mute // cake

6: Cute

The rest of the week went by with a blur of silence. It was loud and noisy, of course, but I was seduced by silence. The way he could interact with the others silently, never making a noise. The way he kept himself hidden, deep inside, and the way he never let himself see the light. As I watched Calum that week, I noticed how everything about him was an act. A mask. As if the silence wasn't enough of a mask.

Calum was attractive, and he knew it. He used it to his advantage, with his teachers and peers, lightly touching their hand when taking a piece of paper, looking at them when they stared and pretending to be caught looking, and his favorite, stretching and showing off his boxers and toned stomach.

The girls loved him, the mysteriousness of the mute. He had girls in every class, and in the halls, who watched and followed him. It was a bit weird, honestly. But when you look past the hand touches and the boxers that seem to get lower each day, there isn't any girl he seems to really like. Every day it seems to change, the charm always there, but directed towards someone else.

He's also a great student. I don't know how he does it, never asking questions or for help. Yet his grades are always higher then mine.

Then again it's not hard to have grades higher than me.

We hadn't texted. It upset me, because when Calum dropped me off he seemed to tell me he would text me, or we would text. Maybe he wanted me to be the first to text him, but I didn't know what to say. I felt like everything I could say was stupid.

When the final bell of the week rang, Calum, Michael and I walked out of math class together, Michael discussing how we would all go to his house, play Fifa, and eat pizza. Calum nodded when Michael asked if we were in, and I did too.

The three of us passed my mom's classroom on our way out of school, and my mum took my arm.

"Luke, I want to talk to you," she said. Not threateningly, nothing to worry about. I didn't mind having my mom drive me home, even though Ashton had been driving me home all week, but I didn't want to leave Calum just yet.

"I'll see you guys later," I reluctantly said, following my mom into her room.

"Those are nice boys you made friends with," she said.

I nodded. "Yeah, they're all really nice."

"I have Michael in one of my classes... He's... Fun."

I laughed. That's one way to put him.

"I have Calum's sister in my AP Calc," she said. "She's nice."

I nodded. I didn't know Calum had a sister.

"She said you're cute," my mum said nonchalantly.

I blushed. "What?"

"I asked her if she knew you, how you were doing in school," mum said. I blushed harder. Now she was asking random people how I'm adjusting!? This is embarrassing. "She said 'I don't know him, is he the cute new blonde with the accent?'"

I rolled my eyes. Mum was probably making up the cute part.

"I told her yes. You have a lot of lady admirers," she said with a wink.

"Mum, please stop. That's one girl."

"That I know of."

"Mum, I swear if you start asking around if people think I'm cute I'm moving back to Australia."

Mum laughed and waved me out of her classroom. "I'll see you at home."

As I walked away, I couldn't help but to laugh at what I was thinking. I didn't want these girls to think I'm cute. Or maybe I just didn't want Calum's sister to think I'm cute. I don't know, but either way, I didn't like it.