Even Without Words

Kellin

I couldn’t believe Vic took me to his hiding spot. It seemed so special to him and he was willing to share it with me and no one else. It made me think that there was hope for us yet. After dinner, we were hanging out with everyone but little by little, they started going upstairs and soon it was just Vic and I.
“Wanna troll Netflix and see what there is?” Vic asked me. I nodded excitedly and we started flipping through the movies. “They have Coraline!!! Want to watch it?”
I’ve never seen it. I told him and he looked at me like I was crazy.
“This is like the best movie ever, we have to watch it!” He said excitedly and put it on.
It was a really good movie, by the time we finished it was getting late and I was starting to fall asleep a little.
“We have classes in the morning,” Vic reminded me. “We should probably get to bed.”
I ended up getting up first and nodding before yawning and starting towards the stairs. Vic followed me and I got the bathroom first so I could get ready for bed. When I was done, Vic had already changed and only needed to brush his teeth so I let him have the bathroom and crawled under my blanket. Vic turned off the lights soon after and I heard his bed squeak under his weight.
“Goodnight Kellin,” Vic said.
“Goodnight Vic,” I whispered so quietly, I barely heard.
The next morning, I was woken up by Vic pushing me a little. I rubbed my eyes and looked up at him.
“Get up Kellin, we have to get you registered for classes,” He told me. I noticed he was already dressed but his hair was really curly. “I’m going to finish getting ready in the bathroom, get dressed.”
Vic left me and shut the bathroom door behind him while I got up. I pulled on some of the tightest skinny jeans I own and a plain grey shirt. I grabbed my notebook and stuffed it in the drawstring bag that I’d emptied yesterday. I shoved my pencil case and a brand new notebook that I’d forgotten I had into it too and Vic and I stopped to grab a quick breakfast first.
Vic had a takeout container filled more than I would’ve thought possible and I’d simply just grabbed a bagel, which was more than I usually ever ate but I figured I was going to be stressed, why not at least avoid being even the tiniest bit hungry. We walked to the administrative office in silence because we were both eating. I finished my bagel before we got there and Vic was still working on devouring the mountain of food in his hands.
“Oh you must be Kellin,” A nice looking old lady said when we walked in. “We don’t usually get new students here.”
“Mrs. Hunt, he doesn’t talk,” Vic said. I hadn’t even noticed that she was expecting me to respond.
“Oh, I’m sorry dear,” She said. “Here’s a time table, just circle the classes that you want to take. You need to take at least one English course though.”
Vic and I sat down at one of the tables and I pulled out my little notebook that I used for talking and a pen.
“So what are you going to take Kellin?” Vic asked me curiously. For first period, my options were English lit, art, gym or chemistry. I quickly circled art since the other three weren’t all that appealing. Second was also gym, biology, photography or music. I picked photography since it seemed the most interesting and I couldn’t play an instrument for my life. I tried to play the trombone once… It didn’t really work out. For third I took a spare, meaning no class and lastly I picked creative writing studies as my English. I also had to pick for next semester so I chose computers and technology, media studies, and cooperative education and fourth period off.
“Hey, we’re going to have CWS together last period and comp tech next semester,” Vic said happily. We handed back the paper to Mrs. Hunt and she plugged the information into her computer.
“Here you go honey,” She said and handed me another piece of paper. “Have a nice first day!”
“Come on, I’ll show you where your first class is,” Vic said as we left. We walked back to the building with all the classrooms and my class was on the first floor and it was a really big room, full of kids already. I saw Jesse and Gabe sitting across the room.
“Hey Kellin!” Jesse said loudly with a huge smile.
“I’ll see you during fourth, okay?” Vic asked me and I nodded. He smiled at me before leaving and I walked over to Jesse and Gabe.
“Hey kiddo,” Jesse said in his usual over-enthusiastic way. I smiled at him and sat down and waited until the teacher came in.
“Come on, I’ll talk for you,” Gabe said and we walked over to the woman at the front of the room.
“Ms. Wren?” Gabe said to get her attention. “This is Kellin, he’s a new student.”
“Well hello there dear,” She said and shook my hand. She was a very sweet looking woman. “What’s wrong hun? Cat got your tongue?”
“Oh he doesn’t talk,” Gabe explained.
“Welcome to the class anyways Kellin,” She said with a smile. She seemed like a grandmother, not that I would really know since mine was… well, not the greatest. “I hope you have a good first day. Besides, today we’re doing splatter painting so you can start with some fun!”
She was right, it was fun. Even though Gabe, Jesse and I got in a paint fight.