It seemed like an eon had passed when Mike finally pulled away from me. In reality, it had been only two minutes. Only. He pulled in a shuddering breath and looked down at me.
I wrapped my arms around him and whispered, "What do you have next period?"
"Gym. Why?" he asked.
"I have a free period," I said to him slyly.
His face was blank for a moment. His face spread into a wide smile as the realization dawned on him. I smiled with him.
"I'll ditch."
"Uh, no. You are not ditching. That's totally bad for your GPA. You are going to come down with a shooting headache that makes it impossible for you to play basketball," I told him.
He laughed. "Okay, if you say so, Q. But then I'll have to go for a little bit."
I stuck my lips out in a fake pout. "Fine. Meet me in the glee room in ten minutes."
"Okay," he murmured, and pulled me in for a quick kiss before jogging off in the direction of the gym building. I watched him go, smiling widely. This day had gone from bad to perfect in about five minutes.
It was just as I headed towards the glee room that I noticed some people were staring. Although normally this would have irked me, I just laughed. Out loud. Nothing was going to ruin my mood right now, not even some ignorant Lima Losers.
Once I arrived at the glee room, some of my euphoria started to wear off. I had absolutely nothing to do, and I hated to be unoccupied, even for a few minutes. I sat in a chair and drummed my fingers on my knee. Five minutes passed and I was just about to throw something when my eyes settled on the piano.
My heart stopped. When I was little, I used to love to play piano. And I was really good, too. I know that sounds really arrogant, but I was. I hadn't ever taken a lesson, either. As the story goes, at the age of two I climbed onto the piano bench and just started to play. It wasn't a tune at first of course, but after learning the pitches, I began to sound out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." After that, I could play almost anything by ear.
Slowly, I got up and sat down at the piano bench. Playing the piano was one of the things I had loved doing most. Two years ago, my father sold our piano. He said it had become too much of a distraction for me, with keeping up perfect grades and being a Cheerio. What he really meant was that while yes, it was something of a distraction; perfect daughters don't need to be able to play piano. My heart was broken (yes, I know, that sounds extreme to say over a piano). I hadn't played since.
Hesitantly, I placed my fingers on the keys. Before I could control myself, I started to play.
(Switch to Mike's POV)
I practically skipped down the hallway in utter joy. Missing gym didn't seem like a sacrifice at all right now. In fact, it sounded like a damn good idea to just drop it all together. Because she said yes. The phrase "Quinn said yes" seemed like the most beautiful conjunction of words in the English language right now. Also, "Quinn 说是的" sounded like the most beautiful words in Chinese too. Just saying.
The gym teacher had looked a little suspicious when I bounded into gym only to fall to the floor due to a searing pain in my head, but had sent me to the nurse regardless. I couldn't help but laugh elatedly for no reason as I bounded in the opposite direction of the nurses' office.
A moment later, I slid to a stop in the doorway of the glee room. The door was closed, and I couldn't help but peer in the window before entering. Quinn was sitting at the piano (?), biting her lip. She looked like she was making some kind of monumental decision. Suddenly, she started to play.
My mouth dropped open slightly. First of all, I never knew Quinn could play the piano. For that matter, I don't think anyone knew. But what surprised me most was that she was absolutely amazing, which I could tell after about ten seconds. At that point, I could tell she was playing Beyonce's "Halo." My breath caught. This may sound kind of strange for a boy, but that is seriously one of my favorite songs.
I cracked the door open and slid into the room silently. Quinn didn't even notice me. She just started singing. While this may sound crazy, I like her voice a lot better than Rachel's. Something about it just drills a hole into my heart. I honestly will never get enough of Quinn singing. After listening to Rachel for too long, my head just starts to hurt.
"Remember those walls I built?
Well, baby they're tumbling down.
And they didn't even put up a fight.
They didn't even make up a sound.
I found a way to let you in.
But I never really had a doubt.
Standing in the light of your halo,
I got my angel now.
It's like I've been awakened.
Every rule I had you breakin'
It's the risk that I'm takin'
I ain't never gonna shut you out.
Everywhere I'm looking now,
I'm surrounded by your embrace.
Baby I can see your halo.
You know you're my saving grace.
You're everything I need and more.
It's written all over your face.
Baby I can feel your halo.
Pray it won't fade away.
I can feel your halo halo halo!
I can see your halo halo halo!
I can feel your halo halo halo!
I can see your halo halo halo!
Hit me like a ray of sun,
Burning through my darkest night.
You're the only one that I want,
Think I'm addicted to your light
I swore I'd never fall again.
But this don't even feel like falling.
Gravity can't forget
To pull me back to the ground again.
Feels like I've been awakened.
Every rule I had you breakin'
The risk that I'm takin'
I'm never gonna shut you out.
Everywhere I'm looking now.
I'm surrounded by your embrace.
Baby I can see your halo.
You know you're my saving grace.
You're everything I need and more.
It's written all over your face.
Baby I can feel your halo.
Pray it won't fade away.
I can feel your halo halo halo!
I can see your halo halo halo!
I can feel your halo halo halo!
I can see your halo halo halo!
Halo, halo."
By the time Quinn finished, I seriously had a tear in my eye. It had felt like she was singing about me, which was probably totally not true, but nice to think all the same. She just sat still, with a look of awe on her face. Quickly, I wiped the tear away and said, "I didn't know you played."
She didn't jump and start yelling at me like I expected her too. Instead, she looked up slowly, with only a mild look of surprise on her face. "No one does. But I played for twelve years starting when I was two. Never had a lesson. I guess I was sort of a prodigy."
I moved and sat next to her. "Why'd you stop?"
She sucked in a breath. "My dad sold the piano. Apparently it was a distraction."
I felt a sudden rush of anger for some reason. "Was this the first time you've played since?"
Quinn nodded slowly. "Yeah. I hadn't realized how much I missed it until now."
"It was beautiful, you know. The singing too."
She smirked a bit. "Please. I'm horribly rusty. And my voice isn't even suited for that song."
"I'm going to overlook the implication that you played badly. You did sing beautifully, you know," I told her.
"No. I'm not good enough for a song like that."
"Of course you are. But if you don't think so, why did you pick it?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her.
"I didn't. I didn't even decide what to play. I just put fingers on the keys and that happened. And the words just came out with it," she said, turning her face into my chest.
God, I loved her. I really did. It was impossible not to love someone with that kind of talent. And beauty. And brains. And a bunch of other things it would be implausible to list at the moment.
"I'll say it again. It was beautiful," I whispered to her.
Quinn was silent for a moment. "You know, I think my subconscious picked that song on purpose. Because I think I was singing about you."
I looked into her eyes, and I couldn't think of anything worthy to say to that. So I just pressed my lips to her forehead. She had been singing about me. Amazing.
We sat motionless for a few minutes. Then she said, "That was one of the last songs I ever learned to play. In fact, I think it was the last."
"How did you remember it?"
"Musical memory. People like me rarely forget anything they've ever played. It doesn't matter that it's been a couple of years. Everything just comes back. Can you play anything?" she murmured, as if she wasn't keen on the topic. And I suppose, if she hadn't shared with anyone she could play like that, it wasn't something she really wanted to boast about.
"Some guitar. Still learning, though," I said.
"You should play for me," she said, gesturing to the guitar sitting in the room.
"Ha! No way. I'm not that good. I'd feel so embarrassed after hearing you play the piano that I would have to shoot myself."
Her body went rigid. "Don't say that. I can't bear to think of you dead."
I mentally slapped myself. "Sorry, Quinn. You know I didn't mean it."
"Yeah, but still. I care far too much for you to even think about that."
Thoughts churning, I bit my lip. "Speaking of feelings… I gotta ask. What are we now? Exclusive couple? Just lovers? Friends with benefits? Something else?"
Quinn contemplated this for a moment. "Shit. I hadn't thought about that. I…I don't know if I really want to, like, officially go out as a couple. It's not that I don't care that much. It's just that I don't think I'm ready for that."
My heart sank slightly at this, but I told her, "That's okay. I completely understand."
"I mean, I'm not settling for friends with benefits here. That is totally the wrong way to describe this. So I guess we're lovers. But somehow that doesn't seem like the right word," Quinn said.
Well, that cheered me up some. "How about just… together?"
"You know, that seems perfect. We're just together." I wanted to say something, but again, I couldn't find the words. So I leaned down and kissed her to show my approval. She kissed me back with a passion I couldn't even describe. We continued making out for the rest of the period, and I swear, I hadn't been happier ever in my life. When the bell rang way too soon, I deflated a bit.
"We should do this everyday," I told her as we walked out, headed for AP Pre-Calculus.
"Michael Chang, you cannot get a headache everyday."
Without hesitation, I told her, "I have my P.E. requirements. I'll drop the class."
She looked up at me. "I don't think you should."
"Oh… Um, okay."
Then Quinn smiled coyly. "I didn't say I didn't want you to. Just that you really shouldn't. But I'm all for it if you really want to."
I smiled. Right now, life could not get any better.
"Tomorrow, then, same time, same place."
"Looking forward to it."
Yup. Life was flipping fantastic.