Our Melody

I. Boys and Beginnings

I was nine and half years old, and I was mad. No, mad wasn't a good word. Fuming. I was fuming. I was fuming with a passion. I was fuming with a passion so fiery, I could roast steak on it, and then serve that steak to the ashes of a very specific person who's last name may or may not rhyme with 'pox'.

As in chicken pox.

As in I hoped a certain someone got it.

Why was I fuming?

Simple. Kian Fox. A very stupid boy.

A very stupid boy who sat right behind me and had tied my shoelaces to the desk. I had tripped when I tried to stand up, and managed to bring down the entire desk as well as spill every paper in it. I was currently lying in a pile of papers, struggling to wriggle out from under the desk. It was utterly embarrassing, and I could feel my face heating up.

I did not blush nicely. I'd read in books before about girls blushing rosily and prettily. I could not relate. When I blushed, my cheeks turned a blotchy fire-hydrant red.

I knew at once that it was him, because he had been shooting dirty looks at me all morning, and whispering rude things to his friends about me. I had no idea what I had done to make him dislike me so much. 

Well that wasn't completely true. 

I may or may not have hidden his toy racecar as a joke.

In the one of the classroom's paint jars.

To be fair (and it was completely justified) I had a reason for doing this. The day before, I had heard seen him jerk his head at me and whisper to one of his friends, "She's so short, I bet she still uses a car seat!"

This on its own was insulting enough, I had stopped using a car seat two weeks ago. And the fact that without having a single decent conversation with me, he managed to figure out my biggest insecurity only added to the burn. But it was who he whispered this to that really set fire to it all.

The only boy in the world that definitely did not have cooties.

Wesley Andel.

He was completely perfect in every way. No one could change my mind. He had a smile that made you feel warm, and a perfect laugh. He was funny, and he never teased girls, or tied their shoelaces to desks. He was polite to all the teachers, and smart. He knew his whole multiplication table, even the twelve's time table.

Not only that, but he had gorgeous eyes. Striking blues that looked like diamonds. They were covered by his sweeping blond hair, and he looked exactly like someone you would draw or paint. Not that I had tried because that would be kinda creepy.

I knew we were meant to be. It was written in the stars.

He only had one fault, and that was that he was friends with Kian Fox.

"You jerkface!" I yelled at him, completely disregarding our teacher, Ms. Kanning who was trying to put the desk back up.

"Yeah?" Kian sneered at me as I tried to reclaim what dignity I had. He had the kind of nose that was built for sneering.

"Yeah!" I replied, getting up from the floor. I stared at the minuscule scratch on my arm that had come from the desk that had fallen. It was bleeding just the tiniest bit.

I didn't want to die like this.

"Hey, maybe we should just-" 

"I didn't even do anything to you!" I argued, cutting off Ms. Kanning.

"Uh, yeah you did. You took my racecar and dunked it in paint. Remember that, Pixie?" he asked, deliberately using the name he knew I hated.

"My name is Piper! But you're too dumb to remember that. And yeah, maybe I did, but you called me short!" I shouted.

I was beginning to think his racecar wasn't the only thing I wanted to dunk in the paint.

"Piper, Kian, you guys need to calm down and sit down, please. I need to continue with the lesson." Ms. Kanning gushed hurriedly trying to stop us.

"You are short! You're like an Oompa Loompa. Am I supposed to lie to you?" Kian asked, his face almost as red as I knew mine was. A couple of kids laughed at that.

I had been called many things in my long nine and a half years of life. A mouse. Thumbelina. Pipsqueak.

This was different though. An Oompa Loompa! And he had called me it right in front of the whole class. That was it.

"I-I don't like you!" I sputtered furiously.

"Well I hate you!" he spat right back. I gasped internally. I never used the word hate, and no one had ever directed it towards me. Our classmates were watching us as if this were a very entertaining movie.

"If you two don't cut it out right now, I will send you both up to the principal's office. I'm not joking," Ms. Kanning said desperately.

I was going to cut it out alright. I was like a boiling kettle, and I had already reached my limit. I did the only thing I knew would stop this once and for all. I reached for my special blue kid scissors with fake gems on the handle and grabbed Kian's stupid curls.

The whole classroom seemed to freeze for a second. No one dared to breathe.

Snip.

Kian's eyes widened in shock, and he whisked his hand up to his head to feel the damage I had done. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't good. It would take a while for it to grow back, that was for sure. I stepped back, resisting the urge to cower.

It was common knowledge that he was very vain about his hair. He cared for his chocolate brown waves like they were his children. I knew for a fact, that he had scheduled haircuts every three months. And I had just sheared off a chunk of his hair like he was a sheep.

Kian looked me directly in the eyes and hissed, "You-"

I can't actually repeat the awful thing he said, but it rhymed with poo witch.

Ms. Kanning finally had enough and managed to drag both of us to the principal's office. I remember that walk to the principal's office. It was more of a slow run, but it was the quietest I'd ever been. I was dazed and wide eyed, and absolutely terrified. Kian was clutching his head and for a second I thought maybe he would cry.

When we reached the door of the office, he turned his head to me and glared so fiercely that I knew that he would never ever forgive me. Ever.

So that was how it began. The extreme and utter rivalry of Kian Fox, and Piper Gibbson. 

And there was nothing that could stop us.

____

Updates every Thursday! If you're reading this, I hope the next time you use a ketchup bottle the perfect amount comes out. :P

All my love and luck,

~Jackie