Quiet Boy in a Noisy World

13

Sam shuts his car door, staring up at the building before him, he hadn't wanted to show up today but he didn't want to stay home either, attempting to do so but regretting it as soon as his mother began yelling at him accusingly.

He steps into the building, it's quiet at first but not until he rounds the corner to hear the faint voices behind the closed classroom doors, whether that be from students or a lecture from teachers.

He stops infront of his classroom, head lifting to gaze at the number above, a frown on his face as he wishes it took longer to arrive. He reaches his hand out to the door knob, hesitating to open it as he knows all eyes will be on him, he can hear as it's quiet and he can only assume it's because they were ordered to read for the day as it is English and he almost doesn't want to go in- that being a shock to even himself, he loves reading.

Finally, he pushes open the door, keeping his head down as he avoids the judging glances "hey, Sam, I'm glad you could make it" the teacher greets "do you have a pass from the office?"

Sam only shakes his head, making a beeline to his seat "Sam?" She sighs in annoyance, she's had it with students ignoring her, she's just given an angry lecture to her class for being far too loud when they're meant to be silent reading.

Sam slots into his seat avoiding Colbys gaze able to feel them on him. The brunette frowns, he's not too sure what happened yesterday and it's been eating him alive all night, the blonde had went totally MIA on him after he hung up. He even moved seats to next to Sam rather than behind by Jake, he figured he could talk to him before class but he was proven wrong when he didn't show up.

Colby watches as the teacher stands up, eyes following her as she approaches. His eyes fall as she crouches down next to Sam "Sam, sweetie? Where's your pass?" When he shakes his head she sighs "you missed the first half of class, Sam, you need to come with a pass next time. I'm gonna have to mark you tardy" the blonde nods "I'm sorry" his voice is quiet, words mushed together as he mumbles.

"It's okay," she sighs "just read as much as you can to the assigned portion, we're going to be going over it the last 10 minutes" Sam nods once, keeping his eyes trained on the desk infront of him.

When she leaves, Colby gently nudges him "what's going on?" He asks softly, head cranked to catch his face "please talk to me, I was worried all night" the blonde shakes his head, tugging his book out of his backpack and much like the rest of his belongings inside it's extra dry and crinkled, he knows he's going to have to pay for the water damage.

Colbys eyes go wide for a moment at the sight of the book "Sam.. please." He tugs on his sleeve desperately but his arm is tugged away "look at me at least" he frowns hand going out and blocking the pages from his view "Colby. Enough talking and read."

Colbys face falls, shoulders slouching as his eyes fill with worry, gazing at Sam with a lost look. Jake gently kicks the back of his seat "leave him be.. talk to him at a better time."