It wasn’t unusual to see Sterling Gray sitting at a large lunch table alone. It was more unusual that anyone would notice him at all, what with him darting from class to class as soon as the bell rang, hoping to avoid getting caught up in the crowd of high schoolers. Sterling was hearing impaired you see, deaf in one ear and barely able to hear in the other. He had been that way since the sickness almost caused him death as a small child. Most people always saw him wearing headphones, so they assumed he was mute for only that reason. Oddly enough, no one ever thought to ask. Sterling’s hair came down a little past his shoulders, and his eyes were a toxic mix of blue-green. He wasn’t conventionally considered to be handsome by the standards
