Numb ~ Dreamnotfound

Chapter 3

The painfully loud alarm startled me awake yet again. The pain in my stomach grew far worse from last night. I clutched the fabric of my shirt as I stood up and walked to the bathroom. My breath hitched as the purple and black bruise came into view through the smudged mirror.

The bruise didn't cover my entire eye, thank god, yet only the outer edge. I reached up to touch it, wincing as I felt the swelling. I lifted up my shirt, slightly turning to get a good view of the bruise across my rib cage. The mix of colors started to fade slightly. At least one thing was healing.

I looked like a mess. The bags under my eyes became more apparent from my lack of sleep last night. My hair was all over the place as well. I turned on the faucet and let my fingers sit under the cold water for a few seconds before trying to smooth out my hair. My arms fell to my sides, a look of defeat on my face as my hair would only stay down in some areas.

I brushed my teeth quickly and got changed so I would be able to pick up Nick on time. I grabbed my things and ran down the stairs. My mom had been asleep on the couch, the television still playing a random show. I sighed and grabbed the remote to turn it off.

I started the car up and turned the radio all the way down. I hadn't been in the mood to listen to music. My hands turned the steering wheel aimlessly as the route to Nick's had been etched into my head from the thousands of times i've been there.

He was waiting in his driveway for me again, with his mom standing in the doorway. I waved  to her as Nick jumped in the car, immediately turning the radio up.

"Why do you never drive with music on you freak."

I put a hand on the back of Nick's seat as I twisted around to back up easier. "I like the silence I guess."

Nick had now turned to me, getting a good look at my face as I returned my hand back to the steering wheel.

"Are you doing alright?" He asked, reaching to slightly turn down the music.

I nodded as I focused on the road, my grip tightening on the steering wheel, turning my knuckles white.

"Hey relax man it's alright," He squeezed my right shoulder, making me relax my grip. I sighed as I continued to drive along the empty road, "you're still coming over after school right?"

I nodded as he let go of my shoulder. Nick turned the music back up and started to do stupid dances, making me smile a bit.

We pulled into my parking spot and slowly walked into the school with the crowd of students. Before I could split off from Nick, he grabbed my arm and pulled me aside to avoid the jumble of students moving throughout the hallway.

"Listen if you need anything today just text me alright?" I nodded in response. "Alright, see ya at lunch."

He then walked in the direction towards the gym, leaving me alone. I turned the corner and arrived in my already full english class. George had been sitting in the front row scrolling through his phone. I sat down in my seat that had been placed in the back corner, my favorite spot.

Half of the time during class I was zoned out, not paying attention. Whether it was drawing random figures and objects in my notebook or just staring at the wall, I was almost never looking at the lesson.

The bell then rang, startling me a bit as I put my phone into my pocket. My leg bounced rapidly as my teacher stood up and began talking.

"Alright everyone so today.."

As she started talking I found myself drowning her out already. I started to draw stick figures around my paper.

"Analyzing the texts..."

I wondered what kind of sandwich Nick would give me at lunch today.

"Use complete sentences..."

I pressed my fingers together, extending and bending them as it made a weird feeling, making my eyebrows raise.

"You will be working with partners..."

I looked up from my hands as students starting moving their desks together, looking at the piece of paper in front of them. I hated partner work in classes, mainly because I ended up working alone, except for the classes with Nick. Almost everyone had found a friend of their's and began conversing, filling the room with overlapping conversations. I pulled out the sheet and prepared to work by myself. Footsteps made their way over to my desk, so I looked up to see George.

"Want to work together?"

As much as I wanted to say no, as much as I wanted to make the new boy work by himself, I couldn't bring myself to it. I gave him a small nod, making him smile and pull a desk next to mine.

"I'm not sure what we are supposed to be doing to be honest." He chuckled lightly before writing his name on the top of his paper.

"George Davidson" was written in perfect handwriting.

"Yea I don't know either." I wrote my name on the top as well.

George turned to me and frowned as he looked at my eye. I looked away quickly, not wanting him to ask questions.

"What happened?" He asked, placing his hand lightly on my chin, turning my head so I would be facing him.

"Nothing I just fell." I took his wrist and moved his hand off of my chin and placed it on his desk. The sudden touch from him had made me tense up.

"Are you sure?"

I gave nothing but a nod in response while looking down at my paper. My eyes started to skim over the words on the paper in order to avoid any more eye contact with him.

"Sorry."

We began to work on the questions we had been given. I didn't speak, and only nodded when George had asked or said something. All I wanted was for the class to end so that I could escape and be alone yet again.

The painfully long period finally ended, so I got up and turned my paper in, walking out of the classroom before George could catch up. Although he seemed like a cool guy, and he was really nice, I didn't want to be any closer with him than I was now.

                       ———————————

I was later to lunch than I normally was. I had spent all period on a test and finished it after the bell had rang. I sighed as I saw Nick come into view, talking to George. I sat down at the circular table, being greeted by both Nick and George. I gave a simple "hi" as Nick tossed me a sandwich and slid a Gatorade over to me.

Yet again, I had nothing to contribute as Nick and George talked about random topics. They had tried to rope me into their conversation at times by asking a question, yet I only nodded and shook my head in response. Nick seemed to be frustrated at me as he furrowed his eyebrows whenever I gave a simple head movement as a response.

                        —————————-

Nick had been leaned against my car waiting for me again. I pushed him off and sat down.

"Can I connect to the Aux?" Nick asked, pulling his phone out.

"Absolutely not."

"Pleaseeeee Clay. The radio music isn't good."

"You know what, fine."

He jumped in excitement as he plugged the Aux cord into his phone, immediately turning on a rap song. I rolled my eyes and turned it down, laughing as he rapped through the whole thing.

"You're embarrassing."

He scoffed as he reached for the volume knob, trying to turn the song up. I smacked his hand away, making him rap louder and dance in return.

"If i'm so embarrassing, why do you hang out with me?"

I laughed as I hit him playfully on the shoulder, driving the rest of the way to his house.