Say Something (Lams, Mute!Alex)

Chapter 6

Alex's POV

We were hiding Burr in Herc and Laf's dorm room for the time being. Jefferson knew Aaron's dorm number, but had no idea where ours were located. In order to get him out of his classes for the next week, John had called his teachers and told them that Burr had come down with influenza. I brought him his homework every day. We all contributed. He was not to leave that dorm under any circumstances.

With Burr safe for the time being, that gave us time to come up with some plans to defend him from Jefferson. I currently had fifty-one ideas typed on my laptop, twenty-nine written on paper, and five more currently swarming my head. However, we still had school work to do, so I was writing an essay for my Creative Writing class. The plan was to write a three-page essay about a special person in your life. I may have gone just a little overboard.

"Are you almost done yet?" John complained. "I thought you typed fast! How long does it take to write a three-page essay?"

I stopped typing and looked at him with a smile. "Just let me finish this page to wrap it up, okay?"

"Fine. But how many pages did you write?"

"Including this one? Ninety-one."

John just sighed and went back to playing on his phone. When I finished my page, I saved my work and closed the laptop. I looked at John, who was already pulling on his jacket. We walked out of the dorms together and walked to the commons to get some food. As much as I didn't want any, John would usually make me eat at least two meals a day. We sat down at a table, and Herc and Laf joined us a few minutes later.

"So how many plans do you have against Jefferson so far?" Herc asked.

"I have around nine so far," John said.

"Ten." Laf looked pleased with his total.

"Eleven," said Herc. "That's honestly kind of freaky."

"Alex? What about you?" Lafayette turned to me.

I smiled shyly before taking out my phone and typing the number eighty-five and showing it to the group. They looked shocked at the number. However, they quickly recovered and started talking amongst themselves.

A phone went off, and Laf, who had just finished eating, pulled his out and read a text. An angry look screwed up his face, and Herc was the first to notice. "Uh, Laf, are you okay?"

"Oui. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're driving a spork into your leg," Herc told Laf.

"So I am," he said, glancing down at his leg. He plastered a smile onto his face. "Hilarious!"

"Laf, what's wrong?" John demanded.

"It's nothing, seriously."

"Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, you tell me what's going on right now, or so help me..." Herc threatened. Laf looked shocked that Hercules actually knew his full name, but he sighed in defeat.

"It's Charles Lee. I don't know how he got my number, but he's been texting me threats about ma transexualité. Je suppose que tout le monde dans le groupe de Jefferson sait à ce sujet maintenant. Mais il menace de dire à toute l'école. Il ne me demande même pas de faire quoi que ce soit. C'est comme s'il voulait juste que j'aie peur," he said, unknowingly switching to French. (my transexuality. I guess everyone in Jefferson's group knows about it now. But he threatens to tell the whole school. He does not even ask me to do anything. It's as if he just wants me to be afraid.)

Herc and John looked to me for a translation. Honestly, sometimes it was annoying being the only one who understood Laf when he started ranting. I pulled out my phone and opened up the notes. John watched as I typed. He read the translation aloud to Hercules, and now all of us were angry.