Autumn Silence (On Hold)

Chapter One

I enter the crowded cafeteria. Noise erupts from the room and echoes off the pale blue walls. It's as if it's rising from the lino floors, thickening the air.

I weave through the crowd and over to the long table I've always sat at. I fall into my usual seat, the one with graffiti engraved into it's dirty blue back. The metal legs scrape against the floor, squealing beneath my weight.

Tawny sits directly across from me. She glances up and flashes a smile. It's warm and comforting, like everything else about Tawny.

"Hay," Tawny breathes.

"Hi," I murmur.

"What'd you just have?" Tawny asks, raising her melodic voice above the blurred words captured inside the cafeteria walls. "Maths," I spit out the word as if it's toxic. "Fun," Tawny mutters sarcastically.

Her honey blond hair falls into silky curls over her shoulders. Her hazel eyes are bright and alive. She moves lightly in her normal perky manor.

Jake drops down into the seat beside Tawny. Cass hesitates before taking the seat on the other side of her. "Hello ladies," he breathes. He swings back on his chair and props his heels up on the table.

"Hi Jake," Tawny smiles. Her voice fills with a flirtatious tone built up by innocent fun.

"Is it just me or does Mrs. Gray always seem in a bad mood?" Cass asks. She frowns and stares at the elderly woman across the cafeteria.

"Trust me she's always in a bad mood," Tawny says.

She picks at the salad in the black container, rolling around a tiny cube of cheese with the edge of a plastic fork. "I think I saw her smile once," I murmur, glancing over my shoulder at the silvery haired woman. Her long face is stern and her piercing blue eyes are fixed on somebody else. They remind me of the steely blades of a knife, completely deadly.

"I bet her face broke," Jake jokes. His brown eyes sparkle beneath the silvery lights.

"What?" Tawny frowns, shaking her head. She tries not to laugh but she can't prevent her cherry lip-gloss smeared mouth from pulling into a smile.

"I don't think you can actually break your face Jake," Cass says in a flat monotone.

"If you break your jaw, eyes sockets and crack your skull I think it's counted as breaking your face," Tawny breathes, shrugging her tiny shoulders.

Mike frowns as he walks over to the table and sits down beside me. Hesitation embeds itself in his green eyes. "OK I won't even ask," he mutters under his breath. "We were talking about Mrs. Gray smiling. Jake thinks it'd break her face and we're discussing how it's possible to do that," I explain.

"Jake you're an idiot," Mike mumbles.

"They weren't my words exactly," Jake defends.

Mike puts his arm around my thin shoulders, "Sure." I can feel his comforting warmth surrounding me. It sinks beneath my skin and surges through my vanes like an intoxicating drug.

I can feel heat rushing to my face. I dip my head and trace the names carved into the table top with the edge of my finger. I hardly listen to Jake and Mike argue or Cass and Tawny whisper about the hot new guy on the football team.

A loud bang slices the air. "What the hell was that?" Jake frowns. My head snaps up and shock sends my heart into a fit. The sound echoes inside the cafeteria.

Everything falls into an eerie, hushed silence. Anxiety twists knots inside my chest. I dig my fingers into Mike's t-shirt, burying them into his warm skin.