#hc;simon

Everyone ran around and played on the old metal equipment, laughing and squealing and already making friends. Simon stood in place near the entrance for a moment. He wanted to go play, but would anyone play with someone who didn’t talk to them? No one at Sunday School ever did. They thought he was weird. People here would probably think so, too.

Making up his mind, Simon went in search of a nice corner to sit in and be alone until the nuns and the other teachers brought them into the school to meet their teachers and start school for real. But there weren’t really any corners because the playground wasn’t fenced in, and the brick wall of the school was lined with backpacks, so he was stuck sitting at a gross old picnic table that was off to the side of the jungle gym.

He didn’t watch the other kids played. He didn’t want to listen to them either, so he put his hands over his ears and pressed hard. He just wanted school to start it could end and he could go home and play Super Mario on Jacob’s NES. Why couldn’t mom keep homeschooling him, he wondered. It didn’t make sense. He didn’t want to go to school. Everyone would hear his stutter and they’d laugh at him, and pretty soon they’d find out he couldn’t read because he had something called dyslexia and they’d laugh at him even more. He didn’t want to be laughed at. Dad and Jacob laughed at him enough.

Footsteps pounded closer and stopped just in front of him. Warily, Simon looked up, uncovering his ears carefully.

A girl with blackish-brown hair pulled up into pigtails stood in front of him. He knew her. She went to the same church as him, they were in the same Sunday School class. But he didn’t know he name. He didn’t know anyone’s names there, because he spent his time on his own, just listening to the nun talk about God and Jesus.

“Hi!” She greeted cheerily, smiling down at him. “I know you! We go to the same church.”

Simon nodded, but he didn’t say a word.

“My name’s Lydia. Do you want to play with me? You’re all alone and it’s kind of sad.”

He didn’t move. He looked her up and down for a moment, not sure what to do. He wanted to play, of course he wanted to play, but would she really want to play with him? Probably not. He shook his head and looked down at his feet, waiting for her to leave and laugh about him with whoever she had already made friends with.

But she didn’t leave. She sat down cross-legged in front of him. “Okay. Then I’ll sit with you. What’s your name?”

He looked at her in shock. She didn’t leave. She stayed with him. That… was really weird.

“Simon,” He said, voice small and meek. He didn’t want to be rude, and he could at least say his name without stuttering.

“Well it’s nice to meet you finally, Simon!” Lydia smiled brightly, and he couldn’t help but smile back, even though he felt bad. “You’re really quiet. Don’t like talking? I’ve heard you talk to your mom before and your voice gets all stuttery.”

He shook his head again, ashamed. So she already knew.

“That’s okay. We can figure out a different way to talk.”

He blinked at her. Another way to talk? There were other ways you could talk? Dad just always yelled at him to stop stuttering and Mom always waited for him to get to the end of his sentence, but she always looked impatient. Jacob didn’t even bother. But Lydia wanted to figure out another way that they could talk. This was really, really weird. But it was nice.

“So, Simon. Do you wanna play with me now?”

Lydia smiled. Simon smiled right back, and nodded his head. She grabbed him by the wrist and they ran off onto the playground. They didn’t talk, or at least Simon didn’t. Lydia did most of the talking, pointing out what they should do next and sometimes asking Simon what he wanted to do, and then she would wait for him to point at something or show her. It was a lot of fun.

Soon enough, though, the nuns started wrangling them all inside, lining them up by name and putting them in lines with their teachers. Simon smiled brightly when he glanced behind himself from the front of the line and saw that Lydia was behind him.

They were herded into their classrooms. The room was full of colorful posters that Simon couldn’t read, but they had pretty pictures, some of the alphabet and some of numbers and some of angels and Jesus. A cross hung over the door just like it did in almost every room in his house. The teacher, Mrs. Schulz who wasn’t a nun, sat them all down in seats according to the first letter of their last names. Lydia wasn’t next to him which made him a little sad, but she was at least in the same row as him, right in the front, just on the other end.

“Well, now that you’re all seated, it’s time for us all to introduce ourselves!” Mrs. Schulz said cheerfully, her hands clasped together. “As Sister Lawrence already told you, my name is Mrs. Schulz. I’m going to be your teacher for this year, and I’ve been teaching here for four years, but I’ve been a teacher for twenty. Now, whoever wants to introduce themselves first please raise your hands.” Several hands shot up. Simon didn’t put his hand up. He was nervous all over again.

“Hmm, who should I pick first?” Mrs. Schulz mused. She thought for a second before pointing at Lydia. “How about you? Tell us your name and a fun fact about yourself.”

“My name is Lydia Corvus and I made a new friend today!” She looked over at Simon with a big, happy smile on her face.

“Oh, did you? That’s wonderful!” Mrs. Schulz smiled right back at her. Then, she moved over to Simon’s desk. He bit down on his cheek, just a little bit. She was going to make him talk. He didn’t want to talk. “Since you’re Lydia’s friend, why don’t you introduce yourself next?”

He shook his head a little bit.

There was silence for a moment. Simon didn’t know what that meant, so he looked up at Mrs. Schulz. The friendly, kind smile on her face was gone. Now she had on a face that Simon had never seen before. It was similar to his mother’s impatient face, but a lot darker, and a lot scarier.

She grabbed him by the wrist and made him get out of his seat, pulling him to the front of the room. She turned him around by his shoulders so he was looking right at the entire class. Everyone was staring at him. A few people were trying to hide their giggling.

“Introduce yourself, please.” She wasn’t really asking.

Simon froze. Everyone was staring. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Look at what you’re doing,” Mrs. Schulz hissed at him. “You’re holding up the entire class! Don’t think they want to introduce themselves, too?”

He started shaking. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and starting to spill over his cheeks. He didn’t know what to do, everyone was staring and the teacher was being scary and just couldn’t get his mouth to work-

Something smacked into Mrs. Schulz and she yelped. Blinking the tears out of his eyes, Simon looked to see Lydia standing next to the bookshelf full of colorful picture books, one book in hand. Another book with a picture of the Virgin Mary sat on the floor next to him.

Lydia had thrown the book at Mrs. Schulz, he realized.

“You’re being mean!” Lydia yelled. “He doesn’t wanna talk! It’s hard for him! And it’s mean to force him to!”

“Young lady-”

She threw another book, hitting Mrs. Schulz square in the hip. “My name is Lydia!” She marched to the front of the classroom. “And his name is Simon, and he’s my best friend!”

She grabbed his hand and held it firmly. A sob caught in his throat, but Simon looked at Lydia with a smile. She smiled right back at him.

Mrs. Schulz grabbed them both by the ears and dragged them down to the principal’s office. They were scolded by the principal, then by one of the Sisters, then by their moms when they showed up. But they didn’t let go of each other’s hands the whole time.