Listen Before You Speak

Chapter 6

This chapter is dedicated to a person who I am glad I can call a creative friend. Emetia Heck, happy birthday to you! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

No! No! No! No! No!

I couldn't believe Blake actually did this! Is he trying to be funny?

As I look down on my desk where I just sat down I can't believe he did something so openly. Anybody could have seen him, and let's be honest. Alice is already after me because of him. I already have more than enough trouble without becoming visible at school.

My hand quickly swiped up the tube of glue and shoved it into my pocket, while I tried my very best to hide the envelope under my desk, as well as trying to open it in a way nobody would see, not that it would work out very well as the class started to fill with people.

Blake was the very last person to enter. Even after Mr. van Leer. He gave a warm smile, but I ignored him, even as he took the seat right next to me like he always did; making me shove the envelope into my pocket for later study. There is just no way that I was going to show him that his "warm" gesture got to me.

"Hey Elijah." Blake fixed his beanie on his head, which had nothing wrong to begin with, and then lazed back into his seat.

I just ignored him. What did he want me to say or do? Give him the glue back and tell him to go ahead and glue me all the way up and down? Sadly things are never that easy in life.

"Are you just going to sit there and ignore me all day?" Blake whispered towards me. I could only imagine the big goofy smile he must have had on his face, but I kept my face as solid as stone, staring at Mr. van Leer, who has since begun reading from The Scarlet Letter which was really starting to bore me. I almost turned to the side and faced Blake, just to not listen to Mr. van Leer.

"Psst..."

Damn... Does this guy never stop trying? How long will it take him to get the picture? I'm not interested in a relationship! At all! Or maybe I am. I don't know anymore. Everything is just way too complicated at the moment. I need time to think. To get my dad out of my life again. To just go back to normal, or as normal as normal could possibly be for me.

"Did you read my letter?"

This time I could not help but look towards him. A letter? The envelope has an actual letter inside it? I remember that my grandmother once told me that if a person takes the time to actually write you a letter then they are worth having in your life. She always said that the most important gift that a person could give was their time, and with a letter they gave time and effort. Maybe it was true?

I finally decided to do something in return to I simply nodded at his. What else did he want me to do? Speak? It was not like I could do that here at school. Everybody still thought I was the weird mute kid, and by the looks of it I have been attracting way too much attention to myself thanks to Blake taking some odd sort of liking in me.

"Do you have a thing for broken-wing birds?!" I wanted to shout that out to him, but I didn't. Did Blake not know that to get involved with a broken person would only lead to heartache? The bird would eventually die and he will be the one getting hurt at the end of the day. That is just the way things work in life. I didn't make the rules.

When the bell finally rang I didn't wait for Blake to pack his bag. I didn't pack either. I just grabbed everything in my arms and stormed out of the classroom, not even looking back when I heard Mr. van Leer calling my name down the hallway, probably telling me not to run in the hall.