The Bad Boy's Singer

17. Him

"Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want."

-Heath Ledger



One down, Mr. Atkins to go.

I was relieved when Dray caught onto the thought that everyone was taking the pills so he couldn't notice Rayna only. That and his great help in exposing the therapist.

We only had the rest of the plan to tie the knots with Mr. Atkins and to get him out of Juilliard.

He didn't even deserve to be here. Due to his social status and his connections, he wouldn't have been here. His talent was baisc and that didn't even count as his pure talent as well as his pieces were practiced and boring.

"That was badass, we need to let Leonardo Dicaprio hire us as his detectives," Dray was on a high as he mimicked a gun in his hand and scanned it through the glaring students.

"We are halfway through with the council kicking the therapist but we need other threads to get to Mr. Atkins." I explained to Dray, who was busy shooting winks at the females.

Alana appeared to walk cluelessly as she searched into every class until her eyes caught mine and she waved. I ignored Dray's raised eyebrows and Elodie's wide eyes from behind her to see the girl.

"Erm, sorry, I need you for a moment," Alana introduced meekly, and I nodded when I said bye to Dray.

We sat down on a nearby hallway bench and she fidgeted around. "What is it?" I started when she didn't speak a word.

"I-I don't have a place to live and the dorms are expensive, I don't know what to do," she nervously stated as her blue eyes dimmed with frustration. The girl was still a fresh student and she mentioned that she got into Arts and Sciences program here. "My relatives traveled back to their city and I don't have anyone, I got here from my aunt's payments for education but they can't afford the room since she has a family to spend on," she voiced out her problems.

"I will talk to my sister about this," I asked, and she looked down in shame but I lifted her face up, I felt like a protective brother over her. I wasn't that dark and I cared for troubled girls. "Don't worry, just focus on your program and call me after your classes to introduce you to my sister," I finalized and she gave me a relieved smile before her hug.

"Thank you, Xavier." She blushed and I gave her a pat on the arm in return before she skipped off to her class.

Elodie popped her head out of her class door and I ushered her with my hand to attend her class as she gave me a I-want-to-talk-later look when she finally listened to me.

I was in a better mood than before because I did the right thing when I enter Alexander's piano lesson. He was playing as usual on the piano as the sounds echoed through the lonely walls and I leaned my back on the wall as I listened to him.

"That good for you?" Alexander teased in a form of a question.

"Could be adjustable with the notes," I answered back in fake hostility and he chuckled at me, he gestured for me to sit down next to him on the piano stool. "Did you ever wish to follow other instruments?" I sputtered out.

"Yes, I was temporarily in love with the violin but I ditched it for piano lessons," he nonchalantly confessed.

"Do you miss it?"

"Yes, I do but it was just a phase in my life and I decided to move on with the piano," he answered again.

"How did you know the difference?" I had to admit, his life intrigued me. He seemed to live his life oppositely to other people. His style was reckless proud and he had it wide in the open for everyone to see; the ripped jeans and the leather jacket with a jagged scar on his eyebrow. He looked like he came out of a rockstar movie.

"I tried both and I figured out that I loved piano more than violin, I still play sometimes but it can never replace what I have with the piano after I lost my whole family to a tragic train wreck back in Oklahoma," he laid it all out and I found myself to like him even more.

He wasn't ashamed to tell me his story and that was the kind of people I liked to relate with.

"Sorry for the loss," I empathized and he shrugged it off as his masked pain showed itself quickly before it was back to glassy eyes. That was how people often coped: throw it all behind. Just like I did with my passion.

"Let's get to work, enough with stories." He encouraged as we played a piece together, our talents bright and early.

I finished off with Alexander and I went to have breakfast before my next class, a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts and I saw Mr. Atkins that kept teaching inside the classroom in which Rayna attended first row.

I realized my mistake. I shouldn't have dropped Mr. Atkins' class. I was adamant on finding out about the mysterious therapist incident that happened earlier.

Rayna seemed distracted as she gazed out to the sun that greeted her. She tilted her head to the side as she bit her lip as her long hair laid down on her shoulder colored by the sun and her jaw soft with her plump lips.

I snapped back to reality realizing that I was a staring stalker.

The doors of the cafeteria were opened and I had to buy a packaged turkey sandwich since I had no time to prepare food. My fun ended when Elodie ran to me.

"Xavier, are you seriously with Alana Davidson?" she screeched as the students turned around to see the commotion before they realized it was my sister so they returned back to their conversations.

"Elodie, she's just a friend I made-" I was done with her persistence but her aqua eyes didn't give up.

"Yea, a terribly close friend," she stressed on each word and I wanted to facepalm myself.

"Just a friend." I said, my mind thought of Rayna.