Melody

CHAPTER 7

"Still not talking to me?"

Lily turned her face the other way and I sighed.

"You know, if you keep stretching your lips into a pout, you're going to get frown lines."

She eyed me, but said nothing.

"Fine! You leave me with no choice then."

Pulling my sweater's sleeves to my elbows, I dived at Lily and began tickling her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lily gasped, "hey…stop!"

"That's a start. I'll keep tickling anyway, until we reach an agreement."

"Fine, fineeeeeeeeee!" She yelled, "just…stop!"

The girls behind us were giggling loudly. It was a rare sight to behold; Lily wriggling without thought. She glared at me and I gave her my widest grin.

"That was fun!"

"For you, maybe, but now I feel very embarrassed!"

"You could have avoided all that if you had simply talked to me."

"You are not turning the tables on me, young lady! You're the one who agreed to be Marcus' tutor!"

I pursed my lips. "And?" 

Lily shook her head. "Forget it."

"Do you really think it's such a bad idea?" 

"I just can't see it ending well. That's all."

Sighing, I picked my nails.

"I thought everyone deserves a fair chance."

"I mean, that's true, but…" her voice trailed off as she stared at something behind me.

Turning my head, I saw Marcus trying to get my attention from his seat.

"What?" I mouthed.

He lifted a sheet and pointed to it. I can proudly say I have always been able to see things from a distance, except they're microscopic. From the paper, I could make out the days of the week and subjects assigned to each day.

Oh! He was making a schedule. I asked him to pass the sheet to me. Grabbing it from Miracle, I let Lily see the schedule.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Okay, what now? 

"What are you talking about?" 

Pointing to a spot on the sheet, Lily glared at me.

"What is my name doing here?"

I looked more closely at the spot, and found Lily's name scrawled on one of the days.

"Well! Color me amused."

"Did you tell him I would be tutoring him too?" Lily intensified her glare.

"No! Of course not! What do you take me for?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, then apparently decided I had no reason to lie.

"What is he playing at?"

I pointed out two other places her name appeared.

"My best guess is that you're the tutor he wanted all along."

"When was your first lesson supposed to take place?"

I looked back at the schedule.

"Lunch, today. A girl can't eat in peace, can she?" 

"You're the one who signed up for this. Have fun, sweetheart. And don't forget to find out what my name is doing on that schedule."

Oh, I certainly was. I had my thoughts, but I was labelling them "unfounded" and shelving them at the back of my mind. I did not even have time to even think about considering or making sense of them, because we had classes back to back all the way to lunch break.

I almost jumped for joy when the bell went. Today, the classes had seemed almost insufferable because my mind was elsewhere. As you must have guessed, I was thinking of what these lessons held for me.

Each time I remembered Lily's name on the list, my irritation grew. Not that I was jealous of my friend getting all the attention, no, I just didn't know what his end game was.

Why couldn't Marcus just take it up with Lily? The subject of my troubling thoughts entered my field of vision.

"Hey. Do you have someplace in mind?"

"I was thinking more of your lunch table," he gave a slight shudder, "I guess that won't work?" 

"Anywhere but lunch or class will be fine."

"How about the Art Studio?"

Have I ever talked about my favorite place in school at that time, after the library? The Art Studio was beautiful. It had a display of paintings and sculptures and designs by the talented students of previous years.

I liked seeking excuses to go there, just to stand staring at the paintings for hours. Now, I was more than eager to hold our class there, because of the serenity and sentimental value of the location.

Marcus nodded in agreement and told me to go ahead.

"I need to pack my bag."

I slung my already packed bag on my shoulder and smiled when Lily quietly wished me luck. As I was stepping out of the class, I turned back to see the Queen of the class (Lily could never make it to queen because she was a nerd), approach Marcus.

What now? I didn't want anything to alter our plans for the day. It was absolutely important that I talked to Marcus, even if we didn't learn a lot that day, at least about the schedule.

I went up to the Studio anyway, and passed a little time staring at the photos. It was clear Marcus would be late, or even absent. I had not had anything to eat yet, and by stomach was making a lot of loud noises.

I counted to ten, then to hundred, then to a thousand. When Marcus had not appeared yet, I decided I might as well get something to eat instead of starving myself for someone who might not show up.

Trudging disappointedly to the cafeteria, I began making up excuses for Lily, because how was I to admit she was right, and that this was such a bad idea? On reaching the cafeteria, I was surprised to see Marcus standing at the far end.

He wore absolutely no expression, and was bending over a low desk, writing something on a little piece of paper. I could not believe my eyes! This was the guy I was waiting for all this while?

Lily was not at the cafeteria, so I guessed she was at our hideout. Good, because I already had enough reason to be embarrassed and upset. The cancellation of the lesson being one of them.

I walked up to Marcus, and tapped, no, punched, his shoulder.

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So sorry for the late update, but here you go. How have you all been doing, peeps? Stay safe for me, mm?

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I've been thinking of posting another story I've been writing for a while now. What do you think? Should I?