Sang's Freedom (Original And Rewritten)

Chapter 81: It Starts With 'J'

-Chapter 81-

Victor Morgan's POV:

I rubbed the dragon on my necklace between my fingers. It was supposed to bring me luck, but I didn't feel very lucky.

My mom was probably dead. The girl I liked had kissed me, but didn't want to kiss me anymore. Plus she was flashing lovey eyes to someone outside my family.

I hadn't ever felt this way before.

Jealous.

There has really never been anything to be jealous of. Growing up I had money. Talent. Fame. That was what everyone strives for in life, and I had it all before the age of eight.

Countless hours spent playing the piano; practicing until my fingertips would bleed upon the keys.

The beatings that would follow the concerts in which I missed one note. The cigars that would be laid to my flesh for missing two.

For years people have stood in awe before thee Victor Morgan. But they could not get close to my heart. For I was merely on display. A vase in a glass box.

I would walk the parties. Dance at the balls. Kiss a lady's hand. Smile like Father commands.

Dress in tuxes. Shine my shoes. Play the keys until Beethoven's 5th is perfected. No sleep that night. No sleep the next.

The 5th is one of the most difficult concertos ever written, and I've never been able to play the piece quite right...until I played it for her.

"Victor?"

Sang's tired voice broke through my thoughts. We had been training the better part of the week and it was already Friday.

No more kisses have touched her pretty lips.

We have run everyday and Matthew has had Sang begin hand-to-hand combat. She did very well, even when sparring against Nathan.

She was truly beginning to meld with our team. She wanted to be our sister which was a hard pill to swallow seeing that I wanted us to be so much more.

On Wednesday, Luke had convinced us all to go to the Brunswick Zone, an arcade in the area with bowling and laser tag.

Sang really took a shine to laser tag. She was, as Luke would say, a ninja in the darkness. Soundless and small.

She surpassed Matthew and Luke both with her stealth.

Watching Sang bowl was cute. She had to get one of the lighter bowing balls; the six pound ones that rarely knocked down all the pins no matter how hard she tried.

North kept even with Mr. Blackbourne who was surprisingly good at bowling. Silas and Kota were not far behind.

Luke spent most of the night trying to sidestep an overly attentive waitress. Luke ended up taking hold of Gabriel and pressing a big kiss to his cheek while the waitress was watching and that put an end to that.

Nathan was worse than Sang at bowling and sat out along with Matthew who had stared off most of the evening. He didn't touch his food.

Dr. Green was very outgoing though. He took every opportunity to poke fun at Mr. Blackbourne since he was wearing a grey suit with bowling shoes.

"Victor, are you okay?" Sang grabbed my hand, and it took me another moment to realize that I had zoned out in front of the piano at Mr. Blackbourne's house.

"Yeah, Princess. I'm fine. What's going on?"

"Gabriel asked me to ask if you wanted to come shopping with us tomorrow. Somewhere farther away than normal since..." Sang paused then forced a smile.