Singing in Blue by Lauren N. (carter reed .TXT) 📕

"Oh my god, who the heck is that?" a girl whispered to her friend.

"There goes the emo girl!" one of the boys called out snickering.

"Hey! Do you need an extra knife, freak?" a cheerleader yelled as the whole hallway errupted in laughter.

In the middle of the laughing hallway stood a girl wearing all black; her long blue hair and blue eyes seemed out of the ordinary, and she held a manga book up to her face to hide her tears. She was the emo girl. Her name was Aika, and she was always the odd one, no one understood how she felt. She never had friends before, and it seemed that highschool was one of the places where making friends was impossible. More tears streamed down her face, and black eyeliner ran down her cheek and onto her book.

A girl came up behind her, giggling as she poured soda over Aika's hair. Everyone bursted out laughing as she cried even harder and pushed her way into the girl's bathroom. She went into one of the stalls and locked the door, she put her head in her hands.

"Why does this always happen to me?" she cried.

Because you're ugly, her mind answered her.

Aiko pushed the noise out of her head, "Shut up!"

She unlocked the stall door and walked towards the sink, her makeup was running, her face was red and blotchy, and her hair felt sticky.

"Great.." she muttered as she washed her face and hair. She took a comb out of her pocket and brushed knots out of her blue hair.

She opened the bathroom door and pulled a black hoodie over her wet hair. She looked at her brand new shoes, they were stepped on and muddy. She made her way to her locker and stopped, standing by her locker was one of the cutest guys in the school, Ichirou, and he was holding a music sheet. Aika loved music, she loved singing notes in the right pitch and to feel the vibration in her ears when everything sounded perfect.

Ichirou saw her and waved, beckoning her over to him.

"Hey," He said as Aika slowly walked closer to her locker, "You're Aika, right?"

"Yeah," she answered, opening her locker and grabbing books, "You're Ichirou, right?"

"Yupp, so, I heard you're pretty good at singing," he said, moving to face her, "I need a girl to tryout with me for the school musical tomorrow, you think you can do it?"

Aika paused, thinking about what Ichirou asked her. She had already memorized every song the school was going to preform, and learned to sing harmony to each one. It wouldn't hurt her to tryout for the musical, even if she didn't make it she would have sung a duet with a hot guy.

"Sure." she replied, "But won't your friends make fun of you for singing with 'the emo girl'?"

"I don't know, maybe," he smiled, "But if they do I'll punch them in the arm for you, okay?"

She smiled back at him, "Okay! We're singing Gemini, right?"

Ichirou laughed, "How'd you know?"

Aika giggled, "Hmm...just a good guess."

Ichirou smiled and handed her the music sheets, "You wanna practice in the music room after school?"

"Kay, I'll see you then?" she asked, holding her books closer to her chest.

"Yeah! See ya!" he called walking towards a group of boys.

Oh my god, she thought, I have a date! And it's with Ichirou!!

The rest of the day flew by Aika as she raced through all of her classes. She was excited and nervous, and it felt as though butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She smiled even as she tripped over a kid's foot and fell in the hallway, she didn't care what other people did to her anymore, she was in her own world.

She ran to her locker and stuffed books in her backpack,"I don't want to be late!"

She walked towards the music room where Ichirou was waiting for her, but was stopped by a group of mad-looking cheerleaders.

"Where do you think you're going, emo-girl?" one of them sneared, glaring at her.

"Ichirou's in there," one girl added, stepping closer to Aika, "We don't want your ugliness rubbing off on him, do we girls?"

The other girls shooked their heads and got up in Aika's face, "Come on, emo-girl, how 'bout you pull out your little knife and cut yourself? I mean really...Ichirou doesn't care about you, and you know that, don't you?"

A girl pushed her up against a locker, "Stay away from him." she snarled, grabbing Aika's shirt and raising her fist. Aika whimpered, Why today? she thought as the girl started laughing.

Then the music door swung open, "Take your hands off of her!" Ichirou yelled, walking over to Aika and the cheerleaders. He pryed the girl's hands away from Aika and Aika ran behind him.

"But-but, Ichirou-kun!" the girl started to say, "She doesn't deserve you! No one likes her!"

Ichirou felt Aika grab his shirt and heard her begin to cry, he wrapped his arm around Aika's shoulders.

"Well maybe I do!" he said, his face turning a deep red, "But, even so, that's no way to be treating someone who has feelings just like you!"

"Whatever," the girl muttered, tears started to fall, "Ichirou, you baka!"

She and the other girls ran away down the hallway, Ichirou sighed and took Aika's hand.

"Come on, I'll get you some coffee, and maybe we can pratice." he told her as he sat her down in a chair and left to find a coffee machine. She sat there and her face became red, Did he just confess to me? she wondered. Ichirou returned moments later with a cup of coffee, he handed it to her and sat down next to her.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding concerned, "God, cheerleaders, why can't they just leave you alone?"

Aika wanted to change the subject, "Can we just pratice? Singing helps me clear my mind, and I'm okay, I promise."

Ichirou didn't seemed convinced but knew she didn't want to talk about it, "Okay," he smiled as he walked over to a piano, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Aika said as she warmed up her vocal chords, she hummed the melody in her head a couple times and listened as Ichirou play the opening notes.

She started to sing softly, " Even if we're torn apart, know you'll still be in my heart. Yeah, up in the sky we'll run across the constellations, even when the days are bad, nights worse then you've ever had. Just look up into the sky and we'll be Gemini."

Ichirou smiled at her, "Come on, sing louder! I know you can do it!"

Aika looked at him, "Do I have to?"

"Yeah!" he said, playing the song's notes again. This time he sang his part in the song, he had a loud yet gentle voice and it warmed Aika's heart.

"There was a bird was just like me once, lost and lonely, hurting from an unrequited love. Just living day to day despite uncertainty in my life. Even when my meager strength almost dissolves in the night, that bird came to me, stayed to rest his tired wings. And to let his bruised and bleeding heart heal from his broken dreams. I'm so done with tears and fears now, so I'll sing you a song, finally singing out a love that I have had all along."

Ichirou stood up and walked towards Aika, his face turned a light pink and he began to sing the chorus, beckoning her to sing it with him, "Hey, don't you shed a tear, when you're lonely, I am here. Listen up and hear my voice is calling out to you. Even when it starts to rain, when the sun comes out again, we can make the world go round together, you and I."

Aika quit singing and started to blush, her face turning hot and bright red.

"Why did you pick this song to audittion with?" she asked Ichirou, "There were a ton of other ones to choose from too."

"I picked it," Ichirou said taking Aika's hand and began to blush himself, "So I could tell you how I feel, but I thought music was the only way to do it. Do you remember, in middle school, when a bunch of guys came and started to make fun of you? You ran away crying and I got mad and punched everyone of them..I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you..."

He paused, "And then there was that one time when you hit this girl in the face after she started making fun of this younger girl who had braces. I think that was the day I realized I loved you, but I didn't want to tell you, you seemed so fragile I thought you'd break if someone touched you."

Ichirou squeezed her hand tighter, "What I'm trying to say is, I love you Aika, I've loved you since middle school."

Aika looked up at Ichirou with tears in her eyes, her face was a deep shade of red and she collasped in his arms. Ichirou hugged her, and looked down at her. She looks so beautiful, he thought, Even when she's crying.

"Aika, I want to make you stronger, I want to be with you when you're sad or hurt, I want to be with you." Ichirou told her, holding her crying face in his hands. He smiled at her and began to whipe her tears away. For once in her life, she felt like she was wanted, and loved. She smiled up at him and stopped crying, "I love you too."