Teaching River

Lesson 1: Sing, you i***t

MYSTIQUE

"No! You i***t I said sing!" I said.

"Why do I need to sing if you already know that I cannot sing?" He asked.

"Because I said so! Now do it!" I was getting more and more frustrated.

"Fine!" He finally gave in after what seemed like hours and hours of persisting.

He opened his mouth and began to sing. River was not on "George level" but he was not far from it either.

"Stop! PLEASE put me out of my misery and stop singing!"

River thankfully stopped.

"Wow, we have a lot of work to do!" I sighed. By a lot I meant hours and hours! I hated spending minutes with Skyscraper, how was I supposed to spend hours with him. It was settled. I would go to jail for his murder. That was clearly the only option for me. Jail.

"What did I say! I can't sing!" He said angrily. He was about to get up and leave when I grabbed his hand and pushed him back to the chair he was previously sitting on.

"No mister! Not so fast! I made a deal with you. I intend to make your singing... bearable. Okay?" I said.

He looked at me in shock. It was as though no one had ever put so much of faith into him before. As though no one had ever made an effort for him.

"Okay, so let's start from the top. This time sing from your gut and not your nose! Feel the music flowing through you." I said.

"Okay but can you sing for me?" He asked sighing. He looked up at me childishly and for a second, just a second, I thought he looked like someone I once knew. But the thought disappeared when he smirked at me.

"Okay fine. First I will sing alone, then you will sing with me okay?" He nodded, his brown hair flicking in his face.

I started to sing the first verse. Skyscraper watched me in awe as I sung the song and my voice filled the room.

As soon as I was done, Skyscraper had his jaw on the floor.

"Wow! I mean WOW!" He said staring at me with awe.

"Yeah yeah, Now you try!"

It took us three hours to practice the first two lines of the verse of the song, and not because he was terrible, but because he wasn't even trying.

"Can you honestly take this seriously? I am trying here, I am trying to get you to not embarrass yourself in front of everyone, like you asked me, but you aren't even willing to meet me half way. Does my time mean so little to you?" I asked.

It was at that moment, that I witnessed an expression I had never seen River wear on his face before. Regret. Pure and genuine regret.

River looked down, and then said softly, "I'm sorry, Mystique. I didn't mean to offend you. Sometimes I take things too far, and I never know when to stop."

I looked at him, with softening eyes and began to move closer to him. As soon as I made it right in front of him, I gently placed my fingers under his chin and lifted his face up. His eyes met mine, and the same feeling of deja vu hit me. I, however, ignored it and finally spoke, gently, "Skyscraper, its alright. Next time, be more mindful, okay?"

River did not move a single inch, in fact, his eyes stayed fixated on mine for a full five minutes, until things became really awkward and he looked away. My cheeks were now flushed red in embarrassment.

"Where are your parents?" He asked, changing the subject and looking towards me. His previous genuine look was now replaced by one of mischief.

"At work as usual," I said.

"It's a shame. I wanted to see the people that created a daughter attracted to nerds and not sexy athletic men," he said.

Only Skyscraper could say such a thing.

"Well I can't wait to meet the people who created an egotistical, annoying pain." I said.

"Why did you need me to teach you how to be confident again?" He asked chuckling, but I could sense the slight edge in his voice.

I laughed, "I'm shy in front of others."

"Oh really?" I could feel his sarcasm.

"I'm shy, except when I'm with you. You just make it impossible not to say what ever comes to mind," I said getting up and fetching two muffins from a container. I handed one to Skyscraper and then sat back down. I would never admit this out loud, but I could be a real person around River. He was easy to talk to.

"Okay, first lesson. Looking people in the eye when you speak. If you look them in the eye, immediately they feel intimidated," he grabbed my chin and made me look into his eyes. At first it was really awkward, but after a while I had gotten used to it and found myself lost in them.

"Good. If you do that, you already gain an upper hand. Your thoughts become cleared and you feel less scared." I nodded still slightly.

"Now at school I want to see you doing the same thing. Look people in the eye when they talk to you okay?" He said.

"Yeah I got it."

"Good! That's all I have to teach you so far. Hey, can I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Go for it," we were now throwing away our papers into the bin and then we sat in front of the TV. Some weird cartoon was playing.

"Why do you support Christian and Lacy's relationship? I mean you haven't even formally met Christian yet." He said.

I sighed, I knew this question was coming soon.

"Because I see the way he looks at her. He loves her, not even likes her. Trust me on this, I've had a lot of experiences with boys. I know love when I see it." I said. And every word was true. Because I used to look at the boy I loved exactly the way Christian looked at Lacy.

"What boy experiences?" He asked.

Now he was pushing it. That part of my life was sensitive and fragile.

"Um I can't talk about it right now. It's hard for me." I said. He looked at me for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay. I see." Is all he said.

"Well I need to go. See you around?"

"Yeah, bye Skyscraper." I said sending him out.

"By foggy!" He said leaving.

Maybe Skyscraper didn't have to be the enemy?