New Niff!

I hope you like it! It's mute Jeff, and soon to be full of angst and fluff!

Jeff's terrible first day at Dalton Academy began in first period.

The teacher, named Mr. Wright, greeted Jeff in front of the entire class. "So I see we have a new student," he announced. "Do you mind introducing yourself to the class?" he asked Jeff.

Everyone turned to look at Jeff and he felt his blood turn to ice. Didn't Mr. Wright know about him? Hadn't anyone given him a heads-up?

For a long minute, Jeff sat in painful silence, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. He could feel his heart thrumming in his chest.

"Well? What is your name?" Mr. Wright demanded.

For a moment, Jeff considered getting up to write his name on the blackboard. But when he'd done that at his old school, it had provoked laughter and mocking. So instead, he sat in silence and willed Mr. Wright to give up on him.

Eventually, he did. "That's alright. Class, this is Jeff Griffin. Please make him feel welcome."

This exact same process repeated itself all through the rest of Jeff's classes. By lunch, he was already Dalton's new school freak.

Jeff bought lunch in the school cafeteria and took a seat at an empty table at the edge of the lunchroom to eat.

Soon, everyone will give up trying to talk to me, he thought. It would only take a week or so. He could make it until then.

Before he even took the first bite of his lunch, a group of guys took the seats around him.

"Hey, new kid," one of them greeted.

Jeff returned his greeting with an uneasy smile. Should I move?

"I'm Jon," he introduced himself.

I need to start wearing a nametag or something. It'll say, 'Hello, my name is Jeff!'

"He doesn't talk," another boy told Jon. "I think he's mute."

Yes! Finally, someone figures it out! Jeff was about to nod in agreement when another boy spoke.

"Or he's incredibly rude. Or stupid."

Jeff frowned. Yes, I should move. He stood up to leave, but his foot caught on something—perhaps another foot?—and his tray flew from his arms and crashed to the floor.

Several heads turned to stare. Someone coughed, "Spaz!" Others chuckled.

Jeff wanted to disappear, but settled for kneeling down to clean up the mess. Wasn't this place supposed to be some sort of safe haven? So far it didn't seem much better than Jeff's old public school.

A second person was suddenly kneeling beside Jeff, helping him clean up his tray. "Let me help," he said.

Oh, no, I got it, Jeff thought. As if he would protest.

"I'm sorry about them," the boy said as they stood up. "Most of us aren't like that. I promise."

Really? I'll believe that when I see it…

"My name is Nick, by the way," he introduce himself.

Oh, boy. I seriously need that nametag.

"I already know your name. Jeff, right?"

Jeff nodded quickly with relief.

"I have a few classes with you," Nick told him. He smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry if your first day here hasn't been so great…"

No kidding… Jeff was lead across the cafeteria to a different lunch table where a few Dalton students sat.

"Hey, you don't mind if the new kid sits with us, do you?" Nick greeted a boy with a little too much hair-gel in his hair.

"Not at all," the boy answered. He motioned to the two seats next to him. Nick sat down and Jeff sat beside him. "I'm Blaine," the boy introduced himself to Jeff.

Jeff frowned and instinctively looked to Nick for help.

"This is Jeff," Nick said for him. "I'm not sure why, but he doesn't talk."

"Oh," Blaine said. He looked at Jeff. "Are you mute…?"

Jeff nodded once. Or dumb, if you want to put it that way.

"Were you born mute?" Nick asked.

Sheesh, what's with all the questions? Jeff considered nodding. It would be so easy to just tell them he'd never spoken a word in his entire life. Then they wouldn't expect him to utter a word to them. But a part of him wanted to talk again, eventually. Maybe someday.

So Jeff shook his head.

"Then what happened? You know, to make you mute…?"

He couldn't help but wonder if blind people or deaf people dealt with this kind of thing. "How did you become blind? Have you always been deaf?"

Maybe they knew mutism was sometimes selective. Or they were just really nosy. Since Jeff couldn't nod or shake his head for this question, he did nothing. Did they expect him to just start talking and explain it to them?

"Oh!" Nick exclaimed suddenly, causing Jeff to jump. "I have paper."

Oh, joy. He has paper! Now that'll just make me open right up.

Nick passed him a sheet of notebook paper and a pencil from his satchel. "Here."

Jeff shook his head and handed it back.

"No?" Nick said. "Why not?"

Jeff stared at the tabletop. Writing everything would really destroy the whole purpose of being mute, right? He didn't want to talk and ruin his long-standing silence. He gave Nick his best apologetic look and turned his gaze back to the table.

Nick and Blaine exchanged a glance. "That's alright," Nick said after a moment of silence. "I guess I was being a little intrusive. Sorry."

Just a little. Jeff offered up a small smile in reply. No hard feelings.

"What's your next class?" Blaine asked.

Jeff took out his schedule and handed it to them.

"Hey, you have the next two classes with me," Nick said. "We should walk together."

Jeff nodded. It was a relief, really. He'd been getting lost all day, and it was kind of hard to get directions when you couldn't speak. It'd be nice to have someone show him where to go.

"Were you hungry?" Nick asked suddenly. "You dropped all of your food on the floor. Here, I'll split my lunch with you."

Wow, maybe people here are nicer. With a few bad apples in the bunch, of course. Normally, Jeff might have refused, but since he was hungry, he helped himself to a few fries. He smiled gratefully at Nick and hoped he'd read it as a "thank you."

The rest of lunch was awkward. Jeff ate silently—as usual—while Nick and Blaine talked quietly to each other. Jeff couldn't help but think he'd ruined their lunch by forcing himself on them.

Nick invited me to sit here, he reminded himself. He was welcome here. At least for the moment.

Eventually, the bell sounded. The cafeteria quickly began to clear and Nick and Blaine stood up. Jeff wasn't sure if Nick's offer to walk to class together still stood, so he remained seated for the moment.

Nick started to walk away, but stopped after just a few steps. "Aren't you coming?" he said back to Jeff.

He felt a small sense of relief knowing Nick wasn't entirely sick of him yet. He stood and followed the brunette out the cafeteria doors.

Their next class was English Literature. Of course this class started out just like all of the others and the teacher focused on Jeff. "We have a new student today!" she announced to everyone. She looked at Jeff. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

Jeff sank down in his chair. AGAIN?

Everyone turned to look at Jeff expectantly. Jeff unthinkingly looked to Nick for help.

"Oh, um, he's called Jeff," Nick announced a little uncertainly. "He can't talk."

"Why not?" somebody asked.

Nick shrugged. "He's mute?" It sounded like a question.

Jeff nodded "yes" in agreement.

"Oh," the teacher, Ms. Clark, said. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware."

Jeff would have liked to assure her that it was alright, he didn't mind. But that would require some form of communication. So he just smiled reassuringly and looked down at his desktop to avert everyone's eyes.

This was going to be a long year.

…

Nick tried hard to get to know Jeff better. But it was difficult to learn more about someone who couldn't speak and refused all other forms of communication.

He seemed like a nice person, albeit a little shy and nervous. Whenever someone so much as spoke to him, he got this fearful, hunted look in his eye. It was like he was wary of everyone.

Nick didn't want to leave him alone for fear that nobody else would bother trying to befriend him. Jeff seemed like an incredibly lonely person, and Nick had a feeling his mutism wasn't a physical problem. How damaged did a person have to be to just stop talking?

In any case, Jeff deserved to have someone he could call a friend. So Nick made sure to spend time with him. It was hard to tell if he was getting through to the silent blonde or not. He didn't acknowledge Nick's efforts to get him to communicate, but he did seem to appreciate his presence. He waited for him at lunch, walked with him to class, sat beside him in class, and looked to him for help when someone forgot that he was mute and tried speaking to him.

Nonetheless, Nick was determined to make Jeff communicate with him in some way. Any way.

One day after school a few weeks after Jeff transferred to Dalton, Nick said to him, "Hey, why don't you come with me to Warblers practice?"

Jeff furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Nick laughed. "You have no idea what the Warblers are, do you?" he guessed. "I'll let that slide since you're new here. But anyways, the 'Warblers' is the name of our school show choir. We're madly popular and haven't lost a competition in years."

Jeff just blinked.

It was difficult, constantly having these one-sided conversations. But at least Nick was talkative enough. "I know you probably don't sing," he said teasingly. "But you should come along anyways." He didn't wait for any sort of response and grabbed Jeff's hand to lead him through the corridors to the Warbler's practice room.

Inside, some people were already gathered around and discussing dance formations. "Wes will probably argue against you being here, but don't mind him," Nick warned Jeff. "He thinks anyone who's not a Warbler is a spy."

Blaine, who was talking with the council by the council table, noticed Jeff and Nick enter. "Hey, guys!" he greeted cheerfully. "Is Jeff joining…?" He looked a little confused.

"No," Nick answered. "I just wanted to introduce him to the guys." He looked at Jeff who was now scanning the room warily.

"Oh, alright." Blaine turned to the assembled Warblers. "Hey guys! You should come meet Jeff!"

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, eager to meet Blaine's friend. If Blaine liked someone, so did everyone else, or at least they'd pretend to.

Jeff seemed almost horrified by the sudden attention. For a moment, Nick was afraid he was going to turn around and run away. "Don't worry," Nick said quickly. "The Warblers are nice. And most of them already know you don't talk."

That seemed to be somewhat reassuring for the blonde. As everyone gathered around to introduce themselves, Nick noticed Wes's disapproving gaze from the council table.

Oh, well. Their next competition was still a while away. They had time to kill.

Everyone introduced themselves politely, including Jon who shook his hand and said, "Sorry about lunch the other day, man. Hope you're enjoying Dalton."

Wes banged his gavel. "Order! Order!" he demanded. "Unless Jeff is here to sign up for the waiting list to audition, he has no reason to be here." To Jeff, he added, "Sorry."

"Oh, come on," Nick sighed. "Just let him sit in for this one practice. We were going to see a movie later, so I wasn't going to just ditch him…"

"We can't allow outsiders to see our set-list for Regionals," Wes said in his 'my-word-is-final' voice.

Nick didn't back down. "It's not like he's going to tell anyone," he pointed out.

Wes glanced at Thad, then David. "I don't see any harm," David said.

Wes sighed. "Fine. But just this once." To the rest of the Warblers, he ordered, "Get back to work! Regionals will be here before you know it!"

So Jeff was allowed to stay. For the better part of Warblers practice, the blonde sat at one of the sofas and carefully observed their dance practice with a keen interest. It was a pretty simple and short routine for now, but they were still working on it.

"Do you dance?" Nick asked Jeff during a five minute water break.

Jeff nodded and shrugged simultaneously as if to say, "A little."

Nick laughed. "Well, got any pointers? I never danced before joining the Warblers."

Jeff seemed to consider it for a long moment before he stood up. He spaced his arms out so Nick would back up and give him a little extra space.

Then, to Nick's surprise, he mimicked their exact dance routine, with a few of his own modifications and twists.

"Wow," Nick said. "You're really good! It seriously took us days to get that routine down, and you learned the whole thing in just one hour of watching us do it. And you improved on it!"

Jeff smiled modestly and shrugged his shoulders.

"You should really join the Warblers," Nick suggested. "We could use someone like you."

Jeff frowned uncertainly in response.

"Would you like to join?" Wes asked. He'd been standing nearby and Nick guessed he'd seen the whole thing. "We don't have anyone like you, besides maybe David. I could make an exception for your, um…inability to sing."

Jeff glanced from Wes back to Nick and shook his head so vigorously that his bangs waved across his forehead.

"No?" Nick said with surprise. "You don't want to join? Why not?"

"You don't have to sing," David said. "Just dance. You've got a talent for it."

Again, Jeff shook his head with a little more urgency. He backed away from Nick and suddenly turned and disappeared out the door, grabbing his bag with him as he went.

"I think we spooked him," David mumbled. "I didn't know he was so shy."

Nick considered going after Jeff. But if he caught him, what would happen next? Any person at this school would kill to be a part of the Warblers and Jeff wouldn't even explain why he didn't.

How hard would it be for him to scribble a few words down on paper?

"Oh, well," Nick said, turning back to the Warblers. "I'll catch up with him later. Is our break over?"

...

Nick found Jeff's address later in his agenda, which he'd left behind in his sudden haste to flee Warblers practice. Nick decided to bring it to him.

Jeff didn't live too far from Nick's house, although he seemed to live in an awfully rundown neighborhood. The streets were cracked and faded, the houses were small and typically single-story, there were sinister alleyways at every turn, and some of the neighbors seemed…shady.

Nick found Jeff's home eventually, set right beside an alleyway and a vacant house which appeared to have been burnt to ruins by fire. The house was white with a gray dusting of soot and filth. Once side was blackened, probably from the fire that destroyed the neighboring home. The driveway was gravel and there was no garage. The only vehicle in the driveway was an old gray car with a black trash bag pulled over a broken side window and rust covering the entire exterior. It was a wonder the thing still ran, assuming that it did.

Nick parked his own car behind the jalopy and got out. How could somebody who lived here afford to go to Dalton? For a moment, Nick wondered if the address was somehow wrong.

He shrugged off the thought and made his way up the worn stone stairway to the front door. There was no doorbell, so he knocked.

After about a minute, the door was opened by a tired-looking man probably in his late 40s. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Nick smiled pleasantly. "I'm here to see Jeff. Is he home?" he asked.

"Jeff?" the man echoed. "You're a friend of Jeff's…?" He didn't seem to believe it.

"Yeah, I am," Nick answered assuredly. "We were going to hang out today after school, but our plans changed. So I thought I'd come over…"

"Oh, um… alright. Come on in." He stood aside so Nick could step inside. "Jeff doesn't usually have friends drop by like this."

"I didn't think so," Nick said. Inside, the house smelled vaguely like ammonia. "He's a bit of a silent type…" Literally.

"He is," the man agreed. "I'm his father, by the way. Darrel Griffin." He held out his hand for Nick to shake.

"I'm Nick Romano." Nick shook his hand; it was rough and cold. "So, I was just wondering about Jeff…"

"You want to know why he doesn't talk?" Darrel guessed. "I can't really help you there… He's never told me. He just came home one day and refused to talk."

"Then you have no idea?"

"Well, he was having a rough time at his old school. That's why I decided to transfer him to Dalton. But he still won't talk," Darrel sighed. "He did this before when he was seven. He didn't talk for over a year."

So this wasn't the first time Jeff had gone mute. But for a seven year-old to go a year without talking? Nick wondered what had happened to him. Since Darrel didn't tell him, he figured it was probably something personal and serious.

And now he was refusing to speak again for reasons unknown even to his father. Nick wondered if he would ever get through to him.

Am I just wasting my time?

So what did you think? Should I keep writing it? Review please and tell me what you think!