✏️ Under One Roof

18. One Friend

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Kevin, with thanks for all the support you have given me. Thank you!

Ness didn't say much on the train ride. Tegan didn't either. In fact, the only sincere words that passed between them for the whole journey were "thank you".

As the train passed Pine Ridge, an announcement from a tinny speaker in the corner of the carriage listed the stations that they would be passing through. "... Flint on the Hoole, Claret, Ridgehold, Fellowspar, Moistville University, Moistville Junction, Langerton, Middlebrook, Highvale ..." The list of stations just went on and on, and Tegan found herself wondering how many of them were tiny rural stops like Morganston, unknown even to people who lived nearby. They certainly weren't town she knew the names of, aside from Pine Ridge – where she had expected to be catching the train until she found that Morganston had a station of its own – and larger places like Mercer Interchange and Moistville itself. As the voice continued, she was surprised to learn that this train went all the way to the coast, in a journey that must take hours.

Ness was sitting opposite her, not saying anything. He had a ticket in his hand, and kept staring down at it. Tegan couldn't begin to guess what was going through his mind, but she knew that there was probably something she was supposed to say in this situation. She didn't know what it was, though, which made the realisation almost completely unhelpful.

She tried watching the scenery rush past outside the window, but after five minutes the endless parade of trees, farms, and picturesque streams began to get boring. Still, she couldn't think of anything to say, so she allowed herself to start humming instead. That, at least, got a little smile from her brother. For a moment she wondered if he was going to join in, and found herself wondering whether that would have been reassuring or just weird. But he didn't make a sound, just listened attentively. As she moved on to the rock clarinet part from Dances With Eternity, she did notice that his fingers were tapping out a complex piece of the drum part against his thigh; a silent accompaniment.

"You like music, don't you?" she asked, when she reached the end of the song. "And you've got talent too. I know your dad said you haven't played since... you know. But you're still listening and remembering. You're not that out of practice."

"Thank you," he nodded.

'What am I doing?' Tegan thought. 'I'm practically trying to make friends with the bully, as if that could ever work. Opening up just makes me vulnerable, there's no way I can expect him not to take advantage of any advantage I give him.' But despite the protestations from her inner voice, she couldn't see an easy way to interrupt this conversation now. She could tell herself that she was just trying to find out more about him, to make sure that he didn't humiliate her again, but once she'd posed a question it wouldn't be that easy to just end the conversation.

"I mean..." she mumbled. "You study, don't you? Theory, I mean. You might have had talent when you were, what, six? Seven? But I can't believe you'd have all the terminology and the theoretical understanding of it. That's like a whole different field. I think maybe..." She hesitated before saying the next words on her mind. She wondered if this could be a way to take back her advantage; to get inside his head and predict him a little better. But before she could do anything like that, she knew that she would have to just ask the question. And if it was the kind of thing a real friend would be curious about, that was just coincidence. This was a carefully calculated strategic move to take down the bully, and now Tegan was playing to win. "I think you stopped playing because it hurts too much. But you'd learned so much already that music still keeps on speaking to you. When your dad took you to hear Franklin's Muse, you couldn't stop trying to understand how the music works, and how it conveys those emotions. And even if you weren't playing it, you listened, and studied. Along with all those science books. The music's always been a part of your life, even if you don't play it. Am I right?"