Checkmate

I feel a slight smile appear on my face when I see my guitar leaning up against Mr. Gaskarth’s desk. It’s kind of weird that I’m not nervous anymore, but I don’t question it. These annoying classmates are going to be shown who’s boss, and they aren’t going to win like last time. This time I have not only Mr. Gaskarth and Raven but also my confidence which is what I was lacking before.
With Raven shuffling in right behind me, I make my way over to my desk and sit down. Unlike me, she slumps back. I chuckle from the sight of it and receive a glare in return. Of course this doesn’t stop me.
“Stop it,” Raven says tirely.
“You should have studied, so it’s your fault if you did bad.”
“I didn’t have time. Was too busy getting ready for today.”
“Then why did you have time to rant about a book that you read to me for an hour yesterday? Also, why did you have time to read that all of that same book yesterday as well.”
Raven just gives me a look before turning her head to the front of the class. “Whatever.”
“That aside. Are you ready for the presentation today?”
“Yeah, I’m ready to sing my heart out since Erik is one of my favorite fictional characters. Fucking Raoul. Why does he have to ruin everything? Him and his stupid ass moustache.”
“Well, Erik was a bit unreasonable in the end...”
“I don’t care. I thought it was cool. Like, I wish I had a boyfriend like him.”
“You wish that you had a boyfriend that was going to blow up an opera house if you didn’t choose him.”
“Hell yeah. That shit is romantic.” Raven gives me the straightest face before bursting out laughing. I join her until she stops. “It was a tad bit much, but he’s still one of my favorite characters. I just wish that everyone could see him as more than some kind of monster. Seriously, those people don’t know who the true monsters of this world are. Erik is nothing compared to them.”
“True.”
My eyes make their way over to Mr. Gaskarth since class is about to start, and I find him turning his head from me. I have no idea why. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything to cause this or the slight frown that appears on his face. I want to ask him what’s wrong, but this is not the place to be doing so. Perhaps I’ll ask him after class if he doesn’t cheer up.
When the bell rings, he does his best to cover it up and starts speaking to the class. “I hope all of you finished your projects because we’re presenting today. I hope that we can get through everyone, but if we don’t, don’t think that you’re off the bat because all projects are being turned in and next time they will be presented. Now, is there anyone that would like to go first?” A couple of girls in the front raise their hand. “Alright. Go ahead.”
Mr. Gaskarth goes and sits behind his desk as they present the poem that they wrote. Up next after them is a couple of guys that sit in the back, who wrote a fanfiction about the characters as if they were planeswalkers. I didn’t really understand any of it until Raven rolled her eyes at me and whispered that it deals with Magic: The Gathering. Finally after two more groups go, we decided that it was time for us to present.
A smile is thrown my way as Mr. Gaskarth hands me my guitar. Raven picks hers up, and then we get situated. I strung a couple of chords to help Raven get into the right key. Once this is done, I go ahead and announce our project.
“We decided to write a song through Erik’s point-of-view. It’s called The Angel and the Monster.” Raven starts to count down softly, and when the time runs out, we start to play as Raven starts to sing.
“My mask hides who I am,
The creature that has always been damned,
Misshapen and horrendous,
Notes being my only bliss.
Leave the shadows?
Escape the night?
Enter the candlelight?
Your angelic voice calls me in the night,
I can’t help but think of you, my love, my light,
Do you know what you do to me?
Darkness is all I’ve been able to see,
I’m death manifested,
But your wings have bested,
All I’ve ever known,
You are my angel of music.
I don’t see why I try,
I would have said goodbye,
If it wasn’t for the beauty of your silhouette form,
It creates a storm inside of me.
Leave the shadows?
Escape the night?
Enter the candlelight?
Your angelic voice calls me in the night,
I can’t help but think of you, my love, my light,
Do you know what you do to me?
Darkness is all I’ve been able to see,
I’m death manifested,
But your wings have bested,
All I’ve ever known,
You are my angel of music.
Why can’t you see me for me?
Why do you only see the monster?
Why him not me?
Well, I’ll make you see.
I’ll make you mine,
I’ll make you mine,
I’ll make you mine,
One way or another,
Choose me or I will end this,
Choose me or I will end this,
Choose me or I will end all this.
Leave the shadows?
Escape the night?
Enter the candlelight?
Your angelic voice calls me in the night,
I can’t help but think of you, my love, my light,
Do you know what you do to me?
Darkness is all I’ve been able to see,
I’m death manifested,
But your wings have bested,
All I’ve ever known,
You are my angel of music.
I wish that you could have seen,
What you mean to me, oh,
Why did I have to be cursed with this face,
It sealed my fate.”
The song ends, and I can hear Mr. Gaskarth clapping behind me. A couple of the nicer students clap as well, but I can feel daggers being send our way by a couple other ones. I don’t get what their problem is. Is it because they don’t bother me as much anymore? Is that it? Well, whatever it is, I won’t let it affect me. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can do anything. I was so worried about sneaking out later tonight, but I know that I can pull it off now. It’s a bit strange how powerful I feel right now, but I guess that I don’t always feel quite alright when Mr. Gaskarth is around. There is just something about him that makes me feel like a different person, a better person. Is this what it feels like to like someone? I’d ask Raven about it, but she also doesn’t have much experience on the matter.
When the class ends, I watch as everyone leaves. Even Raven goes ahead without me since she has to get home to be with her family. The class empties until there is just Mr. Gaskarth and I. He doesn’t really seem to be paying much attention since he’s putting his papers and folders into his bag, but I don’t really care. A jolt of confidence overtakes me. I get up only to close the door after checking to see if anyone is looking. Then I make my way over to Mr. Gaskarth. I’m not sure if he’s still in teacher mode or not, but I can’t hold it back. My hand pulls his face towards my own as I plant a kiss on his lips. It takes him a bit to get used to it from the surprise of it, but Alex ends up kissing back. When we pull away, I open my eyes to see that his are still closed and a little smile is on his face.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that at all,” he says. He opens his caramel eyes and looks into mine. “What was that for?”
I shrug. “I guess that I’m having a good day.”
“I hope that good day continues on into a good night then.” He turns and rests his hands on my waist. “I really like it when you’re like this.”
“Like what?”
“Confident and happy. You should be like this more often.”
“Well, I have a reason to now.” I give him another kiss before pulling away to pick my guitar up. “I have to go home now, but I’ll meet you at your place tonight.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
I walk out the door knowing that everything is going to be perfect.

Notes

Sorry this is a bit late and not much is going on in this chapter. Finals are going on right now, and I still have two left to do. I don't think it helped that it wasn't all that easy coming up with the song. It just wasn't coming to me until I started writing this chapter out. Yeah, so the song that they performed was one that I just typed up.
Anyway, I hope that you like how it's going.
Hopefully next chapter will be a bit better with all of this party stuff going on.
Bye for now!