The One Without Words

❀ chapter four | leave me alone please ❀

I was sitting in English class, struggling to keep my eyes open, when my phone buzzed.  

coming 2 my party 2nite? ;) x

From Seth, of course. He was probably the only one of my friends that still texted like he was in middle school. I sent back a "No" and tried to pay attention to the teacher. 

My phone buzzed again. 

y not????

I turned my head to glare at him across the room but he wasn't looking at me, instead paying attention to his phone concealed under his desk. 

Busy, I texted back. 

wit wat?? :P

As if he didn't already know. Flower stuff

u and ur flowers lol

The teacher had her back turned to the class. I sighed and looked at the clock. Only two more minutes.

Seth gave Jack's back a poke with the tip of his pen. Two seconds passed, and he did it again. And again, but Jack didn't move. As usual, he slept instead of listening to the teacher, his head on his arm and his notebook beside him, blank.

I sent Seth another text: Can you please stop?

He took his pen away and looked up, barely containing his laughter. His response came a moment later:

u protecting mute boi now?? ;)

If only he knew about the show "mute boi" witnessed the other day at dinner. Usually, I'd be dying to tell my friends about it, but clearly things soured after I'd avoided everyone for the summer, putting all my efforts into making sure the flower shop didn't go bankrupt instead.

Then there was Eli. Rule number one of friendships: Never sleep with them. I'd definitely inspired some top notch poems, though. Or at least my ego hoped so.

The bell rang. After the poke attack from Seth, before anyone rose from their seat, Jack sprang out the door. Yesterday, he'd shown up forty-five minutes late to his shift. Talia hadn't been there to see it, hadn't been there for his first attempt at a flower arrangement—atrocious—after he'd refused to listen to my tips. Refused to look at me or communicate in any way, and no, I didn't think mutism was to blame. The jackass—literally—thought he could strut into work late like he owned the place.

And there was no way I'd let him get away with it today.

In a flash, I collected my things and ran out the door, spotting him walking toward the exit. He turned a corner, away from the horde of students, and I took the opportunity to call out, "Hey Jack!"

He turned.

"It suits you better than mute boy." I stepped closer. "How about we make a deal? You quit the shop, and I'll get Seth and co. to stop bothering you."

Unamused, he turned back around. Was he getting better at deflecting my taunts?

My phone buzzed. Seth? No... An unknown number flashed on the screen, followed by a message below:

you bother me

I saved his number in my contacts under the name jackass. "Looks like Talia gave you my number."

His face had a pink mark from when he'd been lying on his arm. The faint outlines of spiral notebook rings lined his cheek.

"So, how exactly do you plan to stop Seth on your own?" I asked. "You're just going to put up with it? Are you that spineless?"