Chapter Nineteen
Caliegh's POV
Sometimes, I want to curse myself out for having the ability to be musically talented. I mean, yes, I love that I can pull a bow across a violin and it won't sound like a dying cat. I love that I can look at a sheet of music, and the sound of it will start playing through my head. However, certain events took place that just makes me wish I was never born.
I was sitting at my desk in the music classroom, happily chatting with one of the younger students at the end of class. I'd always enjoyed talking to younger students; for some reason they looked up to me. The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and we took that as our cue to sling our bags over our shoulders and head down to our dorms.
"Caliegh," I whipped my head around at the sound of my name, only to see the music instructor, Mr. Edelstein, gazing at me. "May I see you for a moment?" Damn it, what did I do?! I thought back to the one time I was whispering to the girl next to me while he was teaching us, but I didn't think he had noticed! My younger friend had smirked and went, "Oooooh," but I ignored her and walked to the desk in the corner of the classroom. Mr. Edelstein waited until everyone had left the classroom, then he turned to me again and sat in his chair. I was getting nervous; I was shaking just slightly. "Now Caliegh, I'm sure you're aware that you are very skilled with music."
"Ah, thank you, sir…" I remembered that he had been the one to give me the scholarship.
"I want to place you in a higher level class, Ms. Higgins." My heart probably skipped a beat at that moment.
"A-a higher level class, sir?" He nodded, perching his head on his hands.
"I wanted to when you first got here, but the school board wouldn't let me. They said to give it time. So I did, and now I know you should be placed in the upper level." My face flushed, so I glanced down at the ground and clutched my music folder closer to my chest.
"Thank you, Mr. Edelstein." I looked back at him and gave a nervous smile, which he returned.
"From now on, this will be a free period. I would like for you to come during your usual study hall. Is that alright?" I nodded slowly. That'll be hard to get used to. "Thank you, that's all I needed." I nodded again, turning on my heel and walking quickly to my dorm.
O~O~O~O~O~O
Of course, I kept my promise and came down to the classroom during my usual study hall period. Adjusting the strap to my bag, I paused before opening the door. I wondered how many people would be in this class…I pushed open the door, and my breath caught in my throat.
Unfortunately, I kind of expected this to happen. He told me he played violin, and even showed me once. He was very skilled with the string instrument.
But I hadn't prepared to see Lukas Bondevik sitting in a chair, gazing out the window with a bored expression. Then again, he always had that expression. It still terrified me to see my ex sitting there. I slowly crept around him to sit in the seat farthest away from him, the closest to the teacher's desk. At this motion he saw me and averted his eyes to watch me as I nervously slid my bag under my chair.
Mr. Edelstein stood up at the front of the classroom, and he started telling us about the history of Tchaikovsky. I tuned out about halfway through his lecture, my brain trailed to the fact that Lukas was sitting just ten people away from me. I tried to ignore it for the most part.
I snapped out of it when I realized my name had been called. "U-uh, yes sir?" Mr. Edelstein was looking right at me.
"Can you tell me several of Tchaikovsky's most famous pieces?" I swallowed nervously, thinking through a list of the songs.
"Ah…1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet Overture…and…Russian Dance…?" I said, my voice rising at the end so that it sounded more like a question than an answer. Mr. Edelstein nodded, and I felt the corners of my lips curve into a smile.
"Now class, Ms. Higgins once performed Russian Dance on the piano for a concert. Am I correct?" I froze, sliding down in my seat nervously. That was the piece I had performed when he gave me that scholarship…
"Yes, sir…"
"Would you mind playing it for us now?" He said, motioning to the grand piano in the left corner of the large classroom. At the moment, it seemed miles away. I slowly stood, adjusting my glasses and walking slowly to the piano. I sat down carefully, staring down at the keys. Mr. Edelstein came from behind me, placing several sheets of music in front of me. I nodded in thanks, took a deep breath, then began playing.
After I finished, there was a silence for a few seconds that seemed to swirl around the classroom. Suddenly, a few faint claps echoed off the walls, and eventually the whole class was clapping in approval. Even Mr. Edelstein, who was known to not smile since "there wasn't reason to", was actually smiling at me and clapping along with the few students in the class. My heart was beating quickly and I stood and bowed, quickly shuffling back to my seat. I hated being a showoff. I don't know why, but it irked me when people told me, "You're so good at _!" Mainly because I didn't know what to say. So when I sat down and got a billion compliments thrown at me, I wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out.
The one thing that bothered me was the fact that Lukas had only given a few claps of his hands then didn't say a word to me and simply left the classroom at the end of class. As if we were competing in a competition and I had just won by a longshot. I don't even know why it bothered me so much; it just did.
"Ms. Higgins?" I stopped once again at the end of my class, turning to face Mr. Edelstein.
"Yes, sir?" I muttered. I stepped over to him, having to look up a good five inches or so. He flashed another one of those rare smiles at me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Good job, Caliegh. I'm very impressed." I froze when he touched me; it almost reminded me of my middle school choir director. Except this wasn't as strange, seeing as Mr. Edelstein was only actually a couple of years older than I was. However, he was still a teacher. So naturally I felt a little strange inside, like something was clenching at my insides. For some reason, his congratulations made me feel somewhat good about myself.
I brushed a strand of hair out of my face, smiling awkwardly at him. "Thank you," I said. It strangely reminded me of the time after that concert…I regained my composure and gave a grateful smile. No need to act all nervous around a teacher.
Mr. Edelstein removed his hand from my shoulder, instead gently patting it as he once again told me congratulations. I could do nothing more than smile. In all the hassle of him discussing something about how "amazing" I was, I noticed something that made my stomach give a sudden lurch that I wanted to shake away, something that made me want to scream and rip all my hair out for thinking such a horrid thought.
He had the most gorgeous violet eyes.
O~O~O~O~O~O
When I got back to the dorms that day, I walked in on Gabby sitting on her bed, lightly strumming at her guitar. She was humming under her breath as she playing, watching her fingers as she pressed down on the strings. Personally, I hated playing the guitar. It hurt my fingers even worse than the violin, and it was just plain annoying to learn all those chords. I don't know how she even did it.
"What're you doing, Sister Dearest?" I said, casually sitting down at the desk chair and crossing my ankles. She looked up at me, probably slightly annoyed that I had interrupted her.
"Playing guitar."
"Whyyyyyy."
"…Because I feel like it?" Alright, time to have fun. A smirk formed on my lips, and I crossed my arms.
"Hey, you know who plays guitar?" I said mischievously. Gabby just stared at me for a moment and stopped strumming random chords.
"Who."
"You do. And lots of famous people, like Taylor Swift…" She just gave me this look that read, "Are you stupid," then threw a pillow at my head. Okay, ow. She always did manage to injure me in one way or another…"Okay, okay. I'm done playing now."
"Who were you gonna say?" She inquired. My previous smirk appeared once more.
"Alfred. Your dearest best friend." I teased. She stayed silent for a moment, as if trying to decipher what I just said.
"Yeah, he does," She muttered, blushing. Once again she turned back to her precious instrument. I thought back to the amount of times when we were younger when she would make gagging noises when I mentioned my music, then I really wondered why, since she was just as fond of her guitar.
"So…Magic Club was fun the other day, eh." I said. Well wasn't I just talkative today? Gabby nodded, ditching her guitar. She must've known that she had no hope in playing it in peace. "Isn't Arthur just charming?" I added.
"Mhm."
"Reminds me of Arthur from Kindergarten." Gabby tilted her head slightly, leaning back against the backboard to the bed. I smiled, hugging the pillow she had thrown at me to my chest. "He was blonde, wasn't he? Just a little ball of joy."
"Oh my god, I remember him…We had the biggest little kid crush on him." She said, giggling to herself.
"You did. I simply wanted to be his friend." I said, nodding once.
We were silent for a few moments until she opened her mouth, closed it again, then said, "He liked jellyfish." That did it. I pretty much burst out laughing, and she joined my laughter.
"He would always make us turn the page of our big alphabet book to the J page so he could look at the jellyfish!" I said between fits of giggles.
"And I remember you would cover your eyes and shriek because jellyfish were scary!" Gabby said, chuckling.
My smile faded, looking at her seriously. "Hey. Jellyfish are terrifying creatures." At the word "creatures", my smile returned and we both broke out into another fit of laughter. I was shaking my head rapidly, clutching the pillow tightly as we laughed.
"Do you remember Zack Attack?" Gabby said, grinning at me. I gave her a look that said, "Don't you dare."
"I hated him, okay. He would stalk me and always be like, 'Oh, Caliegh! I love you!'" I made a kissy face and reached my arms out as if I was reaching out to someone. Gabby laughed.
"He really was annoying," Our laughter faded into nothing but a few smiles, and eventually I gave a sigh and slid down in the chair.
"It's dinner time…" I muttered, glancing at the clock on my nightstand.
"So it is." Gabby said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. I pursed my lips, holding out my hand to her. She just raised her eyebrows at me, grabbed me by the wrist, but pulled me so hard that I staggered forward and into the dresser.
"I heard your wrist pop when I grabbed you." She said with slight bemusement. I shook my head, skipping in front of her to open the door. We both walked down to the dining hall, and in my happy mood, I rushed to our table and attacked Matthew in a huge hug from behind as he was standing to get his dinner. The hug caught him so off-guard that he stumbled slightly and braced his palms against the table to keep from falling over.
"Who's the most brilliant best friend in the entire world, hm?" I said, perching my chin on his shoulder. He smiled down at me.
"You, obviously."
"I meant you, but close enough." I said, laughing.
"Well aren't you in a good mood." Francis said.
"She's as bad as Antonio." Gabby said, shaking her head.
"So who'd she fu-" Gilbert started, but Francis clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't ruin their moment, Gilly," He muttered under his breath. I managed to somehow let their conversation pass. Instead I walked with Matthew to get dinner, telling him about the whole I'm-in-an-advanced-music-class thing. I don't know what it was, but just thinking about Matthew made my heart race in a certain way I don't think it ever did before. It made me unbelievably happy to know that every day I could see him.
…Something was definitely wrong with me.