They say that everybody was born for a reason. Everyone has a purpose, something that would change the future by their own presence. I believed that at one point, I would be needed for this world, to do something everyone will admire.
But I misunderstood that by a long shot.
I thought it would affect everyone else, but it only affected me.
"Look at his face, I would kill myself if I looked like that."
"What a bum, he can't even get decent grades."
"Why does he even bother to come here?"
The comments stabbed me like a knife, making my chest hurt. I clenched my books tightly to my chest, trying my best to ignore the comments, but that was all I could notice. The insults. The pain.
I let my red hair hang over my eyes, one normal, the other blind. Maybe if I let my hair grow long and cover my eyes and nose, then no one would notice me. I could just get through high school peacefully.
"Hey, Fukase."
An arm slung over my shoulder, and long purple hair hang over the right side of my body. I recognized that purple hair anywhere.
"Hey, Gakupo." I grumbled, averting my gaze.
His best friend (and partner in crime), Kaito, walked on my left, staring at the disfigured left side of my face and blind eye. He smirked, his handsome face looking twisted with glee.
"Long time no see," he said, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, I was thinking," Gakupo sneered, his signal that he was going to throw in an insult. "Maybe you could pay for games at the arcade? After all, you have plenty of money."
He cackled at his insult, as I was forced to walk with them. I prayed that they would just go away and leave me alone.
"We need to find some use for this bum, after all, why is he here in the first place?" Kaito added, his eyes narrowing with an evil gleam.
I don't wanna deal with their crap.
"Gakupo, Kaito, I need to get to class, so go away." I warned, looking for my locker in the midist of the dozens lined on the wall.
"What did you say?"
I flinched, and realized that Gakupo was glaring at me with rage, his fists clenched. Not a good sign.
I desperately looked around for somewhere to run, and then spotted Kagamine Rin and Len down the hallway.
"Hey Len! Hi Rin!"
They were almost like the bully police, always after Gakupo and Kaito and trying to catch them doing their evil schemes. The second they spotted them, Gakupo and Kaito darted to who-knows-where. Even though Rin and Len were adorable, they had a temper like you've never seen.
"Hi Fukase!" Rin exclaimed running towards me as I opened my locker. "Are you going to choir?"
"Yeah, I just need to put my books away."
Once I was empty-handed and my locker was closed, with lock secure, we walked together to the choir room.
As we walked, I noticed that Len looked bothered by something. He was staring at the lockers, deep in thought.
"What's wrong Len?" I asked.
"Well..." he mumbled, looking at me with a serious expression, and using his arms as a headrest. "I know that you've been trying to stand up to yourself, but you need to tell a teacher. Unless if you tell someone, Gakupo and Kaito will just keep bullying you."
Here we go again. I thought, exasperated with this conversation.
"Len's right. If you don't stop them, they're gonna hurt you." Rin added.
I knew that I needed to tell someone. But there was a reason I wasn't telling anyone about me being bullied.
There is someone I like.
I desperately want to impress them by standing up to Gakupo and Kaito, because they're being bullied by them as well. I want to catch the bullies when they're making fun of them, and impress them but also scare away Gakupo and Kaito for good.
"Hey, Fukase!"
I flinched from disturbance, and realized that we were at the choir room. We walked in, and there were four rows of chairs placed in the classroom, several students already sitting down and talking within the last few minutes before class.
Then, I spotted Yohio and Kyo sitting together, talking. However my crush wasn't with them. That was odd. They're the class representative, they are expected to be early to classes.
I shrugged it off, and sat down in the way back, separate from the rest of the students, and I waited for time to pass.
Choir was, by far, my favorite class. I usually got good grades, and it was the one class where I was admired for something about me. I was a pretty good Alto and Baritone, so the teacher would want me to try out for a solo, or she would point out a part in a song that I sang beautifully. And it was the one class that I could forget about my disfigured face and blind left eye.
Finally, I heard our teacher's high heels on the tile floor, and she stood at the front of the classroom, with my crush, who was blushing adorably. I couldn't help but admire that they could stand at the front of the classroom and not have to worry about people judging them based on looks.
Our teacher did attendance, as my crush sat down with Yohio and Kyo, and I waited for the singing. That was all I waited for in my school day, or my life overall.
"Me and your class representative had a little talk before class, and we decided on the songs we'll sing for the spring concert in April. As I speak, there are copies of the lyrics and notes being passed out."
I saw Miku pass out piles of sheet music, the copies being passed down throughout the class. Kaito and Gakupo were polite with her, trying to get her to ask one of them out. Typical, almost every guy in our school had a crush on that girl. From the bright blue ponytails to the high-pitched voice, she was the ideal girlfriend. She even had a great personality. Those were all things people would never notice about me, or even think at the sight of me.
Finally, the copies were passed to me, and I was given seven different songs that needed to be practiced. I flipped through, and saw a couple of duets and solos that would have to be filled in. Several times I had considered doing one, but I had the fear of scaring everyone off if I showed up on stage in front of an entire audience.
"These are the songs that will be practiced for the next two and a half months, and during that time we'll determine who has a solo or duet, and what part you have, whether it's a soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, or bass." The teacher explained, opening her own copy of the sheet music.
Then, my crush walked up to the piano at the front of the room, and examined the notes on the pages given to him.
"Now, everyone open to the first page of..."
I wasn't listening anymore. I knew how it worked when we got new songs. I wanted to admire my crush's skill on the piano, as they plucked the keys to produce the beautiful sound. I loved pianos, I always wanted to learn how to play, but I was never given the opportunity to.
Everyone stood up, looked at the lyrics, and started singing either the alto or soprano part, based on if they were a girl or boy. I was only singing half-heartedly, when I was impressed that my crush could hit every right note as we sang, keeping up with the tempo, adding in perfect dynamics and even singing along with us.
I wanted to sing by Oliver's side. So desperately, I wanted to feel the comfort of song as a duet, the two of us together. Me with the lower notes, him with the higher and the piano. A perfect melody.
Unfortunately, class ended sooner than I realized, and we had to pass in the copies of sheet music and leave the classroom.
My next class was science, my least favorite. I always struggled to get a decent grade, and none of it made sense. I was used to getting tutors and having to retake tests and getting extra practice.
Shoot, we have homework due today!
I searched in my locker for my science homework, but I couldn't find it, and then I heard the bell ring, a warning that class was going to start in one minute.
"Screw it."
I slammed my locker shut and ran to the science room, with only my textbook, pencil case, and notebook.
The bell was merciless today, because the second I stepped into the classroom the bell rang, and I had to sprint to my seat and look casual before the teacher arrived. Thankfully, I was given enough time to put my supplies away and open my textbook before the teacher took attendance.
Please don't mention the homework!!
After attendance, he explained our concept today and our assignment, nothing about homework.
Maybe I got the due date wrong.
He split us into groups for a lab, and we all had to do different chemical reactions and answer a couple of questions, nothing special. Just our science teacher trying to give himself the least amount of work as possible.
Me and my group managed to finish the lab within the class timeframe, and we turned it in. We still had about twenty minutes of class left, so we were allowed to work on other homework or study for the next test. I opened my textbook and read through the chapter we were learning about, but I still couldn't keep my mind off of the homework assignment.
In fifteen minutes, the other groups had finished and were just hanging out. The teacher had said nothing.
I must've gotten the due date wrong, he would've mentioned it by now."Briiiiing!!"
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Everyone stood up, and then my worst fear happened.
"Class dismissed, and turn in your homework assignment before you leave." He said, walking to the doorway and waiting for students to turn in the homework.
Crap, what am I supposed to do?!
I tried to use my tactic of blending in with the line of students, and pass by him without him noticing.
As he neared me, I tried as best I could to look casual, and get past him without being noticed.
"Fukase, where is you're homework?" He asked, getting my attention.
I stopped, and looked at him, embarrassed.
"I... uh... don't have it?" I said, probably the lamest excuse I could've thought of.
He frowned, annoyed with my terrible grades and lack of time management with assignments. He took the assignments from the rest of the students, and while they went on to their last class of the day, I had to stay behind. I was used to this routine, but today it bothered me because it was close to the end of the day and I just wanted school to be over.
"Fukase," he said, looking through his computer to my grades, and showing me my average. In the midist of assignments, tests, and projects, there was a mix of Cs, Ds, and Fs. And my overall grade was a D-, not good.
"You haven't been keeping up with the class. Lately, your grade average has been in the Ds. If your grades don't improve, I won't be able to allow you to continue to the next grade next year. I've talked with other teachers, and we got you a tutor to help you after school with your assignments and studying." He explained, dead serious.
This had to be my umpteenth tutor. I sighed. Another several hours of wasting time. Another tutor chosen, another tutor gone, no good grades.
"And since you've gone through several tutors, we decided to give you the class representative, the one with top grades. After school today, you'll meet him in the library and have daily tutoring sessions until improvement." He added, and he stood up from his desk, and let me go on to my next class.
D-did he just say class representative?!
"Yesssss!" I whispered, making an air fist bump once I was in the hallway.
I was going to be having tutoring sessions with Oliver, my crush!
"Good grades, here I come!!" I exclaimed, running to my next class.
The last class of the day took forever to finish, but I got through without any trouble. It was just a lecture and another assignment, and I figured that with Oliver as my tutor, he could help me take notes. Such things were never skills that I could achieve anything in not matter how hard I tried.
I heard the last bell ring, and all the students rushed to the buses or towards home. On the other hand, I gathered up my supplies, and walked to the library. One of the few things I liked about tutoring was the peace and quiet after school ends. No bullies, no loud kids, just quiet.
I passed the gym along the way, and noticed that they were decorating it, putting up tables and blowing balloons.
Is there a dance or something?
"F-fukase!"
I turned towards the voice, and saw Oliver in front of the library, already prepared. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks, but I refused to show it.
"Coming."
One of the tables already had a notebook and a few pencils there, with what looked like a list written on the page that was open.
We sat down, and then awkwardness. I waited for him to start talking, but he flipped through his notebook first, looking for an open page. I stared at him all the while, and I could tell that he was getting nervous and shy, it was adorable.
"S-so, we'll be going over each of your topics, and I'll help you with homework and notes, and if you have any questions, you're free to ask." He stammered, I couldn't help but smile. Most would've moaned while saying that, but he sounded happy to help me.
"Okay." I replied, opening my science textbook and notebook.
He found a fresh page in his notebook, and he started explaining the chapter and concepts simply, a way that I could understand it. For the first time in weeks, I actually understood the topic. I even jot down a couple of notes. After while, he glanced at my notes, and we both realized how messy and unorganized they were.
"I could show you how to write down notes for additional studying, if you'd like." He suggested.
"Sure, Oliver."
He seemed surprised that I mentioned his name at the end of the sentence, and he looked flattered by my light sense of respect. But I felt the blush creep into my cheeks again, that was probably the first time I had spoken his name to him.
I felt like I had to break the silence before it got embarrassing, and I asked, "So, is there some kinda dance tonight or something? I saw them decorating the gym."
"Yeah, the valentines dance. We couldn't arrange it on Valentine's Day, so we had to reschedule it."
We didn't say anything, the tension in the atmosphere rose to awkward levels, and then he broke the silence, and Oliver helped me write notes, and then we moved on to the next subject, math.
"Do you know how many people are going?" I asked, pulling out my math supplies.
"Most of the high school, but also those who have a date to go with. But the only reason I have to stay is to arrange it and help supervise and clean up. I was the only one who took the job to arrange the dance, so I kinda was disappointed that I couldn't have fun there tonight." He answered, flipping to a fresh page in his notebook.
Maybe next year... if I mustered the courage, I could ask you to go with me.
"Then, I guess in a sense, it was sort of a good thing you're my tutor today?" I said, which came out as a mumble.
Oliver smiled gently, and whispered, "Yeah."
He is so cute.
My face felt like a million degrees, and I realized I was blushing. Again.
Don't let him see!
I used my textbook to cover my face, and hoped that he didn't notice. I didn't want him to know that I liked him, that I was gay, not yet. Now wasn't the right time, and I wasn't prepared to get rejected.
"Um, you okay?" He asked, attempting to look at me behind the textbook, but couldn't with his short stature.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine."
Once I got my cool, I put down the textbook, and we quickly finished our session before I could blush again. Surprisingly, we made a lot of progress, and lots of concepts from different classes made sense. I didn't doubt that within a few weeks, my grades would get better.
Before I knew it, it was six o' clock, and I had to go home.
"Well, thank you Oliver, for everything." I said packing up my textbooks and notebooks.
"You're welcome."
Suddenly, I could hear music pounding in my ears, which sounded like it was coming from out of the library.
"Did the dance start already?"
"Yeah. Do you want to see it?"
Although I usually had no interest in school events, I figured I had nothing else to do. I nodded, and we left the library to the gym.
For some reason, I feel like I'm going with Oliver to the dance, like we're dating.
I knew it would likely never happen, but the fantasy of it was nice.
It was a dream that I could depend on to keep my spirit joyful through my school days.
End of chapter one.
Hello readers, this is Averta! This is my first FanFiction, so I hope it wasn't too bad in the first chapter. I hope the next chapter will come out in a week or so, but I will try to publish it as soon as I can. But once September comes, it'll be harder to publish with homework, sports, school, etc. And if I end up publishing a chapter once a month, I'll try to publish several on breaks or between quarters.
Anyways, thanks for reading the first chapter of Romancing the Melody!
