Yay an update! Sorry for the wait. Midterms suck, don't they~! Thank you for the wonderful reviews~! And for a better explination of the word 'hoser' check the reviews~! Thanks for pointing that out! You rock!
Those two days end up going by very quickly, much to my annoyance. Before I know it, our alarm is going off at six in the morning to get us up for school. I trudged around all morning, almost wishing I would go back in time... Or at least, back to bed. Alfred got a little annoyed at me because we almost missed the bus. No, we don't have a car. We have bikes, but we usually don't take those to school.
And now here we are standing in front of the brick prison I call hell-I mean school. I glare at the building and I swear I can see it snickering at me. Okay, that might be going a little too far. I am all alone, again, as Alfred has run off to go meet up with his friends. I wander around the halls looking for my locker. Finally I find it. It's blue just like all the other senior and freshman lockers. The senior and freshman lockers are blue; the junior and sophomore lockers are white. Yay chiasmus!
I try the combination and to my surprise, it actually works! Now, that doesn't happen every year. It's usually a fight to the death with these rusty old things.
Just as I finish setting the locker up and putting my backpack away, the bell rings. The vice principal comes over the loud speaker to remind us of the assembly taking place in the auditorium in ten minutes. I follow the sea of people that suddenly appear to the assembly. Second period is to follow (we always miss first period on the first day) so I make sure to bring my supplies.
This assembly never has much of a point to it, at least in my opnion. They give you directions, but that usually is directed towards the freshmen. Even then, most freshmen know their way around from touring the school when they were in middle school. So, the directions are really just for the new kids and there aren't many of those. They tell you the lunch menu, but there's one in the front office and on the school's website. Besides, who would want to eat the school lunch? The lunches here are like throw up on a stick. And then there's the talk about tradition and honor and things they have to know no one cares about.
Finally, they dismiss us. We have ten minutes to get to second period to leave enough time for the new kids who may or may not loose their way. I follow the sea of people out of the auditorium and find myself in a hallway. I check my schedule. I have second period World History. I smile a little. I like History. I was always just a little good at it.
I know exactly where the room is, so I make my way there. Most kids are milling around wasting time. They'll probably get to class and claim that they got lost-even the seniors. The teachers won't care, though. They don't want to be back in school any more than I do.
I round the last corner and collide with something solid. I know I didn't misjudge how far the wall went and the slight smell of cologne tells me that I bumped into a person. He turns around and looks me dead in the eyes. I really just want to die now. To my horror, this person is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, the very kid who has been picking on me since grade school. I jump back with a small gasp. Antonio grins this creepy smile and I don't know if he's going to rape me or beat me or what.
"Ah, Mattie. Welcome back," he says. I shudder and glance behind him. Thankfully, none of his 'friends' are with him. Unfortunately, there's no one around; not a teacher or student. Oh maple! I try to nod an apology and begin to walk away when he grabs my shirt and pulls me back.
"Come on, Matt," he says in a false pleading voice, "Just say 'sorry' and you can go." I shake my head in defiance as tears prick at my eyes. I wish the tears would go away. I am always so sensitive. I cry at everything! Antonio just grins and slaps the books out of my hands. They crash to the ground with a thud and scatter everywhere. I glance around praying that someone will help me. Some people actually make an appearance. They just pass by, though. They don't even look at us.
"Come on," Antonio says again, "Or do I have to make you?" He pulls his hand back and punches me in the arm. I let out a gasp of pain as the pressure spreads through my body. This is how they always get me. They try to make me speak and then hit me when I don't. Tears stream down my cheeks. This is why I hate school.
Antonio is about to hit me again and I close my eyes to brace myself for the pain. "Stop!" Someone shouts. Antonio's grip loosens, but my feet are still no on the ground and I refuse to open my eyes. I hear two people arguing, but I can't make out what they are saying. I don't know why I can't understand them. I think that my mind has just blocked out everything at this point. Soon Antonio releases me, but I fall the ground as I wasn't prepared for the sudden release.
I am even more surprised when I feel myself being lifted into someone's strong arms. "Wake up, Mattie," the voice tells me. I open my eyes upon the command although I didn't actually pass out. Ruby red flashes back at me and I gasp in surprise.
"Hey, kid," Gilbert greets me, "Long time no seeing awesome me, huh? I missed you. Bet you missed me too. I don't blame you, but awesome can't be two places at once. Although I would much rather have been with you. My brother is so boring and un-awesome." I smile a little. "Now let's get you to class." He puts me down and helps me gather my books. I see him smile at my schedule.
"We have second period together," he tells me, "Actually we have a lot of classes together. Awesome, huh? Now you can see awesome every day!"
I laugh a little and put my schedule back into my notebook. Together, we walk down the hallway and find our way to the World History room. Gilbert insists on holding my hand. He says that he wants everyone to know that I'm with him. He says that awesome doesn't let others get beat up. I smile at this.
Alfred and I almost never have classes together. It's partly because I'm just extremely unlucky and also because the school knows we're twins. They explained it a few times before, but I forget the real reason as to why they don't let us be in the same class. I think it has something to do with meeting new people and stuff. I think it's because they believe in twin telepathy. It does exist to an extent. Alfred always knows when I'm in pain. But we can't share answers on tests or anything.
Gilbert leads me to the room and only then does he let go of my hand. I walk up to the teacher, a pretty woman who looks no older than twenty-five. Her eyes are hazel-ish blue and her hair is long and chestnut brown. She smiles at me as I approach her desk. I hand her "The Note."
"The Note" is basically an explanation written by my brother on why I don't speak. Well, mostly why. It doesn't say exactly what happened. She takes it from me gently and reads it over. I can almost hear her reading it in her head.
Dear Mr. or Mrs. or Miss Teacher-Person-Dude (Can you tell that Alfred wrote this?),
Hey! My name is Alfred F. Jones. The dude who just gave you the note is Mathew Williams, my brother. I'm writing this on his behalf. See, he doesn't talk. Like, ever. He's got this thing called 'Selective Mutism.' If you don't know about it, you might want to look it up. It's hard to understand sometimes. Mattie hasn't been able to get over this thing that happened a bunch of years ago. And I'm the only family he's got. So, please don't push him to talk. Because it will just make him sad. And if he gets sad, I will sue you.
So have fun with him 'cause he's really nice and stuff! And he's smart. So bye!
Your Hero,
Alfred F. Jones
Yes, I memorized it. Sometimes I will just pull it out and look at it. I wonder why I don't speak; why I can't speak. Anyway, the teacher just hands me back the note and smiles. "Don't worry, Mathew," she says, "I'll make sure you feel nice and comfortable. Why don't you go take a seat? Class will be starting soon. Sit wherever you'd like." I smile back at her and nod. She seems like a nice woman.
Gilbert, of course, if waving me over and pointing to the seat next to him. I take the hint and make my way over to him. He's sitting in the second row from the desk and the third row from the door. I take a seat in the second row from the desk and the fourth row from the door. Other kids are scattered all around. Some I know, some I have never met before.
Finally, the bells rings and the teacher stands up. She smiles at us-all twenty two of us. "Welcome to World History, class!" She says with a chipper voice, "I'm Miss. Kantrain, but you can just call me Miss. K. I hope you will all have a wonderful year. So, let's get right to business." She walks back to her desk and pulls out a Red Sox cap. A Red Sox cap in New York? Now, I don't follow baseball, but I know that's a taboo around here.
"Inside this hat are a bunch of pieces of paper with country's names," she explains, "Here's the deal. You are going to pick out a country and you will 'be' that country for the remainder of the school year. There is no trading and there is no redraws. We will do various projects with your countries. These will range from reports to 'world meetings' to culture days. So if you get a country you know nothing about, then the Internet will become your best friend." Miss. K smiles. "Alright? Now, let's get started!"
Miss. K walks around the room. People reach into the cap and pull out their countries. Some smile with delight while others look as though they have never seen the assortment of letters before. She comes to Gilbert and he reaches in. He pulls his hand out and unfolds a paper. I lean over to see what it says. Prussia is written on it in bold letters. Miss. K smiles.
"I was hoping someone would get Prussia," she says, "It doesn't exist anymore, but it will be interesting to learn about it. Besides, Prussia played an important role in the history of the world." She then continues on down the row.
"Hell yeah!" Gilbert smiles and turns to me. "See that? I probably got the most awesome country ever!" I smile a bit. If I could talk, I would point out that Prussia is not a country anymore so it must not be that awesome. Then again, maybe I wouldn't. Gilbert looks really cool when he's smiling that wry smile of his.
Finally, Miss. K makes her way to me. I reach in and pull out my own slip of paper. Canada is written on it with the same handwriting. "Ah, Canada," she smiles, "That's an interesting country. I think it suits you." I smile back as she walks away. Canada, huh? That might not be so bad.
Miss. K finishes walking around the class and goes back to the front. She then asks us to say the countries that we got. Prussia answers for me and Miss. K lets him. There's a lot of teachers who would get mad when others would answer for me. Some people look confused at the word "Canada." One person even asks "Who?" I just shrug it off, though. An invisible country for an invisible kid. That works.
Class ends and I find Gilbert at my side again. We walk to Chemistry together. Our schedules are so close together it's amazing. The only difference is that I have French while he has German and I have gym while he has health. Everything else is together.
"Hey, Mattie?" he asks me in study hall fourth period. I look over at him from my Chem book. We got homework on the very first day. At least the teacher was nice. He, too, understood my situation and allowed Gilbert to speak for me. "I was thinking about what happened with Antonio... You get bullied a lot, don't you?"
I pause, but eventually nod.
"That's not going to happen anymore," he tells me, "It's not awesome. You aren't going to get bullied as long as I'm around. Antonio is one of my friends. I'll talk to him. He's going to stop picking on you, alright?" I nod. For the first time, I realize that someone actually cares about me. It feels nice to know that he really cares and wants me to be safe.
We don't talk for the rest of the period. There's really nothing to say. I can't focus on my chemistry, though. I keep thinking about Gilbert. I think... I have feeling for him. Like a crush or something. But how could I? He's a guy and I'm a guy. There's no way he would ever return my feelings... Not that I really have them! Or do I? I don't know! I'm so confused. But every time he looks at me with those Ruby Red eyes, my heart skips a beat.
Oh for the love of maple! I have no clue what to do! But, at least, I have a friend. And I realize that I've never had a friend before. Maybe it isn't so bad after all.
Go Red Sox x3 Lol I had to put that in there. I also had to throw in chiasmus. That's basically a system of ABBA. So Blue White White Blue. See?
Hopefully I'll find more time to write. But I am NOT giving up on this story. I feel bad the updates are so spaced out, but this will be updated. Mkay? x3
And yes, I am going to tackle something that I know a lot of fics don't: Mattie struggling with the fact that he might be gay. It adds to the drama ;)
So review if you have the chance~! It makes me so happy and stuff :D
