Silence || Dreamnotfound Omegaverse

Chapter Four: Insight

TW: mild(?) swearing

George POV

I sped walked through the halls of the school, searching for the beta that could give me the answers I so desperately needed.

My final period of the day was an early dismissal, so I could do whatever I wanted right now, whether it be in the building or not. Thank god for senior privileges.

I'm pretty sure I remember Nick talking about having a free period as well at this time during lunch, but then again, I wasn't really paying attention.

I needed to stop and take out my phone so I could text him but I wanted to make sure that Clay wasn't chasing after me. A small part of me wishes he was.

I leave the building and head over to a large oak tree that sat in the middle of a field on the side of the school. Picnic tables were scattered in the field, along with a couple of seniors that were mingling with each other.

I stand under the tree and pull out my phone. I scrolled until I found his name in my contacts, opening our text conversation that was over two years old. God, I'm a bad friend.

I stare at his contact name and visibly cringe. I'll have to change that later.

sappy nappy 🔥:

hey you have a free period right? can we talk?

sent 1:05pm

yea where u wanna meet?

1:05pm

tree outside

sent 1:06pm

I waited patiently for Nick to appear outside of the doors. After a few minutes, I see him walk out with Karl next to him. They wave to each other and Karl starts to make his way to the student parking lot, car keys in hand.

Oh, that's right. They probably all have their licenses now.

Nick puts his hands in his pockets and walks over to me, his headband blowing in the slight breeze. He slides his bag off of his shoulder and lets it fall harshly to the ground.

"Hey man what's up?" He asks as he sits on the grass in a dramatic fashion. I follow him down, but a little more controlled than he was.

"I think you can guess," I respond a little more bitterly than I intended. He huffs out a sigh.

"Yeah, I figured that would come as a little bit of a shock to you."

"A little?! Nick, he doesn't fucking talk anymore!"

"I'm aware George. And to be fair I did try and tell you this morning but you needed to run off and get your fucking schedule."

Oh. That's what I had told him to tell me at lunch. Good work George.

"So? What the fuck happened?"

"Heh, I wish I could tell you," He said, almost laughing. My brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't know! I have no fucking clue on why he's stopped talking–no one does. All we know is that it might have something to do with his family but that's about it. He refuses to tell us, even now."

I blink harshly, trying to process. Clay hasn't told anyone the reason, and they just adapted without a second thought? No one tried to get him out of whatever funk he was–is in?

"And you just, went along with it?" I asked, pleading that they put up some sort of fight.

"Yeah, we kind of had to. We tried the first couple of weeks to get him to say at least one word. Just one. We even told him he could whisper it. But he kept his mouth shut. We can't even get him to laugh. Do you know how fucking weird it is to not hear him be rolling on the floor wheezing over something Alex said? It's fucked up."

He took in a shaky breath. It was obvious he hadn't ranted about this in a while. I sit quietly, letting him take the time he needs.

"Once I saw that he wasn't going to budge, I helped the only way I saw I could. I made it easier for him. When we were first learning ASL, I hoped that he would see that it was going too far or something and that he would start speaking again. But here we are, two goddamn years later," he finished, grabbing his water bottle from the side of his bag.

"Jesus," is all I could get myself to say. Nick hummed in agreement as he took a sip from his water.

Two years. Two years of not uttering a word.

"How do you know it's about his family?" I asked.

Clay's family was picture-perfect, the kind you would see inside of photo frames at the store. He had two parents with good-paying jobs and a large house as a result. He had an older sister–who was off to college before I had left for England–and a younger sister named Claire.

They seemed to be just as perfect on the inside as on the outside. His parents were both very nice and welcoming to us whenever our friend group had sleepovers, Claire was the classic younger sister, and she and Clay had a great relationship.

I had no idea as to what could've happened between them that would've made Clay become mute.

"Clay had missed like a week of school, and he wasn't answering his phone, so me and Karl went to his house to check on him. His mom answered the door and told us that he was fine just that 'there was family stuff going on' or whatever the fuck she said. I don't really remember," Nick sighed, looking down at his feet.

"That doesn't really give us much, does it?"

"No, no it doesn't"

We sit in silence for a moment, neither of us knowing what to say. Nick gets a ding on his phone.

"Oh George, we usually get together after school and hang at the cafe that's around the corner. Do you wanna come?" He asked, suddenly a little peppier after our rather depressing conversation.

I much as I want to join them, I can't. I can't face Clay right now, not after the amount of information that was just dropped onto my lap.

"I would love to but I got to finish unpacking," I said, standing up, backpack in hand.

"Alright, no worries. And listen, as much as I know you don't want to, you should probably start learning ASL. It'll make everything easier," Nick said, patting my shoulder, before turning and heading to student parking.

I let out a sigh as I started to head towards my bike.

I know he's right. I know it will make it easier for everyone, especially Clay if I learned ASL.

But there's a part of me that wants to make it difficult, make it so that he wants to talk just out of frustration.

But I also know that's what Nick attempted to do when this first started, and look how well that worked out.

No, stop it. I can't give up on him. There has to be a more significant reason for him to go silent so abruptly. There has to be. 

Clay's one of the most stubborn people I've met. I know it's not going to be easy to get him to explain, but I don't care.

I'm not giving up on you.

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1223 words 

yoooo thanks for the reads honestly didn't expect anyone to find this lol 

I had planned for a whole other scene this chapter but i kinda popped off with the word count 

maybe consider leaving a vote and comments? 

ily <3