She probably thought I would forget about her because she is mute. I might have, but I AT LEAST want to be her friend….so bad!! Nate was thinking so much about Tacy that he was having a horrible hockey practice. Once he was practically floating across the ice, then the image of Tacy entered his mind and he lost his focus and ran into the side wall landing on his back. As he showered, his body ached, whether it was because he wasn’t with Tacy or because he fell and got hit too many times, is unknown.
At school the next day Nate visited his school library, where he rarely goes, and checked out every book about sign language. When he was checking them out the librarian smiled and told him good luck. In every class he carefully rushed through his work so he could make extra time to study his new language. He made as many hand signals until his teachers glared at him frustrated. He just hoped the books were right so he could talk to her.
Telling his parents he was staying after school, he went by the ice rink everyday just to see if she was there. Monday, no. Tuesday, no. Wednesday, no. But Thursday, when he had hockey practice, he saw her again.
He peddled as quick and swift as possible. He arrived and sat in the same seat as last week and focused on Tacy. Her dark hair was in a French braid with a yellow ribbon running through it to match her light blue leotard with glitter down the sides. Tacy twirled, spun, landed, smiled, leaped, and even fell with the grace of a swan. The other girls seemed better but so rehearsed. To Nate, Tacy relaxed and had fun at what she did, even if it meant falling on her tush.
Luckily the ice skating practice ended early so Nate didn’t have to leave for a few minutes to go change. When the robot girls passed him this time, they didn’t even glance at him. Another change happened too. Instead of Nate going to Tacy, Tacy came to Nate. She glided over waving and rested her arms on the side counter. Nate stated, “So you do remember me!” Tacy nodded excitedly and signed quickly with her hands. Nate laughed and said, “I have been learning so try that again…but slower.” She nodded and signed “How could I forget you?!” Nate repeated it and Tacy smiled and clapped her hands in applause. He signed to her “Do you have a phone?” She looked confused for a few seconds but then smiled and nodded. Nate handed her a piece of paper and a pen and she carefully wrote the numbers down.
Once he returned home he sent Tacy a text message that said ‘Hey Tacy this is Nate.’
‘Hey =)’ she sent back.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Studying, fun right?’
‘Sounds like it. What school do you go to?’
‘The same one you do.’
‘Oh really?! How come I haven’t ever seen you there?!’
‘They keep me in a separate building with the other ‘needs’ teens.’
‘Why? I know you are smart if you can figure skate!’
‘Haha! Thanks!’
‘So I have a question.’ Nate said taking a chance.
‘Yes?’ Tacy replied.
‘Do you want to hang out sometime?’
‘I’d love to!’
‘How about Saturday?’
‘I have a competition.’ Tacy stated disappointed.
‘That’s cool, I’ll come watch then we can go celebrate!’
‘Celebrate?’ she asked confused.
‘We will celebrate you winning and our first date of course!’
‘=) Sounds great!’
‘Goodnight Lovely!’
‘Goodnight.’ Tacy finished. Nate fell into a peaceful deep sleep with only thoughts of Tacy.
***********************************