Beyond The Music

Chapter Thirty Nine - Steven

I watched her quickly walk away but as soon as she was out of earshot, Uncle Henry didn't hesitate to begin the lecturing. "What were you thinking, Steven? I said to go talk to her, not to do whatever it was you were doing when I found you," I shook my head slowly and blew out a frustrated breath.

"I was doing exactly what you told me to do, Henry. I talked to her and then we played a game of ball before you interrupted, that's all. Why are you so irritated about all of this?"

"I'm not irritated, Steven. I'm just suspicious over the fact that you're standing here while your shirt is on the ground. Why's your shirt even off, and do not tell me it is because of some bet for winning a game." 

I shook my head and frowned. "That's exactly what happened. We came out here because she wanted to play a game of ball and I wanted to explain, so we compromised and did both. We placed a bet on who could win, she won so I had to play another game with no shirt and if I won, then I would have gotten a dance. So, here I am, with no shirt because she won the game by a few points. I explained, as much as I could to her and now, we're all good again. Isn't that what you told me to do? Explain and right the wrongs I did."

He raked a hand into his hair and shook his head slowly, "Yes but I didn't mean that you could do any of this. And I especially did not say you could do whatever you two were doing a few minutes ago, Steven. You're just lucky that it was me who found you and not one of her parents; otherwise it would have been really bad for you."

"Why? We didn't do anything wrong?"

"That's not the point. Now, can you please put your shirt back on and get back in the building before someone complains?" I paused and stared at him for a second or two before slowly collecting my shirt, tie and jacket from the ground.

Slowly redressing myself, I walked over to the bench a few feet away and sat down heavily.

"What's wrong with you now? Why do you look so down in the dumps, mate?" I shook my head and chuckled under my breath quietly.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking of something, that's all," he slowly moved to sit down beside me with a smile. "Come on, let's go back inside. This thing is almost finished," he stood up slowly and loosened his tie before waiting patiently for me to join him.

"You do realise that you messed up our game when you came over here, you know that? It took a long time for it to get that far with no incidents of any kind," he laughed as I stood to join him, walking back to the building with a smile.

"You do realise that I don't care, right? It's great that you got her talking and all but playing a game with no shirt on, well...it isn't exactly allowed here."

"And you think I care why? It was just a game, it's not my fault she reacted the way she did," he glanced at me with a frown.

"And how did she react, exactly?" I shook my head and laughed.

"Let's just say, she lied about being immune to me after all. I guess you could also say that...I melt the ice around the queen."

"What's that supposed to mean? What did you do?" I smirked and continued walking.

"Well, I didn't really do anything. All I did was be myself and it turns out that, she isn't immune to me after all because I don't actually think any girl has reacted the way she did to me before. And believe me, that's a good thing."

"You better not be thinking of doing anything else to prolong that reaction."

"Don't worry, Henry. I'll behave myself as best as I can. Can't promise she'll do the same, though," I smiled to myself and stepped into the corridor as he held the door open for me to enter.

"Damn it, Steven. Why do you have to be such a golden boy, huh? Why couldn't you just be a fugly little dwarf instead of this thing every girl is trippin' over? It would have been so much easier."

"For you or for me because I can tell you now, it wouldn't be nearly as fun as it is now. Besides, just bless the gods, I look like this because you have to look at it everyday. Just remember, the last time you said something like that to me, I did exactly what you told me not to do and had a little fun that night. Do you really want me to do that again?" he frowned and swore softly under his breath when I glanced back to find him staring at me with a defeated look.

"Alright fine, I won't say that if you just don't do anything stupid, okay. No stupid business, Steven. I mean it," we passed empty classroom after empty classroom until we turned the corner and continued until we reached the gym. I smiled as I heard music through the closed doors and laughed when Uncle Henry blew out a long breath and frowned. "Let's get this over with so I can go home."

"Aren't you happy to be at prom, Henry? I thought you said it'd be fun."

"It's never been fun for me, Steven. Not since my own prom, back then it was easy. Now it's just standing around and doing nothing, not fun at all."

"At least you get to do whatever you want, I'm not even allowed to take my shirt off to play a game of basketball with a girl," he laughed and pushed open the door with a smile.

"Not when that girl is the vice principal's daughter, you aren't."

"Potato-patato. You see one thing but I just see a girl who can play better than me."

"You mean, you see a girl who you're crazy about that can play better than you," he snickered. 

I gave a small shrug and laughed. "Same thing."

"Just shut up and go." 

I walked through the door and was instantly surrounded by loud music and coloured lights. "Will do." 

He blew out a long breath and shook his head before going to stand with the rest of the teachers and chaperones along the wall. I stood in the doorway for a few minutes and just watched everything around me until I paused and locked gazes with Mika from across the room. Here we go.