Broken Silence

Chapter 2: Parenthood

I had slept through lunch so my next class would be Parenthood. Why did I choose that elective again? Ah, yes I needed an extra class. I walked to the classroom and noticed that Mr. Edwards was following me. I stopped walking and cautiously looked at him through the corner of my eye. He stopped as well.

"I'm not following you, if that's what you're thinking. I take Parenthood, too." He said smiling. "You take it too, because I've seen you." He said proudly. He could sure talk couldn't he? I sighed. Why was he suddenly talking so much to me? Was he trying to be ... nice? I entered the classroom, as usual everyone was talking, but this class was a bit different ...

"Gabe!!" Some guys yelled.

"Hey guys!" Gabriel said behind me, I felt his presence leave to them. I released the breath I did not notice I had been holding; having someone behind me made me anxious. I walked to my chair and opened my sketch notebook. What should I draw next? Maybe I should draw a bird. A nice bird, with big eyes and on a tree.

Then the teacher came in and everyone shut up. I told you that in this class everything was different.

"Hello Students!" Ms. Tatiana, who is you called anything but that would have you run 10 laps around the room, said. She was a tall brunette with big brown eyes and a kind smile. She wore a form-fitting pencil skirt and a sleeveless, violet shirt that only she, in her 20's, could make look professional.

"You look gorgeous today Ms. Tatiana!" A guy said.

"Why... Thank you." She said smiling. "Okay! Let's get on to class! Today, I'm going to give you a big, big project!" The class groaned. I tried to draw the eyes on my bird. "Don't worry it's going to be very interesting!" She said in a tone that made me glance up at her. The smile on her face giving nothing away.

"What we gonna do?" Some girl asked.

"You're all going to get ... married!" She said.

"What?!" The class yelled. I began to add shading. What a pretty bird it was. "Yep! And to make it even more fun, we're going to make it authentic! The boys are going to be proposing to the girl they want to choose!" The class began to mutter. "But of course the girls can refuse and hope they get chosen by another boy. But know this: partnership is obligatory." My head shot up and I stared at her. What?

"Johnny! You go first!" The teacher said. Johnny Peters, he was a junior. He was in the basketball team, co-captain. I worked on my unfinished bird trying to calm myself down. I did NOT want a partner.

"Okay!" I heard Johnny say. "Ms. Tatiana would you marry me?" The class laughed.

"Sorry, Johnny, but you're too young for me." The class laughed harder. "Now choose a girl that actually takes the class, not teaches it."

"Fine." He chose the girl sitting next to him, whom I identified as a cheerleader. The class continued like this, some girls now had partners and more than half of the class had said no to some guys. They must have been very confident that another guy would choose them, or else they were going to have to be put with some random guy.

"Gabriel, it's your turn." The teacher said. I heard some girls shriek lowly. Ah, so that's why they refused the other guys. How... dumb.

"Who should I pick?" I heard him ask himself. The whole room fell silent. I finished my bird. I began to add the tree and a branch. "Umm, Excuse me?" I heard a voice next to me. He had chosen the girl that was next to me. Lucky her, I guessed. "Noelle?" Her name was Noelle? Like my name?

Wait a second.

I looked through the corner of my eye. He was watching me. He was standing next to me. He was addressing me. He kneeled down to one leg. "Would you marry me?" He asked. I tensed and stared at him, I lost grip of my pencil. And I just stared at him, everyone stared at us. The atmosphere darkened. I just stared at him. I was too stunned to even move. Everyone was staring.