Screaming in Silence

The bell rang loudly throughout the school as soon as Alice and I stepped foot inside, making every teenager in the building groan as the loud noise aggravated their still hungover bodies from the weekend of heavy partying. I, on the other hand, don't drink so I was probably the only teenager there who did not groan at the noise. Another reason for the groan was that the tinny bell meant the beginning of yet another long and arduous week.

"All right kids, calm down and take your seats quietly," Mr Foster called out monotonously. Mr Foster clearly hated his job, which was a shame because it seemed to be a pretty easy job for him. The girls especially made his job easy for him as they jumped every time he told them to. Mr Foster was an exceptionally good looking man and very young for his profession. He'd recently admitted to our form that he'd been studying Psychology at university the previous year but had dropped out because he hated it, now he's just a tutor to a bunch of "spoilt, hyped up teenagers" as he nicely put it. That proves that even the school don't think much of personal tutors seeing as they need no qualifications what so ever to be called a tutor.

"Mr Foster?" cooed Amber, a pampered princess sat on the table directly in front of him and batting her false eyelashes at Mr Foster. He simply carried on searching through papers and grunted an acknowledgement of her presence. "I was wondering if you could maybe arrange some extra tutoring for me for Psychology? I'm really struggling and I thought you'd be the perfect person to help me."

"Why on earth would you think that?" he answered rudely, still not looking up at Amber. "Wouldn't your Psychology teacher be a better person to help you out there?" he had her there. It was clear to anyone with eyes and ears that she just wanted to be alone with Mr Foster so she can try and put the moves on him. Yuck.

"But you did Psychology at university so-" she started, but Mr Foster cut her off.

"And I also dropped it because I hated it and realised that I was a complete dunce for taking such a pointless subject. I'm not tutoring you Amber, so if you need help ask your actual teacher. Now, take your seat so I can take the register," Mr Foster retorted, earning a few sniggers from the slowly filling up classroom. Amber went slightly red and murmured and apology before swivelling round and strutting back to her group at the back of the classroom. "Right, John Ainsling?" Mr Foster called out.

"Here," John called back.

"Aaron Akington?"

"Here," he muttered from beneath his arms as Aaron attempted to fall asleep on his desk.

"Head up and wake up Aaron," Mr Foster warned. "Bethany Baker?" I raised my hand, but he didn't lift his head. "Beth?" he called out again. I waved my hand like a mad man, finally catching his eye. "Oh, yes, sorry Beth," he apologised, a sympathetic smile playing on his lips. I rolled my eyes, he did that almost every time the register was taken. You'd think after about 6 months he'd remember that I didn't talk.

"Speak up then Beth," sniggered Tom Maner, the class bully and wannabe clown. Unfortunately for him, that spot was taken by my friend Noah Parks.

"Oh look, Tom thinks he's hard for picking on the mute chick. At least he agrees that she's the only one who won't talk back," Noah pointed out, not realising that that particular comment hurt not just Tom, but me too. Making me look even weaker than was already seen by my peers.

"All right kids, calm down!" Mr Foster called out, silencing the group. "Beth I need to see you after this lesson's over please," he asked. I nodded and began playing with my bracelets, embarrassed about Tom's and Noah's outbursts. Annoyed with myself that I can't even stand up for myself to a cheap shot like that.

Tutorial lasted only twenty minutes in the morning, so I suppose it couldn't really be classed as a lesson. The only reason for tutorial in the morning was to take the register and for the students to ask any burning questions that couldn't wait until afternoon tutorial. As everyone got up to leave the room and walk to their first real lesson, I stayed behind to talk to Mr Foster. Everyone filed out of the room, leaving the two of us alone in awkward silence. I didn't like Mr Foster. He was rude and didn't even try to hide his dislike for his students. Unfortunately for me, he didn't feel the same about me. I didn't know whether he felt like I was some disabled little girl who needed protecting or not, but he always gave me special treatment and never snapped at poor little me. I hated it.

"Beth, thanks for staying behind," he smiled at me. I hated his smile, it always seemed so fake and forced that I didn't see the point in it. I shrugged my shoulders but didn't bother to smile back. Smiling was my only real way of speaking with emotion, so I saved it for people I actually cared for. "I suppose you're probably wondering why I asked you to stay behind?" he chuckled and moved from behind his desk to lean on the front. I shrugged again, not really bothered. Staying behind with Mr Foster meant that it was a few less minutes I had to spend in Maths with the doddery old man, Mr Moore. "I was wondering if you're ok?" that question shocked me a little. Mr Foster had never seemed like the type to care. "I saw you limping this morning and I've noticed quite a few things like that over the past few months that I've been your tutor."

That, I couldn't believe. My friends never noticed anything wrong, so why did he? Why did he pay so much attention that he saw through my façade when my best friends didn't? He must have seen the sceptical look on my face.

"You know you can trust me right? You can talk to me," he smiled. There was something behind that smile, it wasn't like the fake ones I so regularly loathed. But it wasn't nice either. I suppose being mute helped me to judge people easier as I didn't have to think about what I would say or my response to peoples questions, so I'd always focused on people's facial expressions and their body language. It was a little hobby of mine which I'd learned to be quite good at. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from next to where Mr Foster sat.

"I think you're seeing things," I wrote, a confused look on my face but not for the reason he thought.

"I just assumed you never told anyone because you couldn't," he raised an eyebrow, his sickening smile still on his lips.

"Never told anyone what?" I wrote again, shoving the piece of paper in his hand.

"You know very well what I'm talking about. But at least I know that you keep your mouth shut, unlike most girls in this school," he grinned. At that point, my confusion was real and I think he knew that. "I know you're abused, but what I care about is the fact that you won't say a word," he murmured, slowly getting closer to my statue like figure. He placed his hands on the desk I leaned against, a hand on either side of me. "You won't even stand up to the likes of Tom Maner," he jeered. "So what are the chances that you'll stand up to the likes of... me?" he purred into my ear. I was frozen with fear. His lips placed chaste kisses along my jawline, leading to my lips. As he gently kissed the corner of my mouth I moved my face away from his, but he only grabbed my face with his hand and forced it back to his. He pushed his lips against mind and forced my mouth apart with his tongue, pushing it inside my mouth. I squirmed against his grip and pushed against his chest, trying to get him away from me but he was a lot stronger than I was. His free hand slipped under my skirt and grabbed onto my ass roughly, his lips still attacking mine furiously. I brought my knee up between his legs and kneed him hard in the crotch. That made him let go. His grip on my face loosened and he fell to the ground, clutching his crotch and his eyes wide with pain. His face fell pale and he groaned with pain. I didn't check to see if he was ok, I didn't care, I just ran out of that classroom and told myself I'd never go back on my own.

He didn't come after me, but I knew he wouldn't. I still ran towards my next lesson, earning a few tuts and coughs from teachers trying to warn me to stop running. I paused outside my first lesson and composed myself before pulling the door open and taking my seat next to Noah.

"Nice of you to join us Miss Baker," the boring old man muttered.

"Sir, she kept behind by Mr Foster," Daniel spoke for me.

"Oh right, well that's not a problem. Today we're starting work on quadratic equations. Anyone know what that is?" Mr Moore ask the class, causing everyone in the class to stare back at him with a blank expression. "I thought not," he chuckled to himself. "A quadratic equation can be written like this," he began, writing a bunch of letters on the board. One thing I'd never really understood was why equations were all about letters, shouldn't it be numbers? It is maths after all. "the 'x' represents a variable and the 'a', 'b' and 'c' are..."

I tuned out after that. I was terrible at maths and I had no desire to get any better, I had more important things to think about. My mind was currently preoccupied with thoughts about what Mr Foster had just done. I had never liked him, that was perfectly clear, but I had never thought him capable of taking advantage of a student. Especially an underage one. Despite his rudeness and hatred for his job, he seemed like an easy to read guy. Boy, was I wrong. Something he said in particular got to me though, "what I care about is the fact that you won't say a word" that's why the creep had chosen me. That's why he had always given me special treatment. It's because I'm mute and I won't be able to talk to anyone about it. Sure, I could write something down and show someone, but he was right. I wouldn't tell anyone and he knew this because he'd been watching me closely and knew about Tony's treatment towards me. When he'd tried to get me to talk about it, that was a test and I failed it. He was testing to see if I'd tell him or if I'd keep my mouth shut to protect my abuser. In a way, I felt guilty and felt like it was my fault. If only I could talk, if only I wasn't stupid and had told him about Tony then I wouldn't be scared to go back into that room. If a forced kiss and him groping my ass was all that happened this time, what would happen next time?