The Color of Music

Chapter 2-Silk Ties

"We weren't bullies,"

"Rue, two seconds ago in the limo you said we we–"

"I'd prefer if you dropped it,"

Alex recognized my speech as soon as it left my mouth. He gapped at me for a moment, I guessed he was probably wondering what to do.

"Everyone have a seat!"

A man who was obviously a teacher directed students in the chairs. We sat down, the sides of my arms were touching two people on each side. My leg began to bounce with anxiety. I hoped it'd be over soon, the flush briskness of contact sending me into stiffness.

"Rue,"

"What?"

Of course I couldn't hide my expression from Alex. Alex was a quiet boy for the most part, but he was always smiling and happy. He was a stark contrast of me. Who never smiled. At least not in the happy kind of way.

"You good?"

"I'm fine," No I'm not.

"No you're not," Alex read me not like a book, but like a computer cyphering code. I knew I'd lie and glare and fight till I drowned. It wasn't something I could control, or maybe it was the only thing I could control. I don't know why I do it exactly. Alex wasn't afraid and always knew what I was feeling even though I never knew myself.

Alex seemed to sense the constant debilitating pressure that suffocated me. He understood I didn't like to be touched, that sometimes the air in my lungs turned to razors for no reason at all. He knew my lying was me telling the truth. Sometimes I thought I locked away my emotions years ago so they wouldn't devour me, and somehow they were wrapped and given to Alex for safe keeping.

"It's okay, as soon as Mr. Albon is done giving his speech we'll go. Just stay calm,"

"I am calm leave me alone," I didn't mean that, stay please stay.

"I'll be right here just in case,"

It was moments like these I was thankful, though I'd never admit it; that my relationship with Alex was much better than my relationship with the truth.

The room suddenly went still as a man walked onto the stage. He was burly, a thick necked individual with deep sunken eyes and a mustache. He looked well adjusted, powerful and the air itself parted when he spoke.

I hear Alex behind me, "Shit is that Mr. Albon–"

"I am here today to congratulate the newest students of this prestigious institution, and to welcome the Blue years to Albon academy," His voice did not need the microphone, in fact it seemed to make his voice more quiet and muffled. Mr. Albon took notice of this, stepping aside from the podium and leaning on the sleek wooden side.

"I say this not only because I have faith in the astute staff members I've hand picked from the highest of pedigrees–" He paused for affect and looked off somewhere, smiling coyly. Anger chapped my lips like a summer day. I settled lower in my seat, feeling dark and obscene thoughts run rampant. It was him. The coward who I'd heard many stories on, and many people, like my father praised. But I knew was a sick, conniving son of a b–

"He's a snake just like we thought, huh?"Alex conversationally commented, cutting me from my improper speculation. I realized I needed to stop being stunned by Alex's verbal manifestations of my thoughts. He'd mastered it years ago.

"–But also because my daughter has started attending this year as well."
The crowd crackled with murmurs. He seemed to know how we'd react. He let his mouth do a slow rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of his dark features. I heard cameras clicked once, twice, three times. Mr. Albon's face a blinding backdrop in the flash.

A daughter? Mr. Albon was infamously tight lipped about his children; in fact there was no definitive source saying he had many or none at all. He claimed he "adored" privacy. But that was bullshit. Men like him didn't relish in privacy, they fed on eyes and camera flashes. It's the general consensus money and power drove the elite. But that wasn't correct, it wasn't even self preservation. It was attention.

"A daughter huh? Would've guessed his kid was a guy. That does put a damper on your plans huh?" He was referring to my plans to track down the Albon heir. I needed to get a hold of her and—

And what exactly? What was I even planning on doing? Use violence? Make Mr. Albon apologize for Lexi? It was my first time seeing the man in person, so what I was gonna harass his only child until they let me speak to him? And he was not solely to blame for her suicide. That fell on us, on me.

Still, I tried my damned hardest to sound bewildered by Alex's conclusion. "Damper? Why?"

"You wouldn't bully a girl. You're sexist. It's not proper," I almost cringed at the word. And he was right.

"You're wrong. And how does not bullying a girl make me sexist? They're weaker that's science." Lie. Lie. Lie. It's all my tongue could do. The students around us began to take glances back, we weren't as inconspicuous as we'd thought.

"I thought we weren't bullies?" Alex was toying with me. I fisted my hands in my lap. My mind was running fast but not as much so as my mind. I felt dizzy from a circles in logic.
"We aren't. I just want to talk,"

"Talking has nothing to do with physical violence. So why does being a girl matter?"

He caught me. Tied me with the threads of the web I'd spun. He was gentle, manipulative, and worst of all, correct. I could retort saying I meant mental strength. But I would not. Because my mom always told me never to diminish a woman's mental capability.

We are the fairer sex. Soft and small. Weak in body. But we are still conniving when we want to be. Never say a woman is weak in mind. It's not proper.

My mother's words kept me in check like a bible to a nun. I grit my teeth. Hating my twisted brain that contradicted myself and could never make a decision. God it was 7:30 in the morning and I already felt exhausted.

But I couldn't deny that we were, bullies in middle school. We framed and lied and tormented not only because we could, but because we felt like it. Countless parents called the house telling my mother how I'd beat someone up or written an obscene message on someone's locker. The there was Lexi–

"Common, we gotta get to class,"