Author's Note:
Hello dear readers, I'm back with Chapter 3.
I won't try to spoil too much for this chapter but I can tell you that a new character will show up. If you can spot her that's cool, kudos goes to you.
So with the future of this I'm sure that you can tell where this is going, if you can't well, here goes, somewhere down the pipeline Joseph is going to form "The Band" I'm sure that you can already tell who going to be in it, cough, Ruby, Blake, Yang, cough. But there are more additions to come, if you don't already know who that is. Now, I haven't told you what instruments that they'll be playing, that's all your speculation, but I'm sure you could make good guesses. *Hint* Think a small Jazz group.
Anyways, enough of this, I'm sure you're all anxious to get to the content.
As usual, follow (if you haven't), and leave a review, it goes a long way and gives me ideas to flow in my brain.
- Lor
Chapter 3: Lessons
I was awoken by a knock on the bedroom door that connected to the classroom, my brain registered it as being very early and that I needed to go back to sleep. I couldn't sleep a wink last night; after all, being thrown out of my usual comfort zone did not do good for the schedule I was put on. Hopefully, I could get past the morning class that I was supposed to teach. The sky was in the stage of transitioning to early morning; it looked like the dark sky was a light shade of black.
I groggily went over to the door that was being knocked on. I knew that it was the classroom door but it never reached the logistics in my brain. I just went and answered it as if it were the actual bedroom door. I opened the door and saw Weiss' face looking angrily at me. She was dressed in a white dress with red trimming along the bottom.
"Well?" She asked, angry.
I yawned, "Weiss? What are you doing," I said taking a pause to yawn. "Isn't it a bit early?"
She shoved a tablet in my face. "It's 5: 30." I just continued to yawn before she snapped. "Well, get going!"
"Yeah, Yeah," I said closing the door and getting changed.
I got changed into a sweater and jeans. I headed for my classroom and grudgingly took a seat. Last night I was up working on marking Weiss' theory paper. And then afterwards I called the Orchestra to tell them that I would be resigning from my position. The director bid me farewell in a sombre tone, he obviously was disappointed that he would lose the most gifted child to this date.
I then proceeded to call Yang up.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey Yang, how do you feel about practice at night?" I asked.
"I don't know, can't you do it any other time?" She asked.
"It's really impossible, you guys do have school during the day which is my only other time off," I stated.
I heard the phone scramble out of her hands and I heard Ruby's voice. "Are we going to still be a team?" She asked.
"I don't know, how do you feel about night time practice? I can get there at about nine then we can practice until 12," I stated.
"Really? That's great! We'll do it!" Ruby said enthusiastically.
I heard Yang and Ruby bicker off to the side, I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying but they were probably bickering about the time placements. I heard the phone switch hands again, "Alright, we'll do it," Yang told me.
"That's great, I'll see you guys at nine tonight," I said.
"Yay!" I heard Ruby exclaim loudly.
At this I smiled, it's great to work with people that appreciate all kinds of music, not just contemporary orchestral style. It also gave me a break and people my age to talk to, people that made me feel like a kid and not some adult. And I guess people that could relate to my troubles.
I was yawning as I got up from the desk; Weiss was impatiently sitting at her desk. I handed her the theory book back. She took it and seemed to be concerned about it, "What's wrong, it's a good mark," I said.
"It's, it's impossible," She began.
"What do you mean, you did exceptionally well," I questioned.
"It, it should've been perfect … It should've been perfect!" She exclaimed.
"Not everything is perfect," I stated.
"No, everything has to be perfect!" She exclaimed yet again.
I was appalled at her emotion and the malice in her tone. "Weiss, listen, not everything is perfect. Nobody is, we all make mistakes, even I do."
"But, I can't make mistakes," She stated looking straight into my eyes.
"Oh, I see, you're one of those people," I replied, nodding. "So Weiss, can you tell me what makes us so special?"
"I-I don't know," She answered.
"It's that we're imperfect," I stated.
"But, isn't that bad? Aren't we supposed to be perfect?" She asked, confused.
"Nope, you see, it's the imperfections that made us human," I told her. "It's the imperfections that allow us to learn and grow as an individual." She still wasn't sure, "You know, I met this girl once. I met her at a music contest, I wasn't participating of course, I would ruin the competition and the spirit."
It was deep into the winter season, I was attending a contest that a conductor friend of mine was suggesting. I was wearing a black sweater since it was quite cold that day. I sat in the front seats so the stage lights shined brightly in my face. There a piano off on the left side. A row of three judges sat across from it on the opposite end of the stage. At the piano there was a girl with brown hair, she was wearing a white dress shirt and dark pants. I found this an interesting choice; I leaned in closer in reciprocation.
The girl had brown hair and her brown eyes tensed as she looked at her music in front of her. There was a father next to me that looked at their daughter on stage intently. The father's eyes were squinted, focussing heavily on his daughter's performance, quite possibly too heavily. He seemed to give off a very tense vibe; and not a very good one at that, it seemed, very, malicious. I didn't like where it was going but I merely continued to watch and wait.
The judges nodded to her and she began to play Chopin's Nocturne no. 1, to my surprise. Not many people that age could handle the intense emotion and passion the piece required. I waited to see if it was going to be a great performance or not. She was the last performance and I expected a good show, firstly because the others did exceptionally well for their age, and secondly because she chose this kind of piece.
And I wasn't disappointed, she handled the piece well and showed contrasting emotion, bringng the piece to life. It was even complete with Tempo Rubato, one of Chopin's noticeable features.
At the end of it she was smiling, proud that she had finished the piece. She looked around and found her father; he continued to look at her seriously. She then gulped and straightened herself to a more serious position. Getting up and going straight to the stage, the other contestants gathered in front of the stage. One of judges came forward and was handed a microphone from someone below the stage.
"Now, all of the contestants performed wonderfully today, but, we can only have the top three. If it were my choice I would've named you all winners, but it is the board. So, our decision was mixed between several performances. Matthew Jameson, Alicia Leng, and Nathaniel Geom, please step forward." At this the faces of the other contestants lost colour, I saw the last girl's face lose the most. This caught my attention the most, I then felt the chair tremble and I looked to my right. The father was gripping his chair tightly before leaving with a low grunt. The girl gulped while trying to keep a still face and body expression.
Needless to say, the other three received their prizes, from first place to third place. I didn't really pay attention to it as my attention was focussed on the girl that was having a hard time to even stand. She stood out from the crowd as I sensed a panicking atmosphere around her.
The event ended and we were all excused to go home, I stayed in my seat to avoid the rush to the door. The girl was still on the stage, her father having left her to wait outside. I was the last to leave, as I exited the door of the building I saw the same father and girl in an alley way. She was dressed in a white jacket which seemed to be tattered and torn. She was on the ground, her father looming over her in a dominating gesture. The father bent down and proceeded to beat her face, "Useless! Useless freak! You can never do anything right!" He yelled.
"Please, father," She whimpered while on the ground.
She tried to cover her face up but he merely continued to beat through it, beginning to bruise her hands. I decided to step in, as firstly it wasn't the girls fault, and secondly, breaking a pianist's hands is as much of a sin in my book as murdering someone.
"Hey! What are you doing!" I hollered walking in.
"What do you want! Can't you see I'm doing something important?" He said angrily.
"I can see that you're beating your daughter, don't you know that that's illegal?" I questioned.
"So what?" He said looking at me.
His face was grizzly and I could see him clenching his teeth. "So, I'm asking you to stop," I said.
"And if I don't, what are you going to do? You're only a kid," He taunted.
"Then I'll make you stop," I answered.
"Oh yeah! You going to keep acting smug when I beat your's in too?" He asked, running to punch me in the face.
I dodged to the left and his fist went past my face, I felt the wind push up against it. He turned and found that I'd dodged it. I positioned myself in front of the wall, he launched his fist again at me, this time it hit the wall, he wailed in pain. I kicked him against the wall with my boot, his head hit it and it became unconscious.
I sighed, taking a breather from the tense situation, in truth; I've never fought once before. All I did was dodge and do a lame kick, I was no better than the average person; I just managed to be lucky.
I walked over to where the girl was crying, I kneeled down and helped her up to face me. I smiled at her to show her that I was her friend, "You okay?" I asked.
She merely continued to cry. I saw that one eye was brown while the other was pink. A single contact was on the ground, revealing to me how she truly looked. I saw that a tuft of her brown hair was falling out, slipping off of her head, this revealed a bit of pink and white hair. It began to slip before she noticed it fall to the ground. She immediately scrambled to pick up her hair and her contacts. "It's okay, I already know," I told her with a smile. At this she gulped, even more tense, "What's wrong?" I asked.
She then tried to hide her hair with her jacket and her face with her hands. "I-I'm a freak," She stated through sobs.
"No," I simply answered. She heard what I said and slowly removed her hands from her face. "You're not, now, let's see your face," I continued flipping her hood over and putting my hands on the side of her face, positioning it straight so that I could see for sure the damage that was done.
The eye that was pink had a blue bruise forming over it and I could see that her face was full of dirt and grime from being punched on the floor. "I-I know, I'm a freak," She said.
She seemed used to being called that, as the word came out of her mouth with no emotion or meaning behind it. "No, you're not, you're just a girl," I told her. "The damage shouldn't be much, but, we should still get an ice pack for that. Come on," I said picking her up. "How are your hands?"
She held them up, they seemed to twitch. They were bruised over by the beating, but thankfully not broken. "Y-You aren't going to run?" She asked.
"No, why would I run?"
"Because I look like a freak," She simply answered.
"You're wrong," I simply stated.
"W-What?" She asked.
"You're not a freak, you're beautiful," I told her.
At this she seemed to become uncomfortable, she then seemed to question me like I was deranged. "N-No, that can't be."
"I'm not lying to you," I told her. We arrived at the door and she flipped her jacket's hood over her head. I went over to a janitor that was in the room, he immediately noticed who I was and piped up. "Oh, Joseph, how can I help you?"
"I need an ice pack for her," I told him.
He looked at the girl with the hood up, "Right away sir," He said, returning a few minutes later with two ice packs.
I went over to where she was, she tried to grab the packs from me but I held them away from her. "Hold out your hands," I instructed.
I leaned down and placed the ice pack gently over the bruises on her hands, then I held one lightly on her face. "Aie," She seethed.
"You okay?" I asked, pulling back the ice pack.
She simply nodded and let me put the ice pack back on the bruise spot. After a while the bruise seemed to calm down. She took the ice packs from me and placed them on herself. I sat next to her, making sure that she would be okay when she stood up. It was a minute of silence before she spoke up, "Am I, a freak?" She asked.
"No, why would you say that?" I questioned, this caused another moment of silence before I spoke. "If it's about how you look you should never think about that."
"Then it's true, I'm a freak and a failure," She continued, beginning to sob.
"You're neither of those," I told her. Her head stooped lower, I put my hands on her cheeks, moving them to face me. "People who think that you're a freak don't know the real you. And if they accuse you of being a failure than you can tell them to back off."
She began to sniffle a bit, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. "How could I say that, I'm a failure. You saw what happened, I lost,"
"No, you're not the only one, that's one of the beauties of being a person. You're never perfect," I stated.
"Then I'm the degenerate of people," She said.
"No, you want to know why I'm so special, why I'm so skilled? It's not because I'm gifted, no, it's far from that, it's because every waking moment I spent it improving myself," I told her. "You see, not everyone is born knowing everything. We live, make mistakes, and learn. And you can do that too."
"Really?" She asked.
"Really," I said. "And, about your looks, I think it's the imperfection that makes the person. I think that your's makes yourself shine as the brightest in the room."
At this she began to giggle, it was soft and light. "That was really corny," She told me.
I rubbed the back of my neck, "Well, yeah, it was now that I think about it."
"He he," She giggled.
We began to laugh for quite a while, "Feeling better?" I asked.
"Yeah," She answered.
"So, what's your name?" I asked.
"Neo," She answered.
"Neo, that's a great name. Come on, I'll walk you home," I told her.
"I-I don't want to go home," She said.
"Of course you do, it's your home right?" I asked before realizing what I said. "Right, darn, I forgot about your dad." I thought for a moment, I couldn't leave her here, or let her run off on her own. And I would not take her back to that abusive father, "Tell you what, I might regret saying this, but, you could stay at my place if you wanted."
"Could I?" She asked.
"Sure, but, you've got to promise me one thing," I told her.
"What?" She asked.
"Never stop getting better," I told her.
"Okay, its promise," She said with a smile.
I smiled in reciprocation, "Come on, let's go then."
We walked through the wintery streets, the night lamps illuminating a white path. She was right beside me and was rather close. I know what the people were probably thinking, two couples in love walking through the streets. I simply walked by as people saw me with surprise. I could predict the headlines right now, Joseph in a Relationship?
Merely put, I let her spend the night at my place while I called the cops on her father. Needless to say he was taken away and she was either given the option of child care, basically an orphanage, or living on her own. She didn't take kindly to either, but, she decided on living alone. I offered her to stay with me but she denied my request, telling me that it would've been a burden on me if I took care of her. Well, I did help her, I had to. She had to attend school and needed to be able to support herself and a room, so I gave her a bit of money every month. To this she promised to pay me back one day. I told her that I didn't need any money back and that I was just happy to help a friend. She still ended up saying that she'd pay me back, I ended up agreeing to it, although grudgingly.
"To this day we still keep in touch almost daily, but, you know, she's much happier now," I told her. "She overcame how she looked and her performance at the concert, improving herself in the process. And you can do that too," I finished.
Weiss was looking at me with intent and focus, the story having touched her, she took a deep breath, "Alright, I'm ready," She told me sternly.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes, I won't let you down," She told me.
"Good, now on to class, I'll be beginning your theory lessons with harmony since you already know everything from the theory books," I said.
I was about halfway through a song with Weiss, she was doing splendid from the last time I was with her, her tone had improved. I checked her diaphragm which still caused her to redden. I didn't pay attention to it, because I was more focussed on her diaphragm.
"Good, you're breathing properly," I told her.
She bowed, "It's thanks to you for enlightening me."
"No problem, it's my job," I told her returning to the piano.
I heard a knock at the door, I noticed Weiss tense up where she was standing. "Who is it?" I called.
"Sir, very sorry to bother you at the end of the lesson but Master Wade is here for Weiss," The servant stated.
I felt Weiss tense up, and I knew immediately what was up. Oh great, I thought.
Post Story Author's Note:
Look, I've got Neo! She's the best girl next to Rubes (Ruby) in my opinion. I have a weird thing for pink hair, don't question me.
And before you ask, no, I don't have any plays to ship her with Joseph. Even though the impression was was that they like each other I don't have any plans. (The subject is on the table though).
Now why did I chose for her to play the piano? A: Because I can, and B: It would feel appropriate for her since she seems to be the classy type of girl in her first appearance in vol 2.
Also, with Neo, since this is an AU this is a probably totally different Neo that we would see. Or if you'd like to think of it as a take on Neo before the classy Neo that's up to you.
Anyways, peace out, and enough of me talking.
- Lor
