The Silence She Speaks✔

Eighteen-Quinn

"I'm sorry kiddo," Alex said to me. "You'll just have to wait until I'm done. Can you do that for me?" I nodded. He ruffled my hair and walked into the meeting room, blowing me a kiss as he went. I pretended to catch it and held it to my heart. I acted like I fainted, making him chuckled.

It was my impersonation of the girls in his fan club. We had jokingly been doing it recently, and quite honestly it never gets old. Even Mason did it with Alex once, and I couldn't hold back my laugh when it happened.

Alex waved by and walked into the room, closing the door behind him. It was after school and I didn't have anybody to take me back to the house, so I wasn't sure what to do. If I'm not in class, at least one of the boys is always around.

Alex was the student council president, so he had to attend every meeting. That meant that he couldn't take me back to the house or hang out. Devin had football practice, so he wasn't able to either. Mason was too young to drive, and he went to a friends house instead. Camryn was at math club, so she was out of the picture too.

I wandered the school for a little while, having nothing better to do. When I came to the art room, the lights were on and the door was wide open. The art man was standing in front of my painting that I had begun to work on as my second project. "Now what is this going to be?" He asked himself. I knocked on the door and it made him jump. Hey, at least it wasn't me this time.

"It's Quinn!" The art man announced with a grin. "I didn't know you were still here. Is something the matter?" I shook my head no.

"The guys all have clubs and their parents are at work," I wrote. "I figured I'd wander around a bit."

"I see," the art man said, tapping his chin. "Well, would you like to come in and work on your project some more? I'm not leaving for a few hours so you're welcome to stay until then." I nodded and set my backpack down.

Rolling up my sleeves, I stared at the painting. It looks like a child's finger painting for now, but I have big plans for it. Big, big plans. I hope that the boys and the Foster People like it, though. That is what's most important

After about two hours, Devin came into the room. He looked worried and was completely out of breath. "There you are," he breathed out. "We've been looking all over for you, Quinn."

"Oh, she didn't tell any of you she was coming here?" The Art Man asked. Devin shook his head.

He began to lecture me with a worry stricken face. I just stood there awkwardly with my head down and stared at a paint splattered on my knee. The Art Man watched, seeming even more awkward.

"Seriously?" Camryn asked in disbelief, coming up behind Devin a few minutes into the lecture. "You were here the whole time?" I nodded. "Warn us the next time you decide to disappear, please," she begged tiredly while pulling me in for a lazy hug. I nodded and pulled away to get packed up. I washed the paint brushes quickly and pulled my backpack onto my back.

"Alright Quinn, see you tomorrow," the art man said. I nodded and waved.

"Listen," Camryn said, "you can't just run off like that. We were scared out of our minds. We didn't know where you were or what happened. If you were hurt or not. You didn't even answer any of our texts."

"I'm sorry," I wrote. "My phone was on silent."

"It's fine," Devin sighed. "Next time this happens, though, just come out to the bleachers. You'll be able to just chill there until I'm done. I can keep an eye on you, too, so you can't sneak off to the art room again."

"That's a good idea," Camryn agreed. "Why don't you do that from now on." I nodded. "Also, I really do wonder how you came up with that, Dev." Devin shrugged while I suppressed a laugh.