Disclaimer: Jedi, I am; Shieldmaiden of Rohan, I am; but Gail Carson Levine, I am not. Write Ella Enchanted, I did not, then. (yes, that's Yoda speech) Yes, the song is actually mine. (Woohoo! I actually wrote a semi-half-decent song!) I did get some inspiration from the Zenon Z3 soundtrack, though, hehe. The other song is MINE, totally and completely! If you try to steal it, I will sue you! (yes, I actually might) I'm very proud of it and it HAS BEEN IN PRINT and is now copyrighted. So take it at your own risk. Thank you. (don't take it personally, I just treat everything I'm that proud of just like Gollum and his 'precious'. Yes, that includes my Ring replica that I wear on a chain on my neck and yell 'My precioussss' and slap people when anyone tries to touch it, heehee)
A/N: Yes, there's another song. Sorry, I just have so much fun with songs! (I listen to the radio and/or my CDs almost non-stop, so that's probably why, hehe) Okay, this song'll be easy. I won't put in any dumb moves (I'm sure you're all tired of them), so the regular text in bold is Val's lines, and the italic text is Shean's lines, and the regular text is when they sing together. Easy enough? Good. Now read on.
I hope no one minds rain because I had to work it in because I've lived in Washington for my whole life and if there isn't rain, you don't live in Washington. Sorry, I'll shut up now and let you read. I talk too much, huh?
Chapter Ten: DancingA couple weeks later we were all ready for the dance. The band had some pretty cool songs ready to play, I had a decent dress, and Kaetlin actually had a date.
We all piled into the car (Kaetlin and her date were coming with us) and Shean and I packed up the band equipment. The speakers were there already, luckily, so we didn't have to pack those, for which we were grateful. I still didn't know how to dance, but that was... okay. I guess.
We drove to school and we all piled out and unloaded the remaining equipment with the help of the other boys in the band. Well, the boys and our new girl. John's girlfriend had joined to play keyboard. I even got to play my penny whistle (my best instrument, even though I play piano, too) while Sam sang. I thought she had a better voice than me, actually, but the guys decided to keep me as lead for some reason.
We got set up and chatted for a few minutes before the dance officially started. We started with a song I had written myself:
The stars/
Are floating all around our heads and falling/
Like leaves/
On a cold autumn day/
I try/
To catch them all as they fall/
But I can't/
Catch even one/
Climbing so high/
We're almost high enough/
To find our dreams waiting/
When we make it to the top/
Out of this world/
It's more than I imagined/
I could not even fathom/
The wonder of space/
Out of this world/
Now that you're beside me/
You won't ever leave me/
When we're almost at the top/
And out of this world/
Your smile/
Can't be expressed in just a single word/
It takes/
More than I can say/
Your voice/
Was calling me from across the heavens/
And like/
A beacon I came/
And now we're so high/
We're so close to the top/
And as long as you're beside me/
I know we'll never stop/
Out of this world/
It's more than I imagined/
I could not even fathom/
The wonder of space/
Out of this world/
And now that you're beside me/
You won't ever leave me/
When we're almost at the top/
And out of this world/
So many dreams to fly to/
I'll be right beside you/
We're getting closer to the goal/
There sparkling/
We'll let the world amaze us/
While all the stars enfold us/
I'll wish upon them all/
Out of this world/
It's more than I imagined/
I could not even fathom/
The wonder of space/
Out of this world/
And now that you're beside me/
You won't ever leave me/
When we're almost at the top/
And out of this world/
(bridge)
Out of this world/
It's more than I imagined/
I could not even fathom/
The wonder of space/
Out of this world/
And now that you're beside me/
You won't ever leave me/
When we're almost at the top/
Out of this world/
Out of this world
Out of this world/
Out of this world/
Out of this world/
Out of this world/
Out of this... world/
We finished to rounds of applause and took our bows. We did several more songs before being relieved so we could go dance.
We got out onto the dance floor and then I remembered I couldn't dance.
"Oh, shards. Shean, I can't dance!" I whispered as the music started.
He laughed. "Oh, come on, just have some fun!" He replied softly, pulling me onto the floor.
I kept protesting, but he grabbed me hands and forcefully kept me on the floor.
"Come on, all you have to do is swing to the music," he reminded me, "and I know you can do that!" I groaned, but complied.
Finally I got tired of wiggling around across the floor and looking like a dork. I told Shean I'd be back and walked up to the other band who was playing and made a couple song requests. They nodded and I went back down to the floor to wait for my song.
The minute it started up, Shean looked at me in surprise. I nodded with a sly grin and we started the turn out count for one of our two-hands from stepdance class.
Everyone stared at us for a few seconds, then started doing these funny kicks and spins, trying to copy us and stay in time with the music. Shean and I had been practicing this dance in class for a while, so we knew it pretty well and we didn't have to concentrate so hard that we couldn't chuckle at what everyone else was trying to do.
When we finished our dance, there was still plenty of music left, so we did some solo steps and one other two-hand reel before the band started my other request: a light jig piece. Shean shook his head, but we did one of the two-hands we'd made up ourselves and some other steps. Now I wouldn't mind looking dumb so much because now everyone else had looked dumb while I was in my element.
There were many more of the bouncy songs that everyone knew better than me, and then we got to the end of the night and the last band played a few slow dances. Everyone just glided around the floor like a waltz. I glanced over to see Kaetlin leaning her head on her date's shoulder as they danced. I suppressed a laugh and jerked my head in their direction to point Shean's attention towards them. He glanced at them, then quickly looked away and I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
"That's so like her!" He whispered, grinning. I nodded, trying to suppress a smile.
I couldn't. We both started choking as we tried to stop laughing and we had to sit down just before bursting into quiet laughter. Kaet looked so ridiculous! Her date was about a head taller than her, so the top of her head only touched his shoulder.
We finally got ourselves under control and danced for the last few songs before one of the teachers (I think they were 'chaperones' or something for that night) announced that school was now officially over and congratulations to those of you who graduated and blah, blah, blah. Actually, it was pretty short, especially when compared to some of the speeches I'd heard in Kyrria.
Everyone started filing out to either climb into a waiting car or to wait at the window for their ride home. We had said we'd walk home since we didn't have to bring back the band equipment (it was actually mostly stuff that belonged to the school or the other band members and one of the other boys from our band had said he'd bring back Shean's guitar). When we stepped outside, though, we instantly regretted our dumb decision.
"Oh, shoot!" I complained as I held out a hand to catch one of the trillions of raindrops that were falling from the sky. "I hate Washington!"
Shean laughed. "Hey, get used to it, Val. Like you said, this is Washington, and for us, this is normal weather! Actually, it's been pretty nice lately." He winked and I made a face. It had been sprinkling rain, at the very least, almost constantly, it seemed like, although we had actually been able to see the sun earlier that day. And he said it had been pretty nice lately!
I groaned.
"Oh, shards!" I moaned. "I don't even have a coat! We were loading everything into the car, and then your mum packed us all in and we left and I forget to get one! Urgh!"
"Hey, it's okay. We can use mine and see if we can make it home before the rain gets too bad."
I stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Um, yeah. I'll take one sleeve and you'll take the other and I'll find some scissors and cut the hood in half so that we each only get half our heads wet. That'll work great, Shean!" I said sarcastically, but grinned at him so he wouldn't take offense. He laughed.
"No, we'll just drape it over us and hold onto it as we run. Trust me, it works. I've done it before with the other guys."
I shrugged and heaved a little sigh.
"Well, I guess it's better than getting soaked."
He pulled off his jacket and we draped it over ourselves. It wasn't quite large enough to reach down our backs as it would have if it had been on just Shean. So only half of my back was protected, but I didn't really care if my skirt and lower half of my shirt got wet. I just didn't want to get my hair wet, because then I'd have to take a shower. I still hadn't quite gotten used to the thought of running water making it possible to take baths or showers as often as you wanted, so I didn't like to take them often.
On the count of three, we ran out of the school building and along the sidewalk. It was hard to run while trying to both hold the jacket over us but we seemed to manage somehow. Then the rain started to slowly intensify.
"Quick, under the bus stop!" Shean called. Considering that his mouth was about six inches away from my ear, it was pretty loud.
We got under the bus stop shelter just as the rain started coming down in a torrent. Luckily, the small wind was blowing it towards our backs, where the shelter was protecting us, so we didn't get any more wet than we already were.
There was a moment of silence, then I started laughing softly. Shean tried not to, but soon he joined in. After a few seconds, we were laughing so loud we could almost hear each other over the pounding of the rain. We finally got ourselves under control and there was a moment of awkward silence.
I suddenly realized how cold I was. I was wearing a knee-length skirt and a shirt with three-quarter length sleeves. I was only wearing ankle socks (I usually wear knee-highs) and dress shoes. None of these were as thick and substantial as they probably should have been for May in Washington, Land of the Never Ceasing Rain, not to mention that I was sitting on a bitter cold metal bench. Against my will, I started shivering. I knew I probably looked like one of those helpless girls in the romance movies Kaet was always watching, but I couldn't help it. I tried not to chatter my teeth, but in Washington, the rain is freezing cold 99.99999(etc.) of the time and if you're outside while it's raining, you can't help but be cold.
"Here, do you want my coat?" Shean asked. I had moved about a foot over on the bench when we sat down and the jacket had slid off of me onto him. I shook my head miserably, still shivering.
Shean rolled his eyes. "Yes you do. Here," he added, putting it onto my shoulders. I handed it back.
"Your shirt's thinner than mine," I said, pushing it back onto him. It was true: his was a dress shirt, while mine was made out of t-shirt material.
"Well, I've got on pants and real shoes, and you're just wearing a skirt and dress shoes," he replied, putting it back on me.
"No, it's yours!" I protested, giving it back. Truth to tell, I didn't care about any of the reasons I was giving him as much as I did that he thought I was one of those girls who was always acting helpless just to get guys' attention.
What is wrong with her? I heard him ask.
"Nothing's wrong with me!" I realized my mistake when he gave me a funny look.
He hadn't spoken that aloud... that had been a thought. I mentally banged my forehead on a wall repeatedly as I do when I'm frustrated. Dumbo, dimboldt, numbskull, idiot! How dumb could I be?
"Why do you say that?" He asked cautiously.
I shrugged, trying to make it look casual. "I dunno."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Yeah, right. It sounded like you were replying to something, but I didn't say anything." I squirmed uncomfortably as I saw him starting to understand what had happened. "Wait a second! I had been thinking 'what's wrong with her' and then you yelled 'nothing's wrong with me'... you can read minds!?" He added incredulously. I squirmed even more as he all but glared at me.
"Well?"
"I – I –"
He rolled his eyes. "Just say 'yes, Shean, I can read your mind' and get it over with." I sighed.
"Yes, Shean, I can read your mind and get it over with." I hoped he'd take that attempt at humor and laugh. There was too much tension in the bus stop.
He didn't laugh. Instead, he glared at me. I moved over another foot. He scooted after me, his eyes smoldering with anger.
"You've been able to read our minds all the time! You could just look at us and find out what we were thinking. Are you some spy or something?"
I shook my head quickly. "I'm not a spy, Shean. You've got to believe me!" I protested, scooting over another foot on the bench as he moved closer to me, still glaring. "And I can't read your mind anytime I want. I just suddenly can hear someone thinking at random moments. I never know when it'll come again."
"How can I believe you?" Shean asked. He stopped advancing and crossed his arms.
I thought frantically, racking my brain. Then I tried something.
"Okay, look, I can let you hear my thoughts too! I don't know why, but I just figured out how to do it. You might be able to see my thoughts when you asked me all those questions; I – I don't know, but I'm going to let you in – now."
I opened my mind to him and let our consciences flow into one. I found that I could hear some of his thoughts from a few minutes ago and the force of his anger and feeling of betrayal was so strong that I jumped away and withdrew my mind from him.
Unfortunately, I forgot that there was only so much bench left and I landed hard on the cement and hit my head on the hard side of the shelter. I gasped in pain and jumped up, leaning on the side of the building with my shoulder as I tried not to cry.
Shean jumped up, concern now on his face. I guessed that he had probably had about the same experience I had and I hoped that he would now believe me.
"Hey, Val, it's okay, now," he said, coming over and bringing me back to the bench. My head was pounding now and I couldn't help crying a little.
"Hey, it's okay now, I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry for accusing you of all that." He stroked my hair like my mother used to when I was upset and I forgot myself and cried into his shoulder, letting out all the physical and emotional pain out into my tears. I cried for my homesickness, I cried for having missed my little brother's birth and my little sister's birthday, I cried for all the mixed up emotions rolling around in my brain, I cried because my head hurt still hurt like heck.
I finally got myself under control and remembered where I was. I quickly jumped away. "I'm sorry. My head hurt so much after I hit it and..." I didn't want to explain the rest, so I hoped he'd take that explanation. He did.
"Hey, it's okay. I understand. Now do you want the jacket?" I shook my head and there was a pause. "Well, how about if we share it, then, until the rain lets up a bit, and then we can go home." I considered it a moment and then nodded reluctantly. The jacket was better than freezing my buns off, and right now, I decided, that was all I wanted. And maybe if I was warm, I could forget about how much my head hurt.
Shean pushed me onto the bench where he had been sitting. "There, that's warmer than the rest of the bench." I started to protest, then decided against it. Knowing how stubborn we both are, I would be sitting on the same spot until the rain let up, arguing that he should keep his spot. Shean slung the jacket over our shoulders and we huddled together, trying to keep warm. He sighed.
"I told Mum we'd be late for sure, but I didn't realize we'd be this late." He sighed again. "Oh well, she probably knows what happened since we said we'd walk anyways." I nodded silently. It was rather uncomfortable on the bench. I wanted to keep the jacket over my shoulders, but I didn't want to sit uncomfortably close to Shean.
"Hey, I don't bite," he said, meaning that I shouldn't try to hold onto the jacket while almost falling off the bench again. I moved over half an inch, feeling more uncomfortable than I had ever felt in my entire life, even more than at those stuffy meetings Mother had been making me attend lately. I could feel the tension start to slowly mount. I started singing Out of this World softly to try to break a bit of the tension. To my surprise, Shean joined in. After we finished, I started singing another song. This one, however, I was making up on the spot. I started singing a lament (of sorts) from Faramir's point of view (from Lord of the Rings) and then Shean took over and I came in to do Eowyn's lines.
He wishes I had died/
That Boromir had lived/
Maybe I should just give/
In to it all/
But maybe there's a last drop of hope/
Waiting there for me/
At the end of the rainbow/
A drop I didn't see/
I wish I was born a man/
Allowed to ride and lend a hand/
To aid in this war/
Why can't I make him see/
All that I am trying to be/
I'd give anything/
To ride at his side/
I am a shieldmaiden/
A shieldmaid of Rohan/
A daughter of kings/
Aiding in this War of the Rings!/
Gandalf says I shouldn't/
Throw my life away/
But I come this close/
To doing that every day/
But maybe this time will be/
Different in some way/
Maybe this time/
I will hear him say/
'Faramir, my son/
You have done well/
In this war you've done/
Very well, my son'/
If only he would look deeper/
Deeper into me/
Maybe I could make him see/
Something worthwhile in me/
But until he looks/
Deeper than outside/
He will never know/
Just who I am inside!/
You can't judge a book/
Can't judge it by it's cover/
If only he would look/
Closer at me/
And if he looked closer/
I know I could make him see/
Just who I am/
And who I try to be/
There was silence for a moment after we finished, then Shean said, "Wow, that wasn't half bad." I shook my head wordlessly, replaying all the lines in my mind to file them away so I could pen them the next morning.
"You know, I've always wanted to write a song for LotR," Shean finally said, breaking the silence that had settled, "but that was better than I could have done by myself." I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say, so I started playing with my hair. It was still very cold, although the rain was petering out, and I started shivering a little.
"Cold?" Shean asked suddenly. I nodded slightly. "I am too. I already told you I don't bite." He suddenly pulled me over a bit so that I was sitting right next to him. I had moved away a bit and now I was even colder. I could feel Shean shivering too. We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.
"Oh, hang this stupid rain!" I finally burst out, my teeth still chattering a little.
Shean grinned. "I'm with you there. Geez, I'm cold! Well, at least we don't live in Alaska!" I had heard a bit about Alaska and I picked up from his mind that it was probably the coldest state in America. Well, we sure didn't live there. Alaska had snow almost year round, from what I could tell, and we barely ever saw it here.
Without thinking, I laid my head on Shean's shoulder, my teeth starting to chatter again. He put an arm around my shoulder. We sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Shean suddenly jerked his arm away.
"Val, I–" He started, then stopped, obviously unsure of what to say. I just shrugged, having been glad to get a bit of extra warmth. I knew he had something more to say and I looked up at him to find him looking down at me. His eyes, usually ice blue where now soft and deep as they looked at me and we stared at each other, our faces inches apart...
A/N: Do you think you know what happens next? Tell me! Since I write this freehand (no outline), I don't know what's going to happen next either. So if you think that so-and-so's going to do this, or this-and-such is going to happen, post it in your review or email me. There's a good enough chance I might put it into the story!
After note: Okay, this may get rewritten and updated, depending on the feedback I get, especially on the last part. So PLEASE review and get anyone else you know to review. I really need it because I'm kind of stuck for the next chapter, so if you have any ideas for what should happen in the next year, that would be great (I'll just write one, MAYBE (probably not) two chapters before bringing Val back to Kyrria). I also need Beta Reader(s), so email me if you'd be willing to do that. Thanks so much to everyone who reads this!!