The Silence

Chapter Three

Saint:

Julian Carter was turning out to be more interesting than I thought he was. I watched him throughout the day, and spent so long staring at him in Science class that I forgot to take down our homework assignment. Meh. Most of our teachers posted them online these days on the school's website anyway.

"What's up with you?" Zac asked me as I stomped out my cigarette butt.

"You lied to me." I said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. He spluttered and stopped leaning against the wall.

"What? I've never lied to you." He said.

"You told me Carter was deaf." I said and my cheeks heated as I remembered how stupid I had felt when I followed him into the restroom to ask if he was OK. The fact that he had answered had surprised me. And then I'd made myself look like an even bigger tool by being surprised he could speak. I sighed heavily and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"He is deaf." Zac said, frowning.

"He's not. He's PARTIALLY deaf." I said, smacking the side of his head with my phone after I texted our chauffeur to come and pick me up.

"What? But I heard from this kid whose mother works at the store, you know that one with the rings and shit, and she said someone told her he was deaf." He blinked innocently and I pursed my lips.

"You know, Zac, sometimes..." I shook my head unable to finish my sentence.

"Sometimes what?"

"Nothing." I kicked at the leaves in a pile at the corner of the parking lot. "Is there anything going on tonight? My dad invited the Madison's over for dinner." I asked him.

"I don't understand why you hate Alison so much. She's a total babe. But, there is a party tonight. Michelle and Kerri ..."

"Oh God." I rolled my eyes. "I'd rather take my chances with Alison." I grumbled. I lifted my head when the gentle rumble of the town car my father had kept pristine and running for the last decade pulled up beside us.

"Oh come on, don't leave me alone at a party, man!" He begged, tugging at the sleeve of my jacket.

"I'm sure you can handle yourself." I winked at him and ducked into the car. "Peter." I nodded at our driver.

"Mr Colton." He dipped his hat slightly.

"I'll text you later." Zac said, sticking his head through the window. "Tell me how dinner goes." He popped back out and took off in the direction of his house.

I felt out of sorts when I got home that day. It was empty, as usual. My footsteps echoed through the house as I climbed the stairs in the hallway that led to the bedrooms. By now I would have been blasting my music to distract myself from how creepy it felt to be home alone in a place this big, but I couldn't seem to put my headphones on.

I had gotten countless lectures from my stepmother about how loud my music was.

"You're going to go deaf one day, Nicky. And then what will you do?" She'd say. Was that what had happened to Carter? I swallowed hard and fell onto my bed with a tired huff. No, Carter didn't seem like the kind of kid who would do anything he wasn't supposed to. His uniform was perfect and his hair was cut according to the rules and his eyes...

I got ready for dinner that evening, dressing in jeans and a plain t-shirt. My father always preferred shirts at the dinner table when there were guests but I wasn't in the mood to play kiss-up today.