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The Doll Speaks
Authors Note: Well. Chapter two is now up. I hope you enjoyed my interesting bits of conversation at the birthday party from last week. Things should be looking up for my main character soon, not to mention the introduction of some very interesting characters.
Later in the week, Loretta, Latisha, and Heather met up with Paul and his friends Patrick and Kyle, at the lake near their schools for lunch. Lor had brought Vare with her, and had him leaning against her thigh on the picnic blanket, in the shade of the umbrella. When she was asked by her friends, she replied with, I was doing research on ball joint dolls, and it said to keep them out of direct sunlight. So that’s what I’m doing. She grimaced slightly, wrinkling her nose up. It turns them yellow and brittle.
“Oooh, that’s a good plan, then,” Heather replied as the boys came around the corner of the path around the lake. She looked over at them and blushed, hiding her face in the book she had brought as the three boys sat down.
“Hey Heather,” Patrick, a red haired boy of about 17 years of age, said as he sat down and smiled at her. She looked up over the top of her book and smiles at him before immersing herself in the words again. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked of Loretta.
Loretta pulled out a note pad, since Patrick and Kyle hadn’t learned sign language yet, and wrote a note and handed it to Latisha. “Lorry says that ‘Heather’s still shy about the dare I gave her on the weekend,’” she read out loud. “It’s not your fault at all. How about this wonderful weather?”
It’s too bright, Lor said, with Paul translating for his friends. Vare might turn yellow.
It was then that the other two boys noticed the doll. “When did you get that ugly thing, Lor?” Kyle asked, being his usual tactless self. Loretta glared at him, and he raised his hands defensively. “Okay, it’s not ugly, don’t have to glare at me!”
Sure I do, jerk! Don’t translate that, Paul, or else you and Lati won’t be going anywhere past kissing, she signed angrily. I’m going to go inside and have lunch today. She picked up Vera and her umbrella, looking very much like a quasi gothic Lolita in her black school uniform, holding the doll in one arm while carrying the umbrella in just a way that the sun was completely off her and Vera.
“Look what you did, Kyle!” Heather said, shutting her book and picking up her lunch and book bag while standing up. “You’re a royal idiot today, aren’t you?” With that, the British girl followed her friend back towards their gothic looking school
Latisha looked at her friends, then her boyfriend, then at his friends, and kissed Paul on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you later, hun,” she said quietly, taking her bag with her and chasing after them.
Paul glared at his friend. “Smooth move, ex lax,” he said sarcastically.
“Look, it’s not my fault that Loretta’s a bitch at school!” Kyle said in his own defense. “She just doesn’t like me because I’m in the school because of my marks, not my money.”
“Just shut up,” Patrick said, hitting him upside the head. “You’re being stupid.”
“Fine, fine,” Kyle grumbled while rubbing the back of his head.
Thanks? Loretta signed to her, adding the question to the end. It had been a requirement after she registered at the school for everyone in her classes to learn sign language, even though she insisted that they didn’t need to do that. Her parents even insisted that they didn’t need to add sign language to the curriculum.
“Yea, you’re welcome,” Holly said with a smile.
You realize that this is the most you’ve actually spoken to me since I started going to this school? Loretta asked. This is really strange.
“Really? I thought I talked more with you before…” Holly said, drifting off in thought for a moment. Just then, her three friends, the ones that Lorry’s group dubbed “The Clones” came into the change room.
“Holly! Why are you talking to that freak?” the older one, Christine, asked, her high pitched voice annoying Loretta to no end. That was the only type of voice that she didn’t like: high pitched ones. They grated on everyone’s nerves, and Christine especially only had one volume level: loud. Loretta winced slightly as The Clones approached her.
Kristy, the only one who was not naturally blonde, grabbed Vare from his perch in Lor’s locker. “Hey, what do we have here?” she asked sarcastically, her African-American accent just as annoying as Christine’s and twice as grating.
Give him back! Lor signed angrily, forgetting momentarily that The Clones hadn’t been in any of the sign language classes, and wouldn’t understand her.
“Give him back, Kristy,” Holly said, trying to take the doll away from her friend. The dark skinned girl held it out of her reach.
“I don’t think so,” she said, handing him over her head to the third member of the group, a buff girl named Sharon. “Sharon can have it, I’m pretty sure that her sister would like it as a present.”
“Yea, Harleigh would love this ugly thing,” Sharon said with a sadistic smirk. “She loves dolls of any sort.”
“Sharon, give the doll to me. He doesn’t belong to you!” Holly said. Lor, go to the office and tell them what’s going on. I’ll see if I can get him back for you, she finger spelt quickly, finding that the fastest way to tell Lor what to do without The Clones realizing what she was doing.
Lor shook her head, and tackled Sharon, pushing the taller girl to the ground and pulling her hair. “Get off of me, you freak!” the blonde screamed. “Get the fuck off of me!” Loretta grabbed Sharon’s arm, the one that was holding onto Vare, and bit down hard on her wrist. The girl screamed, but held on to the doll without even loosing her grip at all.
Kristy grabbed one of Lor’s ponytails, and yanked her head backwards while Christine held Holly back. “Get off of her, you silent freak!” the dark skinned girl growled. Lor started signing quickly, hitting Kristy and Sharon every couple of words. Holly translated as fast as possible, adding in her own words every once in a while.
A few minutes after the altercation started, the phys ed teacher ran into the change room, a petite girl who wore glasses following her, a scared look on her face. “Loretta! Sharon, Kristy! Stop that this instant!” she yelled, wading into the fight and pulling Kristy off of Lorry, and Lorry off of Sharon. “Christine, let go of Holly right this instant! Line up, right now, against the wall!”
The five of them lined up against the wall, their heads down, and Vare laying forgotten on the floor. The teacher picked him up and straightened his wig. “Is this what you were fighting over?” she asked, holding him out to the five of them. Loretta looked up and, with wide frightened eyes, nodded. The other four all nodded as well.
“I was going to give it to my sister,” Sharon said quietly. “Her birthday’s this weekend, and she’s expecting something nice from me.”
The teacher smacked the tall girl upside the head. “I didn’t ask what you were going to do with it, did I?” she said angrily, her green eyes flashing. Sharon shook her head and dropped her eyes to the floor again. “Who’s is it?” No one spoke up, but Loretta did look up and give the teacher a pleading look. “Well, answer me!”
“He’s Loretta’s, ma’am,” Holly said, keeping her eyes to the floor. “She’s had him since the middle of last month.”
The teacher looked Lor in the face. “Is it yours?” she asked darkly. Lor nodded once. “I don’t want to see it in my class again. If I see one hint of that silver wig or black suit, I’ll take him and he’ll live in my office for the rest of the year.” The teacher pierced The Clones with an angry green glare. “As for you three, if Georgina comes to me again with a report that you’ve been fighting with Lor and Holly, I’ll have you expelled from my class. Do you understand?” The three of them muttered their assent. “I didn’t hear you, what was that?” she asked, cupping a thin hand to her ear.
“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.
“Get out of my sight!” the gym teacher said. The three blondes exited the change room with a glare to Holly and the mute girl. “Now, you two, care to tell me what was going on? Georgina didn’t tell me the whole story, just that there were people fighting.”
“Sorry, teacher,” the small girl said shyly. The teacher patted the girl on the head.
“Miss Tamashii, I can honestly tell you that it was not our fault at all,” Holly said, raising her hazel eyes from the floor. “I was talking with Lor while we were changing about her doll, and they came up and started it.”
Miss Tamashii looked at Lor. “Is that true? You didn’t provoke them at all?” she asked.
Lor rolled her eyes. My existence is provocation enough to them. I can’t help it that I’m mute, she said.
“No, of course you can’t,” Miss Tamashii said, handing the doll back to the mute girl. “Go on, get to your next class.” The gym teacher shooed the girls out of the change room and out into the hall with their indoor shoes and school blazers.
The day after the entire encounter in the change room with the clones, Holly joined Heather, Latisha, and Loretta for lunch. When questioned, she replied with “The clones were annoying me.”
“Fair enough,” Heather said with a shrug, The four of them, with Vare, who was now in a carrying case on Lorry’s back, went outside and sat under one of the trees on the green. Latisha talked with the other popular girl about all sorts of things, from the hottest parties, to the cutest ass on the Alkins On the Lake rugby team. Alkins on the Lake was the boys’ school across the lake, the same one that Paul and his friends went to. Heather spoke silently with Loretta about anything that came to mind.
How’s your niece doing? Lor asked, remembering that Heather’s older sister had a little girl about their age who had a hearing disability. That was why the young British girl knew sign language so well.
Rose is moving out of her boyfriend’s apartment again, and Mum is taking her and Ashleigh in, Heather said. You remember Ash, right?
Yea, Lor said with a smile before tilting her head to the side. Is she going to come here? Your Mom would enroll her in the school, wouldn’t she?
Yea, she wants to be in the same classes as you, Heather replied. I think it would be interesting.
“What would be interesting?” Latisha asked, finally noticing that her best friends were talking between themselves without her realizing it.
“My niece is coming to live with us,” Heather said. “Mum is thinking about enrolling her here in the spring.” To Holly, she added, “My niece is deaf, so she can’t hear what people are saying. My entire family is fluent in sign language because of her.”
“Oh. She must be a nice girl then, right?” Holly asked. “I mean, the three of you seem to be really nice, and not all cut from the same cookie cutter like the Clones,” she added quickly.
There’s no problem, Holly, Lor said with a smile. I’m glad my parents didn’t put me in a special school that catered to my specific range of needs.
“That would have been horrible!” Latisha said jokingly. “I mean, who would you have to listen to all day long? Your parents would slowly stop talking, and everything would drop into sign language,” the talkative girl said, signing what she was saying with her hands at the same time. “See what I mean? I’m already doing it, and I didn’t before.”
“Hey, don’t diss people who talk and sign at the same time. To keep Ashleigh going in a conversation, everyone has to sign, or she watches everyone’s faces. Either that, or watch my hands,” Heather said, signing as well. But what she signed was different than what she said. So annoying, she signed sarcastically. Loretta giggled silently.
“You people are insane,” Holly said with a laugh
“But aren’t you glad to get rid of the clones?” Heather asked. The rest of the lunch hour was spent talking about anything and everything.