spacing: -4px; color: #d66553]IF I COULD FALL INTO THE SKY[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #d66553; margin-top: -25px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 4px; color: #ffffff]DO YOU THINK TIME WOULD PASS ME BY?[/style][STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #e4a26e; border: 5px solid #d66553; padding: 5px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; color: #9c1f45; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; height: 200px; overflow: auto;]
Arizona had enjoyed the morning. She was an early bird by every definition of the word, and had gotten up easily before anyone else had. Her parents continued to sleep soundly, and she tried her best to remain quiet so as to not stir them awake. The morning sun was beginning to peak its head up above the city and stream sunlight into her second-story bedroom. She had a mattress placed neatly in the far left corner of her room, which extended just shy of the window that was large, clean, and centered on the wall opposite the door. Her closet was across from the bed, and the double doors were also centered in the room. She sat up, kicking her blanket off and stretching as she stood. The room was small and the soft blue walls were bare. Nothing covered the exposed bulb on the ceiling, which Arizona flipped the switch to in order to provide herself with more light. Boxes were stacked everywhere in her room, containing everything she had ever owned. Almost all of it, which was surprisingly not a lot, had yet to be unpacked. Instead, she had spent her time exploring the town or attempting to make friends over the various chat rooms she had discovered were used at Manchester Prep.

Arizona thought about waking up early to go for a brisk morning job, but let the idea die as quickly as it had been formed. She was too exhausted from the move to want to do anything difficult, and she would much rather wander the park than race past all the interesting things she had yet to see. She had driven past it yesterday on her way home from the mall, and after such an interesting afternoon, a quiet walk seemed ideal to clear her head and allow her to once again think straight. After digging through a box labeled “Clothing” she found a nice pair of shorts, belt, comfortable white tee, summer scarf, and sandals. The outfit was a lot more girly than Arizona usually managed, but she was just happy to be able to wear something decent and, more importantly, clean. She was much more tomboyish than other girls her age, but did strive to keep up her appearance and to keep herself clean and neat. She rather enjoyed feeling pretty, even if she usually put it second to sliding on the grass while playing soccer, or sweating on the basketball court.

Arizona did not leave the house right away. She sat on the front steps, staring out in silence down the street. They lived on the corner, and she could see the street signs marking the road. They looked new, and clean, just like the start she was now facing. It was a haunting thing, to be starting over again. Arizona was used to moving by now, and was generally unaffected by the stresses it included. However, making friends and feeling welcome was a completely different ballgame. She could not rely on social skills, because it was awkward trying to communicate with people who simply refused to bend at all. People assumed that because she was deaf, by speaking loud and slow, she could somehow magically hear them. It did not work that way. She was also terrible at lip-reading, only able to pick up the most basic shapes, and not at all able to differentiate when people spoke. It was something her older brother Philip had tried—and failed, of course—to teach her. She also could not speak. She could make noise, to be certain, but because her family had tried so hard to accommodate themselves and be able to communicate with her, they had not pressed her to learn speech, either.

Of course, Arizona was not about to give up hope. Every city had its share of trouble, but every city also had enough good people to make up for it. She would make friends and have a wonderful time here, or she would die trying. Her determined side began to show through in her thoughts, and with a beaming grin, she signed a pledge.

I FRIENDS MAKE. I STOP NOT. I HAPPY FIND.

Standing up with great energy and purpose, Arizona slipped quickly inside and ran into the family room, where a box of books lay open on the floor. She dug through it until she came across a favorite work, “In This Sign,” and once more slipped out the front door. She began the short walk toward the park. Their home was only serveral blocks away, which seemed like a stroke of luck in Arizona’s eyes. She loved being able to escape a while in someplace natural, and lovely. Her heart could wander there, and her mind could be filled with serenity. There was nothing in the world that could judge her there, and she truly felt free. The ability to open up and enjoy reading a good book was an added bonus. It had been too long since she had enjoyed a work of literature, since her books had been packed away as one of the first boxes. Now she could be happy with her newfound courage in friend-making, and go about on a quest to enjoy the morning early enough that the day would not be wasted, too.

Once she had arrived, Arizona found herself walking along a path. It was a cool morning, one that would disguise the heat of summer soon to come as the sun continued to rise. Finding an empty spot at a picnic table, she sat herself down and began to immerse herself in the joys of reading. She was a good way in, it seemed, when someone came over to the table and tried to say something to her. It was a mother with two small children. Arizona shrugged and offered a humble motion of the word deaf twice, before the woman realized and left. Slightly dejected, Arizona tried to get back into her story. Unfortunately, she was now left feeling bitterly crestfallen. Clearly those who could not talk to her had no desire to even bother trying. The mother had probably said something about wanting to sit there, but it did not matter. Arizona was different, and it scared people off. Of course, she felt a burning stubbornness in her heart that refused to let her give up hope. As she was finally able to reconnect with the book, a shadow fell across the table. Looking up, she saw a teenage boy trying to talk to her. With a sigh, she set the book down and tried to sign as clearly as she could,

I DEAF.

[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #d66553; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #ffffff]for NATE - 1105 words - i couldn't resist!
[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 6px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #000000]MADE BY KEROHOLIC BASED ON CRAYOLA'S TUT OF BTN!
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