A Dark and Stormy Night

*Thanks for the reviews. I was really wondering about if I should keep going with this story, but now I'm certain I'll follow through with it.*

James paced around inside the coach’s room like a wounded, cornered animal. He was fuming with anger. As odd as it was, he was mad because there was no reason that he could be mad at Katlyn. He moved the bag of ice from his face and placed it over his sore chest, the bitterness in his mind growing. Why did she have to do that for him? It would have been so much easier if she had screamed at him and called him names. James actually got so angry with himself that he punched a section of the wall in his urgent need to vent the growing fire in his chest. Try as he might, there was something replaying in his mind like a twisted movie. And it wasn’t the way Clarissa had been looking at Marcus. Far from it. James kept replaying the hurt look on Katlyn’s face.

It hadn’t been fake, that much was obvious. He had given her a very real emotional cut, and all she had been trying to do was be nice to him. That other part was bothering him a lot as well. Why did she have to be like that? To be so concerned and considerate for someone she didn’t even know, someone who had actually been mean to her. And all on the night when he was feeling his lowest. It was exactly the opposite from what he wanted. It was beginning to screw up his whole perception of life around him. And the more he thought about what he had done, the more James began to loath himself. He was not a mean person, he had never acted like that before. At least, not to a girl. His pace quickened as he tried to force Katlyn’s hurt face out of his mind. But it was no use, it just wouldn’t go away. What made James feel so dirty was that just before she had slammed the door, he had seen a very similar kind of emotional hurt in her eyes like the way he had seen of himself in the mirror for the last few days. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind, Katlyn had been on the verge of tears just before she had stormed out. God, he hoped that she wasn’t crying, James didn’t know how he was ever going to look himself in the mirror again if he found out she was and it was because of him.

He stopped in mid stride as the thought passed through his mind. What did he care? He didn’t even know her. So why would he be so upset about making her cry? The answer was plain as day to him. Because he was going through a very similar, although much greater, emotional misery right now. The very thought of him inadvertently dealing out a similar sort of hurt to someone he didn’t know, someone who had even tried to be nice to him, it just made James all the more upset. James looked at his watch. Almost ten. He groaned at the realization. Only an hour had passed, there was still at least twelve more to go through. How was he ever going to make it through this? As much as he wanted to stay in the seemingly comfortable cocoon he had created around himself, James knew there was no way he could stay in the coach’s office all night. But if he came out, that meant he would have to face Katlyn. James sighed heavily, fully allowing himself to accept the reality of what he had done and gotten himself into. Like it or not, he was going to have to apologize to Katlyn. Glancing nervously at the door, James just hoped that he hadn’t pushed the situation beyond the point of no return.

**

Katlyn took a long, deep breath, letting the last of her anger drain from her mind. She hated the burning feeling of rage on her face and the desire to hurt others lurking in her heart. That was not the kind of person she was. But what that jerk had done in the other room, it had been too much. Which was of course, why it had taken her so long to calm down. Never before had anyone ever been so mean to her for no good reason. Sure, every once and a while some jerk in the school would call her fat or something along those lines, even though she wasn’t. But that was the immaturity of a pack of idiots manifested in the flesh, something she had long since learned how to shield her feelings from. Nothing could have prepared her for the raw anger that had poured forth from that boy’s big mouth. And the fact she had been trying to do something to help him made her feel, well, kind of stupid. A part of her had wanted to take one of the footballs lying on the floor, go back into that room, and pelt the jerk right in his nose. He certainly would have had it coming. In the end, she decided to heed the calling of the other part of her, the one that said to just let him stay in there and rot. That seemed far better than anything she could think of to hurt him. Katlyn just couldn’t believe her rotten luck. Why did she have to be stuck in this miserable place on one of the few weekends that her parents were out of town? It just didn’t seem fair.

‘Get a damn hobby!’

The words still stun when she thought about them. What gave him the right to make such a clueless assumption against her? Katlyn had hobbies. She could keep herself entertained just fine, which was more than she believed he could do. Taking another deep breath, Katlyn looked at the black case in her hands. She couldn’t believe that he had made her so mad that she hadn’t opened it in all that time. Finally making up her mind that she didn’t want to wallow around in misery like he was, Katlyn opened the case. Inside was her flute. A small smile creased her face at the sight of her musical instrument. Yeah, playing it would definitely make her feel better, it always did. And her mom had proudly told her hundreds of times how wonderfully gifted she was with it. Her eyes did a quick glance at the corner of the locker room that lead down to where he was. There was a momentary thought in her mind of what that would happen if that idiot came in while she was playing the flute. It was likely that he would say something else to hurt her feelings or make a point of saying how stupid it was to play a flute. Well screw him, she thought. What he cared about had suddenly become the last thing on her mind. Katlyn reached inside her bag and pulled out a plain black notebook and a pen without any more thoughts on the jerk. Flipping it open about halfway, Katlyn marked where she had been with her last personal music session. Never one to look at the bad side of things, Katlyn found herself looking forward to being able to finish fine tuning her newest song without any distractions. Between school, band practice, attending games, and parents that didn’t like her playing after six at night, it was very hard finding the time. As she prepared herself to descend into her protective bubble of musical comfort, Katlyn realized how uncomfortable her marching jacket was. She was hot and sweaty from the battle of the bands earlier. Though she didn’t like it, Katlyn thought badly about their director, who had insisted that they at least beat the opposing team’s band to restore a small sense of victory to their already beaten school. It had been fun at the time, but then again, she hadn’t planned on getting stuck in this miserable place for the night. She should have been home right now, relaxing in a nice hot bath while reading one of the many books she still had to finish. Should have, but wasn’t.

Sighing, she undid the buttons to her jacket and tossed it beside her. Again, she momentarily glanced at the entrance to the hallway. She was far from naked underneath, the white sleeved shirt she wore covered her upper body just fine. It was just the thought of exposing any of her skin, even a little, locked away with a boy and no one coming along for half a day, made Katlyn a little nervous. Well, if he came out looking for trouble, she was certain he would regret it. After all, he was already injured and it wasn’t like he was big in muscles. Katlyn was sure she could take him. And to think, she had actually…

But enough of all that, she didn’t want to have anymore bad or worried thoughts. She just wanted to let herself fall into her world of peace through her music. Licking her lips, she forced a small smile to her face and brought the flute up.

**

James continued to pace around nervously. He didn’t know why he was having such a damn hard time working up the nerve to just walk out the door and say he was sorry. Maybe it was because he was just a little bit afraid that he would find her crying or something, that was the last thing he needed piled on his conscious. It also could have been that he didn’t want to invoke any more of that she-devil wrath that had spewed forth all of a sudden. It certainly wasn’t because he liked her, or anything. It was just that…well, he didn’t know. But it was certainly not because her unexpected kindness had struck an emotion cord within him. James forced himself to believe that was the reason. Whatever the reason was, he knew that the sooner he went through with this, the sooner he could be rid of the tension and guilt hanging over his shoulders. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, letting himself feel the faint beating of his own heart for a few moments. The steady rhythm eased away some of his tension, but nowhere near all of it. Swallowing hard, James wrapped his hand around the door knob. “Well,” he whispered to himself, “here goes nothing.” His whole body shaking, James weakly pushed the door open and slipped out. The moment he had exited the room, the most unexpected thing happened.

Music filled his ears the moment he closed the door. James cocked his head to the side, the way a dog would. He had never heard tunes like the ones that were echoing down the hallway towards him. The music he was used to was the kind you lost brain cells and hearing to. This…wasn’t anything like that. There was no heavy, ear splitting blasts in the face. There was definitely no screaming or grunting singer going along with it. The tunes were soft, and flowed forth like a summer breeze across an open field. That was a bad analogy, but it was all that came to his mind on how to describe it. What James found so strange about the melody, was that it was piercing into him, calling out to him, and even drawing him closer. Compelled to move closer to the music, as if he was under the trapping of a Siren’s spell, James slowly crept towards the end of the hallway. With every step he took, the music took a greater hold over him. It held a nearly other worldly captivation over him, and it was destroying every other thought in his mind. Pain and sadness, they were just melting away under the captivating tunes. James couldn’t believe it, in fact he didn’t dare to believe that the music was coming from Katlyn. As he quietly pushed himself up against the edge of the wall, he convinced himself that she had to be listening to headphones or something.

With his breath held, James looked around the corner, and his mouth dropped. There, sitting at the end of a bench in the very back of the locker room, was Katlyn. She had discarded the upper portion of her marching outfit, with nothing but a white short sleeved shirt underneath. It wasn’t like he could see cleavage or anything like that, so he wasn’t staring at her because of that. It was because of what she was doing. Katlyn’s eyes were closed, and she had a flute resting in her hands. James watched in stunned fascination as her fingers rose and fell across the length of the small musical instrument. The tunes played out with such a unique harmony with her movements, James was left speechless. He just stood there, not daring to move for fear he would interrupt her and break the spell that had befallen him. There was little doubt in his mind that he could have stood there all night, without moving even an inch, as long as he could have kept listening to the sweet music that was captivating him. Quite unexpectedly, the music died, and Katlyn opened her eyes.

Startled, James pulled himself back behind the corner. Why had he done that? What the heck was he afraid of? He quickly realized that it wasn’t really fear that held him back. He just…wanted to see if she would play her flute again. He felt himself becoming very disturbed. Music like the kind Katlyn was playing wasn’t supposed to affect him. It was the kind of stuff only girls and sissies listened to. He was not the kind of guy to like stuff like that. And yet, he slowly looked around the corner at her, hoping that just maybe she would play a little more. It was like a spell had come over him.

Katlyn looked down at her notebook and frowned slightly. “No,” she said so softly that he barely heard her, “that’s not right.” She placed her flute at her side, took out a pen, and began scanning her eyes over the pages of the notebook. She scratched away at the paper at several spots, scribbling something down around it. After she had done that, Katlyn scanned her eyes over the pages. Her face suddenly brightened up. “Yeah, perfect.” she said with a hint of glee in her voice. As James watched on, Katlyn slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Placing the flute back to her lips, she began to play again. James craned his ears as he listened to the newer version of Katlyn’s melody. The song she had played was very moving. But this new one was, in a single sense, soul soothing. It flowed from the end of the flute like honey. Never in his life would James have believed that there could exist such a sweet melody. He hid behind the edge again, closed his eyes, and listened to what had to be the most relaxing course of musical notes he had ever heard. When it finally ended, James found himself surprisingly not nearly as sad as he had been earlier. Glancing around the edge just once more, he saw that Katlyn was looking down at her notebook with a very happy smile.
“Alright,” she said with a very gleeful tone in her voice, “I finally got it.”

“Wow.” he whispered, replaying the unforgettable melody as he stared at Katlyn’s face.

She looked up suddenly with a gasp, and it occurred to James in that instant that he had maybe whispered a little louder than he had expected. Katlyn scrambled to grab her jacket in the same moment as James pulled himself back around the edge of the hallway. What the hell was that all about? He mentally slapped himself, almost instantly returning to the present in full. Out of sight, he heard Katlyn madly scrambling about in a huge racket.

“Um…” James began, looking back around the edge.

Katlyn had her jacket back on, with one hand firmly clenching it the two open halves together around her chest. The bag was firmly placed in her lap with not a single chance of it falling over and spilling its contents. Her other hand was raised high over her head, a football shaking in her unsteady grip. “What do you want?” she demanded in a very startled voice.

“Easy.” James said, slowly sliding into view with his hands raised to protect his face. “Don’t throw that.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Katlyn demanded, raising her arm a little higher. “What do you want? How long have you been there?” Her face was flushed, turning slightly pink again.
There was no direct hostility in her voice, just a hint of concern. James thought that it would be best to take everything from the top. “I just came out and heard you talking to yourself.” he said. Ok, so he lied. There wasn’t even a remote chance that he was about to admit to a girl that he had been listening to her play the flute, and that he had kind of liked it.

“And?”

James felt his chest tightening up and his pulse quicken. He glanced at her once, and that was too much for him. Why was his throat tightening up and the words dying in his mouth? Why was it so damn hard to just say sorry? “I…uh…” he started, struggling to say what he needed to say. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, but he just couldn’t with her looking right at him. After all, he had been a real ass to her. Turning away from her, James slightly rubbed the back of his head.

“Look, I just wanted to say…about earlier…sorry.”

“Don’t do that.”

James looked over his shoulder slightly at Katlyn. The football was down, but she still looked angry. “After what you said, the least you can do is look me in the face when you apologize.”

He wanted to scream. Why was she making this so difficult? Because you hurt her feelings, you idiot, when all she was trying to do was help. Some voice in the back of his mind snapped at him. James turned around, quickly licking his lips. She was right though. Apologizing with his back to her was something only a coward would do. Swallowing hard, James looked Katlyn right in the face.

“I…I’m sorry about earlier.”

James didn’t really believe that was going to be enough. How could a simple sorry make up for what he did? To his surprise, Katlyn took a deep breath and looked away from him for a moment. He could see she was thinking it through. After only a few moments, she looked back at him. “Alright.” She pointed at him again, like she had done earlier. “But don’t say anything like that to me again, or I’ll throw this ball right into your face.”

That was a threat he very well believed she would do, even though she didn’t look very hostile. “Ok,” he said, slowly walking towards her, “fair enough.” As he drew closer, James couldn’t help but notice that Katlyn’s hand around her marching jacket tightened. That felt like another hammer blow to the stake driving into his heart. What was she afraid of? He had been a jerk earlier, he willingly admitted that. It wasn’t like he was a rapist or anything. Feeling that familiar pit of being unwanted, even by a girl he didn’t even know, James took a seat on the same bench as Katlyn, but far enough away for her to not expect anything bad from him. Sighing, he looked down at his feet.

“Look,” he heard Katlyn say, the tension easing from her shoulders, “truce?”

James looked up at her, and saw that she had her free hand extended in friendship. That made James feel slightly better. “Truce.” he agreed, shaking her hand slightly.

After a few brief shakes, Katlyn looked at James. He felt his face heat up as she continued to stare at him for reasons he didn’t know. He was just about to ask her when Katlyn spoke. “How’s your face?”

James quickly remembered the throbbing of pain just under his eye. He lightly brushed his finger tips against the slightly puffy skin, and winced. “Better,” he grumbled, “but it still really hurts.”

Katlyn frowned, giving him a sympathetic look. “Well, let’s see if there’s any more ice left.” She rose from the bench and started to walk out of the room. She stopped at the entrance, looking over her shoulder at him. “Coming?”

James sighed. For what, he didn’t know. His mind was a jumbled mess that was constantly shifting between depression, pain, and a faint trace of inner peace. Staring at Katlyn’s questioning look, James felt himself oddly compelled to follow her. The two walked together in silence as they went into a side room where all the medical equipment was kept. James pointed to the small refrigerator where more ice was likely to be, and Katlyn went to check. When she bent over slightly and poked her head inside, James made it a point to keep his eyes focused on a section of wall away from her. When Katlyn turned around, she had a handful of cubes in her hands. Kicking the fridge close, she went over to the counter and took a small plastic bag and filled. She walked back over to James, handing the new bag of ice over to him. “Here,” she said, “keep it over your face. It could still swell bad.”

As she walked past him, James placed the ice over the hurt portion of his face. He watched Katlyn walk back into the locker room, and slowly trudged after her. He stopped at the entrance, unable to take his eyes off her as she sat back down on the bench. “Why are you being so nice to me?” James asked, not moving forward an inch.

Katlyn looked up from her bag at him. James could see a lot of thinking going on behind her brown eyes. At last, Katlyn shook her head with a shrug. “I don’t know,” she said, “that’s just the way I am.”

“But you don’t even know me.” James was at a complete loss for Katlyn’s kindness. He had never known anyone to act like that. Her quickness to forgive him was also really unsettling him. He didn’t need kindness right now. It was screwing up the way he was seeing everything.

“Well, you just looked like you got beat up bad.” Katlyn said weakly. “I guess I’d be mad too. And you seemed really sad, all those days…”

James was looking at his feet when he heard the last part. His head perked up. “What? What was that?”

For on single moment, a look of terrible fear flashed across Katlyn’s face. “You just…you seem like you’re hurting more than just your face.”

James grumbled to himself slightly, looking away. The old pain was starting to resurface. Thoughts of Clarissa and Marcus together were vividly forming in his mind. James started to pace about the front of the locker room. His face was tightening with anger. Truth be told, he wanted to throw something across the room, but he reigned himself in, not wanting to scare Katlyn. The quickening of his breath and his battle to hold back tears in front of her obviously clued Katlyn in that he was deeply bothered.

“What happened?” she asked.

James shut his eyes tightly, turning his back to her. He gritted his teeth tightly for a few moments, letting the pain wash over him before speaking. “I…” he said in weary voice, “don’t want to talk about it.”

“But…”

“Please,” he begged, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He heard Katlyn grown slightly in protest, and felt a bit sad because he didn’t…couldn’t…trust to tell her about the knife that had been plunged into his back. Biting his lip to stop the emotional sorrow from causing him to cry, James tapped his forehead a few times against the brick wall. All the while, he wished more than anything that his life hadn’t become such a nightmare. He just wanted to do or say something, anything that would take his mind off of the misery.

“So…no one’s going to miss you for tonight?” he asked out of the blue.

There was a moment of silence before Katlyn spoke. “No, my parents are out of town. And you?”

“Told my folks I was going to a friend’s house for the night. I changed my mind, but didn’t tell them.”

“Then we’re really stuck in here for the night.” Katlyn said, but she didn’t sound all that sad. James had no idea why that was. Feeling the emotion pain subside slightly, James breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to the bench. They sat in silence for a few moments. “So…what are we going to do?”

James shrugged, trying to sound like he didn’t really care. “I don’t know.”

Katlyn frowned. “Well…” she paused briefly, apparently nervous about what she would say next. “Do you want to listen to some music?”

James’ face brightened a bit, though he tried to hide it. “Sure.”

When Katlyn reached into her bag, James actually felt himself shift to the edge of the bench, thrilled at the thought of listening to Katlyn play the nearly mystical tunes on her flute. When she pulled out an I-pod instead, James couldn’t hide the disappointment from his face. Katlyn gave him a curious look. “What?”

“N…nothing,” James countered quickly, pressing the bag of ice hard into his face, “nothing at all.”