Silent Love [Watty Awards 2013 Finalist]

Chapter 1

“One, two, three, pose, five, six, seven and turn.” My dance teacher screeched, “Taylor that was good but, be sure to work on your arabesque and your toe points. Dismissed.”

And with that she walked out the studio before I could even muster up a mumbled reply. Walking over to the locker room, I chugged my bottle of water. Man was I thirsty. I opened the musty old locker room door, and was greeted with the fresh smell of dirty old socks.

“Hey look its Taylor,” snickered Brittney, one of the others dancers. “Why is she even here? She will never be good enough.”

I ignored her, and grabbed my bag heading out the door to the safety of my car. Tomorrow was going to be the worst day possible. My mother decided that my life of solitude was too much and decided to enroll me into high school. No more tutors, no more virtual classes. The worst part though, it wasn’t even a private school; it was a public school.

Fifteen minutes later, I had pulled in the driveway of my quaint white house. I knocked on the door loudly before putting in my key in. I stepped inside to hear the television blasting, and my mother passed out on the couch. Quietly, I shut it off and went up in to the confinement of my room.

. . .

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I grabbed alarm clock and chucked it across the room. Whoever invented those things must have had a death wish. Ahh, school. I really didn’t want to go but knowing my mother, I really didn’t have a choice. Sighing, I headed to the bathroom grabbing a pair of Victoria Secret Pink yoga pants and a sweatshirt.  After brushing my teeth, and grabbing the shampoo, I hopped into the shower.

After my shower, I walked downstairs. Taking my keys, and my bag, I got into my car. Glancing at the clock, I realized I was a little behind time, and I sped on my way to school. I parked in the senior lot next to a tree for some shade, and began my hunt for the schools’ front office.

After getting my schedule, I noticed I had Probability and Statistics in room 210. If only I could find that room, I’d be on my way. Taking a random guess, I turned left and started heading in that direction.

Looking at the room numbers, I figured I was going in the right direction as I passed number 199. I continued down the hallways with the load of students milling around, as fast as my legs would carry me before crashing into someone and falling flat on my ass. I looked around for my bag as a voice called out "Are you alright?"

I opened up my eyes and saw a blue-eyed face looking down at me. I gave a sharp intake of breath as the gorgeous guy stuck out a smooth, strong hand and helped me sit up.

"Sorry about that," the handsome guy said, "Didn't mean for you to fall."

I nodded my head absently and grabbed my bag. The boy chuckled and began picking up my strewn binders and pens saying, “Hello!”

Quickly, I nodded my head in response not quite meeting his eyes.

 “I’m Shane. What’s your name?” He asked, looking at me expectantly.

I turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Aren’t you going to tell me?”

I stopped and stared at his hand on my arm, mentally wishing he would take it off. Clearly, he expected my answer. I gave him a small smile and just shook my head. I roughly pulled my arm out of his grasp and continued walking to my first class.

I walked into room 210, and handed my schedule to the supposed teacher behind the desk. She look up at me, “Oh, you must be the new transfer! Excellent things I have heard about you. Please, introduce yourself to the class.”