Virginia Woolf, one of the greatest writers in my book, once said "I am in the mood to dissolve into the sky."

I bet she was dealing with some heavy drama in her life that made her say that. If so, then I bet she didn't have it as bad as I did.

But she was on point, hence the quote. I would want to dissolve into the skies of the universe so I could escape the madness from this chaos.

"Demario...setback..."

And besides, having to deal with unappreciative family members and abandonment issues can do a lot to you to make you feel like that. If anything, I would want to grab Dad'vs vodka flask and Mom's Vicodin pills to make me forget all of this insanity to begin with. Ryan kissing me has had me feeling too many emotions that I wanted to just shut down and escape.

"Ryan...with him...heard that he kissed him when Demario was begging to leave..."

Of course, life has a way of changing plans on you like that as I could feel my eyes fluttering open before they shut once more due to the bright lights.

"He's coming to...the lights and close...Demario, open your eyes slowly..."

Gianna?

I slowly open my eyes once again to find the dark-skinned nurse and Jose hovering over me as I was now sprawled onto a leather sofa. "God almighty," I grunted, looking around to see that I was in Principal Callaway's office with the man and his wife behind the dark-skinned nurse while Jose was on my right and Joel and Taylor at my left. "What the hell happened?"

"You tell me," Jose commented, giving me a soft and sad stare.

The rush of memories came flooding back to me from earlier this morning: me playing at the piano before taking off to get some air, running into Peavey and him looking so damn puppy-sick for me, telling him that I don't want to catch a case from Kendricks before he...

Oh, God.

Ryan Peavey kissed me softly, thus making me a marked man in Jillian's eyes.

"Peavey kissed me and I freaked out," I said. "I told him that I didn't want to be a condemned man and not want Kendricks to come after me. He didn't listen, but he kissed me."

"Hence your little meltdown," came the professional voice of Dr. Nguyen as he came to my side. "And I had a hunch that this was bound to happen sooner or later- you having that mental break from too much stress, Demario."

"Don't remind me of that," I lamented.

"We all have our moments," Gianna reminded me as I saw both Holly and Derrick arrive with Serenity and Epiphany following suit. "And I guess y'all heard the news about-"

"We just heard from someone who was at band class," Holly cut the nurse off before coming to my side. "And word's spreading around like wildfire that Ryan led him on."

"I was afraid about that," Epiphany piped up, giving me a pointed stare. "Hell, I was first one to guess that Ryan's not going to give up on Demario in the first place with Jillian being the diva that she is."

"And it's all the more reason that we got to get a game-plan in action to make sure that Demario doesn't cross paths with the blonde bombshell," Serenity added. "If I know any better, she'll be ready to do her work to humiliate Demario until he leaves town or ends his life."

"That won't be happening under my watch," Principal Callaway vowed sharply, his wife nodding in assent. "I'll be personally speaking with both of them to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

To me, "Demario, Miss McVeigh and Miss Sutton were right to warn you to stay away from Ryan if you could handle it. I should've been around you when you left to make sure that Mr. Peavey didn't try anything like this."

I shook my head no. "I should've stayed put to begin with myself," I commented. "I should've known better and remained in the band room. If I'd done that, none of this would've happened."

"You live and learn," Gianna hummed. "But your foster dads want to make sure that you take the rest of the day off and-"

"No. I mean no offense, but I never missed a day of school in my life, and I don't want to start now," I interrupted. "Besides, I have some quizzes to take and a paper for History to submit."

Mrs. Callaway gave me a motherly stare. "I'm sure that your teachers would understand," she commented. "With your stress levels being at they are, you deserve to take the day off."

I took a deep breath. "Well...no, I don't think that it's a good idea," I said. "I may be a nervous wreck, but I'm still a student at the end of the day and I need to keep my hands busy."

I sat up just as I saw Mr. and Mrs. Tucker arrive into the office. "What are y'all doing here?" I asked, giving the older couple a hug.

"We just heard about what happened from Joel and needed to check on you," he replied. "And I don't know what's going on, but I would like to hear some answers."

I nodded, motioning for the Tuckers to sit down before I recapped everything regarding the Peavey/Kendricks debacle and mentioning about Jillian's offer to make me a star if I sang at Serenity's party and stayed away from Ryan. I didn't leave one detail out, not even the fact that I was kissed by Oliver Slade (who also made an appearance) and how we became friends.

"Sounds like you got one soap-opera of a life-story, child," Mrs. Tucker hummed. "I couldn't imagine going through the same thing as you are. You already had it bad with your late folks, and now this."

"All the more reason for Demario to stay away from those two kids, even if one of them isn't as bad as the other," her husband said gruffly. He turned to me. "But my wife and I came here to mainly give you some of your written sheet music that you left at our place."

My eyes lit up, remembering that I often wrote and composed my own music at their place and keeping it away from Mom and the other's cynical eyes so the wouldn't dare destroy it. "You brought all of it?" I asked.

Mr. Tucker nodded. "Even that one piece that you didn't finish," he replied. To the others, "I knew that he had the gift of playing the piano thanks to my wife teaching him, so I encouraged him to make his own music to share with the world."

I felt my face heat up. "Well, I'm not sure if I-" I began.

"You got the gift, obviously, thanks to your audition for the jazz and chamber music ensembles," Taylor interrupted. "And everyone knows that your talents could be fine-tuned if you allowed yourself to try. Why hide your greatness when you can thrive in it?"

No truer words were spoken. "Well, if you think that I'm good at this, I guess it can't hurt to share some of my original pieces to the bands later today," I said.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Callaway said. "I think that you should at least get some rest while we deal with Ryan and Jillian. You gave everyone quite a fright, young man."

"But Mrs. Callaway, I still have-"

"No, son," Joel interrupted. "You're taking the day off and also staying in tomorrow as well. And I'm sure that your brothers are willing to collect your homework assignments."

I bit back a sigh, knowing that he was right. "I just hate to miss classes," I replied.

"Don't worry," Derrick commented. "You'll be back in full form before you know it."

Maybe he's right. Maybe not. We'll see.

And it won't be long, folks, because Ryan and Jillian are heading to the principal's office as everyone's not too happy with the former while the latter's not too happy about Demario being kissed by "her man (if you get my drift)." And folks, let's just say that the next chapter's when these two will face off with barbed words and veiled threats in play! Y'all can't afford to miss out on this! Stay tuned!

Dedication: HugoAndBooks.

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