Kai

Thanks to a surprise project assigned today and due tomorrow, I wound up skipping my half hour afternoon nap. Based on the burning behind my eyes, though, I really should not have skipped it. I hadn’t gotten sleep last night as I was kept up doing homework and writing papers. The weekends were not the best of times to be assigning homework.

I was just putting the finishing touches on my project when I glanced at my phone, wondering how much longer I had until I would need to head to my next lesson. I was shocked when I saw that it was a quarter after 9. I checked my alarms, wondering why it hadn’t rung out. I nearly facepalmed as I realized that I had set it for 8:45 AM instead of PM.

As quickly as possible, I made my way to the music department, where my student was hopefully still waiting for me. I needed the money. Getting onto the elevator, I pressed the button for the fourth floor, where rooms 120-167 were. I had nearly smiled when I first found out that the floors and rooms were based off of music tempos.

The first floor held rooms 66 through 75, which was the tempo range of Adagio. There were a total of 6 rooms, as the stage had 4 doors leading to it, two in back, two in front. The other five rooms consisted of the front office, the concession stand, the sound booth, one dressing room, a double-sided bathroom, and the elevator door.

The second floor ranged from 76 to 107, the range for Andante. 25 extra prep rooms for actors and musicians, 3 large-group rooms, 1 labeled stairwell that led to the dressing room behind the stage, another double-sided bathroom, and, once again, the elevator.

The third floor started at 108 and ended with the elevator at 119. Moderato floor held 6 music studios, each with a door to the live room and a door to the control room from the hallway. The bathrooms on this level were built with a single door connected to the inside of the control room, meaning no need for door numbers.

The fourth floor, which was where I was headed, held practice rooms 120-165. With the bathrooms as 166 and the elevator as 167, it made up the spectrum of Allegro. Almost all of these rooms had been “spruced up” at the beginning of the year. The only one that had been left as plain was supposed to have been fixed up a couple weeks ago, but I had asked for it to be left the way it was: plain and simple. It was easier to focus in a simple room then one filled with creativity. Plus, how could you create something in a space that was already filled with creation?

The fifth floor was a mix of 32 multi-purpose rooms and the elevator. I hardly ever ventured up to Presto floor, as it usually was filled with equipment for digital music stuff. I didn’t have much use for it, as I preferred live music over the electrical sounds.

I made my way to room 154, the only room not redone. I just felt so much better filling a boring room than trying to compete with the atmosphere already established inside of it. Opening the door to the waiting room, I immediately began to stutter out an apology, hoping that my new student would be okay with my explanation. I hated being late, and it made a terrible first impression as well.

I sat in the chair that they had left unoccupied, finally raising my eyes to look at my new student. I froze as I met a pair of bright blue irises, a pair that I already knew far too well. I had met and avoided those irises far too many times to not recognize them.

Eventually, one of us finally snapped out of our stupor, and it certainly wasn’t me. “Y-you!” The word was filled with an accusation. The way he said it made it sound like I was the cause of all the world’s problems rather than just whatever it was that he was accusing me of. I nearly snapped back that I wasn’t the cause of the world’s problems, just my parents’, but I stopped before I did. The irritation and anger in his face nearly made me want to run, however, I knew running wouldn’t help. It never did.

“You’re the new kid,” he continued, disdain heavy in his tone, “the one that…that…”

He stammered to a halt, though I wasn’t sure why. He was already on a roll with the looks and the tone. Why not hit me with the trifecta and insult me with his words, too? It’s not like he actually cared or that whatever he wanted to say could be worse than what I heard back home.

“That what?” I glared at him, crossing my arms irritably. Usually, when I went from uncaring emo to angry young man, people backed off. Those astonishingly blue eyes, however, met my own squarely, as if unsurprised by my change in behavior. Neither of us spoke until my exhaustion got the best of me. I was tired, frustrated, and in no mood to play games with Sir Popular. Loosing all sense of the word “polite” and letting my nerves control my senses, I spoke without thinking.

“Why do you hate me so much?”

The silence stretched on, as did the few threads of patience I had left. Ash simply stared at me with those sky blue eyes of his and the messy-but-still-good-looking blonde hair. He probably would’ve been so much more attractive if he didn’t glare so much, though that certainly didn’t stop him… No. Not again. I can’t take another loss, not to say that he would even go for it. “Either talk or I leave. I refuse to teach someone who hates me without at least knowing why.”

Speaking in such a demanding voice felt nice, as if I had even just a little bit of control over my life. I nearly prayed that the glare I was giving him would keep him from seeing through all my walls. I don’t think I had ever held eye contact for so long before. I really should just turn and leave, right here, right now, but something was preventing me from doing so. I figured it was simply the fact that I needed the money, especially if I wanted to continue my education. Walking away right now was not an option.