Silent

The next morning, the Munroe’s daughter rose early, just before sunrise, to do her morning chores. She crept quietly downstairs, careful not to wake her parents before their alarm, lest she get a tongue lashing. Once downstairs, she set the table for breakfast, swept the kitchen and started the laundry. Outside, after a brief wave to the neighbour, she watered the garden and raked up the leaves that fallen during the night.

When she was finished, the young woman went back inside to get ready for school and make breakfast. After that was finished, she took the dirty dishes without a word and washed them, before kissing her parents good bye and leaving for school.

She walked to the bus stop at the end of the street and, as always, arrived just as the bus pulled up. The girl boarded with a nod to the driver, before slipping into her usual seat right behind him.

“Good morning, Miss Munroe,” He smiled to her in the mirror, as he did every morning.

He received a friendly smile in return, as always.

Arriving at school, the girl went straight to her locker and removed her coat, before folding it neatly and putting in alongside her books. She checked her reflection in the mirror, making sure that her hair was still in place.

She closed her locker and turned to go to her first class of the morning, but found her way blocked.

“Morning, loser,” Natalia Bradman, the school queen bee, sneered down at her.

The young woman said nothing, lowering her eyes to the ground.

“What, you’re not going to say ‘morning’ back?” Natalia taunted sarcastically.

The young woman just stared at the ground.

“How rude-“Natalia started off, before she was cut off by someone coughing behind her.

“Excuse me, I need to get to my locker,” Came a deep, melodic voice from behind the popular vixen and her band of sidekicks.

“Well, you’ll just have to wait,” Natalia snapped. Turning around, both she and her victim gasped.

It was the young mage.

His dancing green eyes glanced up and down Natalia briefly, brushing off her presence as they spotted the violet-eyed human girl from the previous night.

“Well, this is a surprise,” The annoyance in his handsome features smoothing away into a pleasant smile.

Natalia stared at him, her mouth open at this handsome young man standing before her. But, she wasn’t the popular girl for nothing, so she snapped her mouth shut and stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the brown-haired girl that he seemed to know from somewhere.

“I’m so sorry for snapping at you like, I didn’t realise we had a new student,” She said, flashing her most flirtatious and welcoming smile. “I’m Natalia.”

“Apology accepted, Natalia, but actually, you have three new students,” The mage replied smoothly, gesturing behind him. A young man and woman, the two also bore the tell-tale signs of a mage. The young man’s eyes glowed black, his pupils golden, while the girl’s skin showed a slight bluish tinge.
Natalia opened her mouth to reply, but the young mage stepped around her to the young woman behind her.

“We meet again,” He smiled down at her, as her violet eyes stared back up at him in awed surprise.
But she said nothing. Rather, a big smile appeared on her face that he was sure had never been there before.

“Not even a hello?” He asked quizzically, as she beamed up at him, her eyes widening with embarrassment as he said this. She blushed and her eyes fell to the floor once again as she attempted to make a getaway to the safety of her classroom.

“Don’t mind her,” Natalia interceded, placing a flirtatious hand on his arm. “She won’t talk to you, she never speaks. And by the way, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Silas Bellhouse.” He replied shortly, taking a step forward so that her hand fell to her side, her eyes narrowing dangerously. No one had ever declined her advances, ever.

This step took him a step closer to the silent youth in front of him.

“And your name, my dear?” He asked her quietly, gently taking a hold of her arm so she couldn’t escape, as his two companions rolled their eyes and walked around them to their new lockers.

Natalia looked on, jealously waiting for the girl to reply to Silas, smiling victoriously when she didn’t. The siren sounded and she left, hesitantly, leaving Silas waiting for his answer, as the violet-eyed girl attempted to get to her own class. When she realised that he wasn’t going to let her go with an answer she furrowed her brows, her petite nose wriggling and violet eyes darting side to side as she thought quickly while Silas looked on patiently. Suddenly, her eyes widened as an idea struck.

Unslinging her backpack, while juggling it in her arms, she unzipped it and whipped out one of her notebooks. She replaced the backpack and turned the book around, pointing to something on the cover with a delicate, yet insistent finger.

“Violet Munroe,” Silas murmured, reading the neatly printed name on the front cover.

She nodded hastily, before ducking around him and hurrying off to her class before he could say more. Satisfied, Silas turned to his companions.

“So, that’s the mage you saw in the car last night?” Asked the young man, whose name was Alistair.
Silas nodded, his eyes on the retreating figure.

“She didn’t happen to tell you the way to our classes, did she?” Their female companion cut in pointedly.

“I didn’t ask.”

She stared back at him in annoyance.

“Sorry, Thea,” He grinned apologetically.

Thea rolled her eyes and pulled out her timetable and map. “Well, I’m in room 14A, which is downstairs, so I’ll see you later.”

With that, their female companion turned and headed towards the stairwell. The two boys hastily pulled out their own paperwork. As it turned out, Alistair was also in room 14A, while Silas was in room 22B, which was on the floor they were currently. So, Alistair gave his friend an encouraging clap on the shoulder, before chasing after Thea.

Silas sighed and walked to his new class. He hadn’t been his idea to return to high school, it had been the High Mage of Lotus Falls’. The High Mage was a close friend of his father, so it had made sense that, when the three young mage’s had decided to spend a few years in the city, they would stay with him.

His father had wanted him to refresh his education, so Lord Winterbourne had sent the three of them back to high school. At first, Silas had detested the High Mage’s decision, he didn’t want to be stuck in some educational institute for human teenagers; he wanted to explore the city and the rich history he had read about. But, he had to admit, finding the violet-eyed mage girl here had changed his mind.

Violet, he thought. It suited the girl perfectly, given the colour of her eyes.

At that moment, he walked into his classroom. The teacher looked up from the roll at him, looking back at it.

“Ah, you must be Mr Bellhouse?” The ordinary, middle-aged man asked, adjusting his reading glasses.

Silas nodded curtly. “Sorry, I had a bit of trouble finding the room.”

“Not a problem, you can either sit next to Natalia,” Silas glanced at the popular girl who grinned, almost hungrily, at him. “Or, young Violet down the back there.”

At the sound of her name, Silas snapped his head around to see the girl staring back at him from the back corner of the room, her eyes glowing happily. He immediately walked over to the empty seat beside her and sat down, causing another enormous grin to break out onto her petite face.

“Well, we just keep running into one another, don’t we,” He smiled, making her blush as the teacher continued on with the morning roll call.

He continued to smile, almost idiotically, at her as the teacher read out the morning notices, not paying attention when the teacher mentioned his name.

“Mr Bellhouse?” The teacher called.

Violet, who was trying, unsuccessfully, to ignore Silas’ stare, raised her eyebrows at him pointedly, tilting her head towards the teacher pointedly. The smile dropped from the mage’s face, as he turned around to find the teacher patiently waiting for him to answer.

“I, uh, beg your pardon?” He asked, embarrassed at having not heard him.

“Not listening already?” The teacher scolded, as quite laughter rippled through the class. “I asked if you would care to introduce yourself to the class.”

“Oh.”

The class laughed again.

“Well?” The teacher persisted.

“Well,” Silas responded, clearing his throat. “I’m not sure that I need to. You’ve already said my name, more than once, and I’m not really sure what else there is to know,” He shrugged.

“How about where you moved from?”

“Out of town.”

Another ripple of laughter from the class.

“Did your family move here for any particular reason? What about your parents? What do they do for a living?”

“I moved here because I wanted to. My parents live in Vancouver, my father is the Head Mage there and my mother is his Chief Advisor.”

This time, it was awed whispering that filled the classroom. The teacher nodded tautly and immediately changed topic.

“So, as I was saying, the farthest corner of the school will be off limit for the time being, while it undergoes some much needed renovations…”

Rolling his eyes, Silas returned his attention to the violet-eyed teen beside him. She was staring at him again, her piercing violet eyes wide and unblinking, her mouth hanging open slightly in awe.

“What?” He smirked.

Violet snapped her mouth shut and turned her head, try to hide her face as she blushed, again.

“So, now you’re not even going to look at me?”

At this, she turned her head back slightly to glance shyly at him from the corner of her eye, before hastily looking towards to window.

“Well, that’s just rude,” He joked light-heartedly. “I sat next to you, just so I could see your pretty face, and you won’t even look at me.”

Violet swallowed and turned back to him bashfully.

“Great,” Silas smiled triumphantly. “Now, all I need to do is get you to talk to me.”

She stared back at him as if he’d just suggested that she jump out of the window behind her, before shaking her head vehemently and fixing her gaze on the whiteboard at the front of the class. He tried to get her to look at him again, but she stubbornly kept her eyes on the front of the class as she wrote down the teacher’s notes.

He spent the rest of the class trying to regain her attention, but she continued to ignore him. When the bell rang, signalling the end of class, she shoved her things into her bag and stormed out of the room, with Silas close behind her. The young woman headed for the staircase, but Silas grabbed her backpack, pulling her back and pushing her against the wall. She tried to step past him, but he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her trapping her.

“What was that for?” He asked, his temper get a head of him.

The girl just stood there, tensing as if waiting for him to raise his voice at her, flinching as he lowered him face to hers.

“Violet?”

Her eyes met his, guarded and hesitant. Why wouldn’t she just talk to him? With an exasperated sigh, he straightened, taking his hands of the wall.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” He huffed, standing aside to let her pass. “But, don’t think I’m going to leave you alone, just because you won’t talk me. I know you can.”

Violet stayed where she was, looking up him stoically.

“You intrigue me, dear, and I intend to hear you speak at least once before I leave this hell hole.”

Just then, she smiled up at him wryly, before walking off to her next class and leaving him to find his way to his next class.