"Hey, look who it is! Caleb sneered, and his voice sliced through it like a blade, 'Limping Lily.' A sneer curled in the air like smoke and caught the attention of students around him.
Alicia smirked and then flipped the hair back over her shoulder. Harmony Showdown, like she'd ever make it. She would probably trip over her own feet on stage."
My eyes were straight ahead; my muscles were as tight as a drum. The jeers clattered at my resolve and threatened to crack it like stones on glass. My brain screamed, change direction. Find another path. Still, I continued my feet forward, each step a slap in their faces.
Caleb spread his arms sensationally. "Hey, Lily." "When's the show? We could use a laugh!"
I clenched my guitar, words bubbled in my mouth, unable to escape the cage of fear. Why can't I just say something?
There was Mia on my side; her face wrapped up. Her stare was laser sharp, heating up Caleb and Alicia.
'You two don't bother Lily, she didn't say. '
I'm hoping that she doesn't say: 'Don't you two have better things to do than bother Lily?' Maybe those empty heads can't handle anything useful, she said, her voice as steady as granite.
Mia's steady glare flicked away from Alicia's eyes and her smile turned brittle. His smug face shifted, and a flicker of uncertainty crossed it.
Caleb muttered, looking away, "Oh, we're just having a bit of fun." Yet his boldness had dimmed in the presence of Mia.
Mia twisted her head. "Right." 'Why don't you have some fun by being decent for once?'"
"Whatever," Alicia snapped. "She doesn't really have any chance to begin with."
Mia responded, "You know what they say about those who throw stones." "They are in houses where people do not visit."
A low hum of whispers buzzed in the hallway a little too close to actually talk and eyes watched openly and curiously for the exchange. I could see the heat of each gaze as spotlights in a dark room, and they exposed me bare.
Mia's hand on my arm was warm as she urged. "Come on, Lily." "You don't need this."
Her words had an effect on me, something unpredictable. Caleb and Alicia's mocking syllables echoed deeper and stuck into me like thorns. Their victories were fed by my silence; every word I swallowed made them stronger. I couldn't have stood it any longer.
Finally, I said, voice shaky but rising, "Wait." I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to steady the shiver in my chest.
Surprise like jarring notes out of tune flickered on their faces as they paused. Anticipation hung thick in the hall, which fell still.
'You think you know me, Caleb?' Alicia?" Meeting their eyes through the tremor within, I asked. My words fell like snowflakes in a still forest, and silence puffed around them. 'You think a limp decides what I can do or how far I'll go?'
Caleb began to open his mouth, but I cut him off sharp as broken glass. Putting others down, you think it's funny. Maybe it makes you feel big. But what kind of world do you want to live in, if that's all you've got?"
Caleb's chin jutted forward disobediently, but his eyes showed a crack of doubt, Alicia blinked, words shriveled on her tongue.
"I'm getting into the Harmony Showdown," I said, pulse roaring in my ears like a wave. "If I'm standing or stumbling, I'm going to do it on my terms, I've got a song."
Alicia's smile faltered, showing an uncertainty that lay beneath her eyes narrowed, but. She started, her voice catching, 'I didn't—'
I interrupted, voice gaining strength like a flower opening to the soil. It's not just about me, that's why. This is about all of us who feel small but stand anyway."
This time the silence that followed wasn't empty. The words had been said, finally, and it thrummed with the weight of them, rippling through the gathered students who watched as spectators at an unseen sport.
Caleb's smirk was gone fully, replaced with something raw and uncertain. His shoulders sagged, he looked away, and there was a breathless pause.
Alicia looked at Caleb, then back at me. Her laughter dulled then went silent, like a flame without fuel. She had a flash of something in her eyes, a flicker of respect she might have had.
Mia's hand found my shoulder, and, with pride, her hand rested firmly on my shoulder.
Alicia finally managed to utter, 'well,' faking a blend of indifference on her part. "Good luck, or whatever."
"Alicia," Caleb said, jabbing a thumb in the general direction in which he was headed, "yeah, we're here," snickering with a lack of kick in it until the expression faltered on his face, and he spun on his heel, Alicia trailing behind him, head held but firmly high. Murmurs restarted, some confused students and others in a pinch of pity. Slowly the tension dissipated in the air, becoming intrigued whispers about the encounter.
"Dude," someone whispered, "did you see that Lily just stood her ground as the hallway buzzed back to life.
That was epic, one student said, eye's wide. "I thought. "Guess they choked on their own words for a change," Mia added, grinning beside me like a proud parent. She was a lifeline, tying me to a confidence I didn't know but felt oddly comfortable.
The hallway began to empty, and I allowed myself a small smile, the tension in my shoulders eased. We walked toward our next class; the silence between us was anything but awkward.
After a moment, Mia's voice was soft, but fierce, "Lily." "You always had that fire in you, I've always known."
I couldn't really open my eyes, though, my squinting up at the ceiling lights, the dull glow from her praise, it warmed me like sunshine. I nudged her gently with my shoulder, admitting, "It's easier when you've got people like you around."
She joked, "Hey, I'm just the backup dancer to your main act."
I snorted. "More like the anchor keeping my boat afloat."
"Don't let them get you down again, okay?" Mia looked at me with serious tone in her eyes. "Those people? They're just noise. Your music, and music has power."
The truth in her words rung in my head like a refrain. I nodded. "You're right. I have a song to finish, don't I?"
"Exactly! Mia grinned, eyes shining with wicked, delightful mischief, 'Emily's going to flip when she hears.'
The earlier tightness in my chest had turned into something exhilarating as we slipped into our classroom. I thought of the fight with Caleb and Alicia playing in my head, and it didn't cut me down anymore, it built me up. I was creating one step at a time, through the fear, and the doubts, there was a new path to be taken.
Just as the bell rang to start class, I heard 'Lily' from behind me. Ethan, just a few feet away, was standing. His presence was a quiet comfort, one that you didn't have to ask for but you definitely needed.
I said, lowering my voice as Ethan approached, "Mia, go on ahead."
Ethan looked at Mia with a knowing look and then winked at me. Mia slipped into her seat, "Catch you later," I teased.
Ethan smiled at me, faintly, but genuinely, the kind of smile that reached his deep-set eyes. He started off, measured and sincere, "Hey, I saw what happened back there." "It was pretty inspiring, you handled it."
I felt a little bit of heat creep in my cheeks and looked down at my shoes. "Thanks. It wasn't easy, but…"
Yeah, those moments, sometimes they just fuel the best things about us, he added, bracing himself against a desk. I've heard you play your guitar sometimes after school." 'You've got something special, you know.'"
His words spun around me, soft and unexpected, and I was momentarily lost for what to say. Ethan's compliments weren't anything new — he'd always appreciated my music — but today they felt different, resonating with something I hadn't known I needed to hear.
I said, voice small but steady, "I… appreciate that." I wanted to write a song for the Harmony Showdown. Something that matters."
He nodded, thoughtful. "You're on the right track," I think. "Anyone can make an audience feel something, but if anyone can, it's you."
I looked at him, his eyes held such earnestness I couldn't help but look. No flattery, just sincerity. "You believe that?" I asked earnestly, more so than I meant to.
He answered without hesitation, a softening of his face yet never wavering. "I'm rooting for you, hey."
The bell rang again, and the conversation ended, and he gave me a final encouraging nod, and he moved to his seat. But his words rang on long after, ringing in that echo of uncertainty that still roamed through my mind.
Words from our teachers rose and fell in my consciousness, and I leaned back in my chair, gazing out the window to the world beyond, so filled with possibilities as the sky. With an inaudible vow I went back to my lyrics and chords and reshaped them in my thoughts. Every word I'd speak, every doubt I'd leave behind, I would use to fuel my music to fan the flames of every note with the power of every word. Whatever history tried to hold over me, whatever Caleb and Alicia threw my way, it was fading. This time I was stepping out from the shadows, and I had a stage to step onto.