Shut Up & Kiss Me // BOYxBOY

Chapter One //

Beep! Beep! Beep! Bee-

                I instinctively shot my hand out to silence the dreadfully irritating noise of my alarm clock before my ears started to bleed from its shill sound. I swear alarm clocks are the spawn of the devil…

                “Angie?” a little voice called from the direction of my doorway sending me jumping up and clutching my chest from fear. A small giggle preceded my freak out.

                “Annabelle!” I groaned, “This is the third time you’ve scared me this week. Not cool.”

                “It wasn’t on purpose this time! I promise!” She gave me her best set of puppy dog eyes and crossed an ‘x’ over her heart in a solemn motion. I wasn’t buying her lies. Not this time.

                “Whatever,” I muttered; knowing an argument over it would be entirely useless. She’d either win or get our mom involved. I’d rather not lose an argument to a seven year old. “Whataya what?”

                “Mommy told me to come get you. She says you’re late.” My eyes darted immediately to the fox-shaped devil spawn that was my alarm clock. It was nine.

                “Shi-” I stopped myself just in time, remembering there was a seven year old in the room. “Shoot! Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. Shoot…” I trailed off. Annabelle just rolled her eyes and skipped her way out of my room and scurried down the attic rope ladder that served as the only entryway to what I considered my own personal kingdom.

                Now in a blind panic to get to school, I rushed to strip off my current clothes and slip into a clean pair. Not really caring how I looked at this point, I simply ran my fingers through my hair a few times rather than style it properly. I finally managed to glance into a mirror and process what I’d dressed in: a black Mickey Mouse Disney shirt, a pair of bright red skinny jeans, and hot pink socks.

                “Not bad.” I nodded to my reflection. “The hair isn’t styled, but I can roll with this!” As if on cue, my semi-long, black hair flipped in front of my left eye as I turned to exit my room. Shrugging, I wandered out into the small hallway the ladder was located in. Honestly, it was a pointless hallway considering my bedroom was the only room up here besides the bathroom what was connected to my room anyway.

                Once I was dangling a few feet off the ground on the ladder, I jumped. It sent off a huge ‘thump’ throughout the house and I could hear my mom’s muffled complaints from the kitchen- which I ignored.

                Somewhere between getting ready and leaving my room I’d realized I was already late and had no need to hurry. I lazily wandered to the front door, slid into my black combat boots, and let myself out without the usual shouting of my morning goodbyes. I was greeted by the cool fall wind and the sight of my rusted, baby blue pickup truck sitting in the driveway.

                “I seriously need a new car,” I sighed to myself before clambering into the driver’s seat. As I twisted the key, starting the car, it merely let out a low, short growl. I tried again and again, but it just wouldn’t start.

                “Thank you, automobile gods!” I screamed at the top of my lungs in the direction of the sky. If old ‘Baby Blue’ wouldn’t start perhaps I’d finally be allowed a new car!

                Elated, I climbed out of the car and began my walk to school. Thankfully the snow hadn’t started yet so all I had to deal with was the somewhat chilly October air.

***

                “Alright class! I’ll project the list of- Oh! Mr. Martinez! How nice of you to join us,” Mrs. Johnson’s cheery voice dissolved into a sneer as I entered the room. Let’s just say we’re not of the best terms right now… I tossed my light pink late pass onto her desk, resisting the urge to flip her off, and walked to my seat in the back row. I had strategically chosen my seat so that I was in the furthest place away from Mrs. Johnson- the back corner.

                “As I was saying, here’s your partner list.”

                “What’s going on?” I whispered to Felix who sat next to me. I occasionally sat next to him at lunch and I guess you could call us friends despite the fact that we weren’t very close.

                “We’re doing a ‘self-chosen art project’. We can choose what we want to do, but she’s choosing our partner,” he whispered back.

                “Ew…” I groaned, “Hey, can I ask you a question?” He nodded and I mentally giggled. “Do you have a soul?” I asked, pointing to his ginger colored hair. Felix punched my arm in response.

                “Get with your partner, Mr. Martinez!” I glanced up to see everyone was gathered with their partners and Mia, my current girlfriend, waiting for Felix. Apparently, they were partners. A twinge of jealousy ran through me. Distracting myself, I scanned over the list of names on the board in search of mine and my partner’s.

                Finally, I found it: Angel Martinez and Luce Lanta. Of course I, of all people, get stuck with the class weirdo. I mean, usually I’m pretty accepting- I think so, anyway-, but Luce is mute. How do you do a project with someone who can’t talk? He doesn’t even have any friends other than his twin brother!

                Muttering a string of light curses under my breath I walked over to where Luce’s seat was- the other back corner. He was perched on the edge of his seat as though ready to bolt out of the room at any sign of danger. He looked… afraid?

                “Hi?” That was all I really knew to say as I approached the small, light brown haired boy. A flourish of scribbling on a sticky note gave me my answer: I can do all the work if you’d like. Appalled at the idea, I shook my head. “No. This is a partner project and we’re gonna treat it like one,” I said firmly. “First, since you can’t talk, I won’t either. I took a notebook out of my binder, ignoring the barely noticeable flash of sadness that flew across his features.

Okay? I wrote.

Yeah. He wrote back in an elegant cursive-like font. It was at this point that he finally looked at me and I was shocked. He was stunningly adorable with amazing green eyes that I’d never seen so vibrant on a person before. He looked down after a few seconds, but it took me nearly twenty to get back on track.

Whataya want to do the project on? He shrugged. Any ideas?

Could we do something with leaves? It’s fall… I nodded, giving him a ‘thumbs up’. Maybe he’d be a better partner than I thought… We spent the rest of class discussing leaf projects we could do, but hadn’t decided on two yet- he’d informed me we needed to make two projects based on the same subject somewhere along the line.

See you tomorrow? I managed to scribble down just as the shrill ring of the bell ended class. He nodded as I gave him one last friendly smile. I realized as I got up that I had yet to see him smile… Breaking out of my thoughtful cloud, I hurried out the door to where Mia was waiting for me.

                “Hey, baby!” She grinned, pulling me in for a long kiss, but I was distracted and barely moved my lips in response. “Something wrong?” she pouted. I just nodded. My thoughts were still on the mute boy, Luce. He’d captured my interest, and I wasn’t going to let that go any time soon. I was going to figure out this kid- whether he wanted me to or not.