TW // None
CW // Profanity
To Jax’s relief, Raymond and Levi quickly agreed to help him with his narrative. Raymond had enthusiastically agreed to be his friend. Jax had decided not to ask Levi because the boy was rather reclusive and he’d hardly heard more than a few words from his mouth.
Today, Logan showed up for science class as well. He was thankful for that because it was the last day they were given to work on their project. Jax still had a few things he wanted to finalise with the other boy, but, other than that, they were pretty much done.
After they had finalised the details, Jax twirled his pencil between his fingers mindlessly. Bored, he tapped it against his chin repeatedly.
"So," he said after another minute. "Got any weekend plans?" He glanced over at Logan. The boy paused for a moment before shaking his head. Then, he made a gesture that Jax discerned as "and you?"
"Nah," Jax said, leaning back in his chair and leaving it balancing on only two of its legs touching the ground. He was quickly scolded by his teacher and let the chair fall into its proper position.
He realised with a start that he didn't actually know too much about Logan. Basic things like his favourite colours, movies, and books were a mystery to Jax.
Mr Reynolds came over right then to give them a few tips about their project. Since they had finished working, the teacher had already begun to look over their work and scrutinise the details. Soon, both boys were engrossed in the project.
The getting-to-know-Logan questions lingered in the back of his mind as they worked. He decided to follow the boy to wherever he sat during lunch and interrogate him then. The class period ticked by agonisingly slowly, but it ended nevertheless.
Logan was out the door in an instant, but Jax was quick to follow. They rounded a few corners before Logan looked back. Jax ducked behind the corner and pressed himself against the wall. Why am I hiding? It’s not like I’m doing anything bad. Still, he waited until he heard footsteps once more to move.
He followed Logan up a few flights of stairs before coming to a dead end. Well, the end wasn’t really dead. It was the door to the roof, though, and he assumed students weren’t allowed up there.
Yet there was no other place Logan could have gone. Nervously, he pushed open the door.
The air was nice and cool as it brushed against his skin. Immediately, the sound of voices filled his ears. His eyes landed on three people — Logan and two others. What surprised him the most was the fact that neither of the other two people’s jaws were moving at the moment, yet the sound of someone’s voice still pierced the air.
He can talk.
A girl with dark brown hair was the first to notice him. She cut Logan off, asking “Yo, who is that?”
Immediately, the other two whirled around. Jax saw Logan’s eyes go wide and his brows knit together as he took in Jax’s appearance.
“You can talk.”
Logan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. He shifted his gaze downwards. Jax took this as admission. He let out a light chuckle. “So what? You’ve been lying to me?”
Logan shook his head immediately. “That’s not—“ he began to sign, but Jax turned away.
“ You have a voice. Fucking use it.”
He turned once more only to see Logan’s expression. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were stained lightly with tears. He looked hurt. Funny, Jax thought. When he’s the one who’s been lying.
“Hey, listen—“ the boy next to Logan cut in. “He can talk, yes, but it’s not that simple.”
“Not that simple?” Jax’s eyebrows furrowed, anger flashing through his eyes. “Not that simple?” he repeated. “Then why didn’t he, I don’t know, say anything?”
The boy frowned. “Listen, man, you need to—“
“No,” Jax declared, promptly turning around. “No, I’m done.”
And with that, he left.
He strode through the hallways with his back straight for the first minute or so, giving off an air of confidence. Then, gradually, his shoulders began to slump. He made his way to the nearest bathroom and locked himself inside one of the stalls. He pressed his palms to his forehead and heaved out a sob.
Jax felt betrayed. Someone he considered his friend had lied to him about whether or not he could talk. Jax would have loved to hear his voice. From the snippet he caught, it was deep and soothing. But he hid that part of him from Jax, and he took great offence to that.
After a few minutes, his tears had settled and he had calmed considerably. He swiped at the remnant wet spots on his cheeks as he stood. He set it in his mind that no matter what, he would ignore Logan.
After all, how could he be friends with someone who outright refused to talk to him?
With that thought in mind, he stepped out of the restroom and made his way to his sixth-period class.
As soon as Jax retreated back inside the school, Logan crumpled to the floor. He wrapped his arms around his knees and shoved his head into the gap between them and his chest. His eyes remained open as a gentle stream of tears trickled from the corner of his eyes.
He hadn’t meant for Jax to find out that he could talk. Not now, and perhaps not ever. As much as he tried to solidify in his mind that Jax wouldn’t hurt him, he couldn’t. There was still that little voice in the back of his mind telling Logan that he would. That voice controlled him at this point, and he hated himself for it.
Still, the sheer look of pain on Jax’s face when he realised Logan could, in fact, talk—that was painful to look at. He immediately felt bad. The overwhelming urge to run over to Jax and soothe him and apologise over and over again until he wasn’t angry anymore had nearly overtaken him. But he held himself back. He had to.
As good as a friend Jax was, he would surely grow distant if he learned of Logan’s home life. He’d be wary of him—no, his father—and thus stay away from Logan. And he’d find out about his home life if he pressed for details on why Logan was selectively mute. If. That word seemed to be a rather pleasant one to hear. It might not mean anything necessarily good, but it didn’t mean anything necessarily bad, either.
He was betting on ifs.
But the first thing he had to do was find Jax.
He broke away from Harper and Riley, who he hadn’t even noticed sitting on the ground beside him. Making his way to the door as quickly as possible, Logan ignored the concerned shouts of his friends. He wiped a streak of tears from his face and jogged towards Jax’s sixth-period class.
He almost ran into someone after he rounded a corner. He barely managed to skid to a stop in time. When he looked to see who he nearly bumped into, he couldn’t believe his luck.
As quickly as humanly possible, he grabbed onto Jax’s wrist and tugged gently.
Jax turned around, a frigid glare fixed onto his face. “What?” he asked, his fury slipping into his tone.
“Can-“ Logan barely finished his first series of motions when Jax turned around.
“Talk,” he said rather rudely. “I know you can.”
Logan tried. He tried to force the words out of his throat, which didn’t seem to want to open. He tried to form letter sounds with his lips, but none came. He tried. Yet nothing happened. He squeezed Jax’s wrist harder, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Will you listen to me, he tried to say, but the air couldn’t escape his lungs.
Finally, Jax turned around. “What? Not going to speak?”
“Will you please listen to me?” Logan signed desperately, hoping Jax wouldn’t turn away this time. But perhaps what happened instead was worse.
Jax scoffed. “Listen to you? Oh, but you can’t talk. Wait—that’s not right—you can! You just lied to me and everyone else about it!” His tone dripped with sarcasm. Logan’s heart throbbed at his words, and the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes finally dripped down his face.
“Please,” he begged silently. “Please, let me explain.”
But Jax wasn’t paying attention anymore. Anger flooded his bones, and he yanked his wrist away. “If you’ve got nothing better to say, leave me alone.”
The emphasis on the word say stung Logan. His chest ached as he stood and watched Jax walk away. He didn’t want him to leave.
The bell rang, signifying that it was time to get to class.
For once in his life, Logan Matthews wasn’t looking forward to music class.
Comments (6)
See all