Broken Silence

Chapter 10: Chocolate

"I'll bite you! I'll do it, I promise!"

"If you bite me, I'll tell on you!"

"Give me back my pancake, Connor!"

As of three minutes ago, the twins had begun to fight. Apparently one had stolen the other's pancake in a quick, hungry attack.

"Will you both shut up? Gabe can make another one." Leo Edwards said with a mouth full of the fluffy concoction. I poked mine and watched the big thing slowly bounce back to its original form.

"Don't make promises for your brother Leo." Abigail said and lightly hit his hand with the back of her spoon, "And eat smaller bites young man."

"Ew, dinosaur saliva." Leo Edwards said making a disgusted face. Then, the twins began to laugh when Abigail slapped him behind the head.

"Will you guys eat a little faster? We're going to be late." Gabriel Edwards said walking into the room with our plastic doll.

"Can you make me another pancake, Gabe?" Drew asked, his mouth pulling into a pout. I pushed my plate to him since I hadn't eaten any of it. Truthfully, I hadn't even felt hungry in the first place. Even the thought of food gave me nausea.

"You don't want any?" Drew Edwards asked, already taking my plate.

The Edwards household turned to look at me, except young Drew who was too busy swallowing my pancakes. They all had the same curious look on them.

"You're not hungry, sweetie?" Abigail asked while leaning over and putting a hand on my shoulder. Involuntarily flinched, but she didn't seem to notice. This wasn't the same for Mr. Edwards though. Telling by the look on his face, he definitely saw the flinch. I managed to avoid his stare and shook my head at Abigail.

"I can make another thing for you. You are all still growing and food is very important during these ages, especially breakfast." Abigail said standing up and heading to the refrigerator. I followed her and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, and I shook my head again. After a few seconds she sighed and smiled.

"Very well," she said, "but at least take this pear." She shoved a pear into my palm. "Eat it before you get to school please."

I nodded, went to grab Monica, and felt a hand grab mine. My gaze landed on Mr. Edwards, who was watching his brothers. He gave me a slight pull and, with the arm holding Monica, I gave Abigail a small wave goodbye. Her smile broadened and she gave one back.

"Move, we're late." Mr. Edwards said to his brothers and gave Leo Edwards a slap behind the head.

The ride to school was very... awkward, would have to be the appropriate word. Monica had cried a few times, and each one Mr. Edwards jumped as if he had been deep in thought and she had 'woken' him up. I had gotten used to him talking, and (horribly) singing in the car, so the silence was very uncomfortable. Mr. Edwards took my hand again as we walked towards the hallway with the lockers. It was at this time I noticed how loud it was in the halls too. Normally, I'd head straight to my first classroom, but with Mr. Edwards holding my hand in his unshakeable grip I had no choice but to stay with him.

The kids were screaming at each other from across the hall. They threw their lockers shut. They displayed intense sessions of PDA that really were not appropriate in school, or anywhere else for that matter. Hellos and "Yo's" were loudly said amongst the students. Honestly? It scared me. I felt like I was in the middle of a sea of loudness, as if they were cars in a busy New York street, if I could call it like that.

I pressed closer to Mr. Edwards and Monica to myself. Yes, I felt 'weird', but it felt a little more save. He looked at me, and his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile. Was he enjoying my discomfort?

"Gabe!" A familiar voice yelled behind us.

"Hey Zack!" Mr. Edwards said giving the blond boy a high-five.

His eyes flicked to Mr. Edwards' arm, the one I was 'holding' on to, and his brow twitched in a questioning manner. His gaze switched to Mr. Edwards, who was getting his books from his locker.

"Thanks for yesterday, man. You really saved my ass." Smith said.

"Oh, it's fine. You know me," Mr. Edwards turned to him smiling and continued, "I live to serve."

Smith laughed at this and said, "Yeah, right. Hey, did you hear? It's mystery meat today. I didn't even know that was still legal!"

"It's never even been in question not to be, Zach." Mr. Edwards said laughing and gently pulling me with him as he moved away from his locker. He looked at me and said, "I'll take you to your first class."

English went by quickly; I did not pay attention at all, not even in Art or Math. The reason I didn't even know, and when Lunch came a weird sensation almost like relief spread in me. It was there, hidden amongst many other weird things that grew in my mind. Suddenly, I slammed against a wall.

"Are you okay?" A deep voice said in front of me. Wasn't a wall supposed to be there? I looked at the owner of the voice.

'Oh my, might as well be a wall...' I thought looking at the tall boy standing in front of me. He was at least 6" 5'; I had to look upwards to look at his face. As weird as it was to say... his skin looked really soft. It almost didn't look real.

"Noelle!" I heard Mr. Edwards' voice yell behind me. I felt a big hand grab mine and yet, I did not stop looking at the tall boy. I was well aware of my mouth gaping at him, too. "I see you met Matthias."

"So this is the famous Noelle." The boy said still smiling. "You know, Gabriel hasn't stopped talking about you for 3 whole days. I've come to the conclusion that he," he stopped and grew serious, "is a stalker."

"Matt, come on. That's not funny." Mr. Edwards said. "Uh, Noelle? What are you doing?"

I then realized that I had moved and was now touching the tall boy's dark skin. It looked like rich dark chocolate, and it was as soft as it looked. When I noticed what I did, I quickly moved away. Feeling my cheeks and my ears get warm, I thought, "Why would I do that? That was so weird, Noelle."

"You made her blush!" Mr. Edwards said impressed and then he continued, "Okay, I'm officially jealous of the softness of your skin Matt. It always does that to people."

"Well, I'm ... not sorry at all I was born with amazing skin."

"So another person fell into Mattie's spell, huh?" An unfamiliar voice chuckled behind us.

 

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There once was a long author's note here... now there's this: VOTE/COMMENT if you liked the chapter! New friend: Matty-boy. So adorable my Matt. What do you think of him? Who do you think spoke there-- read on to find out.

Hugs and Machineguns,

U-niike101