Chapter Text
“Haitham, can you come here for a moment?”
“What is it, Grandma?”
“I have something for you.”
When Alhaitham entered the dining room one night after dinner, there was a box on the table, decorated with green wrapping paper. His grandmother ushered him to take a seat, placing the box in front of him.
“What is this?” Alhaitham asked, looking at the box.
“Open it and see!”
Alhaitham carefully removed the wrapping paper, opening the box. Inside, there was a set of noise-canceling headphones. “Are these…for me?”
“Yes, Haitham! I thought they might help with the noise at school, since you always tell me that it’s too loud.” His grandmother helped him try on the headphones, which were a shade of dark green, Alhaitham’s favorite color. “We have to charge them, but they will probably help a bit.”
Alhaitham gave his grandmother a hug. “Thank you, Grandma.”
It was so quiet. So peacefully quiet. The sounds of other students’ conversations were practically nonexistent, only the soft hum of the headphones, which fit perfectly over Alhaitham’s ears.
8:15 am
Kaveh, guess what?!
OMG what?
I got a pair of noise-canceling headphones!
OMG IM SO HAPPY FOR U!!!!!
Kaveh was already in class when Alhaitham arrived, and he got up out of his chair to give Alhaitham a hug. Alhaitham pushed one side of the headphones off of his ear so that he could talk with Kaveh.
“My grandma gave them to me last night! Everything is so quiet! It’s amazing!”
“That’s awesome, Haitham!” Kaveh hugged him again. “You know, I don’t think you’ve ever walked into class with a smile before.”
“I haven’t?”
“Well, you’re smiling now, but before today, you never showed up to class with a smile.”
That smile, as Alhaitham would soon come to learn, would not last forever.
“Can Alhaitham please come to the office? Alhaitham to the office, please.” A voice crackled through the hallway, carried through the school by the speakers.
Alhaitham sighed, heading to the main office. He wasn’t sure why he was being called to the office, but he was fairly certain that he was not in trouble. He hadn’t done anything wrong, had he?
When he arrived in the office, the principal of the school greeted him.
“Hello, Alhaitham. I do not believe we have met, but I am Principal Azar.”
“Uh…hi?” Alhaitham looked around the office, hoping that he wasn’t supposed to meet with the principal of the school.
“Come with me, Alhaitham. There are some things that I would like to discuss with you.”
Alhaitham nodded nervously, following the principal into his office. He sat down in the chair across from the principal’s desk. The light in the office was cold and bright, and the ticking clock on the wall was already starting to get on Alhaitham’s nerves.
“Alhaitham,” Principal Azar began, “can you explain the purpose of the headphones that you are wearing?”
Alhaitham reached a hand up to where he had the headphones hanging around his neck. “These?”
“Yes.”
“My grandma gave them to me. Because I don’t like loud noises.”
“Well, were either you or your grandmother aware that we do not allow the use of personal music devices in this school?”
Alhaitham shook his head. Was there really such a rule? He hadn’t heard of anything like that before, and he had been at this school for over a month already. “They don't have music, sir. They just block out the noise in the hallways, since I have really sensitive hearing.”
“And do you have a doctor’s note for that?”
“No, but –”
“Precisely. It is a policy that you are not permitted to use headphones. Do you know what the word policy means?”
“Yeah, of course,” Alhaitham responded with a bit more sharpness than he had intended.
“Watch your tone, Alhaitham. You see, we have this policy in place because if we let one person use headphones, everyone would start to bring headphones to school. We must keep everything fair and equal for our students. Now, please give me the headphones, and –”
“What? No! These were a gift from my grandma!”
“Alhaitham, you may pick them up at the end of the day. Again, that is our policy.”
“But I need them! The hallways are way too loud, and there’s a group of kids who won’t stop following me around and making loud sounds on purpose! Kids still tease me for the day with the fire drill, and…and…” Alhaitham was on the verge of tears, but he would not allow himself to cry. He would not. He would not cry in front of the principal. Still, a tear slid down his cheek.
“Alhaitham, give me the headphones. The hallways are not that loud. You are overreacting.”
Alhaitham shook his head, holding on to the headphones around his neck. “No.”
“I can give you detention if you talk back to me any further, young man.”
“Fine, fine, take them,” Alhaitham sobbed, lifting the headphones over his head. “You have to pro – promise to give them – to give them back, O – Ok?”
“Get back to class. I’m losing my patience with you.”
Alhaitham stumbled into the counseling office, slumping down onto the couch with a sigh. He opened his phone, planning to send a quick text to Kaveh, who would no doubt be wondering why he hadn’t come to class. Unsurprisingly, there was already a message from Kaveh.
1:45 pm
Ur not in class is everything ok?
Counseling office. Principal took my headphones.
On my way
“Hey, are you alright?”
Alhaitham hadn’t realized that there was someone else in the room. On the opposite couch, two boys sat together, a book spread between them. They both looked to be about the same age as Alhaitham, though he had never seen them before, so they must be a grade lower than him.
One of the boys was shorter, and had messy, light-gray hair. The other boy was slightly taller, and his fox-like ears only added to his height. He wore a shirt that read, ‘Avidya Forest Summer Camp.’
“You alright?” The fox boy repeated.
Alhaitham nodded.
“What’s your name? I’m Tighnari, but you can just call me Nari. This is Cyno,” Tighnari said, gesturing to the boy who sat next to him.
“My name is Haitham.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Haitham,” Cyno said. “Do you wanna hear a joke –”
“No, we are not doing that right now,” Tighnari interrupted. “Anyway, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just…” Alhaitham sighed. “Everything is too loud, and so my grandma got me a set of headphones, but the principal took them, and won’t give them back until the end of the day.”
Tighnari nodded. “Yeah, that guy can be stubborn. I also have trouble with sounds.” Tighnari gestured at his ears, which swiveled slightly to the side, picking up sounds from all around. “Since my condition is technically normal for people like me, I can’t get a note that says I can use headphones. I wish we’d known about that rule before buying specially made headphones that fit ears like mine, but there’s nothing to be done now. My dad has been working on convincing the school to let people use headphones, though, since he agrees that it’s unfair.”
Alhaitham nodded. “I only just started going to this school about a month ago, but before that, I hadn’t realized that I had sensitive hearing. I was homeschooled, so I never was exposed to loud sounds.”
“Hey, Nari,” Cyno chimed in. “Have I told you the pizza joke?”
Tighnari sighed. “No, I don’t think you have. What is it?”
“Nah, I shouldn’t tell you. It’s too cheesy.”
Alhaitham chuckled. Tighnari groaned.
“Do you get it?” Cyno asked, a smile spreading across his face. “Because pizza has a lot of cheese on it, but when you say something is cheesy, it can also mean that it’s silly.”
“Yes, Cyno, we got it,” Tighnari sighed.
The sound of footsteps distracted Alhaitham for a moment. Kaveh appeared in the doorway a moment later, out of breath.
“Haitham, are you alright?” Kaveh flopped down onto the sofa next to Alhaitham. “Oh, hi, guys!” He waved to Tighnari and Cyno.
“Hi, Kaveh,” Cyno said with a smile. “I just told a really good joke! You missed it.”
“Oh, sorry. You can tell me another time.” Kaveh turned back to Alhaitham. “Haitham, have you met Nari and Cyno?”
“Just now, yeah.”
“Cool. We’ve been friends since elementary school. You know, Nari has sensitive ears, too.”
“Mhm, we were just talking about that.”
“Actually, Haitham,” Tighnari said, reaching into his bag. “I might have an extra pair of earplugs somewhere in here. Where did they – ah, here we go.”
Tighnari held out a few individually-wrapped sets of orange foam earplugs.
“They aren’t as comfortable as headphones, but they work pretty well, and you can hide them easily behind your hair,” Tighnari explained. “Here, you can have these. I have an entire box back home.”
“Oh, thanks.” Alhaitham took the earplugs, placing them in his pencil case, which he always carried with him. That way, they would be easy to access if he needed them.
“Hey, I have an idea!” Cyno chimed in again.
“It better not be another joke,” Tighnari laughed.
“No, no. I was thinking that we should all hang out together. Maybe after school today. Ooh, we could play Genius Invocation!”
“Oh, that’s a great idea, Cyno!” Kaveh exclaimed. “Haitham, have you ever played that game?”
Alhaitham shook his head. “No, I don’t think I have.”
“We can teach you,” Cyno offered. He passed the book that he and Tighnari had been reading across the room to Alhaitham. “This book is called King of Invocations, and it’s based on the card game.”
Alhaitham nodded, flipping through the pages of the book.
“You can borrow one of my decks,” Cyno continued. “And then we can all play together!”
“Ok, I’ll have to make sure that it’s alright with my grandma first.”
3:15 pm
Hi, Grandma. Is it alright if I go over to a friend’s house?
Of course!
Make sure to be back by supper.
Also, the school called me today about your headphones.
Don’t worry about that. I’ll get it all sorted out.
For now, go have fun with your friends.
Thanks, Grandma!
Cyno started a new chat
Cyno renamed the chat Kings of Invocations
Nari : Ooh, cool idea, Cyno!
Cyno: Yeah, this will make it easier to chat with all of us.
Kaveh: Let’s play TCG tomorrow at lunch
Cyno: We can’t, remember? Azar banned TCG
Haitham: I like this guy even less now
Nari: Same here
Kaveh: Fine, how about we play after school? We can go to my house.
Haitham: Sounds like a plan
Cyno: Ok! See u guys tomorrow!
Kaveh: Yeah! See u!
Nari: Wow, Cyno managed to go a whole conversation without making a joke
Cyno: Knock, knock
Nari: No one answer
Haitham: Who’s there?
Nari: NOOO HAITHAM RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN