Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I was a hopeless chatterbox. Ms. Reed had changed my assigned desk partner more times than I could count, but I could talk to anyone.
Then I somehow got a withdrawn girl to speak again.
At first, I thought she was mute, so I talked and talked beside her as if no one else existed. No matter how many times my enthusiasm met with icy silence, I never cared.
A month later, she actually spoke.
“I’m sitting right beside you. Why are you asking someone else?”
The next day, her billionaire father showed up at my door with cash and expensive gift baskets. Tears filled his eyes as he seized my hand.
“My daughter finally spoke! I’m counting on you from now on!”
Me: What?
Could a chatterbox really cure muteness?
“Claire Bennett! Can you please be quiet for five minutes?”
I shut my mouth sheepishly and mimed pulling a zipper across my lips.
Ms. Reed stared at me in exasperation. “I’ve changed your desk partner eight times, and you’ve managed to talk every single one of them into the ground.”
She pointed accusingly toward the desk beside mine. “Then I let you sit alone, and you started talking to the cat. Should I print you a certificate?”
The entire class turned to look.
An orange cat was curled up beside me, dozing with the weary expression of a creature that had lost all hope in life.
My classmates regarded it with deep sympathy.
“Enough. I surrender.” Ms. Reed slapped a hand against the lectern. “Starting next period, you’re sitting beside Evelyn Sterling. Class dismissed.”
She swept out of the room.
The class turned its sympathetic gaze from the cat to me.
Evelyn Sterling was the most intimidating person in school—and she never spoke.
Rumor had it that she had caused absolute chaos on her first day. The school bully and his crowd had tried to pick on her, only for Evelyn to send their ringleader flying nearly twenty-five feet with a single kick.
In the end, the bully was expelled, while Evelyn remained in our classroom without so much as a scratch.
Afterward, she went to class and left school as if nothing had happened. She never showed off or acted superior. In fact, she didn’t interact with any of us at all.
Even more terrifying, she was ranked first in the grade.
Clearly, Evelyn possessed exceptional intelligence, frightening strength, and admirable humility.
Ms. Reed had finally found my weakness. Yes, I loved talking, but I also preferred being alive.
Evelyn showed no reaction to the new seating arrangement. She simply sat in her usual place, silent and still.
Trembling, I gathered my things and moved them over one careful armful at a time.
To my horror, the next period was mathematics.
Math—the lifelong enemy of my happiness. During math class, I had only two choices: talk or fall asleep.
Sitting beside Evelyn, I forced my eyes open with every ounce of willpower I possessed.
Don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep!
I couldn’t do it. I was going to die.
Chapter 2
At last, I forced out a tentative whisper. “Evelyn, I have this condition where I’ll die if I stop talking. Could you just pretend you can’t hear me?”
Evelyn glanced at me as if I were intellectually challenged, then silently turned back toward the front.
I took that as permission and brightened like an overgrown kid on Christmas morning.
“Did you hear about those two people in our class? They’re dating now!”
I leaned closer, lowering my voice conspiratorially. “And then there was yesterday’s lunch. You would not believe what happened—”
Evelyn silently put in her earbuds.
I pretended not to notice and kept talking.
By the end of the period, my mouth was dry.
When I looked sideways, I could have sworn some of the frost had melted from Evelyn’s usually cold expression.
I leaned eagerly toward her. “What are you listening to? Is it good? Let me hear.”
My gaze happened to fall on her phone screen.
Nothing was playing.
Which meant there had never been any sound coming through Evelyn’s earbuds.
I instinctively turned to stare at her.
A faint blush had risen across her face, though her expression remained as cool and distant as ever.
Maybe I’d imagined that trace of warmth after all.
For the next month, that was how we got along.
I talked. Evelyn listened.
Then a surprise test shattered our comfortable routine.
If I came in last again, my mother would kill me.
So, for the first time ever, I went through an entire class without talking to Evelyn. She had always treated me like I was invisible anyway, so surely she wouldn’t care.
One day passed. Then another.
I chewed on the end of my pen and forced myself to take notes.
At last, the most dreaded class of all arrived: math.
Oh God. I couldn’t understand a single word.
I was doomed.
I lowered my head in despair. Just then, a notebook covered in dense handwriting slid across the desk toward me.
I stared at Evelyn in surprise. She looked oddly uncomfortable.
But Evelyn never took notes. Where had this come from?
An absurd thought popped into my head.
Had she整理—had she written an entire extra set just for me?
I dismissed the idea almost immediately. Why would someone like Evelyn waste so much time writing pages of useless explanations for my sake? She must have gotten them from one of her minions.
Still, I was deeply grateful that the great Evelyn Sterling had chosen to look after me.
I thanked her over and over. “Thank you! Thank you! You are my goddess!”
Unfortunately, that last sentence came out a little too loudly.
Every head in the classroom turned toward us.
Evelyn dropped her face into the crook of her arm. The tips of her ears had turned pink.
I waved everyone off. “It’s nothing. Nothing to see here. I’m just worshipping my goddess!”
Chapter 3
By now, my classmates were used to my particular brand of insanity. After teasing me for a few seconds, they went back to whatever they had been doing.
I began seriously considering my chances of passing math.
These were notes from the girl ranked first in the grade. If I studied them and practiced enough problems, surely I could scrape together a passing score.
Except…I still needed someone to explain the questions to me. My last test was practically drowning in red ink.
I glanced at Evelyn, who still had her head down.
What a shame. She was perfect in every other way, but she didn’t speak. I couldn’t ask her to write out every tedious step by hand just for me.
So I picked up my test and walked over to Maya Carter’s desk, wearing my most shamelessly flattering smile.
“Maya, my wonderful and generous class representative, would you please explain this problem to me?”
Maya nodded and politely offered me a seat. She took the test and was just about to begin when an unseen hand yanked it away with startling force.
We both looked up.
Evelyn, who had been sitting quietly at our desk moments ago, now stood in front of us. Anger flickered across her face.
“I’m sitting right beside you, and you ask someone else?”
What?
Maya and I stared at her with our mouths hanging open.
We weren’t the only ones. The entire classroom erupted.
She—she could talk?
Evelyn’s words struck the room like a bolt of lightning.
After one stunned moment of silence, every pair of eyes swung toward me.
Don’t look at me! I had no idea why the great Evelyn Sterling had suddenly decided she wasn’t mute anymore!
Maya recovered first. She pointed at me and cried, “Bennett, your nonstop talking actually cured her!”
Excited voices broke out all around us.
“Oh my God! A chatterbox can cure muteness!”
“What has Claire been saying to Evelyn all month? She must have annoyed her into talking!”
Evelyn grabbed my arm impatiently. “Come here. I’ll explain it to you.”
Utterly horrified, I let her drag me back to our desk and began listening to the solution with my soul somewhere outside my body.
Wait a minute, Evelyn. You still haven’t explained why you can suddenly talk!
Could my chatterbox powers truly be that miraculous? Had I somehow restored her voice?
If I opened a school for excessive talkers, maybe I could get everyone in the world who couldn’t speak talking again!
My imagination was soaring farther and farther away when a sharp flick to my forehead brought me crashing back.
Evelyn’s expression had darkened. “Pay attention. Did Maya steal your soul or something?”
I stared at her in disbelief.