Between Us Was Silence

Chapter 2

"I love you," the girl said.

"I love you too," the boy replied.

The girl was nervous, she twirled her fingers around. "Are you sure? Prove it. Scream it to the world."

The boy came closer to the girl and whispered into her ear, "I love you."

The girl, shocked, asked the boy, "Why did you whisper it to me?"

"Because you are my world," he replied.

I read this in a social media post a while ago, and it really stood out to me. I interpret this as a way you don't need to show your affection to everyone else to prove your love, sometimes it can be shown alone as well. Like those social media posts, you don't need to keep posting about your love life. What am I saying, what I'm saying doesn't even make sense to me. Still, I find it really sweet, but not relatable.

It reminds me of how Leah declined my confession 2 years ago. A few days after I confessed to her, she came back with a note apologizing that she only saw me as a friend. We still talk sometimes, but after that, our friendship kind of broke apart a little bit. I think I'm over her. No, I am. I've stopped thinking about her now, but every time I see one of these posts she always comes up on my mind.

I leave my house for a morning jog. I need to shake the nervousness off before I head out for my first day of school. I've definitely gotten stronger, I started going to the gym lately because I was made fun of in P.E. multiple times. Doing these sorts of things helps me boost my confidence. However, I do need to focus on my coordination for sports. I can barely catch a football.

I decide to go for a half-mile run. That's enough time for me to circle the neighborhood, back to my house, and drive to school.

Halfway through the run, I see a familiar face. His rounded head shape seemed to be familiar. Blonde hair? He's in front of me. I tapped behind his shoulder.

He turned around. "Can I help—"

"Kyle! It's you, man!" I shouted.

His eyes widened quickly. "Aye! Long time no see man! How you've been doing?" he asked. We dapped each other up.

"Nothing much. Nothing much. Say, what are you doing out here?"

"I could say the same for you. I volunteer for community service in this neighborhood. If you didn't notice, there's trash out here. Figured if I get some community hours, it's gonna help with my transcript for college. What about you?"

"Just taking a jog. Hey, man, I'll see you later at school."

He picked up some trash and then waved to me. "Yup, see you."

Not a bad start to the school year, already met my acquaintance, no, friend.

I ran back to home. Sweat pours down my head. I took a quick shower and got ready for school. I dress myself in some black sweats and a blue T-shirt that has the school mascot on it. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I wonder how this day will turn out, I thought.

I drove my way to school and parked my car near the side of the school. I decided to stay in my car for a bit since I arrived early, and school would start in a couple more minutes.

Once I decided to get out, I headed inside. I took a look at the schedule I had on my phone. I found the room number it showed and entered the classroom. I see a bunch of familiar faces, but some are new. 

"Your name?" the teacher asked.

"Andrew. Tran," I said.

The teacher adjusted his glasses to see the paper on his clipboard more clearly. He looked serious, but his voice was friendly. He was wearing a button-up shirt and jeans, kind of giving off that strict teacher vibe. "Ah, here you are. Do you see the girl with brown hair? The one with the light blue backpack sitting near the corner? You can sit there."