silence speaks in volumes {karlnap}

~together~

Not part of the storyline.

(Karl POV)

I tighten my tie and turn to Betty. "Blazer or no?" she asks, smoothing out the purple blazer on her lap. It's supposed to be hot tonight, so I shake my head. 

"Yeah, probably a good call," she chuckles, setting the jacket down on my bed next to her. 

I look back at my reflection in the mirror. Dark purple slacks and dress shoes, white button-up collared shirt, purple tie with small green swirls. I run my fingers through my hair, both fluffing it and pushing it out of my eyes. Nick loves it when I do that. He says I look cute when I do it.

We've been official for 5 months. I'm graduating next to George and Skeppy next week. It's been surreal since January. I've been bullied way less, I've been hanging out with my friends instead of going back to my foster home, but I don't have foster homes anymore! 

Cherry talked to the court, saying I'm too old for the foster system now. It's true; I'm turning 18 next month. Nick turned 17 three months ago, too. So I've been staying with Nick and his mom. Fortunately, she loves me. 

Betty suddenly jumps up and runs out of the room. I watch her rush down the hallway before reaching to grab my new glasses. I don't actually need to wear them tonight. I could wear my contacts, but Nick likes my glasses. I do too. I'm addicted to wire frames.

Betty walks back in, one of her hands concealing something in a fist, the other holding a few different colors of nail polish. 

"Okay, I just remembered that I have nail polish colors that go with your ensemble," she rambles, setting them on the dresser next to me. One color immediately calls me in; a deep lavender with a few sparkles scattered throughout the liquid. 

"And, I think if you wore some of these, it would bring the whole thing together. But you don't have to. Just a suggestion," she adds. I love that she corrects herself so she doesn't make me uncomfortable. Not that she ever does.

She opens her fist over the dresser, and metal objects fall and bounce around the hard wooden surface. She scoops them all up into a small pile so they don't fall off the dresser and disappear. "You can choose any one you want," she says. 

I look over at the small pile. They're all rings; different shapes and designs, different colors and shades. I stifle a gasp as I look through them all. They're all beautiful.

I choose one. It's the most beautiful one. It's silver, gold, copper, and platinum, wound together in a braid with fake gems dotting the different strands of metal. It's shiny and polished, light gleaming off of the material. 

I slide it on to my middle finger on my right hand and examine it under better light. "Oh, that's my favourite one," Betty breathes. I swing my head to look in her direction, panic in my eyes. I don't want to take her favourite one!

"Oh, it's alright, dear," she says, smiling warmly. "Keep it. It suits you, better than it did me. Besides, it's getting small for me." 

I smile thankfully and look at it again. It's perfect.

"Karl, are you ready?" George asks, walking into my room. I look up and smile, already nodding. 

"Good. Let's go, I'm starving," Skeppy mutters, following close behind George. I smile bigger and head towards the door as they walk in. I'm not sure why we decided to meet at Nick's just so we could kick him out, but we did. 

"Ooh, nail polish," George says, walking up. "I have thought about painting my nails before." He admits.

"Let's paint our nails!" Skeppy exclaims. He grabs a periwinkle color and sits on the floor so he doesn't get it on anything.