Music To My Ears

[Admin Courtney]

Talon sat in the corner of the common area, sitting sideways on a loveseat with his legs dangling over the end. He had his earphones on over his head and his iPod in his pocket. His music was turned up to the highest volume possible; he would be able to remove the headphones and still be able to clearly the lyrics and music, but that was no fun to Talon. He was drowning out everyone else with A Day To Remember's lead singer screaming in his ear.

He ran a hand through his hair as the final lyrics of the song blasted into his ears. He mouthed along to the depressing lyrics:

Is this really happening?
I swear I'll never be happy again
And don't you dare say we can just be friends
I'm not some boy that you can sway
We knew it'd happen eventually

He was brooding, of course. Talon was always brooding. He shut his eyes as he waited for the next song to come on, depression radiating off of him. Most people knew well enough to leave him be.

[Lux]

Normally, Adaryn wouldn't be walking around such a large place during the day alone. She had always been with her parents in situations like this, but since she was different than most people, her parents sent her to a private school. So here she was, exploring the campus completely alone, trying to avoid the large crowds of people that seemed to gather around the dorms at this time of day.

Everything was so new to her; The students, the high school atmosphere, and even the country. She had just recently moved to Canada about three months ago, and she was already being shipped off to school. Adaryn bit her lip softly as she reached the common room and pushed the door open.

That is when it hit her.

The overwhelming sense of depression was suffocating, and she nearly stumbled backwards before she even stepped foot into the room. Biting the inside of her cheek, she tried to push away the emotion and looked for the source. A boy, sitting on a loveseat with headphones in his ears, was the source of the depression. She could practically see it radiating off of him, and she wanted to run away instantly. But she was stopped by a group of guys and girls coming into the common room to play a game of pool. Their excitement and happiness seemed to dull down the depression, so she sighed in relief, still staring at the boy on the couch.

[Admin Courtney]

While the songs changed, Talon's ears were subjected to hearing the sounds in the common room. He opened his eyes as a group of students came in, making a beeline for the game tables. The girls were giggling and the guys laughing and pushing eachother around jokingly while trying to decide who would play first. Talon glared at them fiercely, annoyance taking over his depression momentarily. He wished they would go away; he did not care that this was the common area. Was it so difficult to be left alone for once?

He pressed the headphones hard around his ears to drown out their sound; he did not want to hear happy people. When a new song began to play he relaxed slightly, and once again became lost in the loud music with depressing lyrics. If only he could listen to this stuff 24/7.

[Lux]

And there it was again, the depression radiating off of him like heat radiating off of a stove. If they were alone, she would have probably gotten sick, or even ran to her bed and sobbed. But she couldn't do that here, not when there were so many people around.

She turned around, trying to find a way out of the common room, but it seemed like there was a large crowd forming, watching the pool game with much interest. Maybe she was just imagining it, but the room felt as if there were no space, even though there was room to move around. Barely. But the heavy emotions in the room seemed to suffocate her now, and she closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.

"Excuse me!" She heard a girl hiss, and then moments later, she was sent flying in the direction of the boy on the loveseat. She let out a cry, before she crashed into him.

As soon as she regained her composure, she scrambled off of the boy. "S-sorry," Adaryn apologized, her voice barely louder than a whisper and her eyes downcast.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon closed his eyes again, blocking out the people with his sight while the music blocked out their sound. This way it was like he was alone in a room. If only the lights could be put out. That would be even better. But the last time he tried that, some twelfth grader bitched at him. He rolled his eyes behind his closed lids at the memory, then shouted out as he felt something land on him.

Talon's eyes flew open and he ripped his headphones from his head. "What the hell!" he snapped, pulling himself up into a sitting position after the girl clambered off of him. "If you're going to throw yourself at me, I'd at least like some of warning. Holy shit, woman!" His eyes flashed at her, annoyed that his peaceful moment had been disrupted. Drums and bass and screaming sounded still from his head phones, but he ignored it for a moment. He was too busy trying to figure out what the heck had just happened. The girl looked absolutely terrified.
Fucking niners, he complained.

[Lux]

The room seemed to go quiet almost instantly as the boy she fell on went completely mad and swore at her. For a moment she was terrified of what the boy would do to her, but as the anger rolled off of him in waves, she seemed to soak up that same emotion. Her fists clenched.

"I didn't do anything," She spoke slowly and quietly, trying not to scream at anyone in the room. It was obvious that as soon as she walked away from the boy, she would feel fine, but Adaryn couldn't bring herself to move.

"If you want to blame anyone, blame the girl with the cat eyes over there!" She spun around and pointed at the girl who pushed her. "Now I am sorry I crashed into you, but I didn't mean to do it. I mean, why would I?" By this time, she found a way to block out the anger, and left the last part of her statement to be left unsaid. You are way too depressing for me to handle didn't seem like the best thing to say to him right there.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon blinked in surprise when the smaller girl snapped right back at him. She had looked so terrified a moment before; he thought she would simply cower away from him and leave him be. But of course his luck did not go that way and she was sticking around to shout back at him. He glared at her.
"You could have at least tried to fall on something other than me! I'm busy over here and you've just interrupted me! You should be apologising, not shouting at me, kid!" he snapped. The girl would only be a year younger than him, but Talon treated her as if she was some ten year old, anyway. All he wanted was for her to leave him alone. "Go pick a fight with the bitch who pushed you, then, since it's all her fault."

[Lux]

The anger hadn't completely washed away, but she had locked most of it away. Still, the things he was telling her irked her beyond belief, but she couldn't bring herself to yell. It would feel good at the moment, but after that? She sighed softly.

"What is done can't be redone. I fell on you, I'm sorry. But is it really necessary to scream at me like this?" Adaryn turned her head to the side, and saw that the girl who pushed her had gone back to wherever she had come from, gone from sight.

By now, everyone thought this was the most fascinating thing in the room, and she felt all eyes on her. She wanted to shrink away, but would she get tormented if she did? Why couldn't she have the ability to stop time or something, so she can get out of this mess?

"And I am not trying to pick a fight with anybody, just trying to defend myself from being attacked. " She gulped nervously.

[Admin Courtney]

"I think you mean undone," Talon corrected with a roll of his eyes. He leaned slightly to the left and saw the group by the pool table shooting glances at him and the girl and laughing. He scowled and lowered his tone, not appreciating the attention at all.
"Just don't fall on me again," he grumbled sinking onto his back in the chair again to the position he had been in before. He knew it was terrible for his posture, but he did not care. "Most people don't appreciate it, you know." He wished the other students would stop staring, but he knew shouting at them would only bait them. Plus they outnumbered him greatly.

Go away. Just stop looking over here. Piss of and leave me be, he thought.
"Look, can you just sit or something?" he asked her. "They won't look away and it's really pissing me off." However he wasn't as angry anymore. He was back to feeling depressed, plucking at a loose thread on his shirt and wishing he could shrink. If there was an open window he would just use his power and fly out of it as an eagle or something, but all of the windows were closed. Shame.

[Lux]

Did he just correct her? Wow, she hadn't realized that people in this school felt so strongly about things like that. Her cheeks glowed red, and she raised a brow as he looked around, his eyes wide and panicked as he looked at the crowd behind her. Did he not like the attention? Adaryn could have sworn that he was doing that little show to get the attention on him purposely, but apparently she was wrong.

Most people don't appreciate being yelled at for something that was clearly an accident, She thought bitterly. When he spoke, she was well aware that everyone seemed to be staring at them now. She took a deep breath and pictured the crowd in her head and thought 'bored, bored, bored, bored.'

Suddenly she heard a yawn, and she could feel the atmosphere change around them. The people seemed to have gotten bored, just as she hoped they would, and went back to the game of pool they had originally started before the girl pushed her.

"You're welcome," She muttered, glancing at him for a moment. But as soon as she did, a wave of nausea and depression hit her. She gripped the hem of her blue cardigan tightly. Adaryn decided she would do one more thing before she left, just because she couldn't stand the feeling. Staring at the boy, whose name she still didn't know, she closed her eyes and chanted the word 'cheerful'. She sighed in relief once the atmosphere changed and she spun around on her heel and made her way to the door.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon glanced sideways at the girl, wondering what he was welcome for. He did not care enough to ask, however, and began to pull his headphones back over his ears when he began to feel strange. He did not want to listen to this depressing music anymore! He wanted to listen to something upbeat. But there wasn't anything like that on his iPod. What was wrong with him? Instead, he turned his loud music off.

Then he saw the girl turn around and head towards the exit. He watched her go. Where was she going? And why did he feel so cheery? He had not felt like this in a while. It was damned confusing! But he was too happy to feel annoyed by his sudden, strange mood change. He recalled how the group at the pool table had turned from them suddenly and the girl had muttered you're welcome. And then it clicked.

Talon jumped out of the chair and followed the ninth grader out the door, shocking his iPod into his back pocket and leaving his headphones hanging around his neck.
"Hey, where are you going? And what's going on?" he called at her. "And what did you do to me?" He grinned at her. "It's really cool but holy SHIT I feel like I'm high or something."

[Lux]

Adaryn wanted to get out of there as soon as she could. She wanted to find her way back to the dorm that she was assigned not too long ago and curl up in bed with a good book. Apparently, she didn't actually have a room mate yet, so she could be completely isolated from the rest of the world. She could be in an introvert's heaven.

All of her hopes were crushed when the guy came running out of the common room. Hey, where are you going? And what's going on?. Adaryn sucked in a breath, silently cursing herself for even thinking of making this guy happy in the first place. She didn't think he would follow her!

"I don't know what you are talking about," She mumbled, her eyes refusing to meet his. "But if you are high, I think that is a problem you should deal with. I thought they said no drugs on the premises." Not once did Adaryn raise her voice, that just wasn't what she did.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Really? Because you certainly sound like you know what I'm talking about." He was just guessing here; her doing something was the only thing that made sense about his sudden mood change. He was never happy. This was weird. And he wanted it to stop.

"I might smoke, but I don't smoke weed," he scoffed. "As if I could afford that stuff," he added in an undertone. He stared at the back of her head as she continued to walk away from him, refusing to even look at him. He watched as her hair swayed with each step she took. "Wow, you're a fast walker," he commented, quickening his pace to keep up with her. Talon was the slowest walker that he knew; he was in no rush to go anywhere, so why hurry? "Do you always walk this fast or-- wow, your hair is really shiny!"

Talon froze, replaying his words back in his head. "What is wrong with me?!"

[Lux]

Uncertainty was in the air, which meant that he was just trying to get her to confess that she had done something in the common room. Adaryn shook her head "I don't even know what happened in there, why you followed me out, and why you seem so high. All I did was run into you by accident." She was getting incredibly uncomfortable now, with the guy hovering around her like this. She picked up her pace.

Then he admitted he smoked, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. People who smoked were slowly killing themselves, and she didn't want to deal with that. She didn't want to deal with someone who was going to die sooner than planned.

Still, he insisted on keeping up with her, and even commented on it. She stopped abruptly at the sound of the compliment. Adaryn had never had a guy compliment her, and she knew the only reason he was doing this was because she had made him cheerful and happy. She didn't turn to face him and her face was burning red. "Not sure." She stammered.

[Admin Courtney]

As much as she was denying it, Talon still felt like something was up. He was so happy, but it did not feel genuine. Why was he happy all of a sudden when there was nothing to make him happy? The more he thought about it, the less joyful he got and the more frustrated he became. When he saw her wrinkle her nose at his smoking comment, he snapped.

"Don't you wrinkle your nose at me, kid," he snarled. "I know what you're thinking, all right? But keep it to yourself. What I do it my business." One of the things Talon hated most was when people nagged him. And their favourite subject to nag him about? His smoking addiction. He knew the harms of it. His sister had died from second-hand smoke. Did that stop him smoking? No. It was complicated. Sometimes it did not even make sense to Talon.