Silence

The girl...

Jack's PoV:

Mark leaves to go somewhere again at lunch, but this time, I'm going to follow him to wherever it is he goes everyday at lunch. I had already told Felix my plan, he told me not to do it, but that he wouldn't stop me. I have no doubt that he's already told everyone else in the group except Mark, since no one asked me where I'm going or what I'm doing. I follow Mark out of the lunchroom and to the band room. I press my ear to the door and hear things being moved around. I hear the gentle strum of a guitar, I hear some shuffling and then I hear another guitar strum. I open the door a little so I can hear better. I hear Mark start playing and peek inside to see Mark with his back towards me, the guitar in his lap as he plays. I open the door some more and silently walk in, gently closing the door behind me.

I sit down in front of the door and listen to him play. I hear quiet singing over the sound of the guitar. I close my eyes and continue to listen. I recognize the song, but can't seem to put a name to it. And I can't hear the lyrics very well over the guitar. I open my eyes again as the music stops and look at Mark. He has his head down and he's slightly shaking, from either crying, or from fear. I walk over to him and tap his shoulder as I sit down. He looks at me and nearly jumps away in surprise. He glances around, as if searching to see if anyone else is here.

"No one else is here, just you and me," I say and he looks at me. He looks at the guitar in his lap and gets up to put it away. "You're really good at playing the guitar."

As he's putting the guitar in it's case I see bruises on his arms. I walk over to him and grab his arm, he pulls it away.

"What happened to your arm?" I ask as he pulls on the sleeves of his sweater, not even looking at me. I put my hands on his cheeks and make him look at me. "Hey, what happened?"

He just pulls away and turns away from me, not answering my question. I sigh and look at the time. Almost the end of lunch. Luckily band is my next class. I look back at Mark to see he's staring at me. He looks away, his cheeks and the top of his ears slightly red. I smile and hug him.

"C'mon, tell me what happened, please." He just looks into my eyes and I just look back. "Please, I wanna help."

He shakes his head and grabs the guitar case and goes to sit as the bell signaling the end of lunch rings. I sigh and walk over to my spot behind the drums. I will get Mark to talk to me eventually...

~time skip brought to you by a pet named Steve~

The bell rings to signal the end of the school day, and everyone stands up, gathering all their stuff, before walking out of class and to their lockers. I open my locker and grab my backpack and put my stuff inside it. Should probably practice a little before I go home. I start walking to the band room so I can practice on the drums.

~the too often used time skip~

I put my drum sticks back into my backpack as I get ready to leave. As I'm walking out the door I see Mark and a boy from a few of my classes. The asshole, Kevin. I was about to go stop whatever is happening until a girl, only as tall as up to Mark's shoulders, walks into view and steps between Mark and Kevin. She glares at Kevin, getting in a fighting stance. Kevin backs away, scared. I smile, I don't know who that girl is, but if Kevin's scared of her there must be a reason. Kevin turns around and runs away. I look closer at the girl as she turns toward Mark. She has silver hair, gray sweatpants, a striped white, gray and black t-shirt, and her hair goes to her chin. How is she warm in that t-shirt? It's cold out there. I see her hug Mark and I see the muscles on her arms and if she wasn't Mark's friend I would be scared. They start walking away, the girl with an arm around Mark. I walk the opposite way, walking home.

~time skip to the next day~
I walk towards the school, once again early. I meet Felix in front of the school and hug him. He smiles and hugs back, before we both walk inside.

"Hey Felix, I was wondering why Mark never talks to anyone," I say, looking at my hands. He sighs.

"How 'bout I tell you a little story about Mark," he says, I look at him.

How much is there to tell...?

A/N
The next chapter is going to be Felix telling Jack about Mark before he went silent and even some after Mark went silent. Please don't hate me for what you're about to learn... I'll see you in the next chapter! *waves bye*