Silently Falling

Chapter Nine (Edited 9/2/2020)

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Silently Falling: Chapter Nine

"Raine, come on! Alyse is already in the car, we're waiting for you!" Toby hollers up into my room.

I let out a groan and start brushing my hair even faster. My alarm didn't go off this morning, but by some miracle Toby's did. He assumed I was just getting ready in my room and didn't come in to wake me up until five minutes ago.

I glance at the clock in worry; 8:17. We usually leave at 8:05, and we have to be at school by 8:30. It takes ten minutes to drive there with all the morning traffic. That leaves me three minutes to run to my first block class that's at least five minutes from where we enter.

I look at my hair in the mirror and decide that I look fine before booking it down the stairs and into Toby's truck.

"About time. How is it Toby was ready before you?" Alyse asks.

I just send her a look and catch my breath.

"You good sis? You sound like you just had a fucking sex marathon." My brother grumbles from the front seat.

I wince at his metaphor and look out the window to my left as my breathing slows. I know he didn't mean anything by it, but once again I find myself pushing back the memories that are fighting to resurface. And it's no one's fault but Warren's.

"Toby..." Alyse says, sending him a look.

He catches her eye in the rear view mirror and his eyes widen as he realizes what he said and who he said it to. "Shit." He says, letting out a sigh. But before he can apologize, I wave it off.

"It's no big deal, Toby." I sign.

He watches me through the mirror and nods, "Still, I'm sorry Raine. It was out of line."

I give him a smile and dismiss his worry. I'm a big girl, I can handle a simple mention of sex without going all depressed.

At least I should be able to.

We get to school at 8:27 on the dot and each of us rush to our classes, Alyse running with me to music. Toby nearly slips on an old puddle from the rain last night, causing Alyse to laugh at him. He sends her a glare, but I see the way he tries to hide his smile.

"Pretend you didn't see that?" Toby requests.

Alyse shrugs, "Didn't see what?"

Toby chuckles at her, shutting the door to his truck with a small head shake.

As cute as this moment is between the two of them, I grab Alyse's arm and drag her along so that we won't be late to class. We enter music class just as the bell sounds and send Mr. C a smile as we catch our breath. He nods at the two of us as we squeeze through all of our classmates and hustle to our seats.

"So, you never texted me back last night!" Alyse exclaims, lightly smacking my shoulder. "Your first date with West and you didn't even tell your best friend about it."

My eyes widen at her and I instantly shake my head, "Date? It was not a date, Alyse. I'm just teaching him sign language."

"Yeah, but you two were alone for an extended period of time and got to know one another. That, Raine, is a date. When's date number two?"