Charlie’s POV
A few days had passed and I still had not spoken.
I could tell my family was still unsettled by my selective silence, but they were being very patient about it. My mother still gossiped to me every morning as I sat down for breakfast.
“So, Jenna McNeal’s daughter, who is just a grade above you, Charlie, turns out, she’s pregnant.” My mom gasped.
I rose my eyebrows in response.
“Jenna is pushing for an abortion, while her husband is saying that abortion is a sin. So I’m guessing life in The McNeal’s house is going to be uneasy for awhile.”
“What? Beth McNeal is pregnant?” Nora gasped.
I continued eating my cereal as my mother continued gossiping to Nora.
After i had finished my breakfast, I grabbed my backpack from the counter and started my walk to school.
“See you when you get home, son!” Mom called as I walked outside.
Every morning for the last few days, I’ve woken up with a single thought.
Today’s the day I’ll talk again.
By the end of that day, I still hadn’t made a sound. Maybe by the end of this one, I will.
The walk to school felt longer than usually. It was chilly outside, due to it being winter, so I decided to wear a coat to school today.
I arrived to the school six minutes before the first bell, and my friends were seated at our usual spot. They all looked over at me, as if they had somehow sensed my presence.
Just walk over there Charlie.
You can do it.
One foot at a time…
I paused on the path for a moment, contemplating, before I decided to just continue inside in a hurry.
As I walked through the doors, a whiff of bleach entered my nostrils, causing me to grimace.
The janitor must’ve cleaned the floors earlier today.
God, I hated the smell of bleach.
I continued to walk down the corridor, a series of different conversations passing as I walked on by.
~
For the last two periods I had double science. Mrs Dandry was made aware of my particular mutism by my mother, as were all the other teachers that I had, along with Principal Haas, who suggested I speak with the school councillor.
I decided against it, silently, of course.
Ace sat next to me in his assigned seat, an unfamiliar scent clinging to him. Cedar, sandalwood and…. Musk?
It smelt like a calming, desolated forest.
“Psssst.”
I turned away from my worksheet to look him in the eyes, raising my eyebrows.
“When are we going to start on our science project?” He asked in a whisper.
Seriously? He wanted to talk about our science project? Bad boy Ace Caldwell wanted to talk science?
I shrugged my shoulders, turning back to my work. Silence enveloped us, apart from the infernal sound of his pen clicking rapidly, again.
“Are you okay?” He asked, nudging me slightly.
I kept silent as I jotted down an answer to one of the questions in the worksheet.
He nudged me again, this time was more urgent. “Did I do something wrong?”
I looked at him, my eyebrows knitted. My face pretty much said ‘What?’
“That’s why you’re not talking to me? Because I did something wrong?”
I shook my head reassuringly. It didn’t seem to make him feel better. I’d anything, it convinced him more that he was somehow the problem. That he did something wrong that caused me to not speak to him.
He could never be the problem.
I put my hand on his arm. “You did nothing wrong.” I said softly and hoarsely through a dried throat.
How did not speaking for a few days somehow make my throat feel sore?
He gave a weak smile, his dimples visible.
I removed my hand from his arm and nervously picked at my fingernails.
“You can, uh… come over to my place later if you wanted to, uh, get started on the project?”
He shifted in his seat, clicking his pen once again.
“Okay, cool.”
~
Ace had come over at around six pm to study for our science project, his signature scent of coffee and cigarettes lingering on his breath as he sat down on my bed.
I didn’t want to give him the whole ‘smoking is bad for you’ speech again.
It bothered me that he smoked cigarettes.
My grandmother had smoked cigarettes for years and she ended up with lung cancer.
That’s why it bothered my so much.
But, I didn’t have a right to tell anyone what to do.
Least of all the wildcard that is Ace Caldwell.
“So, I was thinking we could do an astronomy science project.” I shot my first idea out there.
“So, stars and stuff?” He queried.
“Yeah. There’s plenty of subtopics to choose from, like we could observ-” I looked over to see Ace’s eyes roll.
“Am I boring you?”
“Kinda.” He smirked, revealing those damned dimples again.
“Jerk!”
“What if we build a rocket from scratch?” Ace suggested. “I saw this crazy video of some guy who built a rocket, it was only small, but it still worked. It was pretty sick.”
“You want to build a rocket?” I asked.
“Sure, why not?”
He acts as if it’s so easy. Unless there’s a rocket scientist beneath that black leather jacket, it would take a lot of time and equipment we cannot afford.
Unless.
“I guess we could probably make one, a simple one, but it would still pretty much work.”
“Great, let’s do that!”
I grabbed a booklet from my desk, along with some papers and pens and sat them down on my bedroom floor.
He slumped down on the floor as well, clicking that annoying pen in his hand.
“Can you stop with the clicking?” I begged.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry.” He put the pen down.
I began to jot a diagram on a piece of paper, and materials that we may or may not need in order to create this thing.
“You suck at drawing.” He stated, pointing at my attempt to draw a rocket.
“Shut up and study!” I warned him.
“But I’m hungry! Got any snacks?” He dramatically lied backwards onto the floor.
“You can eat after we actually study something!” I smacked him with my booklet.
He let out a slight gasp before he smacked me back.
“How dare you!”
“You did it first.” He smirked.
I gave him a glare before reaching up to my bed for my pillow and smacking him in the face.
He paused for a moment before turning to look at me with a mischievous glare. “Ooooooh, you are soooooo on!” He reached for another one of my pillows and whacked me in the face.
A full on pillow fight broke out, both of us bashing each other relentlessly. I managed to grip his pillow and throw it out of his reach, then I smacked him in the face with my pillow, again.
“Oh, You are so dead, Charlie Harrington.” He tackled me onto the carpeted floor that was currently scattered with pieces of paper and pens.
He pinned me down and laughed victoriously.
My breathing grew heavy.
His arms held mine down. Electricity coursed through me as butterflies set flight inside of my stomach. His face was just inches above mine, his green eyes staring down at me, and those chocolate swirls trickling down.
The rest of the world seemed to have melted away, and all that was left was us.
I know I was still dating Ryan, but I wanted him to kiss me.
I hated him…..
Not because he was annoying—which he was, it’s just something I’ve learned to like about him—but because I was completely and utterly in love with him, despite trying so hard not to be.
The distance between us was slowly closing, our faces being drawn together like two comets on course, set to collide.
My heart began racing as I closed my eyes, preparing to be met with a kiss that would set my body on fire.
Then his hands released and he stood up and straightened himself. “Uh, i’d better get going. It’s uh, getting late.”
He scratched the back of his neck, refusing to meet my eyes with his.
The butterflies in my stomach died, and the electricity that coursed through my veins blacked out.
“Oh, okay.” I pulled myself off of the floor.
“See you at school.” He left in a hurry.
See you at school. I frowned.
_________________
Thanks for reading! I have a few Questions for you guys, if you are willing to answer 🙂
1. Who is your fav character so far?
2. Which character do you relate to most?
3. Which character would you want as a friend?
4. Least favourite character?
5. What is your favourite scene so far? (If you have one)
6. Who is your favourite ship?
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