Sorry, what was the question? (Robbie!)

[Jonah King]

It may be stating the obvious, but there is one major, debilitating problem with being deaf in a classroom:

You can’t hear the teacher.

If Jonah looked away from the teacher at any moment, he completely lost what she was saying to him. And if she turned away and wrote something up on the board, he didn’t have a hope in hell. Sure, it’s obvious, but was something which his teachers had an irritating habit of forgetting – and since hiring a signer to translate the lessons for him was his family’s concern, not the school’s, it had of course not been done. His family were a) not interested in and b) could not afford to get him a signer, and so he was left to lip-read.

Mia had given him a nifty little gadget which a teacher could wear to help him out: it would record everything spoken, and later on he could hook it up to his laptop and the spoken words would be transcribed as text. It was something Jonah was eternally grateful for, but it didn’t help him during the actual lesson. Especially not when it was a beautiful sunny day (if cold) outside, and he kept glancing over at the window to see what he was missing.

Jonah turned back to his workbook, a messy page covered in his scrawling writing and various blotches and smudges of ink. Presentation had never been his strong suit. Heart in his boots (he didn’t think he’d ever smiled in a maths class in his life), he copied out the next question as neatly as he could, and then chewed the end of his pen while he struggled to work out what the answer was. It was a non-calculator question, the worst kind – Jonah sat mired in a kind of helpless despair as he tried to work out how to do the complicated sum, writing things and then scribbling them out again. Numbers just didn’t make any sense.

The girl next to him gave him a nudge, and he started, head coming up to look over at her. She nodded to the board and he followed her gaze, realising as he looked at the teacher that she had started saying something. Well, shit. Not the best start.

‘- So that leaves Jonah King and…’ she was scanning the room for another hapless victim, and Jonah realised that he had missed some kind of pairing-up process. Double shit. Her eyes alit on someone on the other side of the classroom, and she smiled. ‘…Robbie Wilkes. OK, get into your pairs and start work!’

As the girl next to Jonah got up to find her partner, leaving an empty space next to him (presumably for Robbie to fill) Jonah looked over to the other side of the room – where Robbie was wearing an expression of horror and bewilderment similar to the one on his own face. Slowly, he jerked a thumb at the seat next to his, and gave a small sigh.

He just hoped that Robbie had heard the question.

[Robbie Wilkes]

Classes were never his strongest suit. Let's face it. The boy had a face that could charm his way through anything. But classes, any kind, that was just not where Robbie's charm had ever been put to use. He tried, boy had he tried. But every single teacher in this place probably had charm suppressing powers, it was uncanny how he always got shot down by each of them whenever he started to smile. So he stopped trying and started day dreaming instead.

Math was a bane of his existence. The fact that numbers had nothing to do with what he wanted to do in life [granted what he wanted to do in life really didn't need any brain power whatsoever] was only coupled with the fact that he just couldn't make any sense whatsoever out of the Pythagorean theories and scales and shapes and what have you that came alongside what had to be the most annoying subject in the world.

No one, and in Robbie's mind he meant no one would go around spouting off Math equations in everyday life. Have you ever heard anyone calculate the time difference between train A and train B's arrival to Station C? No. Have you ever had to calculate the weight of apple D and apple E in order to determine what the cost was for apple F? No. It was nonsensical and downright mean to ever make someone even think in that way. Let alone speak it.

Which left Robbie grumbling every time he had to sit through this stupid compulsory Math class with people who actually gave a crap about the subject. No, Robbie never paid attention. Which was why he was left gaping at the teacher and then the person who nudged him and then to Jonah King, the boy he was supposed to be paired up with to work? No offense whatsoever to Jonah but the teacher was flipping insane to pair him up with Jonah because the telepath probably loathed the subject as much as Robbie did. Possibly even more.

What, did she want them to set fire to this classroom? Even the person who nudged Robbie looked weirdly at the teacher. See? Even a stranger whom Robbie never spoke two words to knew his detest towards the subject. It was pretty flippin' obvious.

So no, he had not heard the question therefore when he turned to Jonah who shared the same look as Robbie, he was hoping the same thing of the telepath. They had been friends for awhile and he knew Mia through Jonah but they had never spoken to each other before. It was not Robbie's choice, not speaking to Mia but every time he tried, the girl would blow him off. But that just made Robbie more determined. But he digressed. Thoughts of the little technopath was put to rest as he slowly trudged towards the empty seat beside Jonah, heavily plopping down and making a show of slamming his books and notes on the table, glaring at the teacher who had her back turned from the students.

If looks could kill...

"This blows." He said darkly, scraping the table against the floor so it was faced in Jonah's direction. "Tell me you at least heard the question? Because I wasn't paying attention and I'm not going to go up to the teacher to ask for it." He chewed the bottom of his lip and looked up at the telepath. "Did you hear what I said? I'm still not quite up to speed with sign language but I know this." He said slowly before signing "This blows," to his friend with his hands. He had taken up sign language in order to communicate with his friend. It hadn't been hard since anything to do with language seems to come with ease for the weather manipulator. He knew the basics already and of course, what language learnt would be complete without knowing the cuss words?

"Hey, hey Ames." Robbie snapped his fingers at the dark haired girl on his left who looked at him with an annoyed look on her face. "What do you want Wilkes?" she asked. "You got the question we have to work on?" Robbie asked and the girl's frown deepened even more. "Aw come on, Ames...you look prettier with a smile on your face." The blond boy gave a little smile and a tilt of the head, which worked wonders on the girl who blushed furiously as she scribbled down the question on a loose sheet of paper and shoved it in Robbie's face.

Robbie plucked the paper from her and made physical contact. "Thank you Ames. Red looks good on you. Brings out your hair color." Ames' partner giggled and pulled the dark haired girl closer to her to chatter in excited whispers. Robbie leaned back in his chair and looked at the pretty girl handwriting but made no sense of it. He slammed the paper down and looked at Jonah. "Okay. This sucks. Do you understand any of this?" He asked, this time rushing through a flurry of hand gestures.

[OOC: Quite sorry for the length. Robbie won't stop yapping]

[Jonah King]

One of the reasons Jonah got on with Robbie so well was the other boy’s complete disregard of the normal political correctness people always tried to apply to him. If anyone else had asked: ‘Did you hear what I said?’ they would have realised the error of their words, blushed, and made a hundred fumbling excuses. But Robbie never did that, and that was what Jonah liked about him. You knew what you were getting with Robbie Wilkes. When other people used ‘hear’ as part of a figure of speech (‘did you hear about…’) Jonah didn’t care at all, but they always seemed to feel that they were accidentally insulting him. It made no sense. Robbie, on the other hand, always made Jonah feel that he was completely and totally normal.

Of course, pretty much anyone having a conversation with Robbie Wilkes was bound to feel that they were the normal one.

Robbie swearing in sign language made Jonah chuckle, and he gave him a short burst of signed applause before admitting: /No idea what the question is./ It was like their teacher had done it deliberately, or something. They were, as a pair, renowned for being difficult in their classes – what Jonah couldn’t understand was why the teacher had chosen to put them together this time. Usually she was busy separating them so that they would be helped by a more book-smart member of the class. Maybe all the smart students had been complaining about it, or something, and demanded that they be allowed to work with people on a similar intellectual level. It would make sense, after all. Jonah knew how dense he could be.

Jonah would have liked to be able to say that he and Robbie would come up with the best damn maths project in the class, but he didn’t feel that credibility would stretch that far. Besides which, there was the rather inauspicious beginning of not actually knowing what the question was…

But if Jonah knew Robbie then the other boy would work some magic or another - and he wasn’t disappointed. Jonah watched with an amused smile as Robbie used the famous Wilkes charm on the girl one desk over, and when he had succeeded in obtaining the question, Jonah raised an eyebrow at him (an expression which, had he but known it, was identical to the expression Mia would have used in such a situation). /Smooth,/ he signed with a grin. /You need to teach me how to do that, sometime./

He had been very impressed by the way his friend picked up sign language so quickly, and they had fallen into a habit – they would converse using it, Jonah correcting Robbie if he did something wrong, and teaching him new signs by using them in their conversation. So far, it was going well. It was win-win, really: Robbie got to learn a new language first-hand (if you’ll pardon the pun) and Jonah got to communicate in his preferred manner.

Looking down at the piece of paper Robbie had placed in front of him, Jonah’s face slowly creased into a frown. Neither young man had heard the teacher’s little speech about how this question was designed to make them think a little differently about mathematics today, so it took him completely by surprise:

Come up with an equation which can be used in everyday life, and explain its relevance. Present your findings to the rest of the class.

Jonah looked back up at Robbie with horror in his eyes. They had to invent something by themselves? And then talk about it to the whole class? When neither of them could even solve an equation, let alone make one, and Jonah had a pathological fear of speaking in public? He had preferred it when the teachers had underestimated his intelligence. It had made things a lot easier.

Slowly, Jonah pointed to himself, then to Robbie, and drew a finger across his throat: /We’re dead./

(Hehehe! No worries!)

[Robbie Wilkes]

With Jonah's reply, Robbie cursed softly under his breath before shrugging. "It couldn't be any worst than-" Robbie stopped signing and shook his head. "I don't wanna jinx it." He continued on before running his fingers through his hair.

After procuring the question to the project and getting praised by Jonah, Robbie preened and popped the collar to his shirt before chuckling it off. He wasn't that full of himself. Okay maybe he was but it wasn't like he was serious about it. He knew Jonah knew that so he didn't really bother trying to rectify his behaviour.

He chuckled when Jonah asked if he could teach him how to charm girls. Robbie being dense as he was and full of himself, nodded curtly in agreement with a smug smile. "Well it works that you're a..." he fumbled over the word telepath but got it right with Jonah's help. "Right, telepath. You know what the girls want already. Half the battle won." He dusted his hands and held them up in a manner of saying done.

Robbie himself knew what most girls wanted. He'd had years of observational practice. Had he dedicated half of it on anything other than girls, he wouldn't have the problem of being called a moron more times than he cared to be called so. More so by those he didn't want to think he was a moron. Namely Jonah's best friend. It was an unlikely crush Robbie had on the dark haired technopath. It was annoying him to bits but it was there just niggling at the edge of his brain.

The thought of asking her out had been dominant on his mind, something Jonah would have been able to pick up if he concentrated just a little bit. Which was why Robbie immediately averted his attention to the project him and Jonah were supposed to start working on.

Robbie understood the question linguistically but how was he supposed to come up with an equation like that? Had he not just made the sound argument in his mind just minutes before about how mathematical equations didn't work in everyday life? This was ridiculous. It didn't help matters any that Robbie had not been applying himself in his studies for a few years now. Not since boarding school!

The sign Jonah made spoke volumes of their situation. "Totally," Robbie said out loud. He looked at the paper and then back at Jonah. "I think the teacher's really got-" he didn't get to finish his signing when the teacher appeared beside them with a sigh. "When you're done with your little chitchat, do you mind concentrating on the project at hand? This covers thirty percent of your finals."

She walked off and Robbie flipped her a universal sign of disdain. The bell rang and Robbie gave out a sigh of relief. "Come on, let's get lunch and find someone who understands what the hell this thing means." He folded the piece of paper neatly and pocketed it before sliding the table back in it's lot, waiting for Jonah to follow his lead in packing up.

Once they were both ready, Robbie led the way to the cafeteria, doing his cheesy waves at pretty girls. He jumped in front of Jonah and started walking backwards so his signing could be understood by the other boy. "So, are we gonna get someone else to do this for us or we're actually going to crack our brains for this?"

[Jonah King]

Teachers. Jonah had a long-standing dislike of every one of them, which probably dated back to a time when he was eleven years old. A substitute teacher at his pre-Hammel school had become irritated at his refusal to look up from his textbook at her, and when shouting had failed she had shaken him roughly by the shoulder. Physical contact hadn’t been such a big deal for him in those days, but nevertheless, he hadn’t exactly enjoyed being treated like that. She had been all contrition when she had discovered the cause of his lack of attention, but that had only increased his distain – she should have guessed that something was different about him.

Mature, King. Real mature. Some people had an internal voice, Jonah had Mia Keystone. And the worst thing? He knew she was always right about him.

But when this teacher spoke to them, he looked up at her with a bland smile. ’We were talking about the project,’ he informed her, signing the words along with his speech so that she would realise that she knew nothing about his language. ’Robbie was just making things easier for me.’ Mia called it ‘playing the deaf card’, and maybe it was a bit of a low blow at times – but it worked. The teacher gave a rather embarrassed nod and walked away as quickly as she could.

Some thoughts in the minds of others were very difficult for Jonah to block out – namely, when the person was drunk, or thinking about something very strong. If they were angry, or really sad, he couldn’t tune them out easily…and also, if they had a strong liking for someone, or were thinking erotic thoughts, they came through loud and clear. Jonah couldn’t help the momentary flash of Mia’s face he saw Robbie project, and considered it with interest. Inwardly, he grinned. The emotions connected with that image had been unmistakeable. He could have some fun with this.

On the walk to the cafeteria, Jonah walked next to his friend with the typical expression of resigned amusement which many people tended to adopt in Robbie’s company – especially when he started to wave at girls. Robbie was the only guy Jonah knew who tried so hard with women that he almost never succeeded. In a way, it was almost endearing.

/Who do you know who could answer that?/ Jonah asked, his facial expression implying that there could surely be nobody in the world who would be able to help them out. /We’re just going to have to blag it./ With Robbie’s charm and Jonah’s...whatever it was Jonah could use (he wasn’t sure yet. He was hardly the brains of the outfit, after all), they were just going to have to make everyone believe that they knew what they were talking about. /Maybe we could sign it,/ he suggested with a grin. /Nobody would know what we were saying./

A particularly pretty girl passed them, and Jonah received an image from Robbie that he really didn’t need to see. /Hey!/ he looked at Robbie sternly. /Don’t think things like that. You know I can’t block them out, and there are some things you need to keep private!/ Speaking of which…after they had collected their food and sat down at a table, Jonah looked over at his friend with a smirk. /So, anything you want to tell me about a certain - / there was no sign for ‘technopath’, so Jonah went for /computer-girl?/, and hoped that Robbie would understand what he meant.

[Robbie Wilkes]

Robbie chewed on his lower lip at Jonah's question, still walking backwards and doing a pretty good job of not knocking people down while doing it too. "I was supposed to meet with this," he paused and rifled through his brain bank for the sign for senior and settled on "Older person for," again he paused. It always frustrated him whenever he flubbed with a language because he prided himself in being good at at least this.

He fished out a piece of paper from his folder, stopped walking and scribbled down what he wanted to say before shoving it in Jonah's hand. On it, scrawled lazily in Robbie's horrible penmanship was: "Raelene Priestly. Sposed to tutor me but haven't met her yet. Might help." Jonah's suggestion was actually seriously considered by the weather manipulator before he laughed, finally realising Jonah was joking around.

Falling back into step with the telepath, Robbie and Jonah passed Annette Belhov who was actually more famously known for her upper body charms than her ability to shapeshift into a sleek black jaguar. Robbie's thoughts were trained on...appreciating Annette which transferred to Jonah whose flurry of hand signaling caused the weather manipulator to blush. "Sorry! Sorry!" He apologised profusely as they found a table.

The smirk on Jonah's face told Robbie that what would come next from his fellow math hater was something he really wouldn't be able to answer. And just as Robbie was about to bite into his mac and cheese, the bit that was on the fork splattered back down on to the bowl it had come in at Jonah's question. He didn't even bother signing his confusion as his mouth gaped open.

He was busted, of that he was sure. He couldn't lie since lying took more effort in concealing his thoughts which Jonah already knew anyway. "Aw jeez." Robbie sighed ebfore shoveling the yellow gooey mess that was his lunch before signing his answer. "No, because you know already." What Robbie figured Jonah knew was that Robbie felt an attraction to the dark haired computer-girl.

As to why, well Robbie was still figuring it out wasn't he? "You're not allowed to tell anybody. Especially not her." Robbie looked at Jonah with wide eyes, a finger pointing at the telepath presumably as a warning. It was a curse for Robbie that even when he was angry or trying to look menacing, his young face just couldn't quite get that edge needed to look angry. As a result, Jonah might not even be taking Robbie too seriously right then.


[OOC: I hope you don't mind that I've been godmodding Jonah every now and then >_< Sowie!]

[Jonah King]

The idea of getting a senior to help them was the best idea Jonah had come across in a very long time. Perfect! She would get extra credit for tutoring them, and they would come away with a project which, for once, wouldn’t completely suck. It was win-win! He nodded his sincere approval for this plan, before carefully hand-spelling out Ralene Priestley’s name so that Robbie could see how it was done. It was unusual for Jonah to be in any sort of teaching position, and he enjoyed helping Robbie learn his language – Robbie seemed to be very good at picking up the subtleties, which was the most difficult thing about sign language. The way you signed something was just as important as the sign itself, and not a lot of new learners tended to grasp that. Robbie had, though, straight off – Jonah was actually very impressed with his friend.

Jonah had discovered early on in his friendship with Robbie that the other boy found it impossible to lie about something if he thought you already knew about it.

Once, Jonah had been able to get all of the details about a certain gossip-worthy issue from Robbie, merely by hinting that he knew that something was up. If Robbie thought you knew, he would instantly volunteer all the information. It really did make everything much easier, and it was a hell of a lot more fun than trying to work out what was going on by asking anyone else. So Jonah merely sat back and grinned as Robbie dropped his fork: the grin of a man who knows that he is onto something.

A threat! The idea of being threatened by Robbie only made Jonah’s grin widen. Robbie was about the least-threatening person Jonah knew, and he also knew that with his height and strength, he could win over the other boy any day. So he looked at his friend with laughter in his eyes, an infuriating smile on his face. /Why would I tell her?/ Jonah asked him, a mock-innocent look crossing his features. /It’s not like it wouldn’t be really funny, or anything…/

In reality, Jonah had no intention of telling Mia anything – but Robbie didn’t have to know that. This was far more fun. Jonah’s mischievous sense of humour was well and truly activated now, and he was going to get as much of a laugh out of holding it above Robbie’s head as he could. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about Robbie’s feelings towards Mia, but he pushed that uneasiness aside as an idea popped into his head: the perfect thing to brighten up a dull month. /You know…/ he began, feigning reluctance. /I know her better than anyone. If you need any help…/ Sometimes he felt bad for the sheer amount of times he did this kind of thing to Robbie (the ‘secret treasure of Hammel’ had been his crowning achievement so far, as it had ended up with Robbie digging in the grounds at 2 in the morning), but then he rationalised it: Robbie needed to learn not to be so gullible, and who was going to teach him if not Jonah?

(Tis fine! Sorry for the long wait, my Internet hates Hammel for some reason…)

[Robbie Wilkes]

Robbie copied movement for movement as Jonah signed Raelene's full name and after one try, he nodded and did it by himself. "That was easy. Don't know why I didn't even think of doing that before." He chuckled with a grin, proud that he managed to do it after just one try.

As he had thought, Jonah didn't even flinch at Robbie's threat; though to be fair, it wasn't much of a threat anyway. But that all too knowing grin made Robbie nervous and he flinched. "Damn it, Jonah." He muttered under his breath as he shoveled forkfuls of macaroni into his mouth to avoid talking, or even signing.

The way Jonah tried to reassure Robbie didn't work. Of course, Robbie didn't know that was exactly what Jonah was trying to do. "Jonah, seriously. She doesn't need to know." Robbie signed in a flurry. If Mia knew about his unexplainable crush on her, well let's just say he didn't want to think of what could happen next.

Robbie was not the type to be embarrassed by anything but the look Jonah gave him was enough to heat his cheeks up. Worst still, what came after from the telepath made Robbie choke. He quickly gulped down a quart of his orange juice as he tried to calm himself down. "Could you not do that? Seriously?" Robbie sent the message to Jonah telepathically, glaring at the other boy who had just 'innocently' offered to help.

Once he was fully composed, Robbie tried to steer away from the subject at hand by going back to Raelene who would be helping them. "So I already met up with her. We just need to set a time and date so she'll put it in her schedule or something fancy like that." Robbie finished signing and finished up his lunch in two more scoops. He was so hoping Jonah would just drop the subject but knowing the older boy, Robbie wasn't going to hear the end of it.

He didn't need the other boy informing his best friend about feelings even Robbie himself couldn't figure out yet. He was just going to have to do the humiliating on his own. Work up the courage to just ask her out. What was the worst thing that could happen?

[OOC: Don't worry. I know all about internet and it's hatred for the things I love. Glad you're back long enough to post for liddle ol me! ^^]

[Jonah King]

Of all the things that people learning sign language took the longest to master, finger-spelling was the longest. It could take ages for someone to gain the ease and speed to match someone who had been signing since a young age. Cities and countries had their own signs – though those varied wildly from dialect to dialect – which made things easier if you knew the right ones. But while some people had abbreviations (or ‘sign names’) as they were sometimes called, which you could use in conversation with them, for the most part spelling out peoples’ names was a long, tedious process. Jonah could spell as fast as he liked, although with Robbie he was used to doing it slowly, so that the other boy could see the movements clearly.

He gave his friend a thumbs-up, impressed by how quickly Robbie was learning things these days. At first their conversations had been slow, constantly interrupted by questions and explanations from both sides about the use of different signs – but as Robbie’s vocabulary grew, things were getting easier for both of them.

The words Robbie practically threw from his mind made Jonah smile. ‘OK, OK…’ he replied aloud, holding up his hands in as placating a manner as possible. Damn, fun ruined for the day – but he was still going to get some entertainment out of this. There was no way he wouldn’t hear everything about any encounters from Mia, after all… /Just remember to think everything through very carefully before you do it,/ he told the other boy, the one serious piece of advice he could think of to give. Of all the girls in Hammel, Robbie had picked the most difficult one to have a crush on.

Jonah considered the math problem as he finished his own food. Equations. He hated equations. Of all the homework the teacher could have set them… ‘How are we even supposed to come up with an equation?’ he asked, speaking aloud so that he wouldn’t have to put down his cutlery (the only advantage he would admit to verbal speech over signing). Then he smiled, and grabbed a pen and paper:

If R is Robbie, and G is the number of girls he asks out in a week, and N is the number of girls who refuse, what is R + G – N?

[Robbie Wilkes]

Pleased with the thumbs up he received from Jonah, Robbie continued eating his lunch, assured that he was both on the right track in learning sign language and Jonah was willing to let the thing with Mia go. Not that the boy could forget that Jonah had this thing hanging over Robbie's head but it was nice to know that just for the moment, Jonah would leave it be.

Robbie's mouth opened slightly as he was about to say something response to the advice coming from his older friend but he closed it again because he honestly had no idea what to respond to that. He proceeded to shrug and take his last spoonful of mac and cheese and washed it all down with his orange juice.

With his head tilted back, the corner of his eyes caught Jonah scribbling something down. Robbie gulped down his juice, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he looked down at the telepath's handwriting. A smile grew wider until a chuckle burst out of Robbie's lips. "Damn you." He whispered, shoving the other boy roughly in jest. He quickly changed to signing. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you were on to something. But thing is, I don't even trust you to finish that, let alone have me present it to the class."

He shoved the telepath one more time before chuckling again. "Come on, let's go find this Priestley chick. Last time I went, she wasn't around." He got up from his seat and waited for his friend to follow suit. Robbie took the piece of paper Jonah had written on and folded it into a tiny square and pocketed it. "Future reference." He grinned at the other boy.

[OOC: Wrapped for Robbie ^^ THANK YOU MUCHLY FOR INDULGING MY INSANITY! You awesomesauce!]