Chapter 13

The next morning at school I knew I remembered how to get to class and yet Mason still met me in the hallway and walked with me to class. Surprising me, and I think he surprised himself as well, he started to talk. 

“How are you doing in your classes?” To me, it was a rather weird question, one that only gets asked when someone doesn’t have a real subject to talk about, but I answered him anyway. 

“Um, good. They all started off pretty much exactly where my last classes were.” He shot me a smile and I swear my heart fluttered. 

“That’s good. Speaking of, where did you move here from anyway?” We were almost to the room, but I didn’t want this conversation to end so I slowed my pace. 

“I only lived about an hour away, so I didn’t move far.” 

“Why’d you move then? It just seems weird to only move so far. Most people who come here, say that they came from, like, Pennsylvania or someplace farther like that.” My body tensed as he asked the question. My mind raced as I tried to come up with something reasonable. 

“Well, my parents pretty much decided to move because they felt like it.” I hoped I sounded believable, but looking at his face, it was obvious that I didn’t. However, he didn’t push it and we finally made it to the room. As I sat down, I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. 

First period flew by in a flash, but instead of just leaving like usual, Mason followed me out and continued our conversation like it never ended. Though, luckily for me, he moved from the topic of me moving and instead started asking me about my likes and dislikes. 

Strangely enough, he never talked to me during class, but he would in the hallway, and the day continued on just like that. Having class, talking to Mason on the way to our next class, and then repeating. 

When we got to lunch, I was really hoping that he would invite me to sit with him. I was tired of sitting by myself. So my heart sank when he left me to go sit with his friends. I couldn’t really be angry though, he had the right to sit wherever he wanted. Just because he had been talking to me, didn’t mean that he had to invite me to sit with him. That fact didn’t stop me from being a little disappointed though. However, I was just happy that someone was talking to me at all, so I tried not to think about it too much. 

Walking up to get in line, I was met with whispers like usual. However, this time I heard Mason’s name. 

“Did you hear that Mason was talking to the mute girl?” A gasp followed and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. It wasn’t that shocking and it was none of their business. 

“Too bad she can’t reply to him.” Giggles followed, but through them, a third girl spoke. 

“I bet it’s only a joke.” Despite the way my heart sank at that idea, I didn’t think it was right. I mean, obviously Mason knew I wasn’t mute, so it couldn’t be a joke. Plus, Mason didn’t strike me as that type of person. I was proved right five minutes later. 

After getting my food, sitting down, and reading for about three minutes, I was startled as a tray plopped down in front of me. Followed by one to my right and another in front of him. Looking up, I was met with Mason smiling down at me and two of his friends. 

“Is it alright if we sit here?” I opened my mouth to say yes, but nothing came out so I just nodded instead. Mason chuckled as he sat down, obviously laughing at my attempt of answering. My cheeks grew bright red. 

“So, Sera, this is Isiah,” he said pointing to the tall blond at my right. “And this is Kevin,” he explained, pointing to the kind-looking Asian. “Guys, this is Sera.” I smiled at both of them and raised my hand to give them a little wave. 

“It’s nice to meet you guys.” I watched as Isiah’s eyebrows raised and Kevin smiled brightly. 

“So you really aren’t mute.” 

Isiah explained, “I should’ve known better than to listen to the rumors.” I nodded, happy that more people would finally admit that. 

“Yeah, um, I don’t really know how that started. I’m just a quiet person.” I finally set my book down and listened as Kevin and Isiah launched into a conversation about what they were planning to do for the English project that we all had to do. It was a large part of our grade for the semester. We were reading Romeo and Juliet and we had to create a video of a scene from the play. I was just going to do it myself, but I was struggling to even pick a scene. Isiah and Kevin were very enthusiastic and were almost shouting their ideas at each other. I shot a look at Mason and we both struggled to keep from laughing. Keeping his voice low so he didn’t interrupt them, he started speaking to me. 

“How about you, Sera? Did you have a partner?” 

“No, I was just gonna do it by myself.” 

“Hey, why don’t we do it together?” The shock was evident on my face, and I could see a smirk tug at his lips. 

“Um…. sure! Did you have a scene in mind?” 

“Actually, I was thinking about doing the death scenes.” And from there we launched into our own conversation about what to do. 

“Could I come over to your place tomorrow to work on it?” 

“Uh, yeah, that sounds good.”