Mute » 1D

Chapter 11

Chapter 11


Kashine


I practiced with the boys for the rest of the day, and thankfully no one passed out from the hard workout of Insanity. But they were very sweaty and smelly.

I wasn't concentrating very hard on the moves for the boys. I was too busy worrying where the heck my journal could have ran off to. It couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, could it? I had to find it before somebody else did.

During lunch break, I ate a simple sandwich as I turned the house upside down looking for my journal. I couldn't find it. I wanted to collapse onto my knees and scream at the sky to tell me where the stupid thing was, but that would be creepy and weird so I kept searching.

I was sure my stress was showing on my face, and I tried to hide it. I don't think I did that good of a job.

Finally we were done for the day. I was reduced to writing on a napkin now, since my arm was practically half-pink from my pen:




You can all shower now. You boys did well today.




They thanked me before running off to their separate bathrooms. Good thing too. I was sure I was going to pass out from the smell.

I went upstairs, miserable, as I tried to figure out where I last put my dang journal. I hadn't checked my secret compartment in my suitcase yet, but I doubted it would be there. I distinctly remembered bringing it with me to breakfast. At the very least I remembered tearing a blank page out of it, and after writing "Vocal Practice" on it I pasted it to a door to some random room.

But I checked the compartment anyway. I popped the case open: no journal. Told ya. But as Martha would say, it's good to retrace your steps. Her exact words are, and I quote: "Go back, go back to where you were." I'm pretty sure that's some line from a little kid show. Like Blue's Clues. But Martha would know what she's talking about: she forgets stuff all the time.

I sat down on my bed and thought hard. If I couldn't find it anywhere, that meant two things: I didn't search hard enough or in the right places, or one of the boys took it.

But I was pretty sure I checked every nook and cranny in this household. I was desperate to find this thing.

But if one of the boys found it, surely they would tell me or give it back to me? They're good people, they wouldn't snoop, would they? After all, they didn't know what to expect in there. Yeah, I'd only lived here for two days, I probably didn't search all that well. I sighed and stood back up. Time to search the house again.




? POV


After my shower, I sat on my bed and stared at Kashine's journal. I should return it, it would be wrong not to. She loved this thing and she needed it. But what was Kashine not telling us?

Haha, not telling us.

Actually, that wasn't all that funny.

Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to peek inside for a little bit, right? Just to learn more about her. We barely knew her and she's already staying at our place!

Yeah, I'd just read a few entries and find out what I could. If I found anything weird or... things like that, I wouldn't read it. I swore on my life.

I reached over and flipped open the cover tentatively, half-expecting it to explode or blare some kind of alarm. It didn't, so I continued to flip through her entries. She had one for each day of the year; she must like to write a lot. Or maybe she just needed to communicate her feelings.

I read an entry about some girl named Nikki. She seemed nice, almost like a friend to Kashine, but apparently she only helped her with her studies.

What the heck is with that? Kashine is smart if she knew all those complicated dance moves; it's the school that's dumb if they think she needed a tutor.

I read another entry on another girl named Miley. And she's a serious bitch. She's bullied Kashine because of her silence? How wrong is that? What's her problem?

I found a few more entries on Miley, and I winced when I saw a few tear stains. The bullying was that bad? She-devil.

I turned a page and froze. What... was that?! It's small and round, the color of rust, and it's not the only one. There were three more droplet-like spots on the page.

No way.... My head pounded in anger and I struggled not to rip up the journal. Now I wanted to kill Miley. She made Kashine cut?! That's real low, stupid Miley.

I looked away from the journal for a moment to take deep breaths and calm myself. Gosh, poor Kashine.... And yet she's still so surprisingly confident and pleasant. I was impressed.

I spotted a folded-down corner of a page and I turned to that page. It was an entry, quite obviously, but it wasn't about Miley or Nikki or even about school at all. At least, I didn't think so.

I reread it. Oh wait, it was about school. Sort of. About some guy named.... I sucked in a breath and slammed the journal shut quickly. Oh gosh.... Oops.... I had to die now.

There was a knock on my door and I jumped twenty feet in the air. I answered it, and Harry grinned at me.

"Hey--" he started to say, but I pulled him inside before he could finish speaking. He gave me an odd look.

"What's going--" he started to say again, but I shook my head, motioning for him to shut up. I pointed to Kashine's journal still on my bed.

Harry stared at it, then at me. "Oh my gosh," he said. "You seriously did not take it and read it. PLEASE tell me you didn't. Kashine will kill you."

I grimaced. I felt mute myself as I gestured to the journal.

Read it, I was trying to say. I think the boys need to learn more about her. Maybe we can help her. No, we WILL help her. Nobody should go through what Kashine went through. Nobody.

Harry glared at me as he picked the journal up and skimmed through it, not really looking at it. But something caught his eye. "Are those...." he started to ask, but I didn't need to interrupt. His voice trailed off as I nodded weakly.

He hissed a word that should not be repeated and threw down the journal. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Read it and you'll find out," I said, as calmly as possible. "It's not my place to say. Or read," I added under my breath. "I just think we should get to know Kashine better, and we should help her. I'm not doing this for gossip or anything."

Harry gave me a wary look before reading the entry involving the blood droplets. His face looked ashen when he was done. "I'll be taking this," he said solemnly, sticking it into his back pocket.

I wondered if that was such a great idea. After all, this was Harry Styles holding a sixteen-year old mute girl's journal. "I'll show the other boys too," he added, but something flashed in his eyes, telling a different story.

I narrowed my eyes, but nodded again. I could trust Harry, he's my best friend. And as long as it gets back in Kashine's hands, the sooner, the better.

"See ya later," Harry said and left my room. I closed the door behind him softly and leaned against it, rubbing my knuckles into my eyes. At about this time I started wondering if I did the right thing, taking the journal, reading it, and giving it away.

Louis Tomlinson, what had you done?