AU MVB High School

A round of applause sounded as the four goofballs wrapped up their warmup with exaggerated bows all around, even the sweet old teacher was blowing out a few ear drums with a loud whistle for an encore and a happy cheer of 'Oh, it's just like when I was a young'n!'.

The rosette, for her part, was torn between clapping with the rest of the class at the surprisingly excellent performance, and being completely flustered since during the song, John had made a show of trying to get her out into the open to dance with him as he sang.

It was safe that she had frantically refused, but her blush had returned with full force, and even in her seat a row or two behind the front it was clearly obvious.

Another thing that was obvious to her now was that aside from the stares and gossip the seemed to follow John everywhere he went when walking the hallways, it was even more concentrated in Music class.

Female concentrated that is.  

Celi didn't think she'd ever hear so many girls sigh in infatuation before, and all in unison at that! Perhaps they were going on the beat? But whatever the case was, it was clearly obvious that not only John but the rest of the boys too, had quite the collection of female admirers.

Which made her question, just why did he seem so eager to bug the hell outta her all the time then? He's got a pretty nice gaggle of girls looking to off her just so that they could catch his eye, so why bother with her at all?!

She didn't know, but she'd happily swap places with one of them if it meant saving herself from anymore embarrassment.

With the crowd quieting down, Mrs. Harper steadily made her way to the center area, eagerly giving all the boys a hearty clap as she did so.

"Oh, brava! Brava! Wonderful boys, that was simply wonderful, it's always a treat when I get to have you in my class. Wasn't that just wonderful class?" A chorus of approval was music to her ears as she turned to the rest of the class, an encouraging smile on her face as she waved to her teaching aid to start passing out the syllabus.

"Now as wonderful as that performance was, I know not everyone has been introduced to the joys of music, but never fear! I'll have you all singing like songbirds before the years end!"

A less enthusiastic cheer was met this time around, but such was the life when dealing with moody teenagers. They loved the show, but never the effort that went into it. But Mrs. Harper was never one to be deterred!

"So as you can see from the syllabus, thank you Barrel for passing those out, we'll be doing some singing exercises today with a tuner. Doesn't that sound fun? Now I'll need you all to buddy up, this will be a great way to make some new friends too! One tuner per group please, and you'll both take turns doing pitch glide warmups and vocal sirens, doesn't that sound fun?"

The boys in question took their bows when their peers applauded them. If there was a solid truth that Rai Island locals knew for certain it was that no matter what gossip one chose to believe about the Wilders, they excelled in music and athletics. The four of them dispersed when Mrs. Harper spoke up to address the classroom, and each student diligently took one of the syllabuses that were being passed out by the teacher's aid.

The collective sigh from the female students was heard, of course, but flatly ignored. If there was one class a Wilder - let alone three of them - loved enough to give their full attention, it was practically heresy to try distracting them from it. And each set of dark curly hair and blue eyes was hyper-focused on Mrs. Harper and her lesson plan.

When they heard that they'd be working in pairs, however, their first instinct was simply to work with each other as usual. Unfortunately, Mrs. Harper had other plans about that. "Now you boys work together all the time, so I'd like you to each pair up with a student you haven't worked with before." She explained with a happy glint in her eye, "With your help, there are sure to be major improvements! How about it boys? Help an old lady out?"

Well, they definitely couldn't refuse now.

Of course, John made a beeline for Celi. "Wanna work together?"

Score another one for John!

As if it was really all that much of a competition, what with most of the guys in school being too chicken shit to stand up to him. And the ones who could stand up to him - that weren't related to him - were easy to bulldoze right into the dirt. Besides, as much of a brute as he was, he was one of the best musicians on the island.

At least he had that going for him, if little else.

Oh sure, there were girls that found him attractive, but John was never sure whether they actually liked him or if it was the element of danger that drew their attention. Still, it wasn't as if his looks weren't at least decent enough to make a difference. But that wasn't important right now. What really mattered in this moment was helping Celi out with the musical exercises that Mrs. Harper had assigned the class.

"Alright, why don't we start with scales first?" John suggested, then sang an example of a scale rising, then falling back to the beginning, "Now you."

Since the rosette seemed to be impressed instead of frustrated, John decided to take it easy on her. He had been teasing her and bothering her enough, and considering he didn't want to drive her away, so he felt he should be genuinely helpful. So with that in mind, he took the tuner from her and nodded towards her.

"First, try out the scales. I'm sure you can sing well enough, so lets hear that voice."

With a note of finality, he stepped back and fell silent as Celi began. There was some slight hesitation before she began, but soon enough her voice floated through the air. Her voice sounded lovely and it was definitely easy on the ears, but there was something a little off. He could tell immediately, but he waited for her to finish.

"You have a beautiful voice," John began, "but your heart's not in what you're singin'."

Without warning, John had set the tuner down and gently repositioned the way she was standing, his hands holding her diaphragm just under her breasts. "Try it again."

He looked pleased at the immediate improvement.

"See? Much better." John said, not bothering to move his hands, "You weren't getting enough air with the way you were standing before."

Of course, he didn't even bother looking at any of the rest of their classmates. Rather, he kept his attention focused where it was needed the most - his partner Celi. Whether it was that he legitimately wanted to make Mrs. Harper happy or that he just felt like inappropriately touching her, it was hard to tell. Either way, he was going to keep it up.

"Alright, now try singing a little bit of 'Red River Valley' for me."

If he'd been pleased earlier, he was positively thrilled now. The heat radiating from her flushed skin was tempting him in ways that were clearly not appropriate for class, but John made no move to remove his palms from her. However, he did reposition the two of them so that their peers couldn't quite see them so well.

Celi's rendition of the Red River Valley sounded quite pretty, especially with her accent, and John decided to let her know. Behind her now, he leaned to her ear, his breath hot against it.

"That was quite beautiful."

John couldn't help the smile that came over his face at her embarrassment and her subsequent sass. He just wanted to scoop her into his arms and make off with her to someplace they wouldn't be bothered. Someplace... private.

The roof of the school building came to mind in an instant and he had to stop himself. No, no. Absolutely not. Access to the roof was strictly off limits to positively everyone - students and staff alike. So of course he and his brothers went up there whenever they pleased. Who was going to stop them, after all?

But he couldn't suggest a jaunt up there right now. Celi was surely in no mood for shenanigans and besides, it was music class. Perhaps at lunch.

"Sure." He said simply, "Now let's hear those scales again."

John cut her off after the second note.

"Stop gettin' mad." He scolded, "It's making you sound bad."

John's smile didn't even flinch as the smaller rosette poked him squarely in his broad chest. Yep, no matter what he did to tease her or make her mad, there was just no way to make her less attractive to him. He had it and he had it bad for her.

What the hell was he supposed to do with himself now?

"You're such a sensitive gal, Celi," His tone lacked any form of disrespect, "But don't take everything so personally. I give everyone a hard time, it's just how I am." He finally deigned to remove his hands from her diaphragm and the cold air of the classroom immediately replaced the former warmth.

"If you feel like you need a place to get away during your free time here though, let me know."

"If that's the case, it's a wonder you haven't been decked by anyone other than me so far" The rosette said with a roll of the eyes as she took a step back from the taller boy, just enough so that they didn't look quite as intimate looking anymore, but still close enough so that he could still hear her as she quietly spoke to him. But more importantly, still close enough so that she could still feel a bit of the natural body heat radiating from him.

Of course, Celi downright refused to acknowledge that she missed the warm touch of his hands on her skin, but the chilling bumps that graced her back and arms were a testament to just how cold she was now that they were gone.

"And I'm not sensitive, you're just an asshole" She huffed, crossing her arms in defiance in a discreet attempt to warm herself up. As she did so, she took a quick glance around at the rest of the class. Most of them seemed to be done with their scales, and happily chatting with their partners. Luckily, it didn't look like the two of them had caused as big a stir as she was worried they had.

"Thank god"

She had had to sit through all of English class with all eyes on her as the teacher just had to wonder aloud just why she was so red in the face! And she did not need a repeat of that event thank you very much!

But at his offer to show her a quiet place where she could relax, a very tempting offer if she ever heard one, the rosette had to admit to herself that she was feeling a bit stressed. And was probably acting a little too high strung than what was good for her too.

"Shit"

"Ok...maybe I am a bit sensitive, but I got a lot on my plate right now and you being a torn in my side ain't really helping any, y'know?" She joked, giving him a little half-hearted smile as her shoulders relaxed in hopes that they could make amends. She hadn't quite forgiven him for being an annoying ass all morning, but he had also admitted it wasn't out of spite or anything personal, so she supposed she could try to let it slide. Everyone had a personality quirk or two, John's was just....more annoying than most.

"So maybe you could show me that quiet place sometime?"

As the sounds of singing and scales started to wind down, and the chatter started to get louder, Mrs. Harper clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Wonderful class, simply wonderful! I hope you all got a good chance to get to know your partner's as you went over your scales and exercises, because you'll be seeing a lot of them in the future! I didn't want to mention this at the start of the class, but whoever you worked with today will be your buddy for the rest of the semester. You'll be working with them for warm-up exercises and duets! Won't that be lovely?"

Not one to wait for what would probably be a mix of results at her announcement, Mrs. Harper carried on as her assistant once again started handing out papers.

"Now since today is only the first day of the semester, we'll be ending it here. But Barrel will be handing you the duets you and your partner will be working on for our first upcoming music test in a few weeks, so I expect you all to practice hard with your partner and have a good rest of your day class!"

That corner of John's mouth that had quirked up wasn't about to go back down and he muttered moreso to himself as he turned away from her, "Honey, I'm a thorn in everyone's side. You don't know it yet, but I am being nicer to you than I am to most people."

He doubted she heard him, but it didn't really matter either way. Mrs. Harper interrupted the students to make one last announcement and John's attention was focused on her as she spoke. Afterwards, the bell rang and the students all grabbed their backpacks to head to their next class.

John turned to her as he was about to leave and offered, "If you want to see it now, grab some lunch and then meet me at the double doors near the cafeteria."

And with that, he turned down the hall to drop off his morning textbooks at his locker.

It didn't take him long to slip unnoticed out the double doors and up the stairwell to scout out the area beforehand. He wasn't worried about himself getting busted but he wasn't about to get Celi into trouble. At least, not on her first day. So he was a little tardy getting back to her. But bless her heart, she was actually waiting for him.

John discreetly opened the doors behind her.

"Psst," His voice was hushed, "Over here. Try not to get busted."

"You looked like you were dyin' to get outta there." John said, then jerked his thumb to the stairs behind them, "C'mon, it's up these stairs."

With that said, he led the way up the stairs, taking two at a time. His legs were long and so too were his strides, but he waited at each landing for her to catch up. When they reached the top, he pulled his student ID from his back pocket and slid it between the door and the jamb, easily unlocking it and holding it open for her.

"Ladies first."

On the other side of the door was a few benches and a rooftop garden, along with a fence around the edge so that no one would fall off. It was peaceful; the only sounds were the birds singing nearby. A few flowers fluttered in a gentle breeze.

"So, what do you think?"

John visibly relaxed at her reaction, glad she was indeed enjoying the garden. He came through the door himself, but slid a doorstop between the door and jamb to make sure they didn't get locked out.

"I'm glad you like it." He said simply, taking his lunch from home out of his bag, "Terry, patty, Chuck, Buster and I found it and fixed it up."