Warnings: bad language. This IS Jay. And there will be further bad language and controversial issues later on in the story, which I will warn about when they appear.
---------------------------------------------------
No one knew what happened to Marco del Rossi over the summer.
There were rumors of course. Whispers so wild and radical one couldn't hide their disgust at times. Constant bickering over plausible answers and nitpicking over details took the school by storm, even when a real and true conclusion was nowhere in sight.
People continued to guess and wonder though.
Everyone knew that Marco was living with his grandmother now. Or they nudged each in history class to speculate over his new style of dress, pointing at his baggy, dark clothes and longer hair as if he was a new species altogether.
And, of course, they noticed that Marco didn't speak anymore.
The once sweet, soft-spoken boy now never uttered a word. His vague shoulder movements and subdued charades were his only form of communication...and they were a rare occurence at best.
If anyone noticed that Marco shied away from being touched no one mentioned it. And if anyone felt the need to comment on it they never did.
After a week of coaxing the new Marco many people sighed in admitted defeat and left the other boy to his deserted corner of the lunchroom where he stared out through his curtain of hair in childish fascination.
People change after all. Ellie opened up more after she told her mom about the cutting, Spinner became assuming and arrogant after his first taste of power, and Craig had come to respect people after seeing them wronged.
So if anyone ever questioned why Marco was mute, they followed his lead....
....and never said a word.
Except for the one person in the entire school who had never learned to shut his mouth even when it would probably be prudent to do so.
"Hey queer. Homochuck got your tongue?"
---------------------------------------
The gay kid was mute.
Yeah, Jay had noticed. Or rather, he hadn't noticed. Alex had told him a week into school that she was taking the class president gig because Marco had backed out. In her words "Silent Bob could never hold up an office."
That was when he started questioning people. Getting the dirt. Marco had come back from his summer vacation in black clothes and a green jacket that was so big it looked like it would swallow him. His hair reached his shoulders and fell in his face. Jay thought in the beginning it just fell like that naturally, but after watching him for awhile you could tell he raked his fingers through it and forced it to stay firmly planted in front of his eyes.
And at about that time Jay had to stop himself and ask just why in the hell was he watching the queer anyway?
The gay kid was mute.
And Jay was busy trying to figure out why he cared.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Caro, could you help me set the table? Papa will be home in a few minutes."
Marco uncurled himself from the knot of limbs he had been on the couch and grabbed the plates off the counter, shuffling around the kitchen with his meek, quick steps. His nana watched on in motherly concern. She was thoroughly overjoyed to have her dear little grandson living with her, even if the circumstances were less than favorable.
But, even if she never would admit it out loud, Marco scared her.
You hear often that when people lose one of their senses their others proliferate to compensate for the loss. When someone loses their eyesight their smell and hearing go up about twenty notches. When someone loses their hearing their eyesight and their comprehension soar.
Marco had lost his ability to speak. He could hear things better than anyone she had ever known...but with this he'd grown into quite an odd creature. He was twitchy and paranoid in his movements. His eyes darted around like a butterfly unable to land, always on constant, watchful alert. His hands always shook with pent up energy that had no place to go. She even wondered occasionally if he was maybe a bit touched in the head...but that was only because his eyes seemed brighter now, like they could look through your soul. Leave you bare and open for anyone to see your darkest secrets. It was undeniably creepy.
Over dinner Nana and her husband made small talk, asking about each other's days and falling into their nice routine. They would both throw the occasional glance at the dark boy coiled up in his chair poking at his food like it held answers to all the world's problems.
"How was school today?" Papa finally asked Marco once they were done with dinner and sipping at coffee, enjoying the lull.
The small boy almost seemed to flinch at his words, curling into himself just that little bit more before he looked up through his black hair and smiled his strange little smile. It was fine. Quiet, he signed with his hands.
After the...incident...the entire household had gone to learn sign language knowing there would be no other way to communicate seeing as how Marco was horrible at miming actions and getting his point across without words. They weren't stellar at it just yet but they were learning quickly enough and could hold short conversations.
Nana smiled warmly and signed back. I'm glad. Why don't you take your medicine and go to bed?
Marco nodded and got up, walked over to the counter and started pulling several plastic bottles from the cabinet while the older couple continued their quiet conversation at the table. They didn't stop talking until the almost ghostlike childlike had taken the pills and left the room, the soft sound of feet plodding up the stairs wafting down to them.
The greying woman turned around, away from the echoing noise of the footsteps. "He scares me sometimes. I feel bad. I know he can't help it, but...." Mr. del Rossi senior leaned forward and took his wife's hand in his.
"Just keep in mind just who he is and it's easier. It's Marco, your dear grandson, the same little kid you had to yell at for eating mud pies in the backyard when he was little. The same boy who's picture is on the fridge. Just look deeper next time he looks at you and it'll be easier."
"You're right. You always are. I guess I just don't like the quiet."
The man smiled mournfully and looked at the kitchen doorway that their ward had walked through seconds earlier.
"I don't like the silence either."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A tendril of smoke drifted in front ofmy face obscuring everyone that walked by. This is howI liked the world. A screen. A way to hide from them and them to hide from me. However the wall only lasts for a moments time before it disappears.
Nodding a greeting at Sean when he walked by Jay blew the remaining smoke out of his lungs and stubbed out his cigarette in the grass. God how he hated being here. Another year of hell. His senior year. How wonderful his life was.
I meanhe really fucking hated it. He never really liked to stop and consider it too often. He didn't like to admit it might be because he wouldn't like what he found. No, he just liked to tell himself it was because it was too crappy to even look at for too long. He had a shit job. He had a shit education. Hell, he even had a shit relationship at the moment.
Ever since he and Alex had broken up over the summer Jay had been trying to find someone who could match his one and only love. He had failed so far. No one ever matched up and he didn't think anyone ever could. He was still best friends with Alex, of course, as they had been since their freshman year.
He had met Alex five, no wait, six... he'd been held back twice. Anyway, he had met Alex six years ago in homeroom and he had instantly liked her. Of course she had kicked a sophmore named Tom's shins for asking why she looked like a boy. Needless to say she was a girl after his own heart, and he had fallen for her a year later.
Butmy own demonsbegan to callproblems. Alex had gotten to know a boy last year, our repeat of eleventh. His name had been Marco and she had been running against him for office. He was gay, and so I of course gave him shit over it. I never really had a problem with it, I just wanted my girl to win. What got me was that in the end...she never outted him. She instead stepped down and took the vice president position he offered.
I'd never known Alex to back out before, or to be nice to someone who was the enemy. But she had. And over that school year she had gotten closer to the girly boy and befriended him by the end of the year. From what I know she still calls him occasionally to catch up which is just so weird for Alex.
The reason she broke up with me? I just couldn't grow up. Yeah. Shocking isn't it? One day, after I had called him a fag for the one hundredth time (could you believe she had been counting?) she lashed out at me and told me to quit being a child, and she had hoped I could grow some maturity but it appeared I couldn't.
So she let me go, promising she would never stop being my friend no matter what. And that was enough for me at the time.
But now I'm lonely. I haven't had someone to talk to in a romantic way for a few monthes now and it's unnerving. Plus seeing her spending so much time with that queer is really driving me crazy. I think she might even have a crush on him. It hurts to seem them together. I know they don't agree on a lot of things and when they're together they've always got pained expressions on their faces, but I know that while they don't exactly go together like peas and carrots, they had a connection and an understanding flowing between them that everyone else was missing out on.
Even now, when Marco doesn't talk anymore....they seem to be closer than ever.
To the shock of everyone, Marco dropped out of office, and since the two of them really had no reason to acknowledge each other anymore, it was quite the shock to see that they still stayed together even after all of that.
Alex soon began letting Marco teach her to sign and they wrote to each other frequently. Since Alex was never the most talkativeof peoplethey got along famously, still disagreeing often and nitpicking on things that really didn't matter, but they obviously agreed on the importantshit and that held them together.
And I, in typical ex-boyfriend fashion, am fuckingjealous.
I've finally figured out how I can keep Alex though. I've got to put up with Jailbait and tough out their strange signed conversations. I get to spend time with Alex, and she gets to spend time with her former political associate turned best friend.
The gay kid was mute.
And my former girlfriend loved him to death.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Herm. Don't ask me about this. I dunno where it's going. Review though! lol