Paid to Play: Taming the Silent Heir

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Three years. That's how long I chased my best friend before he dropped me with one sentence: I talk too much, too crude not enough like a real girl.

Go learn from the It Girl instead, he said. Sweet. Soft. Perfect.

So the It Girl pulls me aside one day and stares dead at my mouth.

They say you could talk a mute into speaking.

Then she offers me a thousand dollars for every sentence I can get out of her brother.

The boy who stopped talking. The one nobody's reached in years.

She thinks this is hard. Sweet girl. I have my methods.

I walk to the back row and tap his desk.

"Don't you want to explain to everyone? About last night. How you waited until I fell asleep and licked my feet."

His eyes go wide. The ice on his face cracks straight down the middle.

"I didn't."

I turn around and beam at the It Girl.

"Pay up."

Chapter 1

The It Girl crossed the room in three steps.

No disgust in her eyes. Just dead-serious awe.

I figured she was joking. She wasn't my phone buzzed before I finished blinking. A thousand dollars. Just like that.

Her hands were shaking. The legendary ice-cold, gorgeous It Girl, fingers trembling over a transfer screen.

She grabbed my arm like I was the last lifeboat off a sinking ship.

"Guru. Save my brother."

She told me her parents had taken Soren to every therapist in the country and a few outside it. The answer was always the same.

"The best thing for him is someone his own age. Someone who can make him feel what it's supposed to feel like being young."

Problem was, Soren couldn't stand anyone but family getting near him. He'd shut the whole world out. Stopped talking to all of it. And nobody had gotten back in for years.

We're seniors. Everyone's obsessed with looking cool. So nobody wanted the miserable job of cracking open a guy like that.

"Hang around him. Bug him. Every extra sentence you get out of him that's another thousand."

She held my hand like I was her guardian angel.

I held hers, staring at that thousand bucks, like she was a walking ATM.

Pestering people? Please. I've been a pro since birth every teacher I ever had filed me under fly that won't shut up.

In elementary school they sat me next to a kid who was deaf, just to shut me up. So I learned sign language and chatted under the desk anyway, hands flying like some anime ninja mid-jutsu.

The teacher called my mom and told her I could strike up a conversation with a stray dog. Suggested she get me checked out.

This job was tailor-made for me.

Plus Soren was hot.

I looked over at him.

He'd just said three whole words to me. Then dropped his head fast, like he was furious at himself for letting them slip out on reflex. Now all I got was the top of his dark head.

Three words. He hadn't meant to say them. To me.

I filed that away. Three words is three grand, after all.

Tanner, ignored this entire time, wasn't having it. My best friend sidled over and grabbed for my phone without a word.

"Marlowe. We should be focused on school right now. You shouldn't be mixing with people like that."

The It Girl turned around. Thirty seconds ago, he'd been calling her a goddess. Now her eyes were flat and cold.

"People like what?"

Tanner choked. Nothing came out. I shook his hand off my arm.

Funny. Three years I spent crushing on him, and I never once noticed: Tanner only shoves the people who won't shove back.

He opened his mouth to keep going. The bell saved him. I bounced back to my seat.

By the end of the day, the It Girl had thrown around enough money and charm to get me seated right next to Soren.

"Teacher, my brother's really just here to make friends. To learn how to be around people again. Marlowe's perfect for it."

Beat.

"Also it's been so warm lately. I really think the school could use some new air conditioning."

The teacher shut up.

And just like that, I'd been assigned to the one boy in school nobody had cracked in years.

A grand a sentence. How hard could it be?

Chapter 2

I slid into the seat next to Soren. He was face-down on the desk, "asleep."

Tanner twisted around from across the room and glared like he wanted to burn a hole through me.

I spent the entire period studying the back of Soren's neck.

He was awake. Obviously. He just wouldn't lift his head anything to avoid sitting next to me. Cute.

"Hey, Soren. Did you know your neck is unfairly white? Honestly kind of snack-able. Makes me want to take a little bite"

I must've gotten too close. He flinched hard, snapped his head up, and stared at me like I was a threat.

I snapped a photo of his face and sent it to his sister.

This is the boy nobody can get through to? The impossible case?

Please. His tiny expressions are livelier than mine.

The next few periods humbled me, though. Whatever I said, he just sat there like a block of wood.

By the final bell I'd talked myself hoarse and I was still having the time of my life.

Because no one had ever let me run my mouth this long without telling me to shut up or calling me a dumbass.

Even if I never saw a cent of that money, I'd found a soulmate.

I watched his pale fingers slowly close his textbook. I smirked.

"That whole English class. What exactly were you pretending for?"

His fingers froze. He shot me one look, then stood up and headed for the door.

I grabbed my bag and scrambled after him his sister had said their family's driver was taking me home.

Something yanked my backpack hard enough to make my eyes water.

Tanner. Standing behind me, face like a thundercloud.

"Can't you tell he wants nothing to do with you? Marlowe. Have a little shame. You're a girl."

Second time.

Second time today.

I crushed on this boy for three years. I still couldn't stomach him humiliating me twice in one day.

I swung my backpack and slammed it into his face.

He stared at me, stunned. My chest was heaving.

"Is something wrong with you? I bug you I'm shameless. I bug someone else I'm still shameless."

"And what did you say this morning? That a girl who keeps telling dirty jokes should be ashamed of herself?"

I laughed right in his face. I hadn't even planned to bring this up.

You taught me those jokes, Tanner.

Every day after school. You told them to me, laughed till you cried, and I thought oh. He likes this. So I stayed up entire nights memorizing filthier ones, just to earn thirty more seconds of your attention.

You turned me into the most shameless simp this school has ever seen. And then you stood there and shamed me for it.

So high-maintenance. Honestly? Go drop dead somewhere.

I shook his arm off and saw Soren about to vanish around the corner. I bolted after him.

"Soren! Why didn't you wait for me?"

I tilted my head at him. He didn't answer, obviously. I glanced at the corner store and pointed at him like I was giving an order.

"Stay. Don't move."

And to my complete shock he stayed.

I walked a full circle around him just to confirm it was real.

"Wait right here. I'm buying something. Or I'll tell your sister about the time you secretly kissed me."

Soren looked up. Less horrified than this morning but those dark eyes still fixed on me, lost.

When I came out of the store with a popsicle, the first thing I saw was Soren. Standing obediently by the trash can. Exactly where I'd left him.

Tsk.

I narrowed my eyes.

I always thought my type was the sunny golden-boy. You know. Tanner.

So why is this gloomy, perfectly-behaved puppy so unbearably cute?

I licked my popsicle and thought it over.

And reached a conclusion.

Chapter 3

I don't have a type. I'm just shameless.

I shoved a popsicle into his hand. Soren didn't take it it hit the ground with a wet splat.

He just kept walking. I scooped it up, ran after him, and shoved it back into his hand.

It hit the ground again.

Okay. This little brat.

I caught up in two steps and yanked his collar open. That finally cracked his composure Soren clutched his collar and stumbled back, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

I grinned and held the popsicle out.

He took it.

We walked side by side. But he just held it, not eating.

So I leaned in and whispered:

"Don't be shy. I won't tell anyone your popsicle's pink."

He ripped the wrapper open, shoved it in his mouth, and walked faster.

See? When people get embarrassed, they pretend to be busy.

Water around? Drink it. Popsicle around? Suck on it.

I watched him take careful little licks and grinned.

"Soren, did you know a popsicle's great for cooling off in summer? You just shove it into a sheep"

He stopped eating. Set the popsicle down. Mouth red from the cold, he just looked at me, silent.

Looked like he'd finally run out of ways to deal with me.

I got a little embarrassed. Okay, fine maybe that one was genuinely gross.

I was about to change the subject when Soren said his second word of the day.

"Lamb."

I froze. Then I lost my entire mind with joy.

"Oh my GOD, you're right it's lambskin, I always mix that up!"

"Soren!! We have so much in common you watch those trashy little videos too?!"

I'd assumed the boy who shut the whole world out wasn't exactly the type to be online. Turns out he's a certified menace on the internet.

I was practically bouncing. I had really, truly found my soulmate.

I climbed out of the Hawthornes' car, waved goodbye to the It Girl, all cheerful then turned around and nearly died of fright.

Tanner. At the foot of the stairs. Eyes ice-cold.

"Does your mom know? That you're hanging all over the freak who won't even talk?"

I held out the spare freeze pop I'd bought. Tanner's face softened a little. He reached for it but he didn't stop lecturing.

"A guy like that is obviously a mess, Marlowe. He can't even string a sentence together. You think everyone's as patient as me? Three years of you talking my ear off and I still"

I crushed the half-melted freeze pop in my fist and squirted the sticky juice right into his face.

He shrieked and jumped back. The motion light on the stairs flicked on.

Sweet, syrupy juice dripped down Tanner's face. He glared at me like he wanted me dead.

"Are you INSANE?!"

I pulled out a tissue, wiped my fingers, and walked right past him.

"You keep calling everyone else messed up. From where I'm standing, you're the one who's broken."

He spun around. I was already two steps up the stairs.

The next day, between classes, I told Soren I wanted his number. And, rare miracle, he actually responded.

"No."

I lifted my phone to take his picture. He frowned and swatted it away.

I lunged for the phone in his pocket. Soren recoiled like I was grabbing for something a lot more personal and shot back two whole steps.

We were mid-wrestling-match when Tanner knocked on my desk.

"Marlowe. I'll let last night slide. My mom made pot roast tonight let's walk home together after school."

I let go of tormenting Soren and gave Tanner a flat side-eye.

Is he broken?

Did nothing from yesterday get through?

I couldn't be bothered. I turned back around and found Soren already on his feet, walking out the door.

Chapter 4

I took a deep breath and went after him.

Soren was just outside the classroom, standing stiff as a board, like an idiot.

I figured he wanted to dodge me but had no idea where to go, so his brain just blue-screened.

I bit back a laugh and poked him.

"Hey. Really not gonna add me?"

He didn't answer. Just stood there, ramrod straight, until the bell rang.

"Hey. Teacher's coming."

I tugged his sleeve. He didn't budge.

"And what, exactly, are you two doing standing out here?"

The music teacher frowned. I looked at statue-Soren, then back at the teacher.

"Sir Soren, he has a stomachache."

Soren's pupils trembled, startled by how smoothly I lied.

The teacher waved us off and told me to take him to the nurse.

I'm tone-deaf. The only reason I ever get to skip music is that, to every teacher alive, Soren is a perfect angel.

I dragged him along like a slab of stone. As we passed the window, I caught Tanner watching face dark and ugly.

"Soren you've never skipped a class in your life, have you?"

I pried his hand open. His palm was warm. Something itched in my chest, and I shamelessly threaded my fingers through his.

He didn't pull away.

I led him through the alley by school to my favorite spot, and the owner cheerfully set down a bowl of noodles.

"Bringing a friend? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

I beamed.

"Yep. We're skipping."

Soren's breath just stopped. He reached up to clap a hand over my mouth, looking like he'd give anything to make me swallow the words back down.

I couldn't stop giggling. Whoever designed this boy made him too cute. He lands on every single one of my buttons.

I grabbed two small bowls.

"Half for you, half for me. That way we never drift apart."

Soren frowned at the noodles and said nothing.

I thought he was turned off but then he picked up his phone and held it out to me.

I got what he meant.

He was saying: I have money. We can buy two.

Truth was, I just couldn't finish a whole bowl. I'd already had breakfast.

I took the chance to swipe his phone and add myself to his contacts.

Soren's hand stilled. But he didn't stop me.

He ate quietly. Somehow he made even a plain bowl of noodles look expensive.

When the food was gone, I wiped my mouth, grabbed his hand, and bolted.

Soren blanked, stumbling after me, and I didn't look back until we'd cleared the alley.

His eyes were terrifyingly bright. Like he'd never done anything this reckless in his life.

His heart was pounding. I could hear it even standing face to face.

He grabbed my hand and tried to steer us back, eyes set.

I shook him off.

"We already skipped. Going back now is just embarrassing."

Soren pressed his lips together and stared at me, silent. He wasn't even angry just this helpless, indulgent look, and an iron grip on that one rule of his.

I grinned at him.

"Fine. We'll go back. But only if you tell the owner: Sorry we came back to pay. Then I'll go."

Soren stood at the mouth of the alley and agonized for a solid five minutes. Finally, defeated, he took my hand and led me back.

The owner was wiping down tables. She froze at the sight of us in the doorway, the two of us standing there like statues. I gave him a little shove.

"Talk."

Sweat beaded across Soren's palm. He gripped my hand until it went red, the tips of his ears blazing.

I really thought he was about to give up.

Chapter 5

But the next second I heard it.

That cold, clear voice that belonged only to Soren. Stammering.

"Sorry, ma'am we came back to pay