Chapter 6

    Chapter 6: The Harp


 

 

I woke up to my alarm clock again, six in the morning, bright and early, Ugg!  Off I went to have my morning shower.  I got dressed quickly in jeans and a light sweater since it was supposed to be a cool day according to the forecast on the radio.  I ate breakfast alone today because James had already gone into the ‘office’ as he called it.  He worked in the recruiting office for the military.  He did something special for the government that he wasn’t allowed to talk about.  I found it funny and thought of him as a James Bond 007 type, always off on some secret mission.

I got to school early again and walked to my locker so that I could get organized for my morning classes.

“Hey Anastasia” said Jeff.  He was a short boy with bushy black hair and thick glasses.

“Hey there, how are you?” I smiled tentatively at him.

“Christine wanted me to ask if you could get her homework for this morning’s classes.  She’s been sick since Tuesday.” he said and blushed tomato red.

“Sure, I wondered where she was.  I’ll drop it off at her place on my way home.  Um, what’s her number so I can call her when I’m on my way?” Jeff handed me a piece of paper with Christine’s number on it. He smiled and started to walk to his first class.

“I’ll see you at lunch” he called.

“Sure” I said.

I grabbed my books and went to biology.  The morning went by fast and I was glad that algebra was almost over.  Our lecture was interrupted by a knock on the door.  Mr. Chang came into the class and spoke for a moment with Mr. Scott.

“Anastasia, would you please go with Mr. Chang for a moment?” Mr. Scott asked politely.

“Sure” I answered, as I quickly collected my books and wrote down the homework assignment. When I got into the hall Mr. Chang was waiting for me and motioned me to follow him.  We arrived at the music room a few minutes later and there, sitting by the piano, was a harp.  My eyes widened with wonder and joy as I dropped my bag and ran down the stairs to my favourite instrument.

“May I?” I breathed, reaching for it and caressing the harp as one would a cherished loved-one.

“Please do.  I’m anxious to hear you play” He replied watching me expectantly.

I sat on the small stool and leaned the harp into my shoulder.  I stretched my fingers slowly and then began plucking the strings playing a sad melody that Stacy had taught me years ago.  I played all through the lunch hour completely forgetting about the time.  Mr. Chang interrupted my concentration only when the lunch hour was almost up.

“Anastasia, it’s almost time for your next class” he said regretfully. He had been as consumed with my playing as I had been.

“Oh” I said sadly, shaking off my revere.

“Don’t worry you’ll be playing again in a little over an hour” he said.  I smiled at the thought and as I looked up I saw Lizzy and Alexander staring at me with curious expressions.  They looked at each other and then Alexander walked away.  Lizzy grinned at me. 
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself” she laughed. “You looked so sad when he asked you to stop.  What was that tune you were playing?”

“It was a song my aunt taught me.  My mother apparently wrote it and I always think of her when I play” I sighed dreamily.  I walked to the top of the room and slowly out the door with Lizzy by my side.

“So are you still planning on coming out with me this weekend?” Lizzy asked deliberately not bringing up any questions about my mother.  I was very thankful for that.

             “Sure am, my godfather said that I should relax and have some fun.  I’m looking forward to getting out.” I replied.

“Great, I’ll pick you up tomorrow at eleven o’clock.  Here’s my cell number, what’s yours?”

I wrote my number down on a piece of paper and gave it to her. “I’d better get to the library, I’ll see you later Lizzy.”

“Bye, see you next period.” she called as I walked down the hall.

I entered the library and I saw Tisha and Michelle glance at me, questions evident on their faces.

“You didn’t come to lunch. Is everything ok?” Michelle asked.

“Mr. Chang asked me to go to the music room.  He found a harp for me to play and I lost track of time.  I do that when I play. Sorry.”I replied sheepishly.

“Jeff was disappointed.  He wanted to ask you something” she said giving me a strange look.

“Oh.  Well I guess it’ll have to wait till next week” I shrugged.  I would definitely have to avoid Jeff.   Which got me wondering about Paul; So I decided to go to the bathroom with my old cell phone.  When I turned it on there were four messages and the last message nearly scared me to death.  I heard the crackle of a bad connection followed by, “Anastasia, I will find you.” A deep Spanish accented voice said threateningly.  I started to shake uncontrollably as I broke the phone in half.  I took out the sim card from the back of the phone and put it in my pocket then threw the pieces of the phone on the floor and stomped on them as hard as I could shattering every piece.  Then I quickly cleaned up the pieces and threw them in the garbage.  Still shaking, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw how pale I was.

“Are you okay?” A sweet concerned voice asked.  I spun around and saw the girl with long brown hair and beautiful sapphire eyes watching me intently.

“Y-ya, I’m fine” I stuttered as I looked down and rushed out of the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to explain my breaking the phone.  She stared after me with a worried look on her face.

I returned to the library and hid in a far corner away from everyone else and tried to control my breathing because every time I inhaled it sent shooting pains through my ribs.  I clutched my side as I shook.  The only thing I could do to get my mind off the message was to hope that the bell would ring soon so that I could go to the music room and get lost in playing the harp.

When my spare was finally over I gathered my things and ran back to the music room for class I tried to put a happier expression on my face but I’m not sure it worked.  Lizzy watched me carefully as I took my place and I could see that she was worried.  I could hardly wait to play the harp again, that way I wouldn’t have to look at her and wonder if that other girl had told her something. 

Mr. Chang brought out new sheet music for the class to learn.   Now that he had a harpist he wanted to showcase the class in the Christmas concert.  We needed to learn some old Irish carols and they were wonderful to play.  Some were upbeat while others were sad and lilting.  I had played two of the four songs before because Stacy thought it was important for me to broaden my musical interests.  I knew I would have to practise quite a bit if I was going to play in a school concert in a few months.  Mr. Chang said I could stay after school for an hour each day if I wanted to practise and I could come on my lunch hour too.  I thanked him knowing I would be in here as much as possible.  What he didn’t understand was that I regarded music as one of my safe havens; music was familiar to me because it was a little piece of my mother and her friend Stacey, but most of all music was a mental escape.

Today was also the day I was to do the challenge to get out of the physical education class.   Before I walked to the back of the gym I changed my clothes and made sure to tape and bind my left side really well.  I didn’t want to be in too much pain while doing the obstacle course. I walked to the back of the gym where the coach waited with his friend.  I eyed the two men and then got myself ready to run their supposed obstacle course.

“Anastasia, are you ready to try and beat my friend?” The coach asked smiling.

“Yes, I’m ready but what exactly will we be doing?” I questioned.

“You just need to follow Jack and if you can keep up with him I’ll exempt you from all physical education classes.” The coach answered.

“You look familiar to me Jack” I observed, eyeing the man.  I knew he was a street runner, he had to be.  He possessed the well muscled physique of a runner and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew him.

“I was a well known street runner when I was younger” he said smiling.  I nodded and moved my hand indicating for him to start.  He grinned and took off with me hot on his heels as he did his first trick which was a simple flip over the stairs. I added a little more flourish with a back flip twist and kept pace with him easily.  He ran and performed trick after trick, flipping and tumbling off buildings and other obstacles.  Whatever he did, I matched and stepped up the bar pushing him.   When we arrived back at the school he ran up the side to the roof as I followed. He did a back flip off the roof and a summersault as he landed and went to join the coach.  I smiled at them both and took a few steps back, then ran full tilt and launched myself off the edge twisting and turning gracefully in the air landing softly on my feet.  I executed a sassy bow to both men and joined them.

“You’re a street runner” The coach said a bit annoyed. I nodded grinning, as I panted and wiped the sweat from my face.

“You move like a girl I heard about named Jade Angel.  Have you heard of her?” Jack asked.

“Yes, she was a good friend of mine” I said wistfully.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a street runner?” the coach asked.

“And take away all my fun?  Hardly! Besides you didn’t ask and to be honest, I thought this place would be boring for running but I see it’s possible to find fun even here.” I grinned completely invigorated by my run.

“Well, I will keep my word.  You are exempt from the physical education classes.  Well done” the coach said.  I nodded and happily walked back into the school to get my homework and head home.  That was great fun, I thought to myself, but it sure didn’t help the fact that my ribs were still broken and healing.  I sighed as I leaned against a locker trying to breathe deeply as the pain in my ribs slowly subsided.  I was going to hurt like hell for days because of this.  I’m such an idiot I shouldn’t have gone on the run but it was worth it to get out of a class, and I had to admit it was great fun.

When I finally called James, he was relieved. “I was getting worried kid.  What kept you?”

“I was in the music room playing the harp.  I’m sorry.  I tend to loose track of time when I play.  If I could afford to buy one, I would.  It makes me feel calm to play.  With all the craziness in my life, this is my mental escape and I also had my physical education exemption run to do.”  I was talking very openly to my godfather thinking I was alone and I hadn’t realized that Alexander Foxworth was leaning against the wall listening to me.  When I noticed him I jumped, startled, and flinched slightly at the pain that shot through my ribs.  He smiled slightly amused, not realizing that I was in pain.

“I’ll be home soon James.  Do you need me to get anything on my way?” I continued my conversation with James ignoring Alexander.

“No kid. I’m good. See you soon.”

“Okay then, bye” I waited until James said bye and snapped my phone shut and quickly walked to my locker.  I looked over my shoulder and there he was, god, he was gorgeous.  Alexander was walking leisurely towards me and I blushed looking down at my feet.  I grabbed my stuff from my locker and started to walk toward the stairs, attempting to pretend I was ignoring him and the effect those gorgeous green eyes had on me.

“Are you going to say hello or are you going to run and hide in your car?” a deep amused voice asked from beside me.

I looked up into his vivid green eyes for a moment not sure of what to say.  He smiled.  “I don’t bite you know” he laughed.  I felt my heart start to race and I knew I was blushing furiously.  Lovely. Here I was, completely alone with the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen and I was blushing like a little kid!   His voice was like silk and I felt my knees starting to melt and then I remembered I wasn’t supposed to like him.  To be completely honest, I felt so confused when he was around that I didn’t really know how to act. I’ve been defensive and that hadn’t worked, so perhaps some different emotion would get him to go away.

Although, did I really want him to leave me alone?  I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“Um, hi.” I whispered as I bit my lower lip nervously.  I couldn’t look away from those beautiful eyes, they were intoxicating.  We looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity when he finally said “I think you had better get going. You still have to go to Christine’s don’t you?”

“Yeah I do.  Thanks for reminding me. Wait, how did you know that?” I looked at him questioningly.  He just smiled at me and headed down the stairs.  I followed him to the parking lot trying very hard not to make a sound even though my heart was racing and it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.  I saw Will the cousin with the Sapphire blue eyes leaning against Alexander’s black BMW waiting for him.  There was also a group of jocks tossing a football around waiting for him as well, it seemed that a group of girls were standing off to the side watching him and his cousin as they giggled and spoke in whispers. I sighed and shook my head.  I had best forget about him.  I didn’t want to become one of those simpering, brainless idiots.  I lengthened my stride as I headed for my car

“I heard you got out of gym class.” Alexander turned and said.

“Ya, so?” I looked at him a bit confused.

“I never thought of you as the street runner type” he replied amused.

“And what type of girl did you take me for?” I snapped as I realized that he was only trying to get me to blush again.  Seriously, now he was just getting on my nerves.

“Well, a girl who hides in the music room is hardly the kind of girl I thought you were when I saw you at the gas station.  You were almost a lioness then and now you act like a weak little girl who’s lost.  But then again you did put Mark in his place the other day in the gym” he mused.  “You’re a confusing contradiction.” I stopped walking.

“Oh, I get it.  You think you were being a hero at the gas station.  I’ll let you in on a secret” I smirked eyeing him.  “I don’t need you! A dumb jock who thinks every girl will fall all over themselves to get you to notice them.  If you think I care what you think you’re sadly mistaken, and if you want me you’re going to have to work a lot harder catch my eye.  I don’t go for guys who have half, if not all, the school jockeying to be your best friend and hanging on every word you say!” I sneered as I put my hands on my hips.

“You’re feisty. I like that” he grinned.  His eyes were amused as he gazed intently at me.

“Alex, stop flirting with the new girl we got stuff to do.” Will called, his voice dancing with amusement.

“Will, I’ll be with you in a minute” Alex replied sparing his cousin a cursory glance.  He gazed at me and despite my anger, I felt as if he could read me like an open book.

“You don’t like it when people figure you out” he stated matter of factly.

“You have hardly figured me out” I replied flatly.

“You like being on your own, you like the quiet and solitude of your music and you enjoy the rush of danger that street running provides which means that you are either very sure of yourself or you’re running from something or maybe a bit of both” He cocked his head to the side giving me a cocky grin.

I stared at him in disbelief as he perfectly described me.  Who was he and what did he want with me?  He was right. I hated to be figured out.  I liked to remain an enigma both for personal reasons and for my survival.

“What do you want?” I asked unnerved.

“Just for you to go on a date with me” he replied smiling engagingly at me. “I’m not a bad person - really!  You might even enjoy yourself.”

“Not in this lifetime” I replied quickly still annoyed with his psycho-analysis of my personality. I turned and walked away toward my car.

Once I reached the safety of my car I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and winced in pain; I really needed to remember that my ribs were broken. I sighed as I sat for a minute in disbelief.  I managed to keep my movements smooth and relatively fluid during the running but I knew that I was going to be in a lot of pain later.  I can’t believe I actually spoke to Alexander and I can’t believe I treated him that way.  He just got under my skin so easily and he was so annoying! How did he know that I had to stop by Christine’s? Was he eaves dropping on my conversations too? I was absolutely baffled.

I called Christine on my way home, she gave me instructions to her house and I dropped off her homework assignments for the weekend, I wished her well and then went home.

I ate dinner with James and we talked about our days but I didn’t tell him about the message on my old cell from New York.  I didn’t want to worry him.  I did the dishes and decided to get my homework done early.  James watched the hockey game; the Leafs were playing Montreal tonight.  I would glance at the score every now and then while I finished my math problems.  Once my homework was done I headed for bed even though it was still early as I wanted to get a good night sleep for tomorrow.  Suddenly I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to check something online.  I turned on my computer and googled the New York Times.  On the front page was an article about the tragic shooting of an eighteen year old boy from Manhattan.  He had been gunned down in broad daylight in the crowded area of Time Square.  When I read the name I gasped.

“Oh God, no” I whispered though my hand.

“What’s wrong?” James asked as he came to see what I was looking at.

“He died because of me” I whispered.

“Don’t be ridiculous, it was a drive by shooting” James said scanning the article.

“You don’t understand.  He called me on my first day of school, he was trying to get me to tell him where I was but I wouldn’t tell him and now he’s dead.  I listened to my voice mail from my old cell today and a Spanish accented voice said he would find me.  They killed him because of me, he was my friend and now I’ll never see him again.” I was shaking with fear and for the first time James placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently.

“I’m sorry Anastasia, I’ll let my contacts know.  Don’t worry we’ll keep you safe, I promise.” James said quietly his voice full of concern.  I nodded slowly as I realized I need to stay in shape and practise my martial arts as much as possible no matter how much pain I was in.  If my father had no problem killing an eighteen year old boy what would he do to me?

“James, I wanted to ask you a question before I go to bed.”

“What’s on your mind?” he looked down at me and tried to smile but he could see the fear and anxiety written all over my face.

“Is there a clearing nearby that I could go to?  I want to practise my martial arts stuff but I need room to move.  I don’t want to wreck anything here and I don’t want an audience, if you know what I mean.”

“I’ll look into that for you. When did you want to start practising?” he inquired.

“I was thinking on Sunday since I don’t have any plans.  I don’t want to get rusty.  I have to be ready for anything.” I looked at him seriously.

He nodded sombrely. “I’ll see what I can come up with.  When are you going out with Lizzy?” I

know he was trying to get my mind off the article that was blaring across the screen of my computer.

“She’s picking me up around eleven o’clock.  Don’t worry I’ll call you if I’m going to be late” I smiled half heartedly.

“You’re a good kid. Thanks for letting me know where you’re going to be and who you’re going to be with.  Most teens aren’t that mature.” he honestly.

“Well I was taught to be responsible and I like that I have someone looking out for me” I looked at my feet, trying to be as normal as possible.  I wasn’t used to telling people how I felt, but James seemed to be able to get some of the barriers down not all of them but definitely a few.  James nodded and smiled.  I walked back to my room and quietly closed the door before I threw myself on my bed and cried myself to sleep praying that no one else would get hurt because of me.