Kaitlyn Starling's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Kaitlyn Starling had made every kid in Room 7 laugh at least once. Except one. The boy by the window never looked up. She wanted the whole class to love her jokes, and one holdout ruined the whole set. So she planned her best joke for him, and she waited. At lunch she leaned across his desk. "Why did the daisy blush?" She held up a bunch of white flowers she'd picked outside. "Because it saw the school's bee-hind!" He kept drawing. He did not smile. He did not even blink at the flowers. Kaitlyn's charming smile slipped for the first time all year. Axel Santiago watched from two desks over. Axel had purple spiky hair he dyed himself and a gold chain on his belt. He faked a burp once that made Kaitlyn laugh so hard milk nearly hit her nose, and he'd been chasing that laugh ever since. Now he crossed his arms. "Flowers won't work," Axel said. "He can't hear you." Kaitlyn frowned. "Everybody hears me. That's the problem." "Not him." Axel tapped his own ear. "He reads faces. Watch." He waved a hand. The boy looked up. Axel scrunched his face and stuck out his tongue. The boy grinned. Kaitlyn's mouth fell open. All year she'd been telling jokes to a kid who couldn't hear a single word. Jason Broson set his tray down beside them. Jason had moved from Germany a week ago. He wore a brown blazer and kept his hair in a neat side part, and he was Kaitlyn's favorite person to sit with because he made her laugh without trying. "You talk with your mouth," Jason said to Kaitlyn, flat. "He talks with his hands. You've been telling jokes to a wall." "That's not funny," Kaitlyn said. "It's a little funny." Kaitlyn looked at the boy. He was watching Axel's face, waiting for more. She set the daisies down on his desk. Then she pointed at herself, made a big silly grin, and crossed her eyes. The boy paused. He picked up his pencil, drew fast, and turned the paper around. A stick figure with crossed eyes and wild hair. Under it, a smiley face. Kaitlyn laughed, loud and real. He'd made a joke back. Her joke had landed, just not the way she'd practiced it. "See?" Axel said. "Face jokes." Kaitlyn's whole plan was broken. Her voice, her best weapon, meant nothing to this kid. If she wanted every classmate to adore her, she'd have to learn a way to be funny without saying a word. She picked up his drawing and held it like a prize. "Teach me," she said to Axel. "How he talks." Axel grinned. Jason raised one eyebrow. And Kaitlyn, for the first time, had no joke ready. She had homework.