Mr. Aberdeen leans forward and cups his ear. “I don’t think anyone heard you! Say it again with some gusto!”
When he looks at me expectantly, I want to sink into the ground and become an earthworm, where I only emerge from the dirt on rainy days before slithering back into the soil.
I speak a little louder. “I like d-d-dogs.”
A few heads swivel my way, and the teacher looks at me with pity. Embarrassment swallows me whole. I know what everyone’s thinking. Either I’m a fifteen-year-old who’s scared of her English teacher, or I’m a fifteen-year-old who stutters. It’s only a matter of time before they find out which one is true.
A boy wearing an Ohio Warriors hoodie a row ahead of me snickers, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Don’t be afraid, Susie. Aberdeen won’t bite.”
That garners a few laughs from the kids around him. I hear a “good one, Garett” from one of the boys sitting at a nearby desk.
My face heats, and I bite the inside of my cheek, gnawing off little pieces of tissue. Do they think I haven’t tried everything toget rid of my pathetic stutter? Short of going to speech therapy, which Dad won’t pay for, I’ve exhausted all of my options.
Sometimes, when people are particularly mean, I want to throw my trauma in their face to see how they react. Tell them my mother died. That I get enough mocking at home to last me a lifetime.
“I’ll go next!”
I glance beside me, where an attractive boy with square glasses perched on his nose sits. His messy blond hair flops over his forehead. Sporting a dimple in his right cheek, he smiles at me before loudly announcing, “I’m Ben. My fun fact is I hate the Warriors. They haven’t won in years, and their fans are real douchebags.”
I’m floored. Is someone other than Danny actually standing up for me? In front of everyone? A warm feeling floods my stomach. This has never happened to me before. I tentatively smile back at him, not wanting to do anything that might ruin his opinion of me.
He leans in to whisper, “Don’t let that idiot get to you. I’m pretty sure he has a total of one brain cell floating around in his head.”
“Assuming he has a b-brain is giving him a lot of credit,” I whisper back.
He chuckles softly. “Good one, Susannah.”
I pause and take a deep breath to relax, feeling less anxious already. “Actually, you can call me Grace.”
Mr. Aberdeen finishes taking attendance before reiterating the public speaking requirement in the syllabus. “Class, I’m going to give you the last half of the period to find a partner and discuss your presentations.”
Ben leans closer to me. “Hey, do you want to partner up on this public speaking thing?”
My eyes widen as I stare at him with surprise. “Um, are you sure you want to be paired with me? I tend to stutter when I’m nervous or rushing.”
He stares at me, jaw dropped, with fake incredulity. “Wait. You have a stutter?”
An involuntary giggle slips out of me. It looks like I, of all people, made a friend. Ben scoots his desk closer to mine.
“Are you sure you want to be stuck with Stuttering Susie here, who can’t even string two words together, man?” Garett asks Ben, snickering with a few of his buddies.
Ben sighs and looks at Garett like he’s gum on the bottom of his shoe. “Here’s the thing, Gare. Me and her could quite literally stand at the front of the room with our mouths closed and still get a better grade than you. Do you evenknowhow to read?”
Garett sputters a “pansy ass” as he pulls his hoodie over his head.
I softly whistle. “Wow, that was…”
“I’d say he’ll be thinking about my awesome insult for a while, but I’m not sure he’s even comprehended it.” Ben grins, and we both open the notebooks on our desks.
Instead of discussing our presentation, we talk about our interests and backgrounds. I learn that Benjamin Fischer just moved here from Indianapolis. His dad got a promotion and brought their whole family to Columbus. He has a girlfriend, Mia, back home who he’s been dating for the last year. As a nature enthusiast, he wants to be a conservation biologist one day.
Once I’ve exhausted any other possible follow-up questions, Ben pushes his glasses back up his nose and directs his full attention to me. “Tell me about you now, Grace.”
I usually get uncomfortable talking about myself, but there’s something about Ben that puts me at ease. “There’s not much to know about me. I’ve lived in Columbus my whole life. I don’thave any siblings. I want to be a vet, and I plan to go to Easton State University.”
“I heard Easton is a great school.”
“Yeah, it is. Um, my next door neighbor, Dan Thompson? We’ve kind of always planned to go there. It’s a D1 football school with a really good vet program.”
