Mother of Pearl: A Floyd Leech x OC Fanfiction

Chapter 101

Warnings: Bullying

It was the night before the auditions and the nerves were running me wild!

"It'll be okay, Viv. You are overthinking and overreacting." Yuu repeated to me for the hundredth time in hopes it would reassure me. It didn't.

Jack and Deuce were also with us this evening. We were all sat in the living room of Ramshackle with the fireplace crackling. It was supposed to be an attempt at calming my nerves with the others who knew of my dilemma, but now it was just turning into a scene from a teenage slice-of-life sit-com drama. I sat upside down on the couch so my braids draped onto the floor.

"I admit to the overthinking bit, but I don't think I am overreacting!" I countered them again. "Deuce and Jack shouldn't even know technically, let alone Leona and Ruggie! If anymore people find out, what would Crowley do?!"

"With how he handles everything else concerning the school, I don't think much," Yuu honestly shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't know. The Headmaster seems to put the school's reputation as a high priority," Deuce rambled out absentmindedly. Yuu gave him a hard glare and he quickly changed his tune. "B-but I'm sure it wouldn't turn into as big of a scandal as you think! You might, uh, be the change Night Raven needs to turn into a co-ed private school! The person to throw out hundreds of years of tradition and history - in a good way I promise! – to, uh,"

Jack put a hand on Deuce's shoulder and sighed. "Just stop." Deuce sat back in his seat with a glum pout. Jack took a deep breath as he tried his hand in smoothing the situation over. "You can't back out now. You put in all the time and effort to audition, so you should see it through. Take pride in what your voice sounds like – female, male, or neither. It is your talent they are judging, not your gender."

I sat up so that my back faced them all. I let out a long sigh before turning to face them normally on the couch. "I understand what all of you are saying, I think I just need to clear my head." I got up from my seat and went to head out of the dorm. "I'm going on a walk. See you all later."

"Okay...Be back before midnight please," Yuu said in a soft, parental tone.

"Of course. I won't go far anyway," I assured.

"And Viv?"

"Yeah?"

"No matter what, we'll stand beside you. You know that, right?"

I looked at the three of them through the archway. They all had different expressions, but they were all ones of concern. I smiled weakly at them. "Yeah...I know. Be back soon." With that I walked out the door and away from the dorm. It was a mindless stroll. I couldn't even recall what I was thinking about in particular. All I knew was that I eventually made it to Main Street with all of the statues facing the path. I walked down the line of historical figures until I got to the one representing Pomefiore.

"The Beautiful Queen, huh?" I read the plaque out loud. I scoffed before sitting on the base of the sculpture. I leaned my head back and spoke out loud to the inanimate object. "Got any advice on masking my voice? Hehe...Oh who am I kidding? This was never a concern before I came to this gosh darn school! Gah!!" I brought my knees to my chest and buried my head.

This was supposed to be fun...Maybe if I was just singing with my friends but this is so much pressure. I should have just done card making like how I used to with Gran...She would have loved to see me on a stage singing though. She always did love when I sang to her... I hope she's doing alright...

"I wonder what Floyd's up to..." I mewled out. It was muffled through my sleeves and knees, but it sounded so loud in the quiet night.

"Hey, isn't that the magicless human from that trash heap of a dorm?" a gruff voice echoed louder in the area.