🆘 - 🧞‍♀️🥇🌅🏫

Of all the things I expected to see on my first day of high school, a girl who looked on the verge of tears frantically waving her cellphone around was not one of them. I mean, the Fairfield High handbook clearly stated that no cell phones were allowed in class! However, I was more baffled by seeing all the other students only sparing awkward glances as they walked by. 

If I had gold equal to the number of times my parents lectured me on the "Golden Rule" as a child I probably would be at a private academy right now. Still, I knew they did so from a good place and that it didn't matter if this might inconvenience me on my first day. Someone needed help, and since no one else was, it was time for me to step up.

"Hey there, my na-"

I was cut off by her cell phone being shoved into my face. On the screen, there was a single emoji: 🆘

I tilted my head to look around the phone and was struck by her eyes. It was as if the brine contained in those turbulent oceans had finally accumulated so much that it was forced to trickle down her cheeks.

"Hey there, it's okay!" I was feeling a bit overwhelmed myself but I couldn't let it show, I didn't want her to be further distressed. "SOS, you need help right?"

She nodded, handing me a folded piece of paper with a sniffle. I opened it up to reveal the message inside, reading it out loud.

"Hello, my name is Genie Bellhop. I have bilingual aphasia, a disorder that currently allows me to communicate only with emojis, but I can still understand what you say..." I paused, at first wondering if this was a prank, but remembered my father talking about one of his patients speaking in a different accent after waking up from a coma once. It had to be similar, right?

I looked up and saw her showing me her cellphone once more: 🧞‍♀️🔔🐇.

"A genie... And a bell? Oh, the bunny! Bellhop, I get it!"

Genie nodded enthusiastically and I swear the smile on her face could have lit up the entire school.

®️🅾️🅾️Ⓜ️ #️⃣1️⃣0️⃣5️⃣❓

I was so stunned by her ingenuity that it took me a minute to realize that not only was she asking me how to get to room 105, but that we actually shared a class. She had to have missed the tour the school offered before the learning year began. Maybe whatever made it so she couldn't speak was to blame?

"That's my classroom too, Miss Armstrong, right? I can take you there!"

She nodded, flashing me a 💪 on her phone before looking thoughtful. She then scrolled through her list of emojis, finally settling on: 👉📛❓.

"That's uh, pointing at a fire? Wait, not a fire, it has a space in the middle..."

She looked equal parts frustrated but determined: 👉🧞‍♀️🔔🐇

"Pointing Genie Bellhop? No, that can't be it. That's your name, oh my gosh I'm so dumb! My name is Forest."

Seeing her brilliant smile once more was a better reward than anything else I could have been offered. She rapidly tapped her screen three times before showing me: 🌳🌳🌳

"That's my name, right? I like it!" A prerecorded chime played through the speakers. I had been so engrossed in our conversation that I had tuned out the bustling students around us and hadn't kept an eye on the clock. 

"Oh crud, we're late for class! Come on, we can chat more at lunch."

I raced off towards our room with Genie in hot pursuit. While it wasn't how I expected to make my first high school friend, Genie had ensured this would be a day I would never forget.