Mute Love

DISCLAIMER: This story does not follow the prompt AT ALL. I didn't have time to finish it so that I could submit it for the correct romance prompt. However, I still think it's good, and I wanted people to see it. Without further ado, here it is...

The sharp scratching of my pencil against the blank piece of paper slowly drowns out the monotone blabbering of my biology teacher. My eyes start to drift away into a soft sleep before a paper gets slammed down on my desk.

“No sleeping in class, Cameron.” The teacher, Ms. Sikowitz, scowls. She walks up to the front of the room and looks at the class. “Now, who can explain what our homework here,” she holds up the paper she just passed around, “is about?”

She starts pacing in front of the whiteboard. “Amber?”

A small girl in the back of the room looks up. It seems like she was doodling in her notebook, too. I’ve seen her before, but I’ve never talked to her. Why would I? She’s mute. Everyone tells me that she can’t talk. No one’s ever heard her voice before, including me. Yeah right, like I would even want to hear some freak’s voice.

“Amber.” Ms. Sikowitz growls, gently tapping her foot on the floor, over and over. “What’s the assignment about?”

Amber looks frightened. Scared. She gulps and opens her mouth, then closes it again. She looks around at the rest of the class, her eyes filling with tears.

Ms. Sikowitz clearly notices and starts talking again. “You’re basically just filling in the chart of the anatomy of the frog. We learned about it in class, so you should know how to label it.”

The bell rings and everyone lifts themselves from their seats. I start grabbing my stuff and steal one more quick glance back at Amber. She’s already left. I rush to my locker so I can put my stuff away and finally go eat lunch. I see Amber neatly filing her stuff back into her locker and stop for a second. I don’t know why I stopped. It’s not like I was gonna try to talk to her. I shook it out of my head and kept walking. I think she noticed.

When I make it to the lunchroom, Amber’s sitting by herself at a table in the back. As usual. What a loner. 

I make my way to the table with my friends and sit down. The cafeteria looks at least a thousand years old. All the paint on the walls is chipping and it looks like the ceilings about to collapse. The school’s crammed a bunch of small round tables and benches in the room, but it still feels empty and cold. There’s a stage in the front of the cafeteria, where school plays are held, but no one really goes up there except for theater kids. My friends and I talk for a while about football mostly. We have a big game tomorrow, and everyone’s relying on me. A couple of times, they bring up “silent loner”, which happens to be Amber’s nickname around here. I never really indulge in those conversations.

Only two more periods before the end of the day, and I could not be more relieved. They go by with the speed of snails, and finally the last bell rings. I jump from my seat and sprint towards my locker. 

Football practice is not fun. It’s a lot of yelling and tackling and hurling. Not going to lie, kids have thrown up plenty of times. It happened to be raining this time. The cold weather combined with the sloshy, wet field added up to a horrible practice. For once, I could not wait to get out of there.

When practice is finally over, Coach calls for a huddle. I stop listening after a couple of minutes of him blabbering about how he hopes the weather will be good for the game tomorrow and blah, blah, blah.

"Did ya'll see Cameron?" Coach says. I look up, "Yeah, he was a bit sloppy. Can't have that for the game."

I nod and try not to let my cheeks turn red in embarrassment. When he finally lets us go, the team hightails it back to the locker rooms. Austin starts going on and on about how much he wants to win tomorrow, but I’ve always hated that kid. He’s a talkative, egotistical brat, to say the least.

I finished changing and turn to Elijah. 

“Excited?” I ask.

“Nah bro, not really. Definitely more cold than excited.”

I laugh and my face fills with sudden horror.

“Dude, I forgot my homework in my locker. Shoot.” I say, slapping my hand on my forehead.

“Which one?” Elijah asks.

“Biology. Be right back.” 

I leave the locker room and run back into the school building. I make my way through the halls before something sweet fills my ears. A voice so soft and smooth is coming from the cafeteria. I stop in my tracks and turn towards the cafeteria doors. For right now, biology can wait.

I open the door just a crack and peek through towards the cafeteria stage. It’s her. Amber. She’s got the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. I see her sitting in front of the piano on the tall stage smiling and singing. 

“So she can talk.” I quietly whisper to myself.

I don’t recognize the song, but I’m not even listening to the words. I’m listening to the soft, crisp sounds escaping her throat. She can't see me, but she almost looks pretty. Her sky blue eyes and long chestnut hair. I feel warm again, like I didn’t just run around in the rain for an hour and a half. I smile, shut the door carefully, and scurry away to my locker.

“Wow.” I say. Then, I remember that I'm not supposed to care about this girl. 

The next day, I head to my locker, hoping to see Amber, but she’s not there. 

“Hey Cameron!” A squeaky voice yells behind me as I grab my binder. I turn around and see Lisa Crimson. Yuck. She’s even worse than Austin.

“Hey.” I say, then run off to class.

My history teacher wasn’t here today. Something about a dog’s death, or whatever. The only other teacher who had room to take us was the theater teacher, Ms. Zavodny. The class files into the room, and some shining blue eyes catch my attention. Amber’s in this class. She’s sitting in the corner watching the teacher. I look down at my shoes and smile a bit. No, stop! Stop acting so weird, she’s just a freak!

“All right everyone, settle down.” Ms. Zavodny announces. “Yes, we do have another class with us today. I’m very excited. We’re going to practice some dancing!”

Seriously? Dancing. No. 

“Yes, the play at the end of the year will involve some waltz dancing, so we’re going to be practicing a bit. Find a partner, everyone!”

Immediately, everyone gets up and stands next to someone. In a flash, almost everyone is paired up. The only people left are a couple of kids and me. And Amber. 

“All right. Jack, go with Casey. Liam, with Lisa. And. Hmmm.”

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Please. Don’t say it.

“Cameron, why don't you and Amber pair up. Great! Everyone got a partner?” She looks around.

“No!” I want to scream, but hold it back.

I walk slowly towards Amber. She looks like she didn’t want to be my partner any more than I wanted to be hers. 

“Now, you all are familiar with waltz dancing, please start.” 

Some 1800’s music started erupting through the tiny speakers. I grabbed Amber’s small hand and she took a deep breath before tightening her fingers around mine.

We started fluttering around the room. I had a strange sudden urge to kiss her as she looked at me and smiled. I never saw anyone staring, but I could feel them looking at us. I didn’t care though.

“This is awkward.” I say.

She smiles and laughs a silent laugh.

“Why don’t you talk?” I ask quietly.

Her smile disappears and she looks as though she would rather look at anything else except me. 

“Come on. I know you can.” 

She looks back up at me and nods. I decide that I’d rather not bombard her with questions, or even worse, make her cry, so I shut up and keep dancing, a small fire of love burning in my heart.

I racked my brain with my own questions.

“Why? Why her? Why now?” There were a lot of “whys”.

Please comment if you like this story or want a part 2!