Lingering Melody

However three minutes later, he appears at my elbow. “What’s your next class?” He asks as his greeting. I grit my teeth, not wanting to show my irritation. As though he’s using me; rude.

I give a half-shrug. “Biology.”

“Good, lead the way,” he says and hence he follows me and also sits in the partner seat- so the first time this year, I have a partner. Strange. But we’re there a minute early and I realize the class has grown and another table is filled… Liam and Sebastian. I suppose Brac wasn’t in this class, and Pete was done… hey!

As though it hit me on the head, I realized they were in my school! My classes! Meaning… they were going here! Huh. Why? After the fame… true, a few people had come by, wanting pics and autographs, but… strange. And not safe. What if... what if they tell?

My mind is severely distracted ten minutes later, staring at the frog we’re about to mutate. “You don’t look so good,” Lait notices and doesn’t bother hiding a grin.

“Neither do you,” I mutter sarcastically and look away from the frog. Frogs are so adorable and innocent and they’ve been cruelly murdered just so we can all poke around at their insides, it’s so disgusting! I swallow hard, glancing at it again. “I think I’m going to be sick.” My stomach churns.

I pull at my fingers nervously as the teacher expounds on all of the innards of the poor creatures. Several others are quietly laughing and slaughtering the dead amphibians into little pieces and so I have to keep my eyes down and concentrate on my breathing.

“Mr. Taylor? I disagree on your last statement,” Lait suddenly speaks up, interrupting our teacher in midsentence- something no one ever does because Taylor is so irritable and gives everyone detention a lot. “This is animal cruelty and should not be allowed.”
“And how are we to learn otherwise?” Our teacher asks him.

Lait shrugs. “Why does it matter about learning of a frog’s inside? It only does if we want to become a biologist- so this should be voluntary, learning about a frog’s insides. And if it’s voluntary, then it should be so with the frog,” he adds.

“Excuse me? You think the frog should have a choice?” Scoffs the teacher. “And how do we know if the frog wants to be inspected?”

Lait shrugs. “If the frog enters the classroom and lays down waiting for us, then we have every right to do this.” A few students laugh and Taylor glares at them so they quiet down.

“What if no frogs do that?”

“Then we shouldn’t do this.”

“And you are?” Taylor asks, coming closer and peering through his half-moon spectacles. “I don’t recall you from before.”

“Lait,” Lait says. “I just came here. But,” he adds. “I think I’d better go. My partner is going greener than all these frogs.” He stands and several other students chortle. Taylor just stares in shock for a minute.

Then he notices me. I had just glanced at the poor creatures, I don’t know why, and my stomach churned again and I begin to waver in my seat, feeling extraordinarily light-headed. But not enough that I don’t want to glare at Lait.

“Ah,” Taylor clears his throat. “I suppose… erm, your partner should go see the nurse then. We’ll continue our discourse when you return, young man. Everyone else, turn your books to page eighty-six.”

I blink hard as things begin to turn and Lait grabs my arm, making me stand. “Come on,” he mutters and helps me stumble out of the room. We go down a while and my sense of direction gets severely muddled until he sits me down.

I grab my head and stare at the ground with a groan. I glance around. “This isn’t the nurse’s station,” I mutter, closing my eyes and try to get the image of the frogs out of my mind.

He chuckles, leaning back. “It sure isn’t.”

I try to figure him out at a glance. “So you’re not taking me there?”

“Nope.” His eyes roam the campus.

And we’re silent. Finally the nausea subsides from me and I can lean back, taking in the fresh air. I close my eyes and feel the wind ride through my curls and I smell spring.
“Why are you here?” I ask him. I can’t help but glance at the time. Classes will be over in another twenty minutes.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” He grins impishly. I notice the lip ring is gone. It’s there, it’s not there- does he ever decide? But I guess I can’t complain, and it doesn’t actually bother me… but for some odd reason, I want to find something that bothers me. I feel annoyed, but there’s no logical reason to it, and that frustrates me all the more.

I look away, sighing and rubbing my forehead. It’s just like people to try and mess things up. I mean, it’s obvious. These guys are bound to immediately become popular, and join the crowds where they’ll have everything they want, and then they’ll see who I really am and won’t want to go on tour with me…

Isn’t that what I had wanted, though, not to go on the tour? I try to figure it out, but nothing’s making sense and I’m sick of it. Because now, I sort of want to go on tour with them. Because they are great guys, and… well, it would be fun. I’d have fun for once, and I don’t want to miss out on this. But now, it’s just… not working right.

“You shouldn’t,” is all I manage before slowly walking away. He calls after me, confused at first and then just worried. But I don’t want him to follow me, not this time.