Silence Is Golden (Muke)

Ch. 8 - Hold Me Close, Don't Let Go

*Michael's P.O.V*

"Mikey, are you okay?"

I look up from the odd looking anime drawing of Luke I was scribbling down on the bottom left corner of the page the notebook was open on, and look up at Luke, who was sitting across from me at the living room table. I look back down at the notebook and shrug my shoulders, tracing over a line on anime Luke's shirt.

"Is your nightmare bothering you?" Luke asks curiously, glancing down at my drawing.

I stop drawing and look up at him. I think for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.

Again, I think for a moment before moving the pen to the top of the page and writing. 'A reoccurring dream'.

"Of what?" Luke asks before I have a chance to turn the notebook around.

I sigh and keep writing. 'There is this guy who used to make fun of me in PE... In my dream, he tries (and succeeds) to humiliate me... As soon as it happens, there are suddenly people (that are always people I have known over the years) surrounding us, laughing at ME... Then they start throwing dodge balls at me'.

"Wow" Luke says as I reach the end, I guess he had been reading upside down as I wrote. "You-" Luke hesitates, his voice shaky, "You used to get bullied?".

I nod and start writing again. 'I used to get bullied before I met Calum, it kind of stopped after that... That guy in PE was the only guy since then to really pick on me... But people always laugh at me'.

"Me being one of those people" Luke mumbles, staring at his hands.

'You weren't as bad as the others' I quickly scribble down. I look back up at Luke and realise he hadn't seen me writing, so I tap on the notebook a few times until he looks up to see what I had written.

"That doesn't change the fact that I did it in the first place" he frowns, "I shouldn't of, it was a dick move".

'Okay, maybe it was a dick move... But you know I honestly don't care, right?'

"Yeah but that doesn't change the fact that-" is all Luke manages to say before I cut him off by waving my hands in front of his face.

'STOP!' I write in big letters before holding the notebook out at him.

"I'm sorry, Michael" Luke apologises quietly. I set the notebook back down in front of me and tap my pen on it.

'It's okay, let's not talk about it anymore'

"What do you want to talk about instead!?" Luke asks, his arm propped on the table, rests his chin in his hand.

'Idk... What about our school project?'

"What about it?" Luke asks in confusion. I shrug my shoulders and think for a moment.

'I don't know how I'm meant to write this essay thing'

"I think I understand it" Luke says thoughtfully.

'.... Care to explain it to me then?' I scribble down after a moment of silence.

"Well, Mrs. Dudley said we had to write the essay on what we learnt about our partner, and since she made sure none of us were actually friends, I'm assuming it has something to do with first impressions" he explains.

'... Sooo?'

"So you start your introduction with-" Luke continues before I wave my hands around to stop him. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion as I flip to a new page and write 'English Essay Notes' at the top.