Melody the Music Teacher

Chapter 1

Very few incidents had passed since Tony had threatened Melody, just the odd shove in the halls and angry glares from across the room when she taught Manny and the others. Today, she was teaching Manny how to do the dance moves for 'Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box' and he was enjoying thoroughly as he laughed when she showed him the movements. Being young, Manny was a little slow and Melody had to lace her fingers around his wrists a few times to get him to do it right.

"Very good, Manny!" He sang the lyrics to himself, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as Melody let her mind wander to... well. Tony.

He was probably the most difficult person she had ever met, stubborn and always angry at everything even though there really wasn't a need. She was trying extremely hard to be nice to him, she had no desire to yell at him, nor did she want to stand up to him. Not that she wasn't intimidated by him, oh she definitely was, she just had no impulse to match his witty remarks.

Sometimes when he'd pass her, he'd spit something harsh at her like, 'whore', 'cumberground', 'strumpet' and many other harsh words that she didn't care to mention as they were not for a child's ears. One time he pushed her so hard she ended up falling over. He then laughed at her, tutted, and walked away. He got off on torturing the woman, and she was at her wits end at the end of her second week. Maybe he only hated her because the way she taught the others was different, she liked to dance and sing with them whereas he only seemed to scream and beat them violently. He must be a Klazomaniac.   

"Manny, love, I'm just popping to the kitchen for a moment to get something to eat. Want anything?" He shook his head and ran off to go play with Robin. Or rather, follow after him despite his protests. She took her chance and poked her head out the living room doorway to make sure no one was there to bump into, then cautiously made her way down the hall, being careful to avoid Paige as she nearly flung all of her paint on Melody.

"Sorry, Mel!"

"No problem, love." Melody replied, edging her way along the walls until she finally reached the kitchen. Sparsh and Stephen where busy mixing maple syrup with broccoli in a large bowl so she quickly moved to the fridge and grabbed some apple juice. Pouring it into a glass, she placed it back in its rightful place on the shelf in the fridge and spun around to see Tony walking past. Freaking out, her breath caught in her throat as he slowly moved backwards to the middle of the doorway, staring right at her with a sickening grin. It was almost as if he was looking for her. She gulped in fear and Stephen nudged her playfully.

"Oh, 'ello there, Mel! How are you?" He asked, her breathing coming in short pants as she took a hesitant sip of her juice. Tony was now leaning against the doorway, watching with a very smug grin as she then realised that she was trapped. Of course it wasn't Stephen's fault but everyone knew that he loved to talk and Tony could stand there watching her all day, waiting for her to make a mistake. Drop her cup, say the wrong thing, anything.

The steak-like man hardly noticed her anxiety and lightly took her bicep, gently shoving her to the bowl of food. He asked her to give it a mix and Sparsh spat in it, laughing childishly.

"Your turn!" He exclaimed, grinning up at Melody. She furrowed her brows with a small twinge of a smile and spat into the bowl, mixing it in with the rest of the things. Adding some sugar and pouring her forgotten apple juice in, she wondered what on earth they were going to do with this awful looking concoction. Stephen leaned over while she was distracted, too close for her liking. He opened his mouth to speak, as if he was going to give her a tip on her mixing,

"Just ignore him, Melody. He'll give up soon." He whispered into her ear and suddenly she stopped mixing, looking up at him with wide eyes and mouth agape. Did he really understand? He smiled warmly, nudging her again with the tip of his elbow as a sign to continue and she did, with a smile on her face.

Perhaps some of the teachers weren't as bad as she originally thought.

~~~~~

The rest of the day went well, she actually found herself smiling widely. She entered her room at the end of the day, changing from her poofy skirt to her nightdress and fell into her bed, falling asleep instantly. Her dreams were pleasant as usual, the same happy things like Manny laughing, Paige and her drawing together and all in all creating a wonderful scenario of her life. The next few weeks wouldn't be so fortunate, though.