[8] Prague

NOAH

It was a stupid idea. I knew that even before I decided to go through with it, of course I did, but I just didn't realise how much. Fuck. I've really messed this project up, now haven't I?

I can't decide whether I knew why I did it. I guess I was more curious than anything; it wasn't a secret that she just completely vanished into thin air at break and lunch. I guess I also just wanted to speak to her more, which sounded crazy now – she couldn't/ doesn't speak, and that was a fact. I wasn't surprised that she spent her time in an empty classroom, and that really pulled something in my heart. She really was completely alone at school, wasn't she?

So why didn't she speak? If she was feeling that lonely – and I knew she was; I could see it in her eyes as she was sat there – why didn't she just at least try and talk to someone? And then I thought back to every time she'd avoided the question, I'd pretty much asked her in most conversations. She always used the word 'can't', not 'don't' which could mean that perhaps she really can't speak, but then I was being stupid: of course, she could speak. She probably just had a really really bad form of social anxiety or something – I'd seen countless TV shows where the same exact thing had happened. I hoped that if we got to know each other better, then maybe she would finally start talking to me, but I wasn't counting on it, especially in the way she left the room as soon as I walked in. I could tell by her face and the way she flicked her curly hair back that she really didn't like me at all. It was all for the coursework, I guessed.

XXX

I had chemistry next period, which could only be described as pain. It was safe to say I had the most boringly strict teacher ever and come on, it's chemistry. The said teacher also happened to hate me because when it came to practicals, I had a knack in messing them up. And I'm not talking about adding the wrong chemicals together to get a wrong PH. No, I'm talking like actual catastrophes. I don't know how I did it, but it consistently happened every single time.

That being said, you can see why I was elated when it turned out that we had a cover teacher. Mrs Roberts was thankfully ill, and we instead had the joy that was Mrs Webb, AKA the loveliest person ever. She was pretty young, definitely in her twenties anyway, and so was one of those teachers that you could actually see had a life outside of school and told us quite a bit about the others that we probably shouldn't know. *Cough cough* Mr Harold's wife left him *cough cough*.

"Ok guys, so Mrs Roberts has given the instructions to answer the questions on pages 46 and 47" She announced as everyone started to get their stuff out. I guess this was the only downside to cover teachers: textbook work "Come on then, get started!"

Everybody diligently opened up the chunky textbooks and started writing. Harrison smirked at me as I rolled my eyes at the blank piece of lined paper and I playfully stuck my middle finger up at him. Uh, Harrison, I really did need to sort that mess out.

About halfway through the lesson – definitely not halfway through the questions (I have to put my hands up, I was only on the third or fourth question) – Mrs Porter interrupted. She had that expression that she always carried, slightly displeased, and the bun she had on top of her head looked just as tight as always. Sometimes I wondered if gave her a permanent headache and that was why she never smiled, but I always decided that, no, she was just a genuinely mean person.

"Hello Mrs Webb, class" She gulped and vaguely nodded her head at us "I was just wondering if I could borrow Via for a few minutes"

My head snapped straight to where Via was sat, right at the back as always. I'm pretty sure most of the class was staring at her as well, but she didn't go pink like I thought she would. Instead, she just followed Mrs Webb's lead and followed Mrs Porter out of the room. It wasn't the first time that I tried to figure out what really was going on with Via and why she was here in the first place. I internally sighed; why was she so mysterious? And why wouldn't she just give me any of the answers to the questions I asked her? What was she hiding?

I stared curiously at the door, where obviously Mrs Porter was talking to Via about something. What could they possibly be talking about? The question racked my brain probably a lot more than it should, and I finally decided to forget about it; it couldn't really be that important, could it? It turned out I wasn't the only curious one.

"Mrs Webb?" Sydney piped up after a few minutes "I hope you don't mind me asking but... what's the deal with Via?"

I could tell that Mrs Webb really didn't have a pre-made response to this question and definitely didn't want to give us the truth.

"Ok, Sydney, erm..." She was trying to pick out the right words that wouldn't land her in any trouble, I was sure of it "So the truth is I'm not actually allowed to tell you that for confidentiality reasons" That definitely sounded serious enough "But all I can tell you is that you shouldn't judge her for anything – she's been through a lot, trust me"

I saw Harrison smirk but quickly looked away in case he made eye contact with me; I really wasn't the person to laugh at her now even if she wasn't answering any of my questions.

XXX

Eventually, it got too much. I decided to screw it and asked Mrs Webb if I could go to the toilet. Maybe then I could get some sort of answer from the small part of the conversation I would hear on the way. Unfortunately for me, Mrs Porter was one step ahead and stopped talking as soon as I opened the door. She glared at me for interrupting her conversation and kept staring until I'd gone out of the corridor. I can't say that I'd ever seen Mrs Porter smile, but this seemed so much worse than she usually was, which had to mean that this was serious, whatever it was. Via didn't really care about it too much – she just kept her eyes on Mrs Porter and looked like she wanted to get out of this situation, her arms crossed apathetically. It's strange how much you could read into Via's feelings through her face; I guess it must have been something to do with the fact that she couldn't express them through words or something.

I passed Coach on my trip back. I really didn't think going to the toilets through at all – they were miles away from the chemistry classroom and basically required me to walk the entire length of the school before getting to them. Who thought to put them all in the same place in the school clearly wasn't thinking at all?

"Oh, hey Noah!" He greeted me instead of just smiling, indicating that I needed to stop "I was looking for you actually"

For some reason, Coach was always 'looking for me' when he bumped into me. I guessed it was something to do with the fact that whenever he needed something done in the football team, or just in the sport department generally, I was his person to go to. And yet he was the PE teacher – don't ask me how that makes any sense – it doesn't.

I nod my head, forcing an awkward smile before he goes on "I was just letting you know that I expect you to go for captain this year!" Of course, he was.

"I'm considering it." I say ambiguously "But I think Harrison's also going for it"

"GREAT!" He nearly shouts enthusiastically, clapping me on the back. How was that great? "We can have a competition then"

Life really couldn't get any worse, could it? Me going up against Harrison Taylor was definitely going to be great fun – just apart from the 'he'd beat the shit out of me if I won' part. But, you know, not counting that, fun times.

I gave another awkward smile before taking the long journey back to Mrs Webb and Chemistry. I got to the corridor quite quickly for the distance and saw Mrs Porter still having her conversation with Via. She had her back to me this time, which in my mind was the perfect set up to eavesdrop and finally figure out what was wrong with Via.

Fortunately for me, there was a corridor branching off from just behind the door to the classroom, so if I could just get there, then neither of them would be able to spot me, but I'd be close enough to understand what they were talking about. I tried to step as softly as I could and managed to get to the corridor without her turning around, which quite honestly, I was astounded with – Mrs Porter's the kind of person you'd expect to actually have eyes in the back of their head. I leaned against the closest wall, just in case she decided to turn randomly turn around.

"So, I do expect you to be there Via" She said sternly. I heard some shuffling, that was most likely Via nodding her head. So she didn't even talk to the teachers?! "I think it's a great opportunity for you, you know, in your..." She took a gulp that undeniably meant this was an awkward subject "Your, condition"

"So, yes, I've talked to the man who runs it and he's really excited about it too!" She tried to sound enthusiastic, but all I can say was that it fell flat "What are you looking at?" She snapped suddenly, just as I'd got comfortable "What's behind me?"

I heard the loud thuds of her high heels before I realised that she was coming over. Shit. This was going to require a lot of explaining.

"NOAH ROSENWORTH!" She practically screamed, seething with anger "What do you think you're doing?"

I couldn't muster any words for what felt like the first time in my life "Erm..."

"For that, the BSL lessons will be mandatory for you too!" She glared at me "Starting next week."

She turned quickly and left, leaving me gormlessly stood there to face the consequences.