Queen of My Heart

10: Human Society was Formed with Backstabbing

  Apparently that was the end of the day so I cheerfully made my way back to my dorm room to shower again. I wanted to put 'Karma' into a guitar song too because guitars sound so lovely. Then again, it might not sound so good on an acoustic guitar, but who were people to say anything about it, right?

  I was especially cheery because Alex was there with me and I could sing the song under my breath. It basically annoyed him to the point where he slowed his walking pace, so subtly that I didn't notice it until he slapped his hand over my mouth from behind me and that shut me up for a few seconds. Then I realised that I could mumble the melody and he'd know what I was trying to do, so I did and the result was him just giving up and singing along with me.

  I think that people were staring at us and we met Torri on our way to our dorms. I told her that Alex basically called me short and that I wrote a song in P.E. about karma because he got knocked over by Jay. Torri thought that it was genius and asked me if I could sing the whole thing. I belted it out and Lexie joined me in parts that he knew. Torri told me that she liked it and I told her that I will turn it into a guitar song and play it for her later. I have shared my songs with one person before in my entire life, so this was a very big step for me.

  When I reached my dorm, I realised that I was rooming with Audrey and I immediately sobered up. I took my shower and my wet hair slicked back and wrapped it with a towel. I took out the guitar that Alex had gifted me and tuned it using the weird needle thing. Then I worked hard to finish it and I was almost done, when Audrey, who came sashaying in the middle of it, looking like she ate a sour grape -believe me, those things are nasty-, snapped at me to get to dinner. I released my miraculously dry hair and put the guitar back in its case.

  The walk to dinner was short as I had done it before and knew where I was going. Alex wasn't here, so I sat with Torri, who was early. "You told me earlier how human society was built on gossiping and backstabbing, can you explain?" I casually asked while grabbing a sandwich, soup and pie.

  "Well, a theorist says that humans first learned the language to communicate, but soon they learned to band together with a common cause. That would have been gossiping about someone else. There were also many different types of religions, but gossiping was one of the key factors. And about backstabbing, basically any monarchy had backstabbing and spies and that stuff. If we move onto more modern examples, Jafar backstabbed the sultan. Or Mulan technically backstabbed Li Shang and the entire imperial army when she told them she was a boy when she was a girl. Or even my parent's story, mum thought that dad backstabbed her when he kissed Aunt Charlotte, but he was just trying to break the curse. So human society was built on gossiping and backstabbing."

  "I am impressed. You could write a book on it and I can see that you know a lot about this. Are you just like this in every topic, or just this one?"

  "All I guess? I don't really have any problems with talking to someone else about these things so... yeah."

  "Well, I see that little Mr. Lexie "Tardy" Beast is finally here."

  "Where were you? This is like 10 minutes into dinner."

  "I was cleaning up the dirt and sweat from tourney. Honestly, my entire body aches."

  "Aww, next time, you can sit with me and be my inspiration for my songs." I responded, petting his hair.

  "I would love to, but I can't. I'm on the tourney team and the match is like Thursday, so I have to practise. But it's the finals so I don't have to do anything else related to tourney for the rest of the year."

  "Great then! You can sit with me after Thursday, yes?"

  "Sure!"

  We then quickly finished our dinner and Alex said goodbye and left first. He ate really, really fast. Maybe the benefits of being an always hungry teenage boy? Anyway, Torri, who had her lips basically twitching the whole time that we were eating finally blurted it out when I finished my last crumb of my pie "You know, I would have told you two to cut the PDA in a normal situation, but you two are so cute!"

  "First, what is PDA? Second, we are not dating! We are just friends. So what if I think that he is handsome? I honestly think that Flynn or Audrey looks good, but I hate their guts. I also think that you are really pretty, but I feel no attraction to you whatsoever. No offence though or anything." Torri looked a bit embarrassed.

  "PDA is short for public display of affection and involves hugging, kissing or just acting mushy in public. In other words, if you make single people feel bad and, well, single, that's basically PDA. Also friends can become lovers, right?"

  "Yes, but people stay friends more than they actually fall in love with their best friend, right?"

  "I think that you may be an exception. Anyway, do you want to come to the library with me? I want to go and show you the books."

  "Okay. I completely forgot that I can read actual books now." And I bounced in excitement.

  We made our way to the library and it was one of the grandest things that I have ever seen. It had floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with fresh, new books. I decided to first head over to the music section and selected a guitar book. Then I headed to the fiction section and asked Torri to recommend one for me. Torri, who was watching and following me with amused eyes, picked one off the shelf and gave it to me. I then chose a history book and gave it to the librarian. He looked up with kind eyes, the ones that were wrinkled with age and smile lines and checked my books out for me and told me to return them in 2 weeks. Torri and I said goodbye and left to head to our own dorms.

  I got in, saw Audrey sleeping already and made my way to my bed. I turned a lamp on and read it the light. It was all so fascinating; proper names for chords and different ways to hold and play a guitar. A love story with a thief and a queen, falling in love but unable to be together. Actual scandalous events that happened with different people, but usually a similar plot. I had a lot of fun, and before I knew it, it was morning.