"I ain't no angel, I never was, but I never hurt you, it's not my fault. You see those eggshells, they're broken now. A million pieces strewn out across the ground." —Birdy.

••

While the room erupts in cheers and standing ovations, I sight when Blaze swiftly gets up amidst it all, his head hung as he hastens through the translucent door.

My face falls in disappointment. It seems he didn't like it. I told him I didn't want to want to do this and now it is official that I suck.

Justine's reaction to my performance is one of awe mixed with despise, and Mal is jerking me two big thumbs up with a wide, impressed grin on his face.

I smile a little in response, but all these flattering applaudings mean nothing if the one person I was hoping would like it —hates it. And so after bowing awkwardly as if I am on some Broadway show, I quickly make my down the aisle, thrusting open the door and stepping out into the quiet hallway, feeling the immediate warmth of the almost setting sun as it pours its rays onto the barren corridor.

I look left and right for him, frowning when I see no sign of the boy in a black tank shirt. God, did my voice scare him off so much that he had to leave the entire scene?

I sullenly bite the inside of my cheek and turn away to return inside, but as I am about to grip the metal handle of the door, my eyes catch a glimpse of his familiar frame, sitting on the pavement at the corner of the wall.

A beam makes its way onto my face, and my features chirp up as I briskly walk over to him, observing that his head is bent as he seems to be plucking leaves off a small stalk that he's holding.

I step down onto the dirt track and gather the hem of my dress into a pile before plopping down next to him on the cemented ground. His head lifts from its hanging position as he turns his face to meet my gaze.

"Found you." I grin childishly as if we were playing some game of hide and seek.

Failing to get an answer from him, my smile fades into a scowl as he drops his gaze back to the stem he's holding. His expression is streaked with melancholy and I fear that his gloominess is because I did an awful job up there. Is he disappointed?

I sigh and look down at my fingers. "You hated it."

He looks to me, shaking his head. "No, No I didn't, Harmony. I loved it...a whole lot."

My lips flatten in a tight-lipped smile as I worriedly fix my dress over my knees. "You did?"

He nods, shutting his eyes as a little he does. "Yeah."

I find it hard to believe. The previous times he had complimented me right after I sang, but today I had to fish for a compliment.

I frown. His face is saying the complete opposite. "Then why does your face look like that?"

He stares at me for a while then discharges a sigh as he looks away quietly.

"Mm, Blaze?"

Our gazes meet again, and his eyes appear so vulnerable that it moves my heart. I have never seen this emotion from him. Is he alright?

"What's wrong?"

His lips part to say something when a voice sounds from beside us.

"Harmony."

I peer up in the direction the voice came from, squinting my eyes to make out Malcolm's face amidst the bright glow of sunlight above his head. A smile graces my lips as I stand up, dusting my dress off. "Hey, Mal."

His expression is hard as he leers at Blaze, who is wearing the very same look of detest. I shift my glare between them both as confusion takes over my countenance.

What's up with them? Hate at first sight?

"Um..." I shift my weight awkwardly. "It's good that you are here Mal, I want you to meet —"

"Blaze, why the hell are you hanging around her?!" Mal yells, and I am taken aback. Do they know each other?

I blink my eyes, puzzled. "Y-you guys know each other?"

I find it baffling because the last time at Blaze's dorm he had asked me who Mal was as if he had no clue, but now I am discovering that they know each other?

"Of course I know him!" Mal sneers, and it is the first time I am witnessing this side of him. He's steamed up. His calm hazel eyes are now erupting with fury, his nostrils widely flared. "How could I forget this arrogant asshole who almost made my sister kill herself?!"

My mouth parts in a daze. What?

I turn my attention to Blaze as he conjures up to his feet, throwing the stalk away as a sigh omits from him. He carelessly shoves his hands in his pockets, and I wait to hear what he has to say about Mal's accusations.

Accusations because I fail to believe that what he's saying is factual. Though everyone sees Blaze in a negative light, I would like to think that there is more to him than what meets the eyes. That he's a good person deep down and not as immoral as everyone paints him to be. I want to formulate my own picture of him, and so far, the one I have designed is of a deep and mysterious person that only needs to be understood.

But my speculations waver when a smile spreads his face as he scratches his forehead uninterestedly.

"Seriously? Are we back on this stupid topic again? She's not dead so why are you pestering me?"

I stare at him speechlessly. Is that his choice of feedback?

"You son of a bitch!" Mal charges into Blaze but I quickly slip into his path, trying to keep him off as he clenches his fists so hard that they become pale.

Blaze is smiling while he ogles Malcolm as if he's nothing but a pitiful soul inferior to him. "Calling my mom a bitch is rude. I mean I didn't like the woman much but you don't get to call her that."

"Wipe that smirk off your face, you dimwit! My sister is still struggling to return to her normal self!" Mal moves around me and gestures to attack Blaze, but I glide in his way effortlessly, being the tiny 5'4 I am. "Stop Mal...please."

My voice is involuntarily shaking but I am not sure why. Maybe because I was deeply hoping that Blaze wasn't like what everyone says. I was hoping that they were wrong about him. I was hoping that somehow my theory would be correct. That he's not a jerk and that he's a good person deep down somewhere. But his response is starting to make me second think it all.

Malcolm grounds his jaws. "Harmony don't hang around this bastard. He's nothing but a devil!"

"Your sister was a crazy person." Blaze continues flatly. "She was obsessed and attached after just one touch from me. If she wants to kill herself what the fuck does that have to do with me? You are lucky she is still alive, you fool."

I rake my hand through my hair. "Stop it, Blaze."

"Keep talking!" Mal urges. "Keep talking, you asshole!"

"Gladly. I've fucked a lot of girls, she knew that, I am not sure why she thought I would somehow 'wife' her. She was an easy lay and it worked out well for me. She needs help, I mean I am crazy but she's even crazier to cut her wrist because a guy tells her he doesn't want her!"

Slap!

Before I even realize what I am doing, my palm has collided with Blaze's cheek.

His head hardly moves from the impact, and his eyes become excessively black before they return to their natural shade. And I feel like if it was someone else who had done that, they would probably get a hefty punch to the face.

"Stop." My voice comes out in a cry.

He sighs softly and massages the inside of his cheek with his tongue, my small hand forming a bright pink mark on his skin.

"I am going to kill you." Mal curses, but I quickly turn around to face him. "Mal, go."

"Harmony, do not stay here with this mistake of a human being!"

"Just go, okay? I will come after."

He hesitates, but I plead with my eyes. I know Blaze can behave a bit unstable sometimes and I can't forget that knife he has sitting in his rucksack, so I think Malcolm should leave. I don't want the trouble.

He finally sighs and sends Blaze a hard glare before he walks away, infuriated.

I blow my lips out and turn to face the uncaring boy standing before me, looking up at him with watery eyes as I cross my arms lividly. "So, this was the kind of person you were all along?"

He's watching me silently, a blank look on his face and it makes me angry.

"Do you think it's funny or cool to not care about other people's feelings? Do you think it feels fair to the other party? How could you be so heartless?!"

He shakes his head, his poker face still intact. "Are you surprised? I thought I told you how fucked up I am. Why are you so shocked, Harmony Skye?"

He's right. I have been told countless times, but I still found it hard to believe. I still wanted to see the good in him.

I wipe away a tear and draw in a breath. "Maybe because I was so stupid to believe in you. I thought —I thought that they were all lying. I thought you weren't a bad person."

A hurt look covers his face for a short moment before it vanishes again, replaced with a vacant one. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" I narrow my eyes.

"That it doesn't take long before you distrust me and run away. I told you that today, didn't I? That when you see how messed up I am, you will leave. Let's be honest, you didn't trust me from the start, did you? You were just waiting for me to do one fucked up shit so you can have an excuse to believe everyone."

"Don't turn this on me. You almost cost someone their life, Blaze!"

"Harmony on what basis do you say that statement?" His brows pull together, the terrifying look he gave me in the hall this morning returning in full force. He looks so scary. "What exactly do you know?! Do you know her? Do you know what happened between us? Do you?!"

No. Frankly speaking, I know nothing about what went down between him and Malcolm's sister. I haven't heard the entire story which automatically leaves me with no basis to work on. I guess I am judging without understanding his side of the mystery.

I don't know what to say so I lower my gaze, humiliated.

"See? You don't know anything," he says sternly. "But you are so quick to judge me!"

I meet his enraged eyes and a warm tear rolls down my cheek.

"Stay away from me then!" He continues and I feel my heart break.

He turns to leave and I quickly pull at his hand. He looks around at me with dropped eyebrows and I look down, swallowing anxiously as tears cling to my lashes. "D-do you mean that?"

He pushes my hand off and whirls to me again. He looks so furious and it's shattering my already bleeding heart.

"If you don't trust someone then why are you hanging around them? That's just plain stupid, Harmony! Just stay away from me then, yeah? Do yourself the honor!"

He turns away and walks off, and I am left crying on the pavement.

~

"I want to tell you that I'm sorry but that's not for me to say. You can have my heart, my soul, my body if you can promise not to go away." —Birdy.

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