The Loudest Silence

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During the walk in the hall his right eye had started to water. That was a good thing. Aaron's mom always told him how it was okay to cry because it helped clean your eyes. And even though he still felt awkward about it, with no one else walking with him--except for Evelyn--Aaron let some of the single tears stream from his right eye. They stung once they slit over the scrape on his cheek but at least it made his eye feel a little better.

Their trip to the nurse's office was quick. A bit of warm soap and water here, some ointment stuff there, and then some ice in a plastic bag wrapped in a paper towel was enough to send them back. Aaron didn't even know the nurse's name but he thanked her anyways.

Talking to grown-ups was never really his thing. It was why he was mostly mumbling to the nurse when she asked what happened. At least she gave both of them a little doggie sticker to cheer them up.

Aaron held the ice over his eye and looked at the ice Evelyn was supposed to be rotating arms with.

"My dad's a doctor," he suddenly said to fill up the silence between them. "He said that sometimes, when people get really really deep cuts, they have to take a needle and some string to sew it up. But they give you a medicine so you don't feel it."

Despite being irked off at Evelyn for not really breaking his fall, when Aaron looked at her he supposed that yelling at her could do more damage than he wanted. He remembers talking to one of the English teachers about it because of a book he read, and how sometimes feelings can give you more than you bargained for.

Nonetheless, his annoyance with Evelyn disappeared once he made sense of the emptiness in his hand.

"Oh no my book!"

He still kept the eye on his eye when he turned around to find his book.

"Shoot. It's probably still on the playground."

Recess was almost over, that was sure, and the trip back to the playground would take too long. He would have to wait until tomorrow to get his book back or, worse, someone could have stolen it.

This is why you always put your name on your things is what his mom always said. Aaron distinctly remembered writing "Aaron M. Messor" on the front cover of his book, so maybe it would turn up in the lost and found.

That though alone gave him a little reassurance. But the panic lingered for two reasons: One, he only got to read a few chapters of it, and Two, his aunt had mailed him that book just a couple of weeks ago. Letting his parents know he had lost it now would mean he's irresponsible, something his parents always hated.
 
Despite being slightly startled by Aaron's sudden and seemingly random conversation starter Evelyn still managed a calm, "Cool." at the boy's words. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what Aaron was saying, because it was pretty cool, it was just that she was waiting for the inevitable blowup that would have the boy telling her to go away because she was stupid or irresponsible or something. Normally Evelyn might have just run with what appeared to be forgiveness, but that was in kindergarten when she hadn't realized how mean other kids could be. Nowadays the girl was well aware that even the smallest slip up could lose you a friend and she really hoped she hadn't just lost any hope at getting to be Aaron's friend, because he seemed like a really interesting kid.

The brunette was thinking about ways she might be able to get back into the boy's good graces when Aaron brought attention to the fact that his book was not with him and likely still on the playground- an unfortunate turn of events but really not one to get too worked up about. After all, it wouldn't be hard to run back out before the bell rang and grab it, because seriously, what other kid was going to want to steal that book? If she was a little late for a class it would be okay and as long as she didn't get caught by a teacher.

"I can get it for you," Evelyn informed Aaron. Before the boy could protest she ran off, dropping her ice pack along the way, not that it mattered since it wasn't helping her all that much anyhow. The bell rang just as she made it outside and Evelyn was quick to hide behind a tree while waiting for the teacher to round the other children up and bring them inside. Sometimes it almost seemed too easy to skip out on them.

The brunette was just glad she'd left Aaron behind while she did this; he seemed to be a pretty hard worker and she was sure he would've hated being late for class. Luckily, it wasn't that big of a deal in her eyes, and once the last small head had gone through the doors the girl came from her hiding spot and went over to the bench she and Aaron had been on before the monkey bar incident. To her relief the novel was still there and Evelyn was quick to grab it and dusted the imaginary dirt off of the cover. It didn't look like anyone had messed with it so Evelyn was quite pleased and as she made her way back inside to find Aaron a smile sat on her face.

Maybe after this he would forgive her and they could be friends.

Now it was all a matter of finding him. The good news was that they lived in a rather small town, which meant their schools weren't that big either, so finding the right classroom wasn't difficult and after five minutes of wandering through the halls and checking the inside of each classroom Evelyn found Aaron in math class. He looked pretty focused on what he was doing and Evelyn didn't want to bug him, so the girl decided she would wait for him to finish the lesson and give him the book when he came out.

The brunette slid down the wall until she was seated and figured she'd read whilst she waited and opened the book to the page Aaron had left off on.
 
"Wh--" Before Aaron could finish his sentence he was alone. Evelyn had sped off at the speed of sound and, never really being athletic, Aaron had no chances of catching up to her in time to be able to speed back to class. Being one of the only boys who was never really obsessed with some sort of sport really had its downsides.

The flow of students led by teachers swept him back to his class. Luckily, his teacher didn't notice his missing book. Some may call Aaron a teacher's pet, but in reality he just liked to have a good relationship with his teachers. It's why his teacher was talking to him about To Kill A Mockingbird before he went to recess.

Aaron sat back down at his desk and gave anyone who asked about the scrape on his face a plain answer: he fell.

After everything that happened during recess--meeting a weird girl, falling off the monkey bars, losing his book--Aaron found it hard to concentrate on the math quiz he was currently taking. Multiplication and division was supposed to come easy to him, what with his parents enrolling him in some extra learning program to help tutor students who were behind in classes. But that was just the thing. Aaron wasn't behind in any of his classes, especially math.

So why was it so hard for him to solve a simple, traditional problem right now?

Aaron glanced around and saw that the usual kids were struggling with their work. He mentally slapped himself and told himself to focus. So he lost his book and Evelyn ran off--no big deal, right?

Nervous energy coursing through him made his leg bounce up and down rapidly under his desk. A few numbers here, a couple of equal signs there, and frequent fights against himself about whether or not to count on his fingers ate up Aaron's time. He's not in first grade or kindergarten anymore; the time of using his fingers to count was over. Just like his parents said, Aaron had to rely on his memory so he can expand his brain power.

When time was up everyone handed in their quizzes. Aaron mentally scrolled through his class schedule for today: history in the morning, a transition to English, going to recess for a break, math, lunch, and finally history.

When it was time for Aaron's grade to go to lunch, he was the first one out the door and took a couple of steps into the hall before freezing.

"Evelyn?"

What was she doing outside his classroom? Did her class get released for lunch a few seconds before his, or was she waiting out here for longer than that?

Aaron looked down at his book in her hands and then back at Evelyn's pale face. "How'd you get that back already?"
 
The brunette had just finished reading her third chapter when the bell rang. Evelyn snapped the book closed and the second the door opened she was on her feet, readily smiling in case it was Aaron who had come out. Though she did briefly wonder if her expression would come off as creepy if Aaron wasn't the first person out. Thankfully it was though, and Evelyn didn't have to worry about another student ratting her out to a teacher. The brunette was still a little nervous about talking to Aaron, but she really did hope her getting his book for him would make up for the wrongdoings of earlier.

The slightly surprised look on the boy's face was at least enough to make the cheesy greeting grin on her face genuine and Evelyn held out Aaron's book for him, trying to make herself sound cheery instead of unsure when she answered his question. "I went and got it for you!" The girl scuffed the ground with her toe when he took the book and hoped this would make up for her screw up on the playground and Aaron would forgive her. If he did, maybe they could eat lunch together! Evelyn liked the sound of that idea and was quick to ask Aaron so as to ease her mind. "Are you still mad at me?"
 
Aaron looked down at his book back in his hands, safe and sound and it even still had his Harry Potter bookmark in it. His first thought was to say "Thank you," but instead he just blurted out something else: "Why would I be mad at you?"

Did this have something to do with the playground?

Technically, Aaron guessed that it wasn't entirely Evelyn's fault that they both took a tumble, even though he never wanted to play on the monkey bars in the first place. But who could ever guess that someone would kick him off and let gravity do its dirty work?

The rest of the students began walking to the cafeteria and Aaron found himself side-by-side with Evelyn.

"I don't think I'm that mad," he said. "Why? Are you upset or something?"
 
To say Evelyn was surprised would have been an understatement. The girl stared wide-eyed at Aaron for several seconds before ducking her head and staring at her feet while they entered the cafeteria, a blush spreading across her cheeks. He hadn't been as mad with her as she'd thought... with that knowledge the brunette just felt silly for going to such lengths to make Aaron happy with her again. Not that she regretted getting the book for him; she was glad she'd done it because it had made him happy. At the very least it had taken him by surprise.

"No! I'm not upset at all. I just thought you were." Evelyn admitted quietly to Aaron, hoping he wouldn't make fun of her for her needless worry. Even if he didn't seem like the kind of kid to do that, they had only just met and Evelyn was smart enough to know people didn't show you all of their sides within the first few hours of knowing one another.

So Evelyn decided to not give Aaron the opportunity to laugh by tugging lightly on the boy's shirt and pointing to the line for food. "Come on, I don't wanna have to wait too long. What are you gonna eat?"
 
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