Soft Silence | ✓ | unedited

Chapter Sixteen ⌔ Heart Beats

Chapter Sixteen ⌔ Heart Beats

David wasn't there in the house when I woke up. Neither were Eric and Lisa.

I was alone, eating cereal in an empty kitchen, until my father stumbled in still looking sleepy. My eyebrows rose up at this in amusement. I guessed that Karen inherited her morning grumpiness from dad. He was frowning and rubbing his eyes as he sat himself at the island, across from me.

I smiled a little and slid my mug of coffee towards him. He looked like he needed it more than me.

"Do you need a lift to school?" Peter asked, tiredly. He looked at me, his eyes bloodshot. I shook my head, slightly taken aback at the sight of his eyes.

God only knew how much he needed to sleep. I barely got any sleep, having returned home at three a.m. with David and then staying up to see him off at four in the morning. Not to mention, unable to actually sleep until five a.m.

One hour worth of sleep was hardly enough.

"You sure?" Peter asked, squinting at me as I stood up, taking my cereal bowl to the kitchen sink. I nodded and picked up my bag from the floor. I pointed to Peter and then to the fridge, hoping he understood that he was supposed to help himself to whatever he wanted to eat.

Peter just gave me a bleary-eyed stare and nodded sleepily, his eyes slipping shut. I chuckled silently at him and left the house, shouldering my bag as I started on the familiar path.

When I arrived at school, I was surprised to see that I was on time and not nearly as late as I'd thought I'd be. I was sure I was walking at a pace that would give turtles no trouble in overtaking me.

I went to my locker and found Pepper leaning against it, talking casually to one of my old friends. When I walked up to them, Pepper grinned widely at me. I gave her a small smile in return and raised an eyebrow at Mark, wondering what he wanted all of a sudden.

"Um. Hi." Mark started and then stopped. His brown eyes flickered to the preppy girl beside me which in turn, made me glance towards Pepper. Pepper gave him a flat look and raised an eyebrow, as though challenging him to run away. Mark glanced away from her, took in a deep breath and stared at the locker behind me for a few seconds before finally speaking up again.

"There's a photography club thing happening after school," Mark said, adjusting his glasses nervously, "And I know you like photography... so, um, thought I'd tell you. I'm in the club, too."

I looked at him, seeing the discomfort in his posture and the unease in his eyes. He had no idea what to do. Out of all my old friends, Mark was the quietest and was usually the one who had the same likes as me. I was the one who introduced him to all my other old friends.

I shrugged and turned to unlock my locker.

"Will you go?" Pepper asked as my locker door swung open. I shrugged and then slowly nodded, pulling out my books. Pepper smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. "Great!"

I took out my books for my next class and was surprised to see Mark still standing there, behind us.

I gave him a look and then cocked my head to the side. I picked up a pencil from my locker and flipped open my notebook to a fresh page.