The Silent Photographer and the Emo Boy (Book 1)

Chapter One: Why I Have Garlic in My Backpack

Chapter One: Why I Have Garlic in My Backpack

I don't speak. I've tried to, but I would always get made fun of. I feel like I'm drowning in a pool of self doubt, fabricated from a broken world full of broken people. I'm waiting for the hand to pull me out, and maybe that's why I found myself face-to-face with a very pale guy.

As I stared into his gray eyes, I reached into my messenger bag. I pulled out a ziplock bag filled with garlic cloves and I opened it. I pulled out a garlic clove and threw it at the guy. It hit his shoulder and...nothing happened. We both watched it fall to the ground as it bounced off of his shoulder.

I slowly lifted my eyes back up from the garlic and looked at the guy. His were boring right into me and it made me uncomfortable. I started to sweat bullets and I kept fidgeting. He opened his mouth to say something and I ran.

He was yelling after me to stop, but of course I didn't. I ran into the first door I saw and it turned out to be the girls bathroom. I ran into a stall and stood on top of the toilet and cowered. Yes, I was that terrified of people.

I heard him yelling for me to come out, but I didn't. I stayed rooted to my spot...for another twenty minutes. That was when the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I poked my head out of the bathroom door and looked to my left and then the right. The coast was clear, so I ran in the direction of my locker when a hand covered my mouth and I was dragged into a dark room.

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Oh God, please don't eat me!, I thought as I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard a light being clicked on but I didn't open my eyes. I heard a sigh and hands were put on my shoulders. “Please open your eyes and look at me.” a voice pleaded very close to my face.

I slowly opened my eyes and nearly crashed into the cleaning supplies behind me. I started hyperventilating and fell to my knees. “Whoa, calm down!” he said genuinely concerned. “Look, I just wanted to talk to you about your photographs...and the whole garlic thing. By the way, I'm Auric Reed.” he said extending his hand towards me. I shook his hand and then looked at him. Then I realized that he was waiting for me to say something, so I took a small notepad and a pen out of my backpack. 'Sorry but...I don't talk.' I wrote.

“Okay...can I ask why?” he asked and I shook my head no.

“Well, why did you throw garlic at me then?”

'I thought you were a vampire.' I wrote. He started to chuckle so I decided to study the ingredients in Lysol, as I waited for him to calm down. “You seriously thought I was a vampire?” he asked and I nodded. “Well, I think you'll be glad to know that I'm not a vampire. You know I've never been called a vampire, emo freak yes, but vampire no.” he said laughing.

I rolled my eyes and then I heard the bell ring. Apparently we had been in the janitor's closet for an hour and I had missed my Chemistry class. I must have looked worried because Auric asked me what was wrong. I wrote that I had to get to class and we exited the closet.

I ran to my locker and quickly spun in my combination. I grabbed my math and English textbooks and slammed my locker shut. I was about to run to class when I crashed into someone. I stepped back and my eyes went wide when I realized who it was. The person I had crashed into was the star football player Kyan Frair. “So, how's my little photographer?” he asked with a smirk. I looked away and started backing up. “So the little bitch still won't talk huh? How about I make you talk.” he threatened with a toothy grin.

I tried to back up further, but I was already against the lockers with his arms on either side of me. I felt a tear slip down my face and I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt Kyan's breath very close to my lips and I whimpered. Just then I heard a muffled oomf and I was lifted up into someone's arms bridal style.

I slowly opened one eye and I saw that it was Auric. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my skinny jeans and typed, 'Why did you save me? Also, what did you do?'

“I saved you because you looked like a scared rabbit about to be devoured by a wolf. I may have punched the guy in the face.” he replied looking away.

I smiled to myself and wrapped my arms around Auric's neck. He ended up taking me to a park and we sat on the swings. I was looking at the sky thinking about whether or not to take a picture when Auric cleared his throat. I looked over at him and he looked at me. I grabbed my notepad and wrote 'What?' in very big letters. “You're a photographer right?” he asked me and I shook my head yes.

“Did you know that some of your photos are displayed at the front of the school?” and once again I shook my head yes.

“Well, they're really good.” he said with a distant smile on his face.

I blushed and looked away. I mean, no one has ever complemented my photos before so I was really happy. I also saw the perfect moment to take a picture, so I took my camera out of my backpack and snapped a picture of Auric. He looked over at me with a confused expression until he saw the camera in my hands. He chuckled and I shrugged.

I put the camera back in my bag and started to swing. I smiled as I felt the wind rush through my hair. I felt free for once but then I heard a click and I looked over at Auric. He was looking up at the sky and when he saw me staring he asked me what I was staring at. I shrugged and went back to swinging.

After a few more minutes, it started to rain so we ran to find shelter. When we couldn't find any we ran to my house. When I opened the door we were greeted with silence and I breathed a sigh of relief. We ended up watching a bunch of random movies but by eight he had to go. “Well, it was really nice meeting you but I don't know your name.” he said. I ended up asking him how he found out the pictures were mine and he said someone pointed me out to him. I smiled and I wrote down, 'My name is Isolde Moore and it was very nice to meet you too.'

“Cool. See you again at some point in the near future.” he said and walked down the street. I was sad that he had left, but he said we would see each other again and it made me giddy for some reason.

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A/N: Okay, so I dedicated this chapter to my friend who gave me some ideas for this chapter since I only had a basic outline so THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, there are obviously some secrets hiding in this chapter and I wonder if you guys can figure it out. Also, there's going to be some major drama happening at some point so yeah. Anyway vote, comment, follow, and etc. so I'm going to go now so...byeeeeeeeeeee ^_^