"Yo Gil, what do you know of the new student?" Alfred asked at lunch.
"That Kirkland kid? He's weird, I've had three classes with him so far and he hasn't said anything at all." Gil said.
Alfred hummed and propped up his chin with his hand. "He's smart though, he knew the math assignment inside out."
"I think the curriculum in Britain is more difficult than in America." Liz added.
"Why the sudden interest in the new kid, mon ami?" Francis asked with a suggestive wink.
"Shut up Francis, I dunno he just seemed weird." Alfred said. The bell rung and the group of friends dispersed to go to their classes.
The last period of the day, the only one that he didn't have with one of his friends, was Video Game design. It was always one of his favorite classes. The teacher practically let the do whatever they wanted to as long as they finished their assignment by it's due date.
The class only got better when he saw Arthur sitting in one of the previously empty seats. "Yo, Artie!"
Said boy flinched a little then glared at Alfred. Taking out a piece of paper he Wrote Artie on it in big letters then put an x through it. He continued to glare as he handed the paper to Alfred. Alfred laughed and sat down at his desk.
"Alright class, the only announcement I have is to remember that your projects are due tomorrow. Get to work."
"Shit! I still have a ton of work to do." Alfred exclaimed as he practically ran to his computer. Arthur rolled his eyes and continued writing in his notebook.
Alfred only tore his gaze away from the computer screen when the bell rung. By the time he had gathered all his things, he was the last person left in the room. Even the teacher had left. He sprinted to the locker room and threw on his football uniform.
He exited the locker room and jogged over to a group of his friends who were sitting at the bleachers, waiting for the game to begin.
"Hey guys!" Alfred said as he jogged up to them.
"Yo Al, we hear that you have your last period with Kirkland, that true?" Gilbert asked.
"Yeah, but I had shit to do in that class so we didn't talk." Alfred replied while leaning against the rails of the bleachers.
"I heard a rumor that he's a mute," Antonio said.
"A mute?" Alfred asked cocking his head curiously.
"A mute is a person-" Francis was cut off with the sharp sound of a whistle starting practice. Alfred and Gilbert jogged off leaving Francis, Antonio, Matthew, and Lovino alone.
"But I looked at the files with Nonno, they didn't say he was born mute." Lovino said.
"Maybe he was in an accident..." Matthew suggested softly.
"I don't know, don't some people decide to become mutes after a traumatic experience?" Francis asked, "I have a few classes with him, I didn't see him smile once."
"Why do you think he moved to America?" Antonio asked. Everyone went silent as they thought about it.
When Alfred got home he went straight to him room and opened the laptop on his desk. Pulling up google, he typed mute into the search bar.
Mute
/myoot/
1. refraining from speech or temporarily speechless
Alfred blinked in surprise, Arthur is trying not to speak? He clicked on the search bar and typed in causes of muteness. Once the results popped up he clicked on the wiki page.
Those who are physically mute may have problems with the parts of the human body... Being mute is often associated with deafness... Other causes include intellectual disability... A person can be born mute, or become mute later in life due to injury or disease...
Well that didn't help, Alfred moved on to the next section.
Selective mutism is a disorder related to social anxiety in which people are unable to speak in specific anxiety-producing situations but speak fluently in more comfortable situations.
Alfred's brows furrowed and he clicked the link on selective mutism.
A person who chooses to not speak has selective mutism. The causes vary from social anxiety to a traumatic experience.
Alfred jumped when there was a knock on his door, "Al," His brother said through the door, "Dinner's ready,"
"I'll be down in a minute." Alfred yelled. After bookmarking the page, the closed the web browser and shut down his laptop.
Sorry about the short update guys but I was busy this week. I hope you liked it anyway though. Same thing applies to this chapter, if you can guess what happens next you get a one shot so review please!