1 Chapter 1

*Asterisks* - Aiden writing in a notebook

Aiden's POV:

Those stupid words, oh how I hated those stupid stupid words. "HEY! WATCH IT!" Why did it have to be those words? The words I hear almost every day, from everyone. Why did those words have to be my soulmate's first words? Would he ever even know it was me anyway, I'm mute.

Hi, I'm Aiden Cruise. I'm 17 years old and a junior in high school. When I turned 16 my soulmates first words appeared on my wrist..."HEY! WATCH IT!" It just so happens, I hear those words every day, since I'm bullied. I guess it is because I'm mute or maybe even because I'm gay. But, how am I ever supposed to find my true one with these stupid words?

I get out of bed, as I realized it is time for me to get ready for school. I walk to my closet and throw on my favorite green over-sized hoodie, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of high top black converse. I comb my long black bangs to the side, inspecting my features in the mirror. My green eyes look dull with sorrow, a bruise spread across my nicely chiseled jaw. I try to cover the bruise up as much as I can with makeup. After I look at my face for just a second longer, I turn to leave my room and soon this desolate house.

As I make my way down the stairs I see my dad passed out on the couch, he probably didn't get home till 4 AM. I walk over and grab a blanket to cover him with and give him a short kiss on the forehead. Yes, I know he is horrible, but he is still my dad even if I'm not his son anymore. My mom died when I was six, from some kind of cancer, my dad would never tell me about it. He wouldn't even let me go to the funeral.

Getting out of my thoughts I make my way outside. I don't have a car, let alone know how to drive so I walk. Most people would hate walking to school, but I actually don't mind it that much. It gives me time to think, it's my only real alone time, the only time I have some peace. Plus it only takes me 15 minutes to get to school.

On my way to school, I think about the Chemistry test I have in 4th period, I didn't have time to study last night. My dad gave me a beating before he went out drinking, and I slept all night from him knocking me out. Hints the shiner across my cheek. Even though I didn't study, I wasn't too worried about it, I'm fairly good at chemistry.

When I make it to school I instantly put my hoodie up, not wanting anyone to notice as I walk through the halls. I luckily get to my locker unscathed, just a few rude slurs as I pass by. I open my locker and grab my Calculus textbook for 1st period with Mr. G. He was one of my favorite teachers, didn't really treat me bad at all, I was grateful for that.

I close my locker and get ready to make my way to Mr. G's room when I ran into the last person I wanted to see. Evan Shoester. One of the meanest bullies in this schools. He claims to be a follower of the Lord, but he does not do God justice. God would be ashamed, but I'm not religious, so it is not my place. Evan is very homophobic and just an overall ass.

"HEY! WATCH IT YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he screams. I wince at his choice of words, seeing as the align the crevice of my wrist. However, I know he will never be my soulmate.

*Sorry Evan, I'll watch where I'm going next time.* I write an apology in my notebook trying not to show any fear.

"There won't be a next time you fag!" He spurts as he shoves me into the lockers and gives me a harsh kick to the ribs, making my notebook skid across the floor. "Don't touch me again or next time I won't be so easy on you!"

I was actually lucky I didn't get worse than that. I watched Evan stomp away with a scowl on his face. When I was sure he was gone I walked over to grab my notebook. As I bent down and reached for it, a hand met my own. I flinched hard and jumped up, banging heads with the owner of the head.

"HEY! WATCH IT!" The mystery person yells. I look up to see the school's infamous bad boy Xavier Clearwater. I lock eyes with his beautiful grey orbs, shaking in my shoes. I think he notices how scared I am as he blurts out, "Woah man, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to freak you out!"

He was actually nice to me, so nice that I didn't even notice the first words he said to me. I was lost in a trance, not knowing what was ahead for me in the future. Not knowing the fate of our relationship. Not knowing that this man will completely change my life.

I mean, no one had ever been this nice to me before. I didn't know how to handle it, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I starting running, but alas I am not very good at it. Therefore, in literally 2 seconds, I end up falling flat on my face.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" Xavier said running after me. I wasn't sure what confused me more, him running after me or him asking if I was okay. He bent down to meet my eyes at level. "You forgot your notebook."

Now it made more sense, he didn't care. I just forgot my notebook. I grabbed the notebook from his grasp and slowly stood up. I nodded my head as in saying thank you and turned around to walk to class.

"Hey! Wait!" He yelled, making me turn back around in shock. I think he noticed that "I never got your name." I kept quiet, I guess he didn't know I was mute. When I failed to speak after a few seconds he spoke up again. "Oh, are you by chance mute?"

'Ohhh are you by chance mute??' I said to myself in my head, trying to have some kind of sass. Of course, I could never do that outside of my head in the real world so I just nod my head.

"Sorry if I came off as rude. I have a mute aunt, I didn't mean it in a bad way." He quickly says scratching the back of his head.

No one had ever apologized to me before, it was nice. I guess he deserves to know my name. I open up my notebook and wrote down the five simple letters. *Aiden.*

"Well, Aiden nice to meet you. I'm Xavier" he puts his hand out, wanting me to shake it. I slowly lifted my clammy hand to shake his, when my hand met him I felt a small tingling feeling. Of course, I pushed it aside, it's obviously because I have touched someone in years.

I wrote in my notebook again, *I know who you are Xavier Clearwater.*

"Well, I guess my reputation precedes me. Of course, you would know who I am. Everyone does." He says shyly. He wasn't this bad boy type that I was expecting. He actually seemed kind of dorky. Whenever I have seen him before he acts all big and bad.

*Yes, well I need to get to class.* I write.

"Oh yeah. My bad. Maybe when we can chat again? I can show you how sorry I am?" Why would he need to do that? He didn't do anything wrong?

*Why? You didn't do anything wrong.* I wrote showing him the paper.

"Okay, lame excuse. I want to get to know you, and I was kind of rude, to begin with." Why would he want to get to know me? I'm so confused. No one ever wants to know me. Maybe, just maybe, he wants to be friends.

Coming to my senses I wrote, *I don't think that's a good idea.* No one could ever be friends with a mute like me. And before I could give him a chance to respond I rush to class.

When I get into the Calculus room I can already tell Mr. G was wondering where I had been. "Mr. Cruise, lovely you could join us. Take a seat, IT'S DERIVATIVE DAY!" he says with joy. I loved how much Mr. G loved his class, even when I was late.

---

The day went by in a flash. I hated second and third today, Evan would not leave me alone. Then lunch was worse, Evan gave me a nice punch to the gut in between classes, leading me to eat lunch in the bathroom, but that wasn't anything new. Chemistry was better since it is my favorite class, but now it's time for English. My last class of the day, but definitely not my favorite.

I sat in my seat in the back, alone as always. After the tardy bell rang, someone came bursting in. Xavier. "Hey Mrs. Barnet, I'm sorry I'm late. I was just transferred to your class."

"Whatever Mr. Clearwater, just don't let it happen again. Go take a seat by Aiden." Oh great. He looks up in surprise and then smiles. Smiles?? What the heck?

Before he could say anything, Mrs. Barnet interrupted. "As you all know, this is English IV, so that means big projects. As your project for this class, I will have you and a partner pair up to read a book each. Now you will pick your favorite book and your partner will read that book. A favorite book can show a lot of things about a person. I want you to dig deeper and find the meanings behind the book your partner chooses. Why is that their favorite book? Now, I don't want any generic answers like, 'oh I just think it's cool' put some effort into it. You have three months to read that book, find the deeper meaning in your partner, and then write an essay. Now, this isn't as simple as just reading the book and figuring it out. You have to communicate with your partner, so you will probably be meeting a lot more. Now your partner will be your desk mate. You may spend the rest of the period thinking of a book and discussing it with your partner." Funny thing looks like Xavier is my partner.

He turns to me smiling, "Looks like you can't run away from me now. We're partners."