Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 45

It took her a second to find the source of the greeting and soon found Theo, who’d stood up and was climbing the bleachers only to flop in the empty seat on her right. “Didn’t expect to see you here. Joining the track team? What events are you thinking of doing?”

“Sprinting and running,” she answered, wondering why he’d come to talk with her at all instead of sticking with his friends.

“Cool! Think you’ll try out hurdling? It’s a lot of fun.”

“I’m not interested in jumping.”

Theo stared at her for a second then let out a laugh, his hazel eyes squinting in amusement. Vivian could feel her cheeks begin to burn so she looked away from the boy and focused on the people who were beginning to trickle out of the bleachers. “So just pure running?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

“Oh, I do a bit of everything. Sprints, relay, long jump, triple jump, discus, and javelin.”

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

He shrugged his shoulders, a cocky look coming over him. “It’s all kinda the same in the end. Two runs, two jumps, two throws. I just need to run and lift weights and I’m good to go.”

Vivian wasn’t quite sure where to go from there with the conversation, but at that moment her eyes locked on Laurent, who’d noticed her in the bleachers and was frowning.

“Oh, our track star looks a bit miffed,” Theo pointed out, voice telling her this was an entertaining development.

“Who’s the track star?” She asked, forcing herself to look away from her brother to scan the remaining students.

“Laurent Devreaux.”

It took every fibre of her willpower not to let out a groan. Of course her brother had to be the star of the team. From what Vivian had been told both Sebastian and Gabriel had been captains of their own teams when they’d been in high school. Athletecism ran in the family, at least on the male side. She was beginning to worry she wouldn’t meet the standards set by her three siblings.

What if she was terrible at running? She would never be able to show her face at home. Hell, Laurent would probably ask her not to tell anyone they were related until after he’d graduated.

Vivian would oblige, too. She had no interest in being the subject of school gossip at any point in time. Being bad at sports and sullying the Devreaux name would only give her a legitimate, selfless excuse to keep it secret.

“Why’s he giving me that look?” Theo was still talking while she’d been lost in thought.

“He’s giving you a look?” She murmured, giving her brother a glance to see his frown still in place. Wasn’t he looking at her?

“Yeah. We don’t mesh well, but we aren’t on bad terms; so why’s he looking so annoyed?”

Vivian wanted to tell him that Laurent was in a perpetual bad mood but decided that information wasn’t for her to share. “Maybe he knows I’ve never run a day in my life and hopes I don’t bring the team down,” she offered with a small shrug.

“Nah. You see Izzy over there?” He nodded his head towards a girl who had to be six feet tall, lanky, with long brown hair.

“Yeah…?”

“Tall as she is, she can’t run for shit. Worst times in the entire school’s history. None of us really care since it doesn’t affect us much. If she gets dead last then it just means she gets dead last. Competitions are individual, except the relay, so she isn’t affecting anyone else by participating.”

“But isn’t it important for the school to win as many things as possible?”

“I mean… I guess, but…” Theo shrugged his shoulders as he waved a hand in the air. “Coach Mac isn’t the type to just kick someone out for that. She’s a decent person, doesn’t get frustrated, puts in the work. Every year she’s shaved some time off her sprints so it’s not like she’s slacking.”

Vivian sat on this information for a minute. “So… as long as I make progress I’ll be fine?”

“Pretty much. If you’re top five then you’ll have to deal with the competitive people.” Theo motioned towards Laurent’s group and another one just off to the side. “Anyone not in the top five they don’t really bother worrying about.”

*So don’t be too good*, Vivian told herself with a small nod. That would be easy enough. The last of her worry over joining the team evaporated and Vivian was beginning to look forward to seeing where she stood in the rankings.

“And now he’s coming up here…”

Vivian had spaced out again, snapping back to reality in time to see Laurent stop in the row below them, his frown still stuck in place as he looked from Theo to her and back again. “What are you doing?” He asked the boy sitting on her right.

“Just chatting with Vivian here,” Theo grinned. “She’s new to school so I’m helping her out. Vivian, this is Laurent Devreaux, track superstar in all the events that involve running.”

Laurent glanced at his sister for a split second, as if daring her to say something. “We’ve met. Shouldn’t you be busy elsewhere?”

Rolling his eyes, Theo gave Vivian a look that said ‘can you believe this guy’? “Alright, alright. You want to talk one on one with her. Jeeze, you could just come out and say it like a normal person.” He turned and gave her a wink as he then jumped to his feet. “Great chat, Vivian. See you tomorrow.”

The boy ran down the bleachers, skipping over the seats as he ignored the stairs that would have made the descent much easier. Someone further down called out to Theo, who responded with a laugh but Laurent had started talking and Vivian switched her attention onto him.

“Don’t hang out with him too much.”

It was deja-vous of a conversation she’d had with a foster family years ago. “And why is that?”

Laurent stared at her for a long moment before letting out a sigh. “Just don’t, okay? He’s not the kind of person you should hang out with.”

Vivian didn’t bother asking for him to elaborate. The moment someone told her not to do something without a solid reason made her want to do it all the more.

It did intrigue her that Laurent was warning her off Theo. Hadn’t Abby said something about him being a fuck boy? Was that the reason her brother was warning her about him? Why not just come out and say it?

And when had he started feeling even a little protective of her?