The Pretend Mute

II

"Hey, will you please tell me your name? Please? I will try to guess it, and I suck at guessing. Please just tell me. I really don't want to have to do this." 

Silence. 

"Please tell me your name, that's all I want from you. A name." I haven't spoken in over five months and this boy that I don't know thinks I'll break that? No. I pull out my notebook, preparing to ignore him, to work on a story. 

"Hey what is that? Will you write your name down? Please? Is it a story?" I nod and start writing. 

"Are you writing your name down?" I shake my head. "Can I read your story?" I give him a look that says "are you absolutely insane?" He shrugs, "well it was worth a try! Please just write your name down and show it to me. Please." 

What have I got to lose, he won't remember it anyways. I sigh, turning to the last page of my notebook. Kira Daniels. 

"Kira. That's beautiful." He pronounced it wrong. He said it like Kyra, instead of like Keera. 

'"Alex, you said my name wrong. 

Oh. Sorry. How is it pronounced?" 

It's pronounced Keera. Spelled Kira, but pronounced Keera. 

"Oh I'm sorry Kira; we have our next class together, can I walk with you?" I sigh. Why the heck does this guy want to spend time with me? Do we really have a class together? I've never seen this guy before today. And then I surprise both of us by nodding. We walk to fifth period biology in silence. When we get there, the teacher is nowhere to be seen, but the board says to go sit at a table with a partner. "Kira, will you be my partner?" I nod and walk to an empty table in the back. Mr. Turner walked in smiling as always. Why is he always smiling? What's so great about life that he should always smile?

"Okay class, today we are going to do a project on cellular respiration! We are going to take notes first, then I will explain your project." He went straight into the lesson, and twenty minutes later Alex nudges me awake. "Kira, are you awake?" 

Well I am now.

 I nod, slowly sitting up and stretching. "Do you know what the project is?" I shake my head, almost laughing that he asked me a question like that right after waking me up. Really? How am I supposed to know what the heck this assignment is when I woke up ten seconds ago?! He chuckles, his voice deep and silky. He starts explaining the assignment. Basically we have to make a visual aid poster of the process of cellular respiration. 

"So, should we work at your house or mine?" Ah, the dreaded question. Why are the teachers so stupid? They never give time in class! I pointed at him. 

"Okay. Then that's settled; we'll meet at my house tonight at six o'clock." He scrawled his address on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to me. 

"Try not to get lost," he said cheekily. Why do people do that? Don't they realize they sound stupid? I nodded. 

"Alright, well do you want to walk to our next class together?" We have more than one class together? What the heck?! Why have I never seen this guy before? We walk to our next class in silence, just like before. The bell rang just before we got there. When we walked in, everyone was staring at us—correction, Alex. It was like I wasn't even there, which was fine by me. I recognized one of Alex's friends from lunch with an empty seat on either side of him. He gestured to us, and I half-ran to one of the seats. Alex strode over coolly, and he leaned down to whisper in his friend's ear before the friend grinned and nodded, moving to the other seat and making the seat beside me available for Alex.

I'm officially creeped out.