It Just Happens to Be You
Chapter 1
It was the eve of the SATs, and Jake, my
transfer–student crush, was mad at me again.
Because I told him I didn’t want to see him.
He told me to transfer schools.
“Northwood High is pretty good,” he said. “I’ll
have you back when she cools down.”
“Don’t make this hard for me, Sarah.”
I nodded and agreed.
I packed my things, ready to leave.
His best friend tried to reason with him.
“You know Sarah has a hearing impairment,
right? Do you think she’ll be okay at another
school alone? Won’t she get bullied?”
“You guys grew up together, you used to like
her so much. Can you really bear to send her
away?”
Jake raised an eyebrow.
“That was then ‘First love can’t beat the one
L
who comes after,‘ haven’t you heard?”
“Besides, I’ll have her back in three months,
tops.”
Three months later, when Jake called to tell
me to come back.
A cocky, carefree guy next to me chuckled
into my hearing aid.
“Babe, you gotta close your eyes when we
kiss.”
“And no answering calls from random dudes.”
- 1.
The day the practice SAT scores came out,
I’d jumped from fifth to third in the year.
While Mia had dropped from twentieth to
somewhere in the thirties.
Someone commented, “Wow, Mia’s score
really tanked.”
“And Sarah jumped two spots!”
Her eyes immediately welled up as she looked
at me.
<
“Sarah, are you happy now?”
“Studying so hard every day, just so everyone
thinks Jake made a bad choice picking me,
huh?”
With that, she stormed out.
She didn’t come back, even when the bell
rang for class.
Our teacher, clueless about what happened,
asked me, as class president, to go find Mia.
Half an hour later.
I found Mia sitting on the planter by the
basketball court.
Jake was bent over in front of her, whispering
sweet nothings.
I don’t know what he said, but Mia started
smiling through her tears.
The sunlight filtered through the leaves,
dappling them both, like a scene straight out
of a high school rom–com.
Seeing me, Jake narrowed his eyes. As if to
<
avenge Mia, he tossed the basketball he was
holding in my direction.
It hit my hearing aid.
After a buzzing sound, my left ear went
completely silent.
Jake clearly hadn’t expected that. A flicker of
surprise crossed his face, quickly gone.
He walked towards me.
“Sarah, transfer.”
“Mia has a temper, and she’s always fighting
with me because of you.”
Just a month ago, he’d asked me, “Sarah, will
you be my girlfriend after graduation?”
With the SATs so close, I instinctively wanted
to refuse.
But Jake said, “Sarah, don’t make this hard
for me.”
“Every day you’re here, Mia is unhappy.”
“You don’t want to make things difficult for
<
your dad, do you?”
My dad worked for Jake’s family’s company.
He was using my dad’s job to threaten me,
for Mia.
I knew my dad had worked at the company
for years, from age twenty–two to forty–five. I
couldn’t let him lose his job in middle age
because of me.
“Fine.”
Jake seemed to relax.
“I’ll have you back when she calms down.”
Mia must have overheard. She walked over
and tugged Jake’s hand possessively.
“Jakey, I think Northwood High is just fine for
her.”
Northwood was known as the worst high
school in the city.
Jake knew that, of course.
He just laughed casually.
“Okay, whatever you say.”
<
I clenched the broken pieces of my hearing
aid in my palm. They dug into my skin.
It hurt, but it also stopped me from crying.
After a while, I threw the pieces in the trash.
Then I turned and left.
