Chapter Twenty
This morning, it was me who choked Len with a killer hug. Now, we're standing in front of my locker, hoping to talk before the bell rings. "Len, I'm so glad you're here!" I breathe as he leans against my locker.
"Relax, Madoka," he chuckles, "It's only been a day that I've been gone!"
"The song! Len, last night, you said I had the last part of the song! What does that mean?" I ask, still in the process of calming down.
"Oh, right. What you said last night, when you were trying to cheer me up, it went so well with the rest of the song," Len says, looking into my eyes.
"Len, your eyes," I remind him. His deep eyes dart across the room, avoiding mine. "But, what do you mean, went with the rest of the song?" I inquire.
"Here, give me your notebook," he says, taking it from out of my locker. He opens to the page with my lyrics on it.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Just watch," he says, grabbing a pencil. At the bottom, he writes what I said in lyrics.
Create a song and change the world
And now this time, I hope that you try and see
The beauty in this life
And make a stand believe in me
And every tear I'm crying out now
I cry them all for you
And then you hear the voices of the odds and ends sound
Ringing out my message that will change your life now
Let me hear it now, the power of your voice
And I will never leave you again
"Len! That's genius!" I half-yell. "A little bit hard to read, but genius!"
Len chuckles. "Sorry, I'm left-handed," he says.
"Remember what you said in Songwriting?" I ask, "How you wished that you could express your emotions as well as I could?" My enthusiastic eyes are growing to be the size of the moon. "I think you just did… maybe even better."
Len smiles at me, his face beginning to flush. He lets out a single laugh. "Madoka-san, you're right," he says. I smile and take the notebook from him.
"Len, I think we have our song," I beam, "Wait! But we have to show Miku!"
"Right, Miku! I have to make sure she's okay!"
"I told you, she's fine! Just drop it already!" I call after him. Too late. Len is already running down the hall in search of Miku.
The bell rings after him. The hall is now filled with students who are running and dodging each other to get to their first class. I sigh, my hair flowing from place to place as other students all around me rush to their rooms. It's not long before I join them in getting to Songwriting.
"Len," Miku asks, once our band is seated in our corner with my notebook. "There was something you wanted to ask me?"
"Oh, right. Are you okay?" he asks.
"Yeah, of course. Why?" Miku asks.
"Um, it was just the whole Kaito thing… I um, felt really bad," Len says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"There's no need to feel bad, Len, it's not your fault," Miku says with a laugh.
"That's what I said!" I jump in. Miku shakes her head at Len with a smile. "Miku, Len and I finished the song this morning!" I smile, opening my notebook. Miku leans in attentively.
"What did you add?" she asks, reading the end. "Woah, Madokie, when did you get such bad handwriting?" she joke.
"That was Len," I laugh. Len laughs as well, leaning over the notebook.
"Wait, Len wrote that?" Miku asks, looking up, clearly interested. We both nod our heads. "Len, that is incredible! When did you get so good?" she asks.
Len laughs modestly. "I don't know. All my inspiration came from Madoka," he admits.
"Wait, seriously?" I ask. Suddenly, I start thinking. "Huh, I guess it probably did. All of my blabbing on and on inspired you, huh, Lenny-chan?" I tease. Even Miku laughed. Maybe Teto was right. Maybe we do have the perfect group.
"Shut up, Soma, before I tickle you again," he says. I quickly cover my stomach protectively.
"Not in public, you won't!" I warn. Miku giggles.
"You guys are so cute together. I can't wait to see how many times you get tickled tonight Madoka when we practice," Miku laughs.
"Woah, who said we were practicing tonight?" I ask, raising both hands.
"Alright, if you wanna hold this off until last minute, that's fine with me. Then Neru will win, and we will lose, and it will be really, really bad," Miku warns.
"You're really bad at convincing people," Len chuckles. Miku puts her hands on her hips, tilts her head, and pouts.
"You're also really bad at… whatever… that just was," he says. Even Miku laughs. "Alright, so Madoka, are we going to practice at your house?" Len asks.
"Definitely. And I'll be sure to invite Gumi!" I say.
"What about Luka? You know, for the drums," Len adds.
"And when we need a flute player we've always got Gakupo!" chimes in Miku, flipping her teal ponytail. Len and I burst out into laughter. Every member of Neru's group turns their head around to face us. Even Teto gives us a look. Even though they're not laughing, I bet their song isn't nearly as meaningful as ours is.