Double Life: As good as you

***A/N: that tittle... I´m not sure about it, it might change... oh, also! yay! finally an update!***

A group of boys and girls passed next to her, they were probably coming out the library. In the weeks they had tests the library was open until later so students used it for study groups. They were walking swiftly, they still had curfew, the girls were walking one direction, the boys the opposite. Nichole wasn´t walking fast, she was walking away from the path where pools of light were interrupted by dots of shadow on the pavement. Through the corner of her eyes she saw a figure coming her way, a guy walking slowly, his eyes casted down, one hand holding the strap of his backpack hanging from his shoulder, he hadn’t seen that they were going to collide with the other, he seemed very focused in his feet, he was still wearing his uniform. She stopped altogether to avoid them crashing against the other, he noticed and looked up.

“Umm… hi” he cleared his throat, she started to walk again “umm…” he started and she slightly turned her head to see him “I´m sorry” the guy seemed shy

“It´s ok” she was about to start walking again

“Err… Nichole…” when she heard her name she turned again with her eyebrows lifted “I, umm, we´re in the art club together…” he immediately furrowed his eyebrows as if that wasn´t what he intended to say.

“I know… you´re a good musician” her tone lacked emotion, he looked up and smiled despite that, she started to walk again

“I can walk you to your room” he offered but it ended up sounding like a question. She furrowed her eyebrows without turning around, only her face was slightly turned to the direction where he was.

“Curfew time” she looked at him and touched her wrist watch, it was as if he didn´t know

“Ah…yeah” he said but didn´t make a move

“Goodbye”

“Will you go?” he rushed to say

“Where?”  She knew what he meant to ask but it seemed he got chocked the more she talked. He opened his mouth to talk as she stared into his eyes with tilted head, he looked slightly away “Josh didn´t tell you?” the corners of her mouth shot up a little, not enough for him to notice though.

“I have to go”

“Ah, yes, I´m sorry” it was the longest and clearer thing the guy had said “Good night” it started to rain

“You too” she replied with slight knitted eyebrows, she started to walk away swiftly. She heard the guy grumbled and cursed under his breath then she heard his steps walking away. She knew the guy, he´d asked her one time to join in his table and she´d caught him watching her as she painted but he had always looked away but this time the guy had barely looked at her, he had immediately turned away. Had he wanted to ask questions too? She wondered if that was why he was interested in Josh telling her to go with the kids from the art club to their trip, one more reason not to go she thought, she´d been walking in the middle of the trees where there was no light to the back of her building and up to her room, she quickly changed, it was cold. She watched out her window until it got foggy from the cold rain, she went under her covers and closed her eyes to sleep.

Nichole was staring up at the white old ceiling on her bedroom, she was still on her bed, the rain hadn´t ceased, at moments it was light, almost gone and at others it was hard and it drowned every other sound.

One of her dreams had woken her up but it was already the morning so it meant she´d slept most of the night, she sighed contented, even despite what her dream had been, she sat up on her bed and took one of the books on her nightstand, she read for a while but it was impossible for her to be in her room with Mary Ibsen´s journal inside her drawer. Nic hadn´t read it since last time but something told her she´d find out more there, it was both a comforting and a disturbing feeling so she put the book back and went into the shower, got dressed, wore a coat, her bag, a smaller one than the one she took to classes and headed out, it was early for a Saturday so the hallways were empty, she went down the stairs where she found Val walking up “good morning” Nichole quietly greeted.

“Gotten up early, huh?” was the reply she got, she kept walking down; out the glass doors the rain had gone light again, this time Nichole decided to walk on the path instead of through the orchard on the grass as she always did. She was wearing her boots but it seemed to be a good courtesy to Mike, she was going to the Art Club room, no need to leave mud footprints there.

“You could have used the door” Mike said when she entered through the window

“I like this window” she hadn´t expected the teacher to be there but she´d never gone to the classroom that early in the morning on a Saturday

“I can see that” he smiled. She walked to her workspace and put her bag on the floor. As she was taking out paint and brushes from the cabinets, someone opened the door.

“I´m sorry I´m late!” a voice apologized

“You´re not late, Jonah” Mike smiled, the boy noticed Nichole

“Hello” he greeted his hand up, she nodded towards him. She was regretting coming to the art club room.

“Did you practice?” Mike asked the boy who was still standing in the doorway with a small case in his hands, he looked somehow shocked

“Yeah” he muttered as he walked in. He settled near a drawing table, opened the case and took out the violin in it.

“Great!  You´ll give Nic a taste of the end of the course music concert –Mike said to Jonah and then looked at Nichole- you don´t mind, Nic?”

“If you don´t mind me painting while I listen” she looked at Mike first for a moment and then at Jonah

“Fine by me” Mike replied, the boy smiled and nodded once. She finished preparing her work area as he started to play, in the beginning it was pieces and bits of a song, but then it changed to some kind of a solo and then both Mike and Jonah started to play together, it was a beautiful classical melody, she stopped painting altogether and tilted her head to listen to the melody. She closed her eyes until the music stopped.

“What do you think?” Mike asked when they finished the first melody

“It was beautiful” she complimented, the teacher bowed his head a little

“Told you, you´d learn it soon, kiddo” Mike patted Jonah´s back “this one here is for music as good as you are for painting and drawing” he continued with a smile, Nichole looked at the boy who seemed embarrassed, he blinked rapidly as he tried to figure out what to say, luckily for him someone knocked on the door. Mike went to get it; it was some other teacher with a message.

“Need to go. I´ll be back. Play something else for Nichole, she´ll grade you for this practice” he chuckled and left. Nichole had gone back to her canvas.

“Err… What would you like to hear?” he asked after a minute

“Whatever you want to play is fine”

He started to play “Secrets” by OneRepublic, he was really good at it. She was painting a small boat on a lake with big mountains covered with fog on the background.

“How come you’ve never played the violin in the club time?” she asked when he finished, she didn’t take her eyes away from her painting, her voice was soft but lacking of emotion, she was genuinely interesting in knowing this.

“I was no good, I didn´t want to screw it, not when all of you were so focused on your work” he spoke as if he was talking to himself

“You learned to play the guitar in club time… and to sing as well”

“I…” he blinked quickly

“Who told you, you were bad at it?” she glanced his way as she dipped her paintbrush in white painting, his eyes were wide open “no need to answer that” she looked at him, he smiled a little nervous smile

“I´ve tried to be on the End of the Year Musical presentation for a few years… but even if I am ok at this –he motioned towards his violin- I´m not able to be with the music club because I couldn´t keep up with their ability… -she raised her eyebrows- that´s what they said”

“Could you?”

“Mike says I could”

“Do you think you could?”

“I guess… their reasoning is not bad… we don´t practice as hard in here as they do in the Music Club…”

“Join the music club then”

“I really don´t want to leave this club… sometimes over there, they´re like robots, only living to practice” he frowned

“You could keep up with them, rigorous practice is not that needed if you have talent” she was painting a cloud as she said so

“Thank you” he said after a minute, she shrugged. “Would you like to hear more?” a smile could be heard in his voice, she nodded once. As he started to play more she stopped painting again to turn on her stool to where he was, with her eyes she followed the movements of his hands, his curls danced when the music was faster but his eyes were set on the strings of the instrument. In the last note of the song he looked up and found her eyes on him and a tiny smile on her lips, she looked calm.

He stopped and put his violin on one of the drawing tables near him, she went back to her painting. Nichole heard him walk to her, she pretended not to notice, and he stopped a couple of steps away from her and cleared his throat. She glanced his way.

“I know it´s a couple of weeks away… but... here...” he handed her a rectangular purple shiny box with a matching ribbon. She looked at it and then to him without taking it “Happy birthday” he smiled, she seemed to gasp but he wasn´t sure, it had been very quick.

She heard voices coming, familiar voices she knew were coming to the art club room. The room was at the end of the hall, the voices had just turned the corner after the stairs. She took the shiny box carefully with her left hand, she undid the ribbon and opened the box, inside, there was some paper and under it there was a pair of midnight blue gloves. She looked up at him for a moment and he seemed to hunch a little.

“Thank you” she wore the gloves, she hadn´t wore any gloves that morning, only a bandage, she hadn´t expected to find anyone there so early in the morning, so she was grateful for the gloves, she closed the box just as the doors were opened.