silence speaks in volumes {karlnap}

chapter 17

(Nick POV)

I see Karl getting dragged out of a classroom by George and Dream up the hallway and pick up my pace. 

"Karl!" I exclaim, throwing myself at him. I've been running through the hallways for the past three minutes at high speed. 

He stumbles, regaining balance as I stand up. He smiles nervously as I eye him. 

"Did Keith get to you?" I ask. "He didn't hurt you did he? So help me, I'll kill him if I have to." I cup his face and start to inspect his head for injuries. He smiles and grabs my hands. His eyes meet mine, telling me he's fine. 

"Was it Keith?" I ask. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Then who?" Someone storms out of the classroom behind us. Karl is next to me in less then a second, hiding from him. 

He has dark brown hair and sideburns that are comically puffy. He has a beer company logo T-shirt and a NYC baseball cap. He frowns at us before stalking down the hall.

"Wait, Schlatt beat you up?"

~~

Rumor has it Schlatt is bi, or gay, or something. I don't know why he would hurt Karl over the post. 

Then again, he does play a lot of dare games, and when he gets dared to do something, he doesn't back down. Maybe a homophobic asshole dared him to hurt Karl. 

Also, Keith isn't even here today. I guess I was hallucinating or imagining when I "saw" him this morning.

I walk towards the library after grabbing my lunch from my bag. No one has been bothering the Haven anymore. I've also begun calling it the "Haven" since Karl told me that's what he calls it. And after I decorated it with Mr Rigo, that's kind of what it is. 

I squeeze through the familiar bookshelves into the familar room. Karl is already here, scribbling madly in a notebook I don't recognize. I lean over and catch a glimpse of a few words. It's a story. I lean back and sit down in my beanbag. 

"Hey."

He bolts up right. "Sorry," I say, pulling out my thermos of Kraft Dinner mac 'n' cheese. I nod towards his furious writing. "School story?" 

He shrugs and nods. "Project?" He nods. "Due today?" He nods guiltily. I giggle and stab at my macaroni. He turns back to his writing.

Two minutes have gone by. I'm bored. And hungry. I never pack enough food. I always eat it too quickly, too. 

I unlock my phone and scroll through my "In Love With As We Speak" playlist. I find a good song, turn up my volume a bit, and hit the song. I reach up to a bookshelf and set it down as the first few notes play. Karl glances up.

I stand in front of him and hold out my hand. He stares at me funny. "Dance. With me. In the library. On our lunch break," I say. He breaks out into a smile as the lyrics start playing.

I fell, like soldiers on the front line.
Under your spell, in the magic you inspire.
Every farewell sets me on fire.
And I find it all so funny,
Like a joke without a punchline.

As he grins, the words pour out of my phone and I pull him up. His chest crashes into mine, our hips bumping into each other. Our faces heat up, but I still smile at him. 

My heart's racing, trying to catch up to you.
The light that you let off is gold.
I can't shake off this feeling, it fills the room,
These chills didn't come the cold,
They came from you.
They came from you.

My hand settles on his waist as he wraps one arm around my neck. Our hands clasp and we're both grinning at what we're doing. 

I hear your voice like an ocean,
Washing over me, I'm frozen stuck in time.
And I swear I've never seen the likes of you before.
And I promise this ain't difficult, it doesn't happen every night.

We begin to sway with the beat of the song, small giggles filling the empty space.

My heart's racing, trying to catch up to you.
The light that you let off is gold.
I can't shake off this feeling, it fills the room,
These chills didn't come the cold,
They came from you.
They came from you.

He looks down at our feet as we step in a small square, as I've watched my parents do so many times.

My world came crashing down right under you,
These chills didn't come from the cold,
They came from you.

I press a small kiss to his head, which makes him look up. Light pink blush is spread over his cheeks, making him look even cuter than before.

See I was doing my own thing 'till you came across my path,
Made me feel like singing, but usually I rap.
But how can I explain the things you do to me,
I'm acting all the proper words and phrases,
Hold up lemme get back to that,
Because I'm awe struck, star struck,
Turned around from my heart, look.
Let you know that from bar one,
You are the one and that's bar none,
I'll try the best to control myself,
At least that's what I told myself,
But inside I just bought a farm,
You're the one that just sold that house,
Got my heart in that headlock,
I'm hosing on and you hold the belt,
I mean this in the best way when I tell you that you're cold as hell
That makes no sense, but neither does this feeling,
I know that my time is short, but next to you, I touch the ceiling.

My smile is soft and gentle. His lips are slightly parted as he listens closely to the lyrics. I touch my forehead with his, letting go of his hand to cup his jaw. 

My heart's racing, trying to catch up to you.
The light that you let off is gold.
I can't shake off this feeling, it fills the room,
These chills didn't come the cold,
They came from you.
They came from you.

His arm snakes around my neck, pulling me closer. I tilt my head down, as he tilts his up. My eyes flutter shut.

My world came crashing down on you, 
These chills didn't come from the cold,
They came from you.

As the last notes of the song die down, our lips meet in the middle. 

His lips are soft and warm, his skin smooth. I want to pull him closer, to deepen the kiss, but I don't want Mr Rigo to walk in on us making out -- or someone worse walking in on it. 

A new song starts playing. We pull away and rest our foreheads together again. His face is bright red and his smile is bigger than I've ever seen it before. 

Now I just need to ask him out.

Word Count 1130

song: Chills by Down With Webster

yayyy kissy kissy

also double upload cuz we got to 1K