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Post by Chris Allen on Aug 26, 2010 8:26:51 GMT
It is a truth universally acknowledged that when teenagers are told not to do something they want to do, they will do it anyway.
Whether this is a real truth or not, it didn’t matter because Kitty and Chris were aiming to prove it right. Upon arrival they’d been told that no matter what Chris had said in his application, they would both be going to their appointed special training classes every day. Separately. Which was of course out of the question. The question was not, they’d discussed, how they’d cope with this change, but whose class they were going into on Monday. And Chris had won the plectrum-seeing-as-we-have-no-coin toss. Kitty was content that they were going to her writing class tomorrow, and both twins were convinced this place would be all well and good… if they stopped trying to split them up.
Sneaking Kitty into Chris’ music class while hiding her in plain sight was the plan. If the teachers got used to seeing them together, they would forget all about the so called separation anxiety. Or just give up, which is what their last batch of teachers had done. It probably wouldn’t take long, there were other kids here with issues he didn’t even want to think about. They’d be fine.
It wasn’t that Kitty had any lack of musical aptitude, it was just… that wasn’t her talent. She could write alright song lyrics, though… Yeah, alright for singing in the shower. Nowhere else. but she was hoping to just go unnoticed. Besides, she had a sense of rhythm and could tap along to songs. This would be fine. Most likely. Kitty almost sighed as she and Chris entered the room. They weren’t holding hands, but they were standing closer than ‘normal’ people did. Taking two chairs at the back of the room, the twins looked at each other and sighed. This was going to be a long day… but hopefully they’d just leave them be. Please?
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Post by Maddox Greydon on Aug 26, 2010 8:51:19 GMT
Maddy strolled into the music room, glanced around and spotted the twins, sat practically on top of each other at the back. Maddy wondered if they went to the bathroom with each other. 'Cause that would be weird. And didn't it get annoying, having someone there, all the time? And what happened when they got a bit older- actually, that wasn't necessary- and wanted to be having sex? Did they do it with each other in the room, or what? And how did the girl survive without talking, honestly? Maddox would die if he didn't talk. He wouldn't be able to sing. But she wrote, maybe she wrote notes? It wasn't the same, though. You couldn't get the same level of emotions into notes that you could in speech, and surely your hand would cramp up? Or would you get used to that? Did muscles in your hands develop in the same way other muscles did? He had a mental image of Kitty with a hand about the size of her head, all puffed up with muscle, and laughed out loud, earning several odd looks. The people lost interest quickly. This was a mental hospital, after all.
Maddy flopped down in a chair next to Kitty, grinned at the two teenagers, and said, "Hey, you two alright? Listen, Chris, I was wanting to ask you something the other night but got kinda distracted. I was wondering if you'd teach me some guitar? 'Cause at the moment all I can do is sing and playing guitar seems pretty cool, so I was hoping you'd be able to teach me. Once I know the basics, I think I can pretty much work it out myself, I just need help getting started."
He was talking very fast. That tended to happen during a high: he got all bubbly and happy, and did everything way too fast. He wondered what they'd be doing today. He hoped it wasn't theory, he didn't want to do theory today, he wanted to play. More specifically, he wanted to learn to play. And sing. He decided he'd have a go at singing to start with, maybe work off some of this energy- not likely- and then he'd be calm and able to learn how to not be shitty on guitar. It was days like this when they'd raked in the money, back home. When he'd been fizzing with energy. That was when the street had become like a stage and he'd made people laugh and they'd give him more money. And everything would be bright and shiny and good, and nothing would ever go wrong. The feeling lasted five days, round about, before it wore off and he deflated again. But while it was there, nothing could touch him, he was invincible.
Turning his attention back to the twins, he gave them a sheepish grin and shrugged. "Never really had the opportunity to learn, back home. I asked another girl to teach me a bit of piano, I know some chords... I want to try and learn as much as I can while I'm here, 'cause it's probably the only chance I'm going to get. Singing's great, and I'm going to concentrate on that, but I'd like to learn some instruments as well, and now I'm babbling and you're probably not understanding a word I'm saying so shutting up now..." he paused for breath, and grinned at the twins. They'd probably think he was insane now. Maybe this merited an explanation. "I'm bipolar, by the way, and I'm high right now so I tend to talk a lot when I'm like this and generally when I stop it's only because I need to breathe, but it sure as hell beats the rest of the time when I'm liable to bite your head off for looking at me, just warning you." |
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Post by Kitty Allen on Aug 27, 2010 22:15:04 GMT
Kitty put one hand over her mouth as she giggled. She didn’t want to offend Maddy or anything, but he was just so funny. She loved that he was happy, and he was so obviously happy. Even if he did look just a little bit like Tigger on Lucozade. She nodded, Kitty could understand his desire to learn. Chris had tried to teach her more than once, but his instruction had gone the same way as her explanation of how to properly use a frikkin apostrophe and when to use either there, they’re or their.
In the end they’d decided to stick to their own talent. It wasn’t that hard, really, although she was pretty well in awe of her brother somehow (she’d never quite worked it out) teaching himself to play the guitar using an ancient guitar they’d found in the basement and songs on the radio. It had taken him until the back end of forever to work out what the cords were called, but it worked. She smiled at Maddy and went back to scribbling in her book. At this rate she’d run out of room.
Chris grinned. “Sure! Maybe you can teach me some piano too? I’ve never even been near one before. And you’re funny like this, dude.” Chris suppressed a laugh. Kitty looked at Chris meaningfully, trying to communicate something. “Kitty says she’s sure we’ll be friends, even when you’re all head-eating. She’s right mate, we like you.” Chris looked around to check the teacher was still not in the room and handed Maddy a guitar.
He was sure Maddy was going to be better at this than Kitty. He loved his sister and everything, but sometimes she was exasperating. Although he was sure the opposite was true for her. She’d had a nice singing voice; Chris remembered it a little, even if it had always been a tiny bit out of key. Not musically gifted… but it had been nice to sing with someone. Even if the repercussions had been…
As he began showing Maddy where to put his fingers and things, he hoped they’d have a practical lesson. Hyper Maddy was fun… but maybe not so fun to sit next to with that much raw energy. He clearly wanted to go and run around a field or something, wild and free like a horse in the—he stopped his train of thought and decided Kitty was getting to him.
Kitty watched with interest as Chris began to teach Maddy. He was teaching him the same way he’d tried with her, only Maddy actually looked like he could do it. She’d just sat there looking a bit lost. Not for the first time, Kitty wondered if their parents would find them here. While it seemed like a (relatively) safe haven, except for the people constantly trying to separate them, she couldn’t believe they were that safe here. Kitty smiled up at Maddy, shyly. She hadn’t had much to do with him apart from the bed incident, which she mostly wanted to apologise for, however she’d like to. Not speaking severely limited your friend options, and he seemed nice.
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Post by Maddox Greydon on Aug 28, 2010 9:09:49 GMT
Maddy smiled in relief when Chris agreed, his smile widening at the last part. "Great, that's cool. I like you too. And I'll do my best, probably not the best teacher but I can try to." He jumped up and grabbed a guitar from the rack next to the wall, coming back and sitting down. Chris had his own guitar, and as she began showing Maddy the chords, he felt himself calm down a little, absorbed in navigating the fretboard. He concentrated hard, remembering as much as possible, determined to have mastered something by the end of the lesson.
There was something to be said for having this amount of energy: he could easily direct it to one thing. Even so, he had to curb the impulse to jump up and down and sing. The acoustic guitar was nice, but it was a little too mellow for his current mood. He wasn't advanced enough to do anything that would burn off much energy, so he decided once he'd learned the basic chords, he'd go and sing, then maybe come back and help Chris with the keyboard, then try a bit more guitar.
The teacher called the class to attention, and he dropped his hand from the neck of the guitar, shaking out his wrist and fingers, which ached from the uncomfortable positions. There was no need, to be honest: she simply announced that it was a free lesson. The kids were allowed to play on the instruments, provided they kept the noise down and got something done. Maddy grinned over at Chris. "Think I might bring a mic over here. Or go and find one," he said, scanning the room for free microphones. "I wanna burn off some energy, maybe we could play something?" |
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Post by Chris Allen on Aug 28, 2010 23:14:42 GMT
Kitty breathed a sigh, her relief obvious even to people who weren’t Chris. The teacher hadn’t noticed. And it wasn’t as if she wasn’t doing any work, she was practising writing, which she was supposed to do anyway, so it didn’t matter. It probably helped that the teacher probably couldn’t see her behind Chris. And it was only a matter of time before her writing teacher realised the clock had slipped from ‘late’ to ‘not coming’ to ‘seriously up to something’.
Being the only one in your class had some drawbacks, it had to be admitted. Especially, Kitty realised, when you didn’t talk and Chris wasn’t there to help the teacher understand what she was attempting to show them. She wasn’t about to stoop to writing notes. That was childish, unless you had no other option. Kitty had never got into the habit of note-writing. There’d never been enough paper to waste on things she needed to say, and besides, she hadn’t been very good at writing when she was six. Kitty and Chris had just learned to read each other like open books…
As she reflected on this, Kitty giggled to herself. She heard Maddy say he wanted to burn off some energy, and her gaze met Chris’. She hoped, two seconds later, that Maddy wouldn’t be easily offended. Chris was good at a lot of things, but subtlety was not one of them.
“Kitty says she bets you do, mate.” Chris grinned, watching Maddy buzz about. “Sure, why not?” He glanced back down at Kitty, making sure she was alright, playing a few random cords on the guitar, making a song out of them. This was just about as perfect as things could get as far as he was concerned. Kitty, music, writing, playing… the only downside was the almost inevitable fact they were about to rip her away from him. He clenched his jaw, trying to bite down the anger that rose as he thought about this prospect. They’d both thought they’d been through hell and back, why did that Doctor Hudson, and every other adult for that matter, feel they were wrong?
Shaking his head, Chris turned back to Maddy. “Feel like hunting down a duet with two male voices?” He wasn’t totally in the mood for guitar today, but he didn’t mind hugely. Smiling lopsidedly at Maddy, he wondered what Maddy made of Kitty’s constant presence and decided not to ask. Both he and Kitty were aware some people found it odd. They thought these people were wrong, but… Maddy was nice. Chris didn’t want to find out anything that might make it so he had to hit him.
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Post by Maddox Greydon on Aug 29, 2010 20:02:07 GMT
Maddy was practically bouncing up and down on his seat by the time Chris replied to him, and he nodded. Firing up out of his chair as if on springs, he clambered straight over the chairs in front of him, earning himself several glares from the people in said chairs. He gave the complainers an apologetic grin, and dashed off to find himself a mic, tripping over several leads in his haste. He unplugged the mic from it's stand, left the stand where it was, and climbed back to where his friends were waiting for him. Reaching them, he plugged the mic in, thinking about what songs he and Chris could duet.
"How about, uh... I dunno. What song do you wanna do? Something energetic. Like, um. I can't think of anything. Can you think of anything? I dunno what kind of music you want to do, and you might not like my music. What male duets can you think of? I can't think of any. And I'm talking too much again. um..." Damn. What music did they both like? "It doesn't have to be a duet. We could just pick a song and sing different parts of it. Or, we could, uh... I dunno. You could play while I sing, or you could play and sing... wait, that's what you were planning on doing anyway, right? Sure, sorry. Um... fuck. I can't think when I'm like this. You, think for me. I mean, please. Please think of a song, or I think I might explode."
That last part was very, very true. He was literally jigging about on the spot, desperate to do something. Maybe he ought to ask to be excuse from class and go and run around a field or something. No, he wouldn't be allowed. Shame, really. He'd probably break something in here. He wondered if the mind readers could still keep up with his thoughts. Probably not, they were flashing through his head faster than he thought anyone was capable of thinking. Maybe this was how really smart people thought. Probably not, though. He didn't feel any smarter. It was probably more about the contents of your thoughts than how fast you had them, after all. Anyway, why the fuck was he thinking about this? It was completely irrelevant. Nothing to do with music. So, which song? |
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Post by Kitty Allen on Sept 2, 2010 17:11:58 GMT
Leap around was Kitty’s idea. Singing burning energy? Oh no. No way would that work for her. But she supposed it might do for a music person like Maddy, even if it wasn’t the most energy consuming thing to do. For now she was content to sit on the floor where she was, write a bit, listen a bit, and watch a bit. Maybe if the teacher didn’t notice this lesson, she wouldn’t notice next lesson. Although how they’d get around her writing teacher was another matter entirely. At least there were other kids in the music class.
Casting another cautious look over her shoulder, Kitty went back to her writing.
Chris grinned, glanced down to check Kitty was still ok, then thought hard. “I can’t think of any either. How about…” he strummed a few cords. If it was something too fast, Maddy would probably get even more excited, but too slow would just be annoying. And Maddy might end up going too fast, throwing the balance off. “Wouldn’t it be nice. By the Beach Boys? Do you know that?” Chris doubted there was a soul on this planet that didn’t, but he may as well ask. He played a few chords from it and grinned. “Hopefully it won’t piss off the management.” The lyrics could be viewed as controversial, if the teacher had a real stick up his or her arse. Hopefully that wasn’t the case.
Kitty giggled. Hyper Maddy singing about that? Fair enough. Kitty gathered her pens and things in case they planned to move. It was another of her favourites, along with Mrs Robinson and anything by Paloma Faith, who Chris didn’t like so much. But it sounded good on a guitar, even if the song hadn’t been recorded like that. She hoped the teacher wouldn’t notice her before they reached the end, she wanted to hear this. And see how Maddy was going to stand still long enough. It also spoke for the twins now she thought about it… except the kissing part. Ew.
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Post by Maddox Greydon on Sept 2, 2010 17:36:37 GMT
Maddox rifled through his memory, looking for the song. It came to him in a nanosecond, and he grinned. "Yeah, that's good. I think I know most of the lyrics. I can do that, sure. Uh, great. Yeah. So, um... you start, right? Cool. Good. Yeah... I'm talking too much again. It's not even fucking sentences. Fuck. OK, shutting up again. Well, I'll probably just start talking again, to be honest, but... shit." He rolled his eyes, clenching his jaw and trying not to laugh. He must sound like a complete fucking retard to the two of them. They didn't seem to mind, though, which was nice of them. He glanced up towards the teacher, checking she hadn't noticed Kitty, sat down beside them and trying to act naturally.
He wondered how long it would be before he was capable of sitting still without feeling like he was about to explode. Hopefully, only a few more days, then he'd be fine. Then he wouldn't be able to move for sheer depression for a week or two more, then it would all start again. Was this what periods were like for women? No, they only lasted a few days. This was permanent. But still, the depression must be pretty similar, right? Only he didn't have... ew, no. He didn't want to think about that. It wasn't nice.
Raising the microphone to his lips, he hummed a short tune into it. "OK, good, it's all working, shall we play?" Hopefully, this song would calm him down. It was slow, but not so slow he'd get bored. Upbeat, that was the word. Anything faster and he'd just get more excited, anything slower and he'd get bored. Perfect. Grinning at Chris, he nodded to show he was ready and waited for the music to start. |
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Cody Chase
Staff
{Cabby's} LS/Music Teacher
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Post by Cody Chase on Sept 4, 2010 23:26:40 GMT
For the love of God, he hated substitutes. Cody took several deep breaths, wondering if she should bother explaining why giving a bunch of mentally unstable teenagers beautiful, expensive equipment, tell them to do what they wanted and then sit, drinking coffee. Probably not. He just smiled at the woman, reminding himself that there wouldn't have had to be a substitute if it wasn't for his car running out of fuel halfway home from the store where he'd been buying essentials for his office. They consisted of paper - in every colour of the rainbow, plus some more - pens, varying in thickness, in the same colours as the paper, various bits of stationary and a small, plastic frog.
The last was not technically on the essential list, but it'd been on sale. And it would look good on his desk. With the bag containing all those items still on his arm, he entered the room, raising his eyebrows at the chaos in front of him. Nothing valuable seemed to have been broken (and the kids all looked like they were in one piece), so he relaxed slightly, watching as the few children played around on the instruments. There were five in his group, making it the biggest - he couldn't resist a smug smile at that - and he knew a couple of their names. Well... He recognised Maddox, at least, from speaking to him briefly in the corridor and reminding him that he had an appointment with the learning support department. And there was Layla; well, two names. Good, for him.
Cody crossed the room to his desk, looking at the piece of paper the substitute had helpfully left for him. In completely incomprehensible writing, of course. Rolling his eyes, he sat down to decipher it. You didn't get to be a special needs teacher without learning how to read some pretty damn unreadable writing, but man, this woman couldn't write. He weighed up the merits of asking her if she'd like a free dyslexia test. Maybe not.After a few minutes, and some guesswork, he'd re-written the list.
Maddox Greydon.
Chris Allen.
Layla Whitney.
Evan Lear.
Leah Wright.
Standing up, he looked around the classroom, doing a quick head count. Everyone was there, it seemed. Wait... It took him a few tries to realize that there was someone extra. Well, that didn't usually happen. Children tended to avoid lessons rather than sneak into them. He looked at the piece of paper and around the room. Well, one of the girls here was Layla, who he recognised, and another was Leah. That just left one female unaccounted for. One girl was sitting at a keyboard, and apparently, she could actually play. The other was holding a bunch of pens and a notepad. That was probably the girl he was looking for.
Crossing the room, he took a seat next to the small, dark-haired girl. " Hi, I'm Cody, the music teacher. Are you meant to be here? " He hoped that he'd got the right kid; it'd be embarrassing if she looked at him blankly and said 'yes'. Then again, of course, she'd probably be lying.
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Post by Chris Allen on Sept 5, 2010 18:29:46 GMT
As the teacher walked over, Chris and Kitty shared a look. Chris knew it had been too much to ask for the stupid substitute to be their actual teacher (although he was sort of relieved. She was useless. He actually wanted to learn about music in this place…) but he’d hoped they wouldn’t get found out on their very first lesson. Although when the class only had five – or six if you counted Kitty – it was sort of obvious if there was someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.
Smiling apologetically at Maddy, he turned to Kitty. She wouldn’t like this. Although the teacher could be coming to help him and Maddy set up the wires or something, check they weren’t about to blow anyone up… or not. Most likely not. Watching the teacher, Chris quietly slipped his hand into Kitty’s and squeezed. When she got into her writing she tended to get a little more oblivious. And she usually liked him to give her a heads-up before anyone dropped in on her. Kitty might not have his issues with anger, but she had one hell of a left hook, and their parents hadn’t liked her writing. Sometimes attack was the best form of defence, you know?
Kitty looked up from her writing at Chris and then at the teacher. Oh hell. She wondered if now would be the moment to pick up an instrument and discover a hidden talent, but decided against it. She’d just look stupid most likely. She shared a look with Chris – the ‘we are so busted’ look they used to use all the time. Well, they still did use it all the time. Just for different reasons. – then did her best to look blank. Blank and utterly innocent. Me? Not supposed to be here? Of course not… She tapped the pen nervously on the pad of paper, and looked at Chris.
Chris looked at Kitty and very nearly sighed. “She says she is. Why?” He looked innocently curious. Well, hopefully anyway. “Isn’t she on the register or something? I don’t think the substitute noticed…”
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Post by Maddox Greydon on Sept 7, 2010 17:13:34 GMT
Maddy stopped singing softly to himself as the teacher wandered over, looking at the young(ish) man curiously. He knew the new music teacher, having been told he had an appointment, but he still didn't know him very well. He seemed nice, but you never knew how these people in authority would react, and it made Maddy nervous. He hoped that Cody wouldn't make a fuss about Kitty being there; he knew what happened when you tried to take them away, and he didn't want another fight right now. Not when there were so many pretty instrument that might get damaged. Then, of course, you might get damaged, he reminded himself, and cursed in his mind. This place was getting to him: he was worrying more about instruments than he did about himself. Even so...
He watched Cody suspiciously. As mistrustful as he was of authority figures in general, the ones here didn't act the way they were supposed to (yelling at him to fuck off and not to touch anything of theirs), which made him very confused. People here were nice; he hadn't even got in trouble for fighting in his dorm, really. His shrink had mentioned it, and that was as far as it had been taken, and his shrink - Dr Ivrie, he reminded himself - didn't seem to mind too much.
When Chris spoke, he glanced at Cody, looking for his reaction. As an experienced law-breaker, he knew exactly how to lie to someone in authority, and he knew that Chris was doing it wrong. He watched Cody, his expression perfectly blank, hoping that, contrary to all the evidence, Cody was thicker than he seemed and believed Chris' lies, or there would be a lot more trouble, and Maddox didn't want to get involved this time. Somehow, he thought that they'd be less lenient with him the second time. People never were. |
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Cody Chase
Staff
{Cabby's} LS/Music Teacher
Posts: 20
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Post by Cody Chase on Sept 9, 2010 21:39:46 GMT
Cody forced his eyebrows to stay put, rather than edging up into a position somewhere in space, which they apparently wanted to explore. The two were holding hands? In front of a teacher? That was...odd. Usually, couples tried to hide the fact that they were in a relationship, rather than practically advertising it. As he studied both the faces in front of him, he noticed how similar their features were, before the cogs in his brain - useful things that they were - went click. A memory of Layla telling him that there was a guitarist that was 'practically joined to his sister at the hip'. As well as that, he remembered a warning he'd originally ignored - a teacher (or maybe a psychiatrist?) telling him that there were twins that refused to be separated. As in, went to the bathroom together.
When the boy answered for the girl - apparently, she'd told him telepathically, since he hadn't seen her speak or move - he raised his eyebrows slightly, before noticing Maddy's eyes on him and smiling at the boy. That reminded him; they had an appointment for...sometime. Assessing the child for dyslexia, bound to be fun. " Are you quite sure she's supposed to be here? Of course, if you say yes, I'll take your words at face value. " ' Translation: I can't be arsed to deal with this, so lie to me, and I'll bugger off. ' He hoped that the children weren't so thick that they'd miss his obvious chance at staying in the class together.
While waiting for the twins to do more of their telepathic communication, he turned to the other boy, Maddox. " We have an appointment, don't we? Um... Do you remember when? " Smiling apologetically, he cursed his bad memory - which he suspected was a cross between a sieve and a goldfish - and sternly instructed himself to write the date and time down when he was told. That was, of course, if the student remembered. Hopefully, he wasn't going to stare blankly and ask 'appointment?' There wasn't really an easy way to remind someone that they had to be tested for learning difficulties, without humiliating them by using the words 'IQ testing', 'dyslexia' or 'possible developmental delay'.
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Post by Kitty Allen on Sept 11, 2010 21:46:21 GMT
Chris looked at Kitty. Did this mean they’d got away with it? He refused to believe the teacher was actually so stupid as to truly believe Kitty was… maybe they’d just found a nice adult. How was that for… what was one of those things… Oxymoron. Hilarious name… he noted the look on Kitty’s face and understood her point entirely. It was kind of rude.
Kitty rolled her eyes at the teacher as he addressed Chris instead of her. She was scowling, until the information processed. They could stay here? Together? Did that mean they could take their lessons together like they wanted to? She resisted the urge to write ‘I am right here, you know.’ On her pad and cast Chris a look. Half amazement and half pure annoyance. She decided if the teacher was going to tell Chris instead of her, she was going to tell Chris instead of him. She felt a little sorry for Chris, if she was honest. But…
“Yes.” Said Chris firmly, hoping he sounded halfway to convincing. “She’s definitely supposed to be here.” He wondered how to ask this in a way that wasn’t pushing his luck. A sir was in order, probably. No faster way to get on the good side of a teacher than to show them respect. Even if you’d just disrespected them with the abject lies… “And, um… Sir? She really, really hates it if you talk to me not her. I mean…”Chris shrugged. “If she was deaf she’d not be able to hear me either. And she’s not… she just doesn’t talk. We’re both right here, you know?” He gave Kitty a look that said ‘that good enough?’ and she nodded, giving the teacher a large – if exasperation-tinged – smile. It was best to deal with stuff like that now, the two had realised, and best do it now before Kitty ended up being the one hitting people just to get them to realise she was there. The twins didn’t bat an eyelid at the mention of an appointment. After all, they’d had plenty of those…
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