(Avi's text is never spoken by him and always in italics.)

°^°

Mitch.

I noticed Kirstie and Scott silently shooting daggers at Avi and let out an exaggerated loud sigh in response. I leaned against the chair and fixed my hair. Disappointment boiled at the pit of my stomach, not just because of my friends, but because I hadn't even had the guts to ask Avi out.

Minutes passed and someone started to tap their fingers against the desk. The rhythm was slow at first but got faster and louder as the time went on.
Kevin turned to Avi, he leaned his head on his hand, smiled and started to whistle. The melody was rather catchy and somehow reminded me of the first day I met those two.

Kirstie and Scott looked at each other and then turned to me as if I knew what was going on. Instead of answering them, I smiled and joined Kevin's whistling, but clapped occasionally whenever the rhythm demanded it.

I enjoyed whatever we were actually doing until our supervisor entered the room. Within a second every noise we had made died down and my head snapped up just to meet the eyes of an elderly teacher. The man had a somewhat kind smile on his lips, but after he greeted us he literally announced that he would be leaving us alone for most of the detention and after that, he was gone again.

As soon as the door got closed, Avi threw his head back and his broken laughter echoed through the room, he didn't seem to care that neither Scott nor Kirstie had ever heard this sound. I didn't understand what was so funny, but I too felt a small smile creep onto my face. I peered over to Scott and Kirstie, but they didn't seem as amused as Avi.

Kevin twisted in his seat and beamed at us. I definitively had missed something, but something told me the duo wouldn't explain themselves. When he realized my friends weren't as happy he crooked one eyebrow and focused on me. I gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged.

"I call my cello Beyoncé," he tried to break the silence to start a light conversation and thankfully it worked as Scott scooted closer to him. For a short moment Scott just stared at him, but then both engaged in an animated conversation about Scott's second favorite human being. I was his number one, obviously.

I mindlessly listened to their conversation until I realized Avi had begun to scribble something on his notepad again. I stood up and shuffled over to him, I really just wanted to get a short peek at what he was doing, but as soon as I saw the page my heart skipped a beat. Avi wasn't writing, he was drawing someone, well, he was drawing me. He was too focused to even notice me standing by his side. But I didn't want to interrupt him; I wanted to marvel at him and his talent for as long as possible.

Kirstie, too, had noticed him scribbling, but when she marched over Avi's head shot up. He looked around for a moment, like a confused puppy until he spotted me and Kirstie standing next to him. He turned to hide his little notepad, but Kirstie had it already snatched away from him. She seemed fascinated by his drawing but didn't comment on his choice of model. At least that's what I thought until she cleared her throat and turned the picture around for me to see.

"I just don't understand you. Why haven't you asked him out, why don't you guys talk like normal people?" It probably sounded harsher than she intended it to, but she didn't even look guilty when Avi flinched at her words. He took the notepad away from her but didn't look at us again. He seemed mesmerized by his own drawing.

After a few moments, Avi glanced at me with a somewhat sad smile on his face and turned to a new page. He took Esther's pen and quickly wrote something down before he showed it Kirstie and me.

'Did I do something wrong?'

I shook my head before Kirstie could answer him and Avi's face brightened up.

"Well, actually," she interrupted him and his face fell, while he was writing again. "Listen, I understand you're not big on talking and stuff, but like what's your deal?"

I desperately wanted to silence her while she was talking, but after she finished she just crossed her arms and smirked. Well, she had just asked him the one million dollar question, but I always thought the answer to it should've been somewhat obvious.

I let out a loud sigh but noticed that the room was otherwise completely silent. Scott and Kevin had stopped their conversation about Beyoncé and were eagerly listening to us now.

Avi put his notepad away after he had looked at his drawing one last time and stood up. It wasn't even the first time we were this close, but my heart thundered in my chest and I was afraid everybody could hear it.

He leaned against the desk and I heard Kevin and Scott walk over from their spot to us. Scott sat on the nearest table and shot Kirstie a dirty look. She definitely had to learn to be more sensitive, but right now she looked impatient and was probably close to tapping her foot on the floor to get Avi to hurry up.

Avi stood in front of me and held his hand up. He waited for something but started signing as soon as Kevin was in the perfect position to see all of us.

"The way a child evolves is determined as soon as it starts to exist. There are three major factors that influence the way a child develops," Kevin translated and it sounded like something he had memorized from a textbook. Kirstie looked from Kevin to Avi, she obviously was confused, but when both men continued their thing something must have clicked for her.

Avi lifted his index finger before he signed something.

"Everything inside you,"

He lifted a second finger.

"Everything around you,"

He didn't hold up three fingers at this point, but rather pointed towards himself.

"And you as an active individual."

I didn't dare look away from Avi; he had this special smile on his face that made my heart skip a beat. The one that felt so extremely sincere and I knew I wouldn't be able to smile like that when explaining something this personal.

"Everything inside you means literally your organs; if something is wrong here you may never grow up to be a normal and healthy person," Avi stopped signing and pointed towards his throat. "Everything inside me is perfectly fine. My vocals chords, however, haven't been used in over a decade."

Kevin's voice didn't feel like Kevin's voice anymore and at some point in my head it turned into something else. I wanted to believe it was Avi, but my eyes widened while I listened to him.

I heard Kirstie clear her throat and turned towards her. I shot her a mean look when I realized she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth but closed it again. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that wanted to listen without interruptions, because when I turned around I could see Scott looking at her in a pretty similar way.

Without waiting for us Kevin continued to translate for Avi.

"A long time ago something happened around me that affected a lot of people and I, actively, choose to stay alive," Kevin's voice cracked, he looked as if he couldn't believe what Avi was telling us, even though he already knew the story. "But after all these years I still blame myself for something I couldn't influence. The third factor isn't just you, but it's the active you. The decisions you make shape your development."

Avi hung his head and I immediately felt the need to comfort him.

"Sometimes something happens and nobody can help it, but people still run to it, people look and scream and die... Avi, I can't see properly," Kevin interrupted him and Avi's head snapped up. He had tears in his eyes, but nodded and when he started again his hands were further away from his body.

"We lost so much back then and I, the little active me, decided to 'keep my secret'. I kept silent for weeks, but as soon as I realized how much my sister was hurting I tried to stop. I really tried, but I never could. Years passed and I forgot what my own voice sounded like."

Avi scratched the back of his head and leaned against his desk. A few tears actually ran over his cheeks, but nobody moved to help him clean up.

I valued my voice and I loved my family, but I felt so disappointed with myself and I only realized such things when somebody told me about their own loss.

Kirstie chirped in this time before anybody could stop her, but her voice was softer than I had expected it to be.

"And there is no way to fix your voice?"

Avi shook his head and something like a groan escaped him.

"What happens early very early to a child, can't be 'fixed' easily. Avi has been seeing a specialist for years now," Kevin answered without even looking at his friend. Truth to be told Avi looked grateful that he could rest his arms for a moment.

When all was said and done Avi turned away from us and sat down. He rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes. I didn't think I have ever seen someone look so peaceful, but also so distressed at the same time and it broke my heart.

I slowly shuffled over to my place and Kirstie did the same as soon as she lost interest in Kevin's and Scott's second conversation about their favorite singer.

I leaned against my chair but slumped slightly when I looked out the window. The weather was perfect, but as soon as I would be allowed out of here I would probably sit around in my room all day. I huffed and fixed my hair before an idea came to me and I searched for a piece of paper and a pen in my bag. When I found one I began to scribble a short letter on it, before I more or less threw and shoved it over to Avi.

I sat back again with a smug, but excited smile and watched Avi read my letter. My cheeks began to burn up as soon as he twisted around in his seat and smiled at me. He let out his broken laugh and my smile fell. I felt humiliated as he laughed at me and my eyes filled with unshed tears. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I wanted him to know about my feelings.

But as soon as Avi realized he had hurt me, he jumped over to my side and engulfed me in a kinda uncomfortable, but still perfect hug. He took my note out and placed it on the table. Avi waited until I had calmed down again before he used my pen to write his answer that brought a small smile to my face.

'Will you go out with me?'

°^°

I love how Wattpad recommends me my own story. It obviously knows what I like. <3

Thank you guys so much for bearing with me and reading this story and being generally awesome, you guys rock and I love y'all!!

Anyways, here is a list of my current other stories:

+Fly Me To The Moon (PTX/Mavi) - super slow updates

+Up The River (PTX/Home Free and a lot of ships you didn't expect)

+Maybe Next Time (PTX/Mavi) - finished