I Bet I Can Make You Speak

Chapter Seven

(Riley's P.O.V.)

I walked out of my room and ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Michael was sitting on the counter with a bowl of cereal in his hands. "Good morning," I said. He looked up at me, glared, and then turned back to his cereal. I sighed and felt tears in my eyes. I hate this, all I want is my brother to like me. Maybe I should apologize. "I'm so sorry." My voice cracked as I said that and he looked up at me. He set his bowl of cereal down and got off the counter.

"Riley?" he said but I didn't listen. I kept on crying and apologizing.

"I didn't mean to say I hate you, now I know you really do hate me. I don't want to fight, I just want to be brothers but I always mess everything up!"

"Riley, listen I-"

I cut him off and said, "I should've taken the blame for the accident, now you're grounded and it's all my fault!" He put his hand over my mouth and I looked up at him. He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair.

"Riley, shut up. Stop apologizing, it's my fault. I'm sorry for acting like a, um a-"

"An asshole?" I suggested.

"Yeah, that. I don't hate you, I may not always like you but I don't hate you. I'm sorry about yesterday and I promise to stop treating you like s**t," he said. I smiled and hugged him. He surprised me by hugging me back.

I smiled and said, "Thanks, Michael. Now let's get to school before we're late." He chuckled and grabbed his stuff. We walked out to the car and I got in the back.

"Actually, you can sit up front today. Nathan's riding with Jackson." I nodded and got up front. He started driving to my school and once there I got out. Surprisingly, he didn't speed off when I shut the door, he waited for me to get up to the school doors. I'm so happy right now, I can't believe Michael is being a good brother! As I walked into the school I saw Kyla and she smiled at me.

She tackle-hugged me and said, "Hiya!"

I giggled at her and said, "Hi!"

"Want to skip to your locker?" She said. I nodded and we got up. She linked her arm with mine and just as we were about to start skipping I saw Luca. He was walking down the hall towards his first period.

"Let's skip to that blue haired boy," I said. She nodded and we started skipping to him. Some people gave us weird looks and others laughed and smiled. We skipped up next to Luca and he glanced us. He gave us a weird look and then looked back down at his feet. "Good morning, Luca!" I said.

"Awe, you're so adorable!" Kyla said. I saw Luca's cheeks turn red and he sighed.

"Oh! I almost forgot, I got my class changed. I'm in Mr. Jewels math class first period." Kyla gave me a sad look and we stopped skipping.

"But now you're not in our art class," she said.

"I know, I wish I didn't have to have it changed," I said.

She sighed and said, "Well, I should get to class. I'll tell the others." I nodded and she ran off towards art. I was about to ask Luca if he wanted to walk to his class together but he was no where in sight. Huh, I wonder what he has for first period.

(Luca's Pov)

I was walking down the hall when Riley and some girl came up next to me. The weirdest part was that they were skipping. Not skipping class, literally skipping. I gave them a weird look and Riley said, "Good morning, Luca!"

I looked down at my feet and the girl said, "Awe, you're so adorable!" I blushed and sighed. Why won't they leave me alone? Riley started to tell the girl that he got his class changed. He's now in my math class, oh great. As they were talking I snuck away and walked towards my class. I walked into the classroom and Mr. Jewels smiled at me.

"Hello, Luca, did you apply for a tutor?" he asked.

"Y-yes," I said.

He nodded and said, "Good." I went to my seat and the rest of the class started to come in. I put my head down and waited for class to start.

(Riley's Pov)

I walked into Mr. Jewels room and saw Luca sitting alone in the back corner. I smiled and went up to Mr. Jewels. "Hi, I just got switched into this class," I said.

"Ah yes, you must be Riley." He said. I nodded and he told me to go take a seat.

I sat next to Luca and said, "Hiya!" His head flew up from the desk and he hit his head on the wall behind him. I put my hand over my mouth and said, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" He groaned in pain and rubbed the back of his head. "Are you okay?" He nodded his head and I sighed. Why won't he talk to me? I don't think he's a mute. Maybe I can ask some people to see if they have information on him.

"Okay, today will be a free day. Since I promised you guys a reward last week for being so good to the substitute." Everyone cheered and started moving around to sit next to their friends. Luca put his earbuds in and put his hood up. I sighed and looked around the room. Yep, I have no idea who any of these students are.

I walked up to Mr. Jewels and said, "May I use the restroom?" He nodded and gave me a hallpass. As I was walking to the bathroom I saw the janitor that was with Luca the other day. Maybe I can ask him? I ran up to him and gave him a friendly smile.

He smiled at me and said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, yes you can. Do you know a boy named Luca?" I asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I want to get to know him but he won't even talk to me. I feel bad for him and I don't know if he's mute or just doesn't like me," I said.

The janitor sighed and said, "I can't really tell you anything about him. . .he isn't mute, he just doesn't like to talk. He thinks that everyone wants to hurt him so he won't trust you at first. Just keep trying to be his friend, I don't want him to be alone in school anymore."

I nodded and said, "I will, thank you." I ran off and went back into the classroom, not caring about having to pee. I sat down next to Luca and gently tapped his shoulder. He flinched and looked up at me. "I'm not going to leave you alone, not until you talk to me. The only way I will is if you ask me to," I said. Luca looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing.

"P-please l-l-leave me a-alone," he said it so quietly that if I wasn't paying attention to only him I would of missed it. My heart broke again, I knew he hated me. I just realized, he stuttered when he talked. Was he born with a stutter? Is that why he won't talk? I stopped thinking about it when he snapped me out of my thoughts. "Y-you s-said you would l-l-leave me a-alone." I realized I was still sitting next to him. I said one last thing before moving away from him.

"You have a pretty voice."