Hello everyone, I'm back with the second chapter! Thank you for all your reviews so far. I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cause of Death and its affiliated characters. Also, I do not own the song Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.
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Natara Mansingh spent a full ten minutes looking for the music room. When she finally found it, she apprehensively opened the door to find Mal already sitting on the floor in the centre of the room playing his electric guitar.
Mal stopped strumming on this guitar and looked up. "I never knew you were such a slob," he commented drily. "I thought you would arrive earlier than me. How disappointing! Oh yes, can I call you Nat?"
More than the horror she might have felt for being late, Natara felt dismayed. How could Mal put her down like this?
"I couldn't find the music room just now… Don't judge me!" She narrowed her eyes at a smirking Mal. "And that will be Natara for you, thank you very much." She walked over and sat down by his side.
"Oh, okay. Feel free to call me Mal though."
The pair slipped into a somewhat comfortable silence, scrutinizing the other. Natara had been too distracted by Mal's eyes earlier that day, she only just begun noticing his lightly tousled bronze hair, which seemed slightly too long; it ended below the nape of his neck. He also had a masculine square jaw too.
Suddenly she realized she had to resist a very disturbing urge to run her hand through his hair and down his face. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, then blurted, "Isn't your hair a tad bit too long for school?"
"It's the trend among us rockers now," Mal grinned. "Miss Yates may not like rock, but our discipline master sure does!"
Natara's eyes widened. "How do you know?"
"Oh, he summoned me to his office one fine Monday morning because he received a complaint that I hadn't been handing in my math homework. I opened the door to find rock music blasting out of the stereo sound system and him 'dancing'. Man, he was so upset when I found out! I managed gto stop myself from threatening to blackmail him. In the end, we made a pact. If he lets me keep my long untrimmed hair, I won't sell him out –"
"You just did," Natara remarked in the same dry tone Mal had used on her earlier. Comeback time!
"Oops, my bad." Mal feigned shock.
"That's okay, your secret's safe with me." Natara grinned.
"Speaking of rock, it's time I started performing for you." Mal picked up his electric guitar, which had been lying slack on the floor throughout the pair's exchange. "When I got this guitar from my dad, it came with a funny label." He pointed to an orange sticker stuck crudely on the guitar. The text read 'No Playing of Decadent Music'. "He never told me how it came about.
"You've never listened to rock, have you?"
"No… Dad told me it was rough music girls shouldn't be listening to." Natara shook her head.
"I'll prove your dad wrong! The song I'm going to play may not be my creation, but it's great nevertheless. Underneath the rough edges of the rock instrumental lie the meaningful lyrics." He smiled at Natara and got ready to play.
"Now presenting… 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen."
Natara paid extra attention to the song, and found she liked it very, very much; more than she initially thought she would. The last verse struck her as the most impressive:
Together Wendy we'll live with the sadness.
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul.
Someday girl I don't know when
we're gonna get to that place.
Where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun.
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run.
Not only that, she also liked how Mal looked when he the song. He seemed he was in an entirely different world - his world. He definitely had the passion for rock.
When the last note of the song faded into oblivion, Mal turned around and looked up at Natara's face, now within kissing distance. They had been sitting so close together, it was no surprise something as awkward as this would happen. Blue eyes met green ones…
"Did you enjoy it?" he whispered.
"Why yes, I did," she breathed.
The door to the music room burst open and in the doorway stood a fellow classmate, Ken Greene. He did not have hair as long as Mal's ("It doesn't suit me," Ken had told him before) but he had the aura of a 'rocker', indeed. His slightly stubbled face reminded Natara of a punk sideshow attraction at a carnival. Wow, facial hair, everyone! Doesn't he look kind of old for a junior high school student?
"Mal, you're needed for – What in Hades is happening here?" Is Mal going out with someone? Why didn't he tell me? Wait, is that Natara Mansingh? Damn damn damn I'm confused now!
Natara hurriedly stood up, straightened herself and retrieved her backpack from the floor. She reached into it and held up a black notebook. She hurled it at Mal.
"Mal, this is the book of poems and compositions you asked for. Enjoy." She rushed past Ken out into the corridor, wondering what would have happened if he had not arrived.
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"You like her, don't you? To think I thought she wouldn't be your type!"
Ken was now occupied with trying to get a confession out of Mal, who was in a state of denial.
"It's just homework help! I offered to perform for her if she would loan me that black notebook…" This would have been true, if not for the fact that Mal also wanted to get to know Natara better.
"Sing any songs for her yet?"
"It's just Born to Run, Ken! You know I perform that so damn often!"
"This is a rather intimate setting for a performance though, don't you think? Mal, you usually sing in front of a group of spazzing fangirls! What happened today?" Mal vehemently shook his head.
After a while, though, Ken gave up. "You two might make a nice couple! If you ever want to ask Natara out, I'm your man!" He left. Mal stared at his disappearing body, his mouth agape.
Couple?
Now alone in the music room, Mal opened the notebook and started reading the poems and compositions, all the while reconsidering what he really felt about Natara Mansingh.
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I couldn't help but include Ken in this story. It seemed like he would be the only guy other than Mal who (looked like he) could appreciate rock. Eh, did Mal start up a rock or grunge band in college?
Next chapter will contain short pieces of interaction between Mal and Natara after this meeting.
Your reviews are always welcome! Mm.
Also, I may post up a Blaise & Mal and/or Natara and Oscar (Santara) oneshot on Good Friday! I've managed to free up some time for writing.
Once again, thanks for reading!
