This World's An Ugly Place

The rest of the school day buzzed by. Alex was feeling like things were overwhelming him too much so we went outside for lunch instead of eating in the cafeteria. I couldn't blame him, he seemed to be holding a lot inside. It wasn't until the end of the day that things went south.

On our way back to Jack's car at the end of the day, my eyes locked with the keeper of hell itself; Mary. Now, since I was with Alex, I did my best to avoid her all day, but now she was down the hallway we had to take and there was no getting out of this one.

I paused dead in my tracks and Alex stopped beside me, giving me a questioning glance. "Jack is probably already out at the car and I forgot something back in the classroom. I'll meet you out there, okay?"

He frowned at that; He could tell I was lying. "But-"

"Please," I said now. "It'll only be a minute."

Alex slowly nodded his head before continuing to walk down the hallway. I didn't move until I was sure he was out of sight to continue walking.

"Oh, Angel!" her shrill voice entered my ears and I felt like gagging. Everything about her I couldn't stand. "I haven't seen you all day," she said as I continued to walk closer.

"Aw, and I thought I wasn't going to see you all day..! Guess my day had to be ruined sooner or later," I spoke back, my voice growing less and less friendly towards the end.

"That's not nice," Mary scolded. "Do I have to teach you a lesson?"

I chuckled darkly. "You? I would love to see that happen. Without your little friends," I said, motioning to the people standing beside her.

Her face dropped at that. "Who's the new kid that's been hanging around you?"

"None of your business," I snapped. I could careless if they threatened me but I didn't want them getting involved with any of my friends.

"He obviously doesn't know what happened with you, then." Mary let out a giggle. "Wouldn't it be a shame if he found out?"

"Screw you," I spat.

"You know, I was going to let you plead and I wouldn't do it, but now I'm definitely doing it," she said through a growing smirk.

"I don't care what you do. I thought by now you'd get the picture that I'm not scared of you," I spoke harshly, standing my ground.

"At least my parents didn't kill themselves to get away from me," Mary said with a smile.

I sucked in my breath. Now she's crossed the line. I balled my fists and took a step toward her but then a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Does there seem to be a problem here?" Jack asked.

My lips were pressed into a tight line while Mary crossed her arms across her chest.

"No, I guess not," she said, walking away with her group following after her.

"You should've let me," I whispered under my breath, taking all of my Will power so I wouldn't burst out in tears.

"And let you get expelled? No," Jack said, pulling me into a hug. "What did they say?"

"Nothing," I said, pulling away. "Take Alex back or whatever. I'm going to walk." I turned away, walking towards the school's exit.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked.

"I just need to be alone," I said, my voice wavering. Just by that he knew I was headed to the music shop; that's where I always went.

***

"What happened?" Sebastian asked as soon as I walked through the doors. He was standing by the cash register with Case, Jack, and Alex. Great, now a hot guy I hardly knew got to know about what an emotional wreck I truly was.

"Nothing," I said, instantly wiping at my eyes. Although my make up was water proof I'm sure it was running like crazy.

"Come on, Angel," Sebastian said, walking closer to me.

"No," I said quickly. "I said I'm fine so I am. I just need a guitar," I insisted, walking towards the practice rooms.

Case, who was standing behind the register, grabbed my black Fender and handed it to me as I passed.

"You're about to see a show, my friend," I heard Jack say to Alex.

I plugged my guitar into the amp and, like yesterday, started playing Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses. As I went on, I heard another guitar plug into my amp and, since I was so lost in the music, I looked to my left shocked to see Case beginning to play the rhythm guitar for me. A smile spread across my face; playing music was always funner when other people joined in.

After my little music tyrant ended, I felt a thousand times better than I had when entering the music shop. That's what playing music did for me; it gave me a course of relief. And before I could play guitar, listening to music used to be my escape. And now, I wanted to make a band where I gave other people some sort of relief...or, at least, when our band gets more hits.

"Holy crap, that was amazing," I heard Jack say from behind me and I turned around to see the rest of the boys were standing in the doorway. I wasn't sure how long they were standing there, but long enough to have heard Case and I playing apparently.

A smirk crossed my face now and I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't act so shocked."

Alex, on the other hand, stayed quiet with his eyes widened. I wasn't sure if he was surprised at how well I played the guitar or perhaps because of my sudden mood swing.

"Angel..." Sebastian said in a parental tone.

I let out a sigh. "Look, it's getting better, Sebastian. I promise. I meant it when I said I want to get well, and I am...slowly. It's just...sometimes Mary gets on my nerves a little too much," I said, shrugging my guitar strap off of me and turning the amp off.

Case offered me his fist and I bumped it with my own. "Keep this up and our band will make it in no time," he mused.

A smile brightened on my face at that and I followed Sebastian out to the front room of the music shop. "I promise, it's getting better," I said quietly, putting my guitar back on the its display.

Sebastian leaned his back against the counter. "I worry about you a lot, Angel. You can move back into the house soon enough, but I don't like it when you keep running off like you do."

"I know," I muttered. "I'm going to work on it."

"You can't run from all of your problems, you know," he said, taking a step towards me. "Now give your big brother a hug."

A stupid smile crossed my face. "You're such a sap, how are we related?" I asked as I hugged him.

"You get your musical talent from me," he said, messing up my hair as I pulled away.

"Actually, she got that from me," Case said, appearing by my side, referring to how he taught me how to play guitar.

"What about me?" Jack said with a pout, Alex walking in behind him.

"What do you mean? You don't have any musical talent," I teased and Jack grabbed a hold of my arm, pulling me closer roughly. "I take it back, I take it back!" I shrieked as I knew he was going to start wrestling with me.

"Darn straight," Jack said with a chuckle, releasing my arm.

"What about you?" I asked, turning to Alex.

He raised his eyebrows up at me.

"You play guitar? I mean, you have the acoustic but I wasn't sure..." I trailed off.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I play a little."

"Great, maybe you can join Jack's little band if he ever gets any better at the guitar," I said with a laugh but then flinched away when Jack took a step towards me. "Kidding, I was just kidding..."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that in ten years."

"Bet our band will be a bigger hit than yours," I said.

"You're on," Jack said, extending his hand and we both shook on it.

Notes

...and there's an introduction to Mary. Isn't she a lovely? ;D