silence speaks in volumes {karlnap}

chapter 3

TW: bullying, homophobia

(Nick POV)

I'm lucky I learned his name a few days ago, because it would be weird if I just walked up and down the shelves of books in the library whispering, "quiet boy."

But here I am, wandering through the library, whispering "Karl" over and over again. I don't know where his is. And he can't exactly respond.

Someone grabs my shoulders from behind me, and I jump almost a mile in the air. I turn around the see Karl standing there, smiling like an idiot. "Oh my God, don't do that!" I hiss. He smiles bigger. 

"Well, uh, hi," I say. He waves. I smile and wave back. It's a bit weird to have to do all the talking, but I'm used to it by now. Mostly.

He motions for me to follow him, and he leads me towards the History books, where hardly anyone goes over to, even the historians of this school. He squeezes behind a bookshelf and walks behind it. I follow curiously, walking into a small room with two of the walls being bookshelves. 

"How-" I mutter, looking around. He shoves a notebook into my hands as he sits down. 

The librarian showed me this place. He pushed the bookshelves against the wall to create this room. Now he lets me eat here and keep some of my books here because I'm the only one who knows about it.

"This is cool," I say, handing the notebook back. Then I notice that he doesn't have any food. "Where's your lunch?" I ask.

He glances up from a drawing, his eyes nervous. He shrugs. "Did you eat already?" I ask. He looks at the floor and shakes his head. 

"Did you forget lunch?" He nods. "Let me guess. No money either." He nods again. I smile. "C'mon, I can get you food." He looks back up at me and shakes his head. "I don't want you to starve. C'mon." I say, holding out my hand. He sighs and sets down his drawing. I throw a quick glance at it and -- holy shit, it's good so far.

It's a person. It's barely started but there's already lots of detail. I can tell it's going to be a good drawing. 

He takes my hand and I pull him up. I walk out of the room, still holding his hand. I hold it until we walk out of the library. We walk to the cafeteria in silent on my part. He's always quiet anyway. I wonder what his voice would sound like. What his laugh would sound like. Does he have an accent? A lisp? Why am I thinking about this?

We get into the order line and he scans the menu. He points at what he wants, I order it, and we walk back to the library. "You don't have to pay me back, by the way," I say as we push the doors open. His eyebrows frown while his lips curl up. 

"Oh, hi there." 

I glance up. My team mates infest the library, all smirking at Karl and I. He gasps in what I hope is just surprise. Have they tormented him so much that he's scared of them? Or is he as surprised as I am that they're in a library right now?

"Hey, guys," I say. "What are you doing here?"

"What, we can't just come check out a book?" Jonas asks. 

"You know as well as I do that you guys don't read," I point out. 

"Look at the funny man," Keith says, walking up to me. Karl tenses beside me. I step in front of him slightly. 

"Just pointing out a fact," I say. Keith chuckles and his gaze lands on Karl. 

"Well, well, you're hanging out with the nerd now?" he asks. 

"He's not a nerd, you're just dumb," I retort, crossing my arms and smiling. Keith laughs and shoves my head playfully. 

"Dumbest one here. Still my crowning achivement," he jokes. He nods to everyone and they file out of the room. I gently pull Karl behind me as I face the door. They all frown at Karl as they pass.

(Karl POV)

The door closes behind the last boy and Nick sighs. He turns around to face me. "Sorry," he mutters. I smile and shake my head while waving. My way of saying "it's fine." He smiles and leads me back to the Haven. At least, that's what I call it.

I inch through the gap, shifting to fit the tray through the gap. I get through the shelf and set my tray down. When I sit back down, the drawing I started of Nick is scribbled over. 

What?

I flip through the sketchbook and all my drawings are scribbled over as well. What in the world? 

Nick sits next to me. "What happened?" He asks. I shrug, tears welling in my eyes. This is my newer sketchbook, so there aren't as many drawings, but I'm still proud of them. 

Tears fall onto the pages and create damp splotches. Some of the ink used in the scribbles leaks and more tears fall.

Nick sighs and takes the book from my hand. He wraps his arms around me, resting his chin on my head. I curl up and cry silently. I don't even want to check my other books. They're probably worse. 

"I know my team did this," he mutters. Well, it would be weird if they didn't.

"Do you want to get revenge?" he asks. I shake my head. That's never been my strong suit. I just want my drawings back. 

He flips through the drawings again, ruined drawing after ruined drawing. But he stops on one. I wipe my eyes and sit up a bit to see what he's looking at. 

Oh, shit.

It's one of my best drawings. I did it a while ago, while I was bored in Science class. Under the drawing, it says "fucking homo" along with other derogatory comments. I don't recognize the handwriting. There's pink hearts covering the page that I definitely didn't draw, but Nick doesn't know that. 

The drawing though? Left alone.

And of course it's a drawing of Nick.

Word Count 1035

😟