Excerpt from A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Everyone except this crowd, apparently, because no one says anything.

After this, the questions get more random. Have we ever been to the Grand Canyon? Do we know how to make lasagna? Did we know that one person in the class won a gold medal in the Special Olympics?

At this, Lucas raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

he says, sounding genuinely impressed. "Who?"

A short woman with a bowl haircut raises her hand. "It was Winter Olympics for bowling." She sighs heavily, as if she's a little tired of talking about it.

Lucas laughs. It's the first time I've ever him seen do this. I'm not sure if I'm imagining this, but it seems like talking about football, then getting off the topic of football, has put him in a better mood. "A gold medal!" he says. "That's really great." After everyone has asked their question, Mary tells us there's a second tradition for new volunteers. While the rest of the class works on another activity, Lucas and I will each be paired with one class member who will interview us so we can be introduced in a fuller way at the end of class.

"Great!" I say too loudly because I don't want her to see how nervous this makes me. I don't know if Mary realizes about half these people are almost impossible to understand. We only got through their questions because she was here, translating. Luckily, I get paired with Harrison, the blind one, who is easy to understand.

Mary points to two desk chairs in the corner and says, "Emily will show you where you're going, Harrison." She puts his hand on my elbow and he stands up. I'm surprised at what a relief this feels like, leading him across the room. I can do this, I think. I can be a decent helper. Then we sit down in two desks facing each other and for a long time, neither one of us, it seems, can think of anything to say. After a fairly excruciating silence, he says, "Okay, so do you like Wiffle ball?"

"Um. I don't think I've ever played it." He nods. "Okay."

There's another long silence, as if, as far as Harrison's concerned, we're now done with the interview. Finally I lean forward and whisper, "Do you want to ask me something else?"

"No," he says. "It's your turn."

"Oh." I look over at Lucas and his partner and realize he's right. Apparently we're meant to be interviewing each other, because Lucas is asking his partner a question. "What do you like to do?"

Harrison shrugs. "I don't know. Eat, I guess." "Okay. Do you have any hobbies?"

"It's my turn." "Oh, right, sorry."

"Do you have any hobbies?"

Now that he's asking me, I realize it's a hard question. I'm a high school senior taking three AP courses with college applications hovering over me like a black cloud. I co-chair our school's Youth Action Coalition with my friend Richard, which I feel very committed to but don't think of as a hobby really. I start to explain all this, but Harrison stops me. "Okay, that's enough. Your turn to ask a question." Of course that's enough. He's blind and has no way to write anything down.

I look over at Lucas to see if he's faring better with his partner. It seems like he is, but he got Francine, the bowling gold medalist, who is friendly and easy to talk to.

"How long have you been taking this class?" I ask. Mary had told us most students have been in this class for at least a year, so they know one another pretty well.

"Six years," Harrison says. "Technically, six years and fourteen weeks."

"So you like it?"

"I like some parts of it. Some parts I don't like. My turn to ask a question."

"Right. Sorry."

"How long have you been taking this class?" "Well—" Now I'm desperate. I look over at Lucas, who seems to be sharing a great joke with Francine. He's laughing and pointing to her piece of paper. "Just write it," he's saying. "This is my first day!" I say with a fake laugh so it will look like Harrison and I are having fun, too. "I'm new, remember?" He pulls his earlobe. "That's right. I forgot."

Excerpted from the book A Step Towards Falling by Cammie McGovern. Copyright © 2015 by Cammie McGovern. Reprinted with permission of HarperCollins.