George pov

Stay away.

That was my only thought when I awoke in Clays gentle hold.

I had to stay away.

He was barely my friend, much less anything else.

He was not a person to go to for comfort.

He was not a person I would go to so that I could vent about the troubles of my life.

He was not the person I would go to when I was ready to speak again.

I had come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be a mute forever a few years ago, when I had last said my accidental words.

It had frightened me to realize that despite my choice, I could still speak at any moment.

That was probably why I always looked like I was scrutinizing everything about the world: because I was.

I took into consideration everything around me, scowling at most things as they were possible triggers from the speech I had been banned from.

Talking wasn't a problem, per se, but silence was a practice, something I had perfected.

Old habits die hard, but something you choose to be good at becomes an obsession.

I had far surpassed determination when it came to holding my tongue to the point where for months on end I had refused to open my mouth even to eat.

And when the moment came that words slipped freely once more from my chest, I knew I wanted clay to be far away.

Waking up in his arms with his beautiful green eyes hidden by eyelids still heavy with sleep was nice, and it once again sent warmth pooling in my abdomen, making my head buzz with a happiness I wished to escape.

Clay of all people shouldn't be making me feel this way. He had no right making me feel more content than I did even in the safety of my mother's home.

But he did. Despite my fury at the fact, the blonde did make me feel that way, and it felt nice, but I wanted nothing more than to escape it.

So I pushed his arms off of me and slipped out of his hold, immediately regretting my decision as the chill that the storm outside provided seeped into my skin.

It had to have been the worst time day for me to have worn my skirt, and up until now I hadn't allowed myself to acknowledge that I was cold, but the temperature in the building was dropping as the icy rain continued it's relentless hail upon the building.

It was autumn, too, and I figured the weather was inherently supposed to be dropping anyway, but that didn't change the fact that the timing was unfortunate.

I shivered, glancing back at the blonde with a venomous stare, even though he couldn't see it and even though my uncomfortable situation wasn't particularly his fault.

I just needed to pin the blame on someone, and for the first time in my life, there sat before me someone who didn't mind me internally doing so.

I stood up, still cowering a bit at the occasional scream of thunder and wavering electricity, but I walked out of the teacher's lounge nonetheless, looking for the locker room.

It wasn't difficult to find, placed very near the cafeteria that had a pretty direct path to the place I had come from, and I walked inside, shaking against the cold that much more.

My locker was inside, situated on the wall amongst everyone else's, painted what I could make out to be a muddy brown. Disgusting choice, if you asked me.

Inside was a pair of sweats; grey baggy sweatpants and a white crop hoodie.

It wasn't the warmest, but I was immensely less cold, and with a small smile, I decided to take a walk around the school to clear my thoughts.

I couldn't face Clay, not yet. I needed to decide what he was going to be to me before I made any more decisions on a whim of fright.

The storm was still raging outside, but I was trying to ignore it, to coexist with its ferocity.

I wasn't used to storms, I would easily admit to that, and perhaps that was the reason I liked staying with Clay when the hurricane increased in power.

He had experience with this type of stuff, and despite being clumsy with it, his comfort was the only reason I hadn't broken down in many panic attacks by now.

I had come from England, where storms were pretty common and the remnants of rain were never ending. There were always puddles on the sidewalks and always large grey clouds in the sky.

When it rained there, though, it wasn't frightening, it wasn't foreign. It was nice.

And when it stormed, I could finally relax in my room, my place of solace against the world that had been tainted king before my existence.

When I moved to Florida with my adoptive mother, nothing was familiar, much less the rain.

Every drop that fell from the sky was threatening, as if promising the very thing I was experiencing now.

But Clay had experience with hurricanes.

He had lived here for a long time, and he had no reason to be afraid when he was so obviously at home in the mess of weather that reigned around us.

No wonder I wanted to be close to him.

But, no, that wasn't the only reason.

I had felt safe before in the halls of my mother's house. I had felt content in the sheets of my bed.

But nothing i had ever had that brought me feelings of content had made me feel so light.

Nothing had made me feel the way Clay did, and no one would be able to.

But I didn't want to think about that.

I hadn't even figured out what the blonde was to me, and what role I wanted him to play in my life even after the hurricane that I was losing hope would ever end.

Would he be cast away again, left to what he was before? Someone I admired from across the hallway, wondering what secrets were held inside?

Would he be an acquaintance, someone to share a mutual nod with as we passed by each other on our way to live a life the other was not privy to?

Would he be a friend, someone who stuck by me and perhaps would see me in my worst? Someone I could bring into my home without fear that he would ruin it?

Or would he be something more...?

My thoughts were interrupted by the wind picking up to a roar, and the rain beginning to hammer down on the window I walked beside.

I hadn't even noticed I was here, in a corridor lined by one wall and a long stretch of glass panes.

It wasn't safe for me to be here!

I had a front row seat to the chaos that took control outside.

The sky was dark, outlined with the purple of reoccurring lighting.

The thinder was menacing, like the deep voice of a demon, whispering promises of demise in my ear.

The rain blurred everything, making everything unclear, only helping my thoughts to run rampant in my mind with fear.

And then, there was a crash, almost deafening, and the ground shook

It sounded like something had been slammed into the building nearby, my worst fears confirmed.

I couldn't think, my mind was blank.

I couldn't scream because, goddamn it, my perfection of silence kept my throat tight and chest unmoving.

Shaky hands reached for my phone before I even knew what I was doing.

I opened Clay's contact, typing out a single message that contradicted everything I had decided on this morning.

Come save me. I need you.

This is exciting

1310 words