Olivia

" I'm home," I yelled out as I walked into the house.

" You don't need to yell. I'm the only one here, everyone else went to dinner," Wen sneered from the couch.

" Oh don't get your boxers in a twist," I sneered right back.

" Too late," he mumbled as he got up from the couch and stared at me.

" What's that supposed to mean?" I asked utterly confused.

" Don't play dumb. You know what you did. You embarrass me in front of all of my friends with your fake ass ' I'm quiet Olivia that doesn't bother anybody.' Making my friends turn on me and run to you." He yelled.

" What the hell are you talking about? I didn't embarrass you. You embarrassed your self. Why would I sit there and let you talk about me when I can clearly here you? I'm not like most girls. I won't let you run over me like that. I won't let anyone do that to me. You got it?" I retaliated.

" Maybe you should act like most girls! Maybe you should join the popular crowd. That's clearly what you need, all the attention and everybody's eyes on you. You want people to know about you. You want people to talk about you."

" You need a clue! You need to see what you're doing to everybody. Open your eyes and stop worrying about me because I am sure as hell not worrying about you. So get a life and move on."

" You're are such a hypocrite. Admit it. You worry about me. That's probably why you started to hang out with my friends. To hear all of the embarrassing stuff they know about me and you can tell them all the lies you have on me."

" You are- are. You know what? There are no words to describe you!" I stated as I stomped up the stairs to my room.

" YOU. ARE. SUCH. A. BITCH." Wen screamed as loud as he could.

" RIGHT BACK AT YOU!" I screamed, blowing my vocal cords out in the process.

~(-)~

It's morning and my throat hurts. Not a good combination. I dressed quickly in black sweats, a purple tee shirt that showed a yellow tank top and my old pair of black converses. That's right, I'm bumming it.

I walked down the stairs; Sydney and Daniel greeted me.

" Hey, Liv," Sydney greeted as Daniel waved.

I smiled and waved in return.

" How'd you sleep?"

I nodded and held two thumbs up.

" Is there a reason your not talking?" Daniel asked leaning on his fore arms against the counter.

" I can talk but it hurts," I rasped out.

" Ew. Are you sick?"

I shook my head and gathered my stuff from the floor, where I threw it last night.

" Why is your voice like that?" He asked, staring at me like I was lunatic.

I pointed at Sydney as she handed me a wipe board, marker and a note for my teachers.

" When she yells, she blows her vocal cords out. She can't talk for two- three days. The next question is, Why were you yelling?" She explained, turning her head towards me.

I waved and walked quickly out the door. Wen can explain that.

Wen

Sydney and Daniel were talking down stairs and I hoped they weren't going to notice me walk down the steps. I jinxed myself because when I went down the stairs, the step creaked announcing my arrival.

" Oh. Hey Wen," Sydney greeted. I ignored her and continued to get ready for today.

" Wen, would you like to tell us why Olivia was yelling last night?" My dad asked.

I spun around quickly to face him, " How'd you know that?"

" When she yells, she blows her vocal cords," Sydney explained.

" So?"

" She can't talk, well she can but she sounds horrible."

" We got into an argument last night," I explained as I walked out.

Olivia

Today was going to be bad. I've got a gut feeling.

I handed the note to Mrs. Song. She read it over, handed the note back and gave me a sympathetic smile. I sat down next to Mo and she gave me a questioning glance.

I uncapped the marker, Lost my voice.

" Are you sick?"

No.

" Well, what's wrong?"

Blew out vocal cords.

" Oh. Good luck with that."

I smiled and listened to Mrs. Song lecture us on Shakespeare.

~(-)~

I walked in Astronomy and handed Mrs. Hunt the note. She glared at me and handed me the note. Is she still pissed about the Pluto thing? She knows how to hold a grudge. I took my seat next to Scott and Charlie.

" Someone's bumming it today," Scott stated as he scanned me over. I elbowed him and smiled.

" No sarcastic remark today?" Charlie accused.

I rolled my eyes, Shut up.

" What are you doing? Going old school?" he asked.

Wow. Really? I lost my voice, smart one.

" She's still feisty, even when she can't talk," Scott chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and started to listen to Mrs. Hunt's presentation about the Sun.

In the middle of class she called on me, " Which way does the sun orbit?"

CLOCKWISE, I wrote really big.

" I'm sorry, I can't read that," she stated, " Can you please read it out loud?"

I winced. My throat was throbbing and she knew that but I put on my brave face.

" Clockwise," I croaked out. The class turned around to look at me. I sunk in my stool and waited impatiently for the bell to ring.

What a bitch!

~(-)~

The bell rang and I jumped out of seat, quickly walking to trig, not even bothering to wait for Mo. I was the first person in the class and handed Mr. Lease the note.

" Poor thing," he murmured as he pat me on the shoulder.

I took my seat in the back and started to write the warm-up. Mo came in and gave me a concerned glance as she took her seat in the front. I sighed; I didn't want everybody to worry for me. I was a big girl.

Ray sat down next to me and stared at my face. I tried to ignore him, but I gave in and glanced at him. He smiled ruefully.

" I know why you don't want to date me," his grin widened, as he looked me over.

Humor me.

" You're a lesbian," he whispered.

I am not. Because someone doesn't want to date you doesn't make her a lesbian.

" Whatever."

I shook my head and started doodling on the margins of my paper.

~(-)~

Lunch came quickly and I was excited to feel the carelessness of Stella. I saw her sitting at our usual table. I waved and walked over.

" Heard you lost your voice," She smiled.

I nodded in agreement and listened to Stella talk about nothing as we waited for Charlie.

Stella was telling me about the time Charlie tried to pull a prank on her. I was smiling as she told me how it back- fired on him when something squishy was squashed in my hair. I looked up to see Ray smirking at me as noodles fell into my lap.

I glared as hard as I could and stormed out of the cafeteria and into the girls' bathroom.

I looked in the mirror to see spaghetti on the top of my head, the sauce starting to stain my blonde hair. I held back the tears and started to pull the pasta from my hair. Stella walked in moments later, giving me a sympathetic smile and helped clean my hair.

Wen

I walked into Mrs. Wright room to see my table was empty. Hm, Olivia is usually already here. I guess she's ditching. Mrs. Wright started telling us how to read the constitution. Within two seconds, I zoned out.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Mrs. Wright abruptly stopped talking. I looked up to see Olivia standing in the doorway with Stella behind her. Stella pats her on the back and turned to walk to her next period. Olivia handed Mrs. Wright two notes. Mrs. Wright looked over them, handed one back to Olivia and told her where we were in the book. Olivia nodded and sat down next to me but she scooted her chair farther from me.

I rolled my eyes and got lost in my thoughts again.

Why do I smell spaghetti?

~(-)~

The last bell rang and I went outside to go to our usual hang out place while we waited for everybody else so we could leave for the Coffee Mug. Mo, Stella and Charlie were already there. I walked up to them but they didn't seem to realize I was there.

" Charlie, what happened in your Astronomy class? Olivia darted out of there," Mo questioned.

" Well she lost her voice and Mrs. Hunt called on her. She clearly knew the answer and wrote it really big on her wipe board. Mrs. Hunt acted like a total bitch, told her to read it loud. She did but then, the whole class turned to look at her since her voice is really raspy. After that, I think she tried to sink in her chair. I don't think Olivia is the type of person where she likes people staring at her."

" In math, I think Ray said something to her because she almost ran out of that class too," Mo observed.

" Oh, he did alright," Stella, stated.

" Really? Is that why he poured the spaghetti on her?" Charlie asked as he took Stella's hand in his. By now Scott was standing next to me listening to the conversation.

" Yeah. Apparently he tried flirting with her and she shot him down, hard. So he came to the conclusion that she's a lesbian. Which she's not."

" How'd you know all that?" Charlie asked.

" After I helped her get the spaghetti out of her hair, I asked what happened. She wrote it's a long story. I told her I didn't really care since I don't like Mr. Gorman. I think she hates that she can't talk."

Everybody frowned, including me. I didn't know she was going through that much. Wait, why do I care?

" Well are you guys ready to go to the Coffee Mug?" Scott asked, breaking the silence.

We nodded our agreement and headed towards our cars.