Stella

"Stella," mom calls me as I wake up.

After I get up, I get ready for school and head downstairs.

"Are you doing okay today?" Mom asks me as I stare at her in silence. The truth is, well according to my mother... I haven't spoken ever since I was a baby. I mean, I have plenty of thoughts, I don't like speaking out loud. She also told me that I was conceived in a black truck right in front of Grandpa's house. 

"Okay, well..." Mom begins. "I have to be at work at 10 this morning and I won't see you until tomorrow evening." She says, moving things around in our kitchen. I never really understood why she mentioned much to me. It's not like it matters. She has to support both her and me.

Weirdly, my father isn't someone who she can talk to, in fact, she talks so highly of him, yet never invites him over. Something that bothers me is the fact that I never met my father. My mother always talks about the one amazing night that she had with him, but she doesn't mention too much about him, appearance-wise, despite how many times she speaks about him.

"Are you ready for school honey?" Mom asks as she looks at me. I pick up my backpack before following her out of the house. As we pull up to the school, she suddenly gets a call. "Shoot, it's work," She mentions. "I gotta take this, but you try to have a great day at school," She tells me before I get out of the vehicle and head inside while secretly watching all of the teenagers around me.

"Hey there, mute," One of the football players says as I'm walking towards my locker. "What? Cat got your throat?" He asks before he suddenly pushes me into the locker door. I've been known not to feel emotions, in fact, maybe I'm just emotionless. I didn't feel the pain that the locker door would have probably made me feel, but I did feel something stirring inside of me, which I just ignored.

"She can't speak, honey," One of the cheerleaders says as she walks up to the football player. "Just leave her alone," She says, trying to pull him a different way.

"Why should I?" He asks, staring at me with judgment and annoyance. "She's just a thorn in this high school... she doesn't belong," He says.

"It doesn't matter, come on," The cheerleader says, finally getting him to follow her. As soon as the bell rang, I began heading to my class.

As soon as I stepped in, I sat in a chair in the back where I could hide from the teachers. When the teacher walked in, I was paying attention to every word she said, even though it seemed like I wasn't. I didn't speak and I know that most people judged me for who I was, but I never really cared. I was fine with who I was and I didn't feel the need to let others define who I was.

Since I don't speak, a lot of people assume that I'm stupid. Well, it might be true in some galaxies, just not this one. I understand that I am very smart, but it's not entirely book smart. I understand how to read someone. Since I was younger and able to see, I always watched people. I was able to see what things caused certain emotions and I was able to predict how certain situations would end. Of course, I love to learn from books too. But I believe you learn more things from watching others.