"You're kidding! Are you deaf? Monster is alright but it's literally nothing compared to Jace's high notes!" Those particular high notes were one of Claudia's favourite sounds. Like heaven to her ears. "That's some Ariana Grande-level shit, except Jace has talent and doesn't sound like a twelve-year-old boy. And, to top it off, Jace literally wrote that entire song by himself. All the piano and drum music and everything. And he directed the music video." Claudia shook her head. "Half of the Monster video was just them taking a bath."
Claudia wheeled both of their chairs over to the piano she had on the other side of her bedroom door. She began to play Emperor's New Clothes. "This is really hard to play on the piano," she noted. "Do you play?"
"Well, no. I don't." Lucas mumbled sheepishly, watching her play."My artistic skills lie in other areas." I may not be a musician. But I can be a critic. I'll give him full credit for all the work he did. It is hard work and takes talent to do all that he did. The music video was cool, but kind of corny, don't you think?"
"And yes they were in the water a while. But it was symbolism. Insanity Not Sound's song had a much more beautiful meaning than The Emperor's New Clothes. And they wrote it together." He held strong, but unlike her, he couldn't go around playing the piano to stress his point. Like he said earlier, his talents lied elsewhere.
"And high notes aren't everything. Look at Embry's lower notes and her vibrato! Have you even been listening?"
"The Emperor's New Clothes video tells a story. It's a continuation from This is Gospel, which is probably their best song, actually." Claudia shifted her fingers to play This is Gospel. "And the song is meant to symbolise them coming back and taking over the genre after one of their members left."
Claudia sighed as she played the music. She contemplated singing, but singing was something she only did in front of those she was really comfortable with. Meaning, her twin.
"...'cause these words are nice and often leave scars, the feel of falling apart..."
She stopped, frowning, and stopped playing. "That was probably awful. Anyway, as I said, I love Embry too, but --"
Claudia jumped as she heard the front door open. Soon, she heard Tate and Brogen's voices, issuing up the stairs.
Fuck was just right! Lucas was sure there was nothing good that would come out of this if they saw him. And he was not in the mood to stick around and see how everything would play out. Well, this is what you get for ditching school. He supposed, but didn't regret it in the least.
He immediately jumped up from his seat and look around for an exit that wouldn't lead him to confront her two brothers. "What do we do? What do I do?" He whispered, not wanting to be heard.
He could always climb out te window, that's what he did at home to sneak out. Then he remembered that her house, very much unlike his, was a two-story one. So, that option was no longer thinkable.
Claudia stood up and began gently pushing him towards her extravagant bathroom. "They'll leave, they have to -- Tate has football training and Brogen usually goes with him. Just stay in here and don't eat any bath bombs."
She closed the door on him and began walking back to her piano just as her brothers entered the room. "What're you doing here?"
"We came to make sure that that psycho hadn't fucking murdered you in the woods," said Tate darkly. "Where did you go?"
Claudia scowled. "Into the Woods," she sang angrily, making elaborate hand gestures as she did. "Where we sat and talked about Tumblr. You know, if you gave Lucas a chance --"
"Claudia, stop being an idiot for a second," said Tate, holding up a hand. "Why are you doing this? Is it because you're going for a bad boy? And because you're overly ambitious you go for the future serial killer?"
Claudia scowled once more and pushed her brothers out of her room. Brogen shot her a pleading look but she ignored him.
"Fuck you both. Maybe I want to let him have a fucking friend because Crystal made sure he has no one. Leave me alone."
Claudia waited until she heard the front door close again, before she let Lucas out. "I'm sorry," she said weakly.
Lucas had his fist clenched in his lap, sitting on the top of the toilet seat. He let out a long breath to relax, to calm himself. Once he was sure he wouldn't say or do anything abnormal or out of hand, he lifted up his hung head."I'm used to it, it's nothing new."
He moved to his feet and half smiled. "And Claudia, you don't have to apologize for every time someone you know says something bad about me. You shouldn't have to do that." He sincerely meant it. Somehow it made him feel worse, not about himself, but for Claudia. When she apologized he could tell she meant it, and that meant she was always sorry."Otherwise all I'll be hearing coming from your mouth is 'sorry'."
"Another thing." Lucas held up a finger."Your bathroom is awesome. I was so tempted to eat a bath bomb, ya'know? But then I remembered what you said. Thanks for the warning."
When Lucas tried to pass her, she stopped him and hugged him. She felt so bad, so terrible, because everybody treated him like shit except for her. She hugged him, pressing her forehead to his shoulder and holding him tightly.
"I know it's not going to make it better but I feel like I have to say it, because no one else has ever bothered to care about your feelings," she whispered quickly. "And if I can make it slightly better, than I will, because you're my only true friend and I care about you."
Lucas choked back tears. He refused to let himself cry, damn it. He brought up his hands, half hugging her back, but really to just push the palms of his hands into his eyes to stop whatever tears that tried to escape. He laid his chin on her shoulder, this way she wouldn't see how his exact state was.
"Thank you." His voice was heavy with feeling, it was a dead give away of his crying. He failed to stop them. So he coughed a couple times to try and clear his voice."Really, thanks. I'm okay." The last statement he said more to himself than her.
Claudia heard the tears in his voice. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the the cheek. "You're welcome," she murmured before pulling away. She bit her fingernail for a moment, not sure of what to do now.
"You can talk to me about anything, you know," she said. "If ... if you ever need anything, or it all gets too much, or you just need to talk to someone, you can call me."
Claudia picked up a pen from her desk and wrote her phone number on a sticky note. She handed it to him. "Here. And if you ever want to see me you can just call me and I'll find a way to come and see you." Claudia wanted absolutely nothing more than to make sure that Lucas was okay. She would sacrifice her own social life, everything, for him. She really and truly cared about Lucas, and she did not care about what anyone else thought of her.
Lucas took the piece of paper with a quiet thank you. He cleared his throat once more and rubbed away at his eyes while he looked over the number. "Alright, I can do that." He wasn't sure if he would, though, he was so used to solving his own problems without anyone's help or opinions.
Using his sleeve he wiped underneath his nose and sniffled up any runny snot."Do you think it's safe to go now?" He asked, barely above a whisper. Being inside of the house felt a lot more dangerous and uncomfortable after the appearance of Tate and Brogen.
Claudia didn't want him to leave, but if he wanted to, she wouldn't stop him. "Yeah, you should be fine," she told him. She began to walk him out of her room and towards the front door. "I'll wait for the bus with you."
Once they were at the bus stop a few houses down from her own, she checked the timetable to see how long they had. "You've got five minutes," she told him, sitting down on the bench with him. "So... what do you think it's going to be like at school now?" she asked, frowning. Crystal was never going to leave her alone and Lucas would probably suffer because of it.
"I don't know." People already didn't like him, so he couldn't see how much would change besides having Claudia now. And that was great to know in itself. Having her was an absolutely , but even that came with it's own problems. He sighed.
"You'll have to deal with Crystal for sure. And me? I have to deal with Crystal, Tate and Brogen." He grimaced at the thought. "On the bright side of things, you have me and I have you." A small smile graced his lips.
As terrifying as it was that he'd be having people watching him even more closely now, he was still way too excited to be around Claudia. How could he not? Originally, he preferred to be alone, not necessarily because he liked it, but because he was afraid of himself.
Things were going to be different, and probably, on the whole, for worse, but Claudia didn't care. She had Lucas now, and having a true friend who truly cared about her that wasn't Brogen was too precious to sacrifice. She would find a way to get through Crystal, and hopefully a way to make her brothers leave Lucas alone.
"I'll get them to stay away from you," she promised Lucas, a hand on his arm to assure him. "Quentin might help me. He's a lot more open-minded than Tate and Brogen." She bit her lip. Was it right for her to say this next statement?"Just ... just promise me we'll stick together, okay? I ... I don't want to lose you now."
And it was true. After all this, if Claudia lost Lucas, she didn't know what she'd do. She couldn't exactly go crawling back to Crystal -- not that she would, ever -- and going to Tate would give him too much satisfaction. Lucas was all she had.
Lucas stared at her, completely quiet for a moment. The feeling was so mutual it surprised him. She had said something about him helping her before, he didn't believe it until now. Now that he got to know her a lot better, he could see how unconsciously unhappy she must have been. So, maybe he was really helping her as much as she helped him.
Saying 'yeah, sure' or 'okay' didn't seem to fit. It was probably not even a big deal what he said as long as he agreed, but he wanted to find the right words. This was most likely because he was the son of a picky and successful book publisher. But he just wanted to make it sound meaningful.
"Always and forever," Lucas said after his space out, which to him, was probably only a few seconds, but in reality about a whole minute. She wouldn't know, but this was what his brother would say when Lucas asked similar questions. It fit the situation perfectly. "We can even pinky promise on it."
Claudia sighed with relief, smiled, hooked her finger around Lucas's pinky and squeezed. "Always and forever."
The bus came. Claudia wanted to punch it but Tate would punch up Lucas if he thought Lucas had hurt her, so she refrained. She stood up as the bus pulled up to the stop.
"Well, this is where we dramatically depart, never to see one another again." She waved her hands around mystically, then shook her head and laughed. "I'm kidding. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't go ditching on me."
She hugged him, holding for a split second before stepping away. "Bye, Lucas," she said, over her shoulder, before turning and making her way back to her house.
"This is the happiest I've seen anyone, yet alone you, go to school." Amalie, Lucas's mother, raised an eyebrow at her son. She watched him wearing an amused face.
Lucas only smiled at her and placed his last-minute-homework into his backpack. He hadn't exactly focused on doing it, he was distracted by many things going around in his mind. And he was on browsing Tumblr a lot last night. So, he had to finish his homework during breakfast and on the way to school.
"It's not the school I'm happy to see, trust me." He replied and opened his car door in unison with his mother.
"Whatever the reason is, I'd love to hear why."
"I'll tell you later." He kissed her cheek and quickly headed off before she could say anything more.
He didn't like it when his mother to stay at his school even if it just picked him up and drop him off. He didn't want her to worry about him, and she was always worried about him. He didn't want to add to her list of things to be concerned about.
Ignoring the added stares that he knew he was receiving from yesterday's fiasco he went straight to his locker.
Claudia's brothers were all silent as they drove to school. Tate was glaring out of the windscreen; Quentin was reading as he refused to get involved, and Brogen just looked awkward. He was mad and upset with her, but she was choosing to ignore him. She knew what she wanted and she wasn't going to let her stupid brothers get in the way.
As soon as Tate parked the car Claudia jumped out and began quickly walking to the school so her brothers wouldn't chase her. All eyes were on her; she heard them whispering about the event of yesterday, but she didn't care. She had mentally prepared herself for this, and it just flew over her head.
Claudia reached Lucas's locker, where he stood, nudged his shoulder with her forehead and leaned against the locker beside his. Everyone in the hall was watching them but she concentrated on Lucas. "Good evening, Clarice," she said in her best Hannibal Lecter voice. "Sorry. I watched The Silence of the Lambs last night. Have you seen it? It's awesome. Hannibal Lecter is a badass."
"Oh, Jesus, you scared me." Lucas jumped a little at her unexpected greeting and appearance. He ended up smiling anyway."Oh, yes, I have watched that movie. But it's a while since I've seen it. "
He could feel their eyes on them, but he ignored it as usual. He was so used it. And he was sure Claudia must have been familiar with it as well, considering she was once a part of the popular crowd. It was practically a natural skill.
"I swear, we are celebrities right now." He whispered, closing his locker. "They should take a picture, it would last longer."
"It's one of the best movies of all time," said Claudia. "It deserved every Oscar it got."
Claudia allowed herself to look into the eyes of a few of the people who were watching them. They looked away, too afraid to directly confront either her or Lucas. Of course.
"Well, if they view us as celebrities, let's give them what they want, then," suggested Claudia, beaming. She linked hands with Lucas and started walking, her head up high, ignoring those who gave them weird looks. Once they reached Claudia's homeroom, she smiled at Lucas. "See you in period two," she said breezily, kissing him on the cheek and walking into homeroom.
Lucas touched his cheek lightly where she had kissed him. However, he quickly removed it not wanting to look too much like a dork or weirdo, too late for that, he supposed. "Can't wait for the second period." He smiled a bit more brightly to himself and walked to his own homeroom class.
And the second period did come, thank all things that are great. Now, Lucas was no genius, but he was standard and did try his best. Even so, could the classes get any more boring and could the teachers try to be more helpful? He had to give props to the best students running around the school. You'd think being an outcast might make you a smart nerd, but it didn't.
He threw all of this out of his head as he walked back towards Claudia's classroom. He wasn't sure if she was just getting out or just had. Either way, she would definitely be down that way.
