Hold On To You ✵ {Apply Fic}

Chapter 3

Alvira Ellsworth listened to the metronome her feet made against the hallway floor as she made her way to her lesson. It was a steady beat, a rhythm she could follow. A rhythm made everything easier to understand.

Alvira had been taking piano lessons for a few years now. She was originally self taught, but her parents had decided she would benefit from professional guidance. She knew she didn't need the lessons, but if it made her parents happy, she could tolerate it.

She clutched her books close to her chest, thankful that the school was all but empty. Most sports teams with after-school practice were no longer in session since the school year was all but over. The only ones who had practice until the last day were rock climbing and fencing. She passed them every day on her way to her lessons when she had to walk past the gym.

Today, she wasn't planning to stop and watch them through the windows on the doors like she did sometimes. (Not in, like, a creepy way, just... observationally.) Key word being wasn't. Her plan didn't go as... planned.

Just as she walked briskly past the door, a boy stumbled out and ran right into her. He was at least a foot taller than her, if not two feet, which was a bit intimidating if she was being honest. The force of the impact knocked her over, and her papers went flying.

The boy was tall enough that he hadn't been knocked over, but Alvira couldn't help but think, You're not going to help me up or anything? Not going to lie, that's a bit rude. "Excuse me," he mumbled as he kept walking. His eyes showed that he wanted to help, but the direction he was walking told a different story. However, her opinion of him changed instantly when she inspected him a bit closer. He was already halfway down the hallway, walking fast, while unzipping his fencing uniform. Through the tank top he was wearing underneath, she could see the obvious wing tattoos that covered his entire upper back in swirls of feathers. The tattoo was almost blinking in and out, as though he was trying to hide it but didn't know how to properly. That boy is an Aviad. And he's clearly not very good at it.

Alvira gathered her sheet music in a disorganized pile and pulled out her phone. She sped down the hallway, having to run to keep up with the boy's fast pace, while shooting her piano teacher a quick email about how she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to make today's lesson. That boy doesn't know what he's doing. He's going to get himself caught, and that could get all of us caught. Although she'd never seen this boy in her Aviad life (which she considered separate from her regular life, almost like an alter ego), she'd seen him around school sometimes. He was always sitting with the popular kids at lunch, always talking with someone, an emotionless mask on his face.

He was rubbing his back now, pressing his shoulder blades together. It was obvious he was in pain.

Maybe he was part of a different flock that they didn't know about. Maybe this was none of her business. But then, maybe this boy hadn't been as lucky as her to know what he was. Against her instincts not to get involved, she knew that it would probably be safer in the long-term if she made sure he was okay.

He reached the exit and threw the double doors open, making a beeline for the woods.

"Hey!" she called when it was clear she wouldn't catch up to him, at least not in this form. He didn't stop. She watched his lanky form disappear into the thick trees.

She sighed to herself as she left her sheet music on a bench outside the school. "This is not my job. Why can't Luke do this? He's a better talker than me." But she knew that this boy needed help now. She was his only option. She still continued to mutter frustratedly to herself until she found him.