mute // cake

1: Annotations

Author's Note: Hi! Thank you for all of your support! I wrote this story a few years ago and it has gotten a lot of attention. I'm currently re-reading and editing to make this story better :) It's still really fluffy but hopefully just more well written.

New house, new school, new friends, new everything. How was this supposed to be a good thing?

"You'll adjust," my mum told me over and over.

First when she and my father announced the move. "You'll adjust."

Again when we put the house up for sale. "You'll adjust."

Then again when we started packing. "You'll adjust."

When the house sold. When we packed all of our belongings onto a huge truck to be shipped off to our new house. Probably thirty times on the fourteen hour plane ride. When we landed. And when we picked up our car. And when we arrived at the new house. And unpacked. "You'll adjust."

And now, the morning before my first day at my new school. So far, I hadn't adjusted.

My mum kissed my forehead. "I will pick you up after school, okay? The bus will start picking you up and dropping you off next week, so I will just drive you until then," my mum told me. "If you don't want to take the bus, I would be more than happy to drive you everyday."

I just nodded without looking up from my phone.

My mum sighed. "I know you don't want to do this, Luke, but I don't know what to tell you. We are all making sacrifices. In no time you'll-"

"Adjust," I cut her off. "I know."

The last thing I wanted right now was another lecture about how a new start was a good thing. For all of us. How I needed a "new environment" to start over. How we all needed a clean slate.

Ugh. All I needed was my friends back home.

She placed a stack of papers in front of me. "Take these to the office. Oh, and your uniform should be coming in any day now."

I looked up from my phone. "Uniform?"

This school is horrible already, I thought.

The car ride was uneventful. I put my earbuds in and listened to Green Day, watching the unfamiliar scenery pass through the window and dreading having to be social and make new friends.

My mum parked in the teachers lot and I left silently before she could turn the car off. I knew she was walking in behind me, but I didn't wait for her. Once inside, I followed the throng of students. In the sea of white and blue uniforms, I stood out in my Blink 182 shirt and black jeans. My lip ring also seemed to be alone in the crowd.

I tried to keep my head down until I was aware of someone following me. My mum.

I turned around. "Mum, what are you doing?"

"I'm coming in with you, to make sure everything is okay."

"Mum, I'm seventeen." I nervously looked around, afraid the other students would notice my mum walking me into my first day in high school. And they were.

"I'm aware."

"And I can go into school on my own."

"But what if something goes wrong?"

I rolled my eyes and took out my headphones. This wasn't going to be quick. "Like what."

"What if they have your classes mixed up?"

"Mum," I groaned.

"Fine, fine," she said, defeated. "I'll drive you home and we can talk then."