A Strong Bond

    In the small town of Aqua Valley, lived two best friends Rose and Mia. They had met each other as babies and were inseparable ever since. However, one summer evening …

Rose slammed her pencil down and shut her notebook and said, “Mom, I am done with my homework. Can I go to Mia’s house now?”

Mrs. Sanderson who was washing dishes, quickly wiped her hands and turned around saying, “Ok Rose, let me check.” As she looked through Rose’s notebook, Mrs. Sanderson muttered, “Good, good,” and added, “You can go now,” as she looked up. Rose was already out of the door unlocking her bike. She frowned, “How did she leave so quickly? What if I said she had made a mistake and she had to redo it?”

Rose biked a few blocks before she reached Mia’s house. Rose knocked on the door calling, “Mia!!!”

Mia opened the door and shouted, “Oh, Rose you’re just in time. We were just about to leave for the hike.”

Good thing I finished my homework quickly, thought Rose while walking into Mia’s house. She plopped down on Mia’s bed while Mia told her about all the nature she would see on the hike. “We will be hiking for three hours in total today,” Mia explained.

“Oh! I don’t know how you do it. Good thing I am not going this time,” Rose commented as she shook her head. Mia is, in fact, more adventurous and athletic than her best friend while Rose was more creative.

Rose quickly sat up on the bed and said, “Wait, we should choose what each of us should wear, I decide what you wear to go hiking and your hairstyle, and you decide what I wear and my hairstyle for the rest of the day.”

Mia thought about it and then hesitatingly nodded and answered, “Okay, but I am going hiking soon, remember? Don’t choose something too drastic.”

“Of course,” Rose exclaimed grinning.

Rose pulled Mia’s brush from her dresser and started brushing Mia’s dark wavy hair, then she twisted Mia’s hair into a bun. “Pretty!” Rose exclaimed.

After Rose was done, Mia braided Rose’s dark blonde hair. Then Mia picked out a black sweater and baggy jeans for both of them to wear.

Rose complained, “Hey, I was supposed to pick out what you wear.”

Mia replied, batting her eyelashes coyly, “I know, but I wanted us to be matching and at least I would be comfortable that way.”

Rose sighed, “What do you mean? I swear you could go hiking in ten inch heels and miniskirt. But, fine, we can wear that. I have to head home, my mom might be waiting for me, bye.”

Mia grinned, “Thanks, Rose. See you later!”

Rose nodded and walked out of Mia’s house and hopped on her bike, then started biking back home. When Rose reached her house she hopped off her bike and locked it. She went to the kitchen and shouted, “Hi mom!”

“Hi Rose, did you have fun?”

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I am going to read my book, call me when dinner is ready.”

Rose went to her room and started reading, but soon after, she dozed off.

When she woke up a few hours later, the phone was ringing. Rose left her room to see who was calling, and when she got to the living room, she saw her mother holding the phone with a grave face. When the phone call ended, Mrs. Sanderson did something she had never done before in the presence of her daughter: she started crying.

Rose rushed over to her mom. “Mom, what is wrong?”

“Honey, I have bad news. Mia got into an accident in the woods while hiking.”

“Is she okay?” Rose gasped.

“She survived but the doctors think that she might lose her hearing.”

Rose wept for a while then questioned, “Did you say she will lose her hearing?”

“We will soon find out,” Mom replied.

Anguished, Rose couldn’t sleep well that night. The next day, she woke up so early and got ready. “Mom, can we go see Mia now? I think she is out of the hospital.”

Mrs. Sanderson shook her head, “I don’t know, I think she needs her rest.”

“PLEASE, Mom!” Rose begged.

Mrs. Sanderson sighed, “Fine! But take a notebook and a sharpened pencil or a pen.”

“Why?”

“Because I say so.”

Rose sighed but took her notebook and her sweater and ran out the door to the car with her mom in tow.

Mrs. Sanderson started the car and said, “By the way, when we get there make sure to speak to her as you usually would.”

Rose questioned, “Why wouldn’t I? Is there something you’re not telling me?

“Wait and see,” Mrs. Sanderson said.

Rose rolled her eyes but didn’t say another word. When they got to Mia’s house. Rose sprinted to Mia’s room where Mia was lying on her bed. “Mia, Hi. How are you feeling? Tell me everything that happened.”

Mia was unresponsive, the light in her blue eyes dimmed. Rose waited awhile for a response but then it dawned on her. “Uhh, I feel so stupid,” Rose chided herself. “Why didn’t mom tell me?” she thought. Rose took out her notebook and wrote, “How are you feeling?”

Mia glanced at the notebook and bit her lips. Then she took the notebook and wrote, “Rose, thank you for coming but I would understand if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore. School is about to start, and you probably wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself with someone like me who will be different from everyone else. Besides, how are we going to communicate with each other? We can’t just keep writing everything on a piece of paper.”

Rose fumed and wrote on the paper, “Who do you think I am? We have been friends for a long time. Do you think I would not want to be friends with you anymore just because you lost your hearing? I can’t believe you think that low of me. I will always be your friend and will not be embarrassed because of you. But I am not happy with you right now.”

And with that, Rose stormed off back to the car where her mom was waiting. “I want to go home,” Rose told Mrs. Sanderson.

Mrs. Sanderson took one look at her and started the car without asking questions.

Later, after Rose calmed down a bit, she thought to herself, “Maybe I shouldn’t be mad. Mia is going through so much right now, and this is a good time to show her our friendship is strong and I value it. But I still need to prove her wrong about the communication part.”

For the next few weeks, Rose started watching videos on sign language, read books on it and even signed up for classes that her uncle taught on sign language in a different city. She left, only telling Mia that she was going to see her uncle, not the sign language part because she wanted to keep it a surprise. To stay in touch, they kept messaging each other.

At her uncle’s, Rose practiced until her fingers ached, just to show Mia that there was a way for them to still communicate and understand each other. Mia was a really quick learner and unbeknownst to her, Rose was too.

Then back in the city, two days before school started, Rose biked to Mia’s house. Mia was on the doorstep and when she saw Rose, her blue eyes lit up. She ran to Rose and they hugged.

Rose signed, “Hi, Mia! I missed you so much. How have you been these days?”

Mia’s eyes lit up again as she signed back, “You know sign language?”

Rose signed back, “Yeah, I learned it because of you. You see? We can still communicate.”

Mia looked down at the ground, “I am sorry. I didn’t mean those things I wrote, I was just in shock after the accident.”

Rose smiled. “All is forgiven.”

They hugged and signed, “BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.”

The next day, before the school year started, Mia’s parents met with the school administration to inform them of their daughter’s situation. The school communicated that information to teachers, and they agreed that Rose would be the interpreter.

On the first day of school, and after…Rose and Mia were walking to school together. Mia signed, “I’m nervous, do you think it will be awkward with Henry and Ava?”

“No, I think it’ll be fine,” Rose signed back. Once they got there, the bell rang and the teacher started class.

While the teacher talked, Rose signed, doing her best to translate and keep up with what she was saying. Later at lunch, they sat with their other friends Henry and Ava. Rose explained what happened to Mia in the summer when she was hiking.

Despite Mia’s worries, nothing was awkward at all, and Henry and Ava were understanding and so was the rest of the class, surprisingly. Henry and Ava even decided that they would try to learn some sign language.

Some days later, Rose and Mia walked to school having no clue about what pleasant surprise awaited them. When they walked into their classroom, Rose walked in front and Mia behind her. As soon as the class saw Mia, they all signed, “Good morning, Mia!” Mia’s eyes welled up, and she cried happy tears.

As the year went on, the class learned more and more sign language. By the end of the year, they didn’t need Rose’s help anymore.