Jordan Evans

Though Jordan's dad is hearing, his mom is deaf. Thusly, when Jordan was born, one of the parents' first concerns was whether or not he could hear. It was eventually found that he was mute and unresponsive to sound, confirming that he had inherited his mom's condition. It couldn't really be mended, either; easily affordable cochlear implants didn't work very well, and the ones that did, well, weren't easily affordable. Speech therapy wasn't a great option either, as the method's failure was proportional to the patient's deafness. Jordan's deafness - a profound one - was unlikely to allow speech therapy much success. The parents didn't see this as much of a problem, though; Jordan's mom, being deaf, knew full well how to live life without sound, and his dad had been married to a deaf woman long enough that it would be nothing new to deal with.

The only real problem was how Jordan would be educated. It was decided that it would be best to homeschool him, but when discussing this both his parents knew that it was, though a fairly long-lasting option, a temporary one. Eventually Jordan's requirements would exceed his parents' capabilities, and they'd need another option. Up until Jordan was 11, however, the only option they knew was homeschooling, and so that's what they went with. This meant that he interacted with people less often, which compounded on top of it already being a little inconvenient to talk with hearing people. Both of these, along with one more factor I'll cover, have contributed to Jordan's not-especially-social personality.
His Mom was Jordan's main teacher, as his dad was often away working. He was usually home by the evening, but that certainly wasn't early enough to keep Jordan educated. He would help now and then on his days off, but as Jordan spent more time with his mom than his dad, Jordan grew closer to her over time than he did his dad. This was added to by the condition he shared with his mom. His dad was experienced in dealing with it due to his choice in marriage, but his mom, of course, experienced the issue first hand, and so was who Jordan chose to talk to about the deafness when it came up. At a younger age, he would occasionally ask his dad to describe sound and music to him, but he quickly learned that his dad couldn't give a clear answer.

As he wouldn't be meeting people at school much, Jordan's parents made an effort to take him out now and then. He was often brought to the local park when he was younger so he could play outside and maybe eventually find a friend in one of the other kids that happened to be there. Jordan had developed a habit of bringing a notepad wherever he went in his pocket so he could talk with people that didn't know sign. He'd occasionally try talking with other kids this way, introducing himself through writing and asking if whoever he was "talking" to would like to write with him.

This worked with varying degrees of success. Some would respond in speech with such questions as "Why can't you hear?" and not really understand that they should write it out. Some would engage in a short conversation and that would be that. It was when Jordan was 8 that he found someone who conversed for longer than usual. The 9-year-old Henry expressed a sort of childish fascination regarding Jordan's deafness. The conversation ended with Jordan asking "will you be here tomorrow?" Henry responded "yes," not really considering the possibility that his parents would say otherwise.
They met the next day despite this, at the same park. It was the first time Jordan had gotten to talk with someone after an initial conversation. Their meetings became more regular. Jordan's and Henry's parents would talk while their children were at the park and later Jordan would ask if he could visit Henry, or if Henry could visit him and hanging out became more common. Jordan had found his first friend, despite the solitude that homeschooling and deafness threatened to bring.
Henry went on to be Jordan's only friend. As they grew and Henry made friends, friends who were old enough to be a bit more judgmental or pitying of disabilities such as Jordan's, Henry stayed his only friend. Though Jordan would hang out with Henry and all of his friends now and then, Henry's friends never made any effort to become any closer with Jordan, nor did he make much effort to become any closer with them. Jordan never assumed this meant anything; he was never all that social anyway.

It was when Jordan was 13 that he noticed that Henry and himself had gradually been hanging out less and less often. Jordan texted his friend about this, and Henry denied it and any meaning it could have, and they hung out regularly again for a short time. When said short time expired, and Jordan found them gradually drifting apart yet again, he texted Henry about it a second time. Henry didn't dodge anything this time; he explained honestly how his friends had influenced this.
Henry has no problem with Jordan's deafness. He learned to deal with it before he learned to judge him for it. Henry's friends were not quite the same. Whenever they all hung out as a group, any sort of fluent and fun conversation was thwarted by Jordan's sheer presence. Henry had to write down everything the group said (as he had never learned to sign) for Jordan, and wait for Jordan to write out anything he wanted to say to the group. Henry's friends felt it was a slow process that killed the pace of the conversation and most of its enjoyment.
This was, though to a rather limited extent, understandable to Jordan. Less so was how Henry talked about it. He didn't seem at all angry about his friends' intolerance. He phrased it like it was to be expected, and acted as if Jordan was blind to not have known this already. Henry seemed to think nothing of saying that they could hang out alone, but not with his friends. Jordan interpreted it in a more serious manner, and doubted that Henry was really so true a friend as he thought. They ceased spending time together. Jordan would try to talk to him again a couple times afterward, but both times found the attempted friendship to be strained and uncomfortable, and would lack the drive to try any further to get together.

The earlier mentioned age was 11, as this was how old Jordan was when his mom found Tachibana Academy. After deciding it was a good option for him to attend there eventually, Jordan's parents began slowly saving money for him to attend. They were well-enough off that they could probably get away with him attending without saving that far in advance, but not that easily. Better safe than sorry. Jordan continued being homeschooled for as long as his parents were able, but four years later, Jordan's parents talked to him about living apart from them, as Toronto was too far away for Jordan to continue living in his home in his small town further northeast in central Ontario. He'd be living more independently than he was used to, but on the upside he'd be at a school in which he could meet other people and gain the opportunity to make a friend or two.

Jordan has come to the school with a mix of nervousness about living apart from his parents, skepticism about meeting people who might be as painful to know as another person he'd dealt with, and excitement at the chance of meeting someone who wouldn't be so troublesome.