Chapter Five, people! I don't own Phantom of the Opera, but I do own Sophie's poem so please don't scam it off of me! Review pwease!
When they got back to the oak tree, they found Katie lounging on the picnic blanket, listening to music on her iPod. Aiden got down on the blanket and rolled over on his stomach, rummaging through Sophie's backpack for more food. "Hey! I've got stuff in there!" Sophie said, going over and snatching her bag away from him. "What are you doing?"
"I'm seeing if you have any food I can eat," he said simply.
"Fine, you can have a bag of trail mix," Sophie said, handing him a plastic bag.
Aiden took the bag and began eating its contents, watching Sophie pull out various clothing articles from her bag. "Can I borrow a towel?" he asked, eyeing one in the bag.
"Sure. Here," Sophie said, handing him a folded light green towel.
Aiden took the towel, set down his trail mix, and set the towel down too. He got up and climbed up the tree, throwing down a backpack of his own and returning to the ground. He pulled out a fresh pair of pants, a red shirt, and a pair of gray boxers. Then he collected the towel and walked off to change his clothes in private.
"Katie," Sophie said. "Katie, turn your music off."
Katie obliged, pulling the earphones out of her ears. "What?" she asked.
"Keep watch for me, will you? I need to change and Aiden just ran off again."
Katie turned herself away to stare out across the fields of dry grass and scattered oaks. Sophie changed as quickly as she could. Then she hung her towel over a low branch to dry. She returned to the blanket and pulled out a bag of trail mix for herself. Katie turned back, "Hand me something to eat."
Sophie tossed a banana to Katie and the girls sat, eating their lunch as Aiden returned to the scene. Aiden hung his towel and wet clothes next to Sophie's things on the branch before walking to the picnic blanket to sit down with the girls. He grabbed his bag of trail mix and began shoveling handfuls in his mouth. He pulled his backpack over to himself and took out a small spiral-bound notebook and a pencil. Opening the notebook to a new page, Aiden began writing.
Sophie was interested in what Aiden was writing, but she didn't press the matter. She took her time eating, looking out at the beautiful fields of golden grass and spattered oaks. Being in nature always spurred her poetic side. She decided to write a poem. Sophie leaned over and got out a pad of paper for herself to write on, and quickly became absorbed in writing.
Katie turned her music back on now that everyone was decent. She lay back on the blanket, eyes shut. Her legs were crossed and her right foot was moving to the beat of her music. She silently mouthed the lyrics to the song.
Sophie reread the stanza she had written. It was alright, but not her greatest work. She couldn't concentrate much longer. True, she loved poetry, but she was curious as to what Aiden was writing. Putting her poem away, she scooted over to Aiden. "Whatcha writing?" she asked, trying to read it.
Aiden pulled his journal to his chest, covering the words, "My journal. My private journal."
Sophie murmured an "Oh…" and backed off. I wonder if he's writing about me in that journal of his, she thought as she stood and walked over to her guitar case. She opened the case and took her guitar out, putting the strap over neck and tuning the strings as she walked to the rock to play. Sophie played a quick chord progression to warm up and a few scales. Then she glanced over at Katie and Aiden, neither of whom had moved since she got up. Sophie began playing a soft melody she had picked up from some song or another. She hummed along, lost in her own little world. She faintly wondered why Aiden didn't join in on his violin, but she couldn't be bothered with such thoughts. Her finger slipped to the wrong string and the chord she was trying to play came out very dissonant. She quickly silenced the strings, looking up again in embarrassment to see if either Aiden or Katie had caught her mistake. Neither of them looked very interested in her playing, so she shrugged it off, moving her hand up the neck of the guitar and improvising on the C pentatonic scale.
Eventually, Sophie's mind began to wander off playing her guitar. She grew bored and decided to stop. Her fingers hurt a bit. She contemplated her calloused fingers as she walked back to put her guitar away. She wondered what to do, since both of her companions were preoccupied. She was tempted to bother Aiden and steal his journal so she could read it, but she was too nervous to do that. Sophie sat down next to her backpack, shuffling through its contents to see if there was anything in there interesting. She spotted the pad of paper she had been writing on earlier and decided to draw a picture.
She flipped to a fresh page and looked around for something to sketch. Sophie didn't usually draw things; it was a hobby she had long ago dropped. But in instances like these, she was glad she wasn't too bad at sketching. Sophie decided to draw Aiden, since she couldn't keep her eyes off of him anyway. She looked at his prominent and slightly crooked nose, lightly sketching its silhouette. She spent a lot of time on his profile, wanting to get every detail perfect. Since she was sketching just one side of his face, she didn't need to worry that much about symmetry, which was tough for her. She drew an eye, shading in the shadows around the mysteries it held. His eyebrow was a challenge; she couldn't get the position right because Aiden's expression changed every so often as he wrote.
It wasn't until Sophie had gotten to Aiden's mouth that he noticed she was staring at him. Aiden turned his head, frowning. "Why are you staring?" he asked pointedly.
Sophie blushed, even though she had a valid excuse. "I'm drawing you," she said, showing him the unfinished likeness. "What do you think?"
"I think it looks sort of like me," Aiden answered, studying the drawing.
Sophie laughed nervously. She couldn't tell if that was a compliment or not. "Now turn back away so I can finish," she said.
Aiden complied, turning the page in his journal to continue writing. Sophie looked at his lips, slightly parted. He didn't have full lips, but they weren't thin either. She did her best drawing them, not very satisfied with her work. She reassured herself that at least her drawing was recognizable as Aiden. "I'm finished; do you want to see?" Sophie asked Aiden, who looked up at her when she spoke.
"I guess," Aiden replied, shutting his journal and setting it down beside himself on the opposite side that Sophie was. He took the pad of paper proffered and examined the drawing. "Very nice," he said, lifting the page to see if there was anything else he could see. Coming across the unfinished poem Sophie had started earlier, he asked, "What's this?"
"It's a poem," Sophie answered blatantly.
Aiden read aloud,
"A lone leaf falls
Swirling towards the source
Of a violin's lonely calls
This acreage is cloaked in green
The sun's light among the trees
Causes a brilliant sheen."
He looked up at Sophie, "A violin, eh? Am I the violinist?"
Sophie grabbed the pad of paper away from him. "Maybe," she answered coquettishly.
Aiden showed no signs of being amused at this. He got up and walked over to the oak tree, climbing up into its strong branches. Sophie watched him go before putting the pad of paper away in her backpack. Katie began to stir, putting her headset away as well. "Aiden, where are you going? Come on back down, let's do something together," Katie said.
Aiden obliged, climbing back down. Sophie thought it a bit pointless and rather rude of Katie that he just climbed up and now he had to get back down again. Katie gestured for him to sit down with the girls on the blanket. "Aiden, we still don't know very much about you," Katie said.
Aiden didn't respond, he just sat there cross-legged facing Katie and Sophie, eyes downcast.
"Aiden, would you care to tell us about yourself?" Katie asked softly.
Sophie wondered vaguely if this was what group counseling was like.
Aiden spoke warily, "What do you want to know?"
"Why we found you in a tree," Katie replied.
"If I tell you, you'll make me go back," Aiden said.
Katie's eyes flashed with annoyance, "Aiden, we've spent the whole day together. You know you can trust us."
Aiden shook his head, "What do you care, anyway?"
Sophie's mind's eye pictured herself putting her hand on Aiden's shoulder and whispering, "I care about you, Aiden," but she resisted the temptation to do so.
Katie answered, "Don't you want to be friends, Aiden? Friends don't keep secrets from each other."
Aiden coughed, but said nothing. The three sat in silence for a few minutes. Sophie was extremely jittery; she was curious about Aiden's past, but she was also nervous about his odd behavior.
"Aiden?" Katie said quietly. "Aiden, don't you want to be friends?"
Aiden lay down on his stomach, burying his head under his hands. "Yes…" he mumbled.
"Well then why don't you tell us what's up?" Katie asked as soothingly as she could.
Aiden didn't respond.
"It seems we have a problem," Katie sighed, getting up. "Well Aiden, like I said, we're not leaving until we get an answer." She grabbed a book from Sophie's backpack and left for the lake.