Free The Corner by Shaine Lake Page A

shameful bungle I had made. There was an urge
to knock myself on the head.
    “Anyway, your name …”
    “Natalie,” I croaked.
    “Anton.”
    I gave a slight smile in
acknowledgement despite knowing his name already.
    “Natalie, you’ve to understand
that gymnastics is not for everyone,” he stated with a poker
face.
    I nodded in dejection.
“True.”
    “Some of the boys in my team are
not cut out for it either. They shouldn’t be wasting everyone’s
time. Luckily, Jareth is handling those kids, so they won’t bother
me.”
    My eyeballs nearly popped out
when Anton said that. He sure didn’t hold back his criticisms on
his teammates. Having so many things to juggle with, he had to be
focused … I guess.
    Somehow, I felt a bit comforted
that his harsh words weren’t specifically directed at me. “Is it
the same with guitar club?”
    His lips pressed into a slight
frown as he shook his head. “Didn’t join that. It’s impossible for
me to play in an ensemble. I don’t have the patience to deal with
all the nonsense. Some are in there to impress the girls only.
They’ve neither the talent nor the passion.”
    Still reeling from the impact of
his uncompromising comments, I gaped at the guitar case that was
crammed between his knee and the back of the seat in front. “Then
this?”
    Placing a hand on the case that
encased his instrument, he replied, “To play it during breaks, or
for unplugged practices with my band.”
    I wondered what kind of band he
was in. I imagined him to be sitting on a lush, beautiful lawn,
strumming his guitar and singing a light-hearted love song. The
willow trees swayed with wind, dancing to the beautiful tune he was
playing.
    “But we’re disbanding soon,” he
continued.
    “Why …”
    The melancholic-looking boy let
out a soft sigh. “Guess I’m not easy to work with. Had gotten the
nickname, Control Freak, from my bandmates. I just want to create
music that’s as good as or surpasses that of The Engineers and Godai .…” His voice cracked when he mentioned The
Engineers .
    How I wished that I knew how to
play an instrument so that I could help. But my skills might not be
on par with his expectations. Nevertheless, the names of those
bands sounded weird.
    Then he added, “And they want to
go into pop rock. I want to stay in alternative metal.”
    I nearly shrunk away in terror
when I heard that he was into demon-worshipping music. Mandy and a
few other girls were always discussing about how rock and metal
music were real bad influences. How was it possible for someone
like Anton, who looked so normal, studious and decent, to be
listening to those music based on sinister themes? He really needed
a girl like Mandy to bring him out of the darkness.
    I stared at Anton, hoping that
by focusing on his face, I could banish those negative thoughts to
the back of my mind. I was worried that he could sense them.
    While I was expecting him to
continue the topic on music, he suddenly asked, “Which club are you
in?”
    I didn’t expect him to ask about
me. “Math—” I stumbled on my words.
    Being in the Mathematics club
didn’t exactly sound glamorous. If only there was one for History
that I could join. Appearing to be knowledgeable always beat that
nerdy image anytime.
    “That’s all?”
    I nodded, feeling like an
unmotivated bummer who joined an ECA group that required minimum
amount of commitment. “It’s the only one I’m interested in.”
    The ends of his lips curled up.
“That’s cool. No point wasting your time on something that you’ve
no interest in.”
    I seriously needed some ice
cubes to cool down the heat gathering around my cheeks. I turned
away to keep my face hidden from his view. “Thanks.”
    Silence followed. After a few
seconds, I saw through the reflection that he was taking out a
large, thick paperback from his bag. Then he flipped the pages to
around the middle section of the book and began to read it. I
squinted my eyes to see that it was a