Page 17 of Delilah In Discretion

“Is that how you think? He’s a regular person, Archer.”

He nodded. “You’re right. He is a regular person.You’re not.It’s not that I don’t want you to help them, but you can’t change something that’s been going on for years in a repeating cycle. Do you want to be a ‘big girl’? Hold onto that reputation. If you don’t, you’ll be in the same boat as him.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” I said blankly, and he shrugged.

“I’m just letting you know you can’t have it both ways, Princess,” he replied, and maybe I was going crazy, but I could have sworn his eyes went down to my lips.

I turned away before he could see my flustered face and wordlessly walked to the school’s door. Looking over my shoulder one last time, I noticed his eyes lingering on me until he looked away and walked the other way.

I sighed heavily and pulled out the phone to call Kimiko.

“Hey, Dee.”I didn’t say anything as I leaned against the railing outside. “What’s wrong?”Kimi asked quickly, and I sighed.

“I’m just ready to go home.”

She told me she would be by the door in a minute, and I watched as the students cheerfully walked out of the building.

Seeing Kimi after a few minutes, I walked over to her, and once she was near me, she noticed the drained look on my face.

“What happened?” she asked softly, and I shook my head.

“Just another very, very... long day.”

Chapter six

Archer

Sitting at my piano, I sighed as my hands went over the keys, playing the notes. In my spare time, I would sit at my desk and create different songs to play, most of them extraordinarily dark or bone-chilling. Whenever I was unoccupied, I found myself on the piano or violin. Not that I particularly enjoy the violin. When I was younger, Kimiko would take violin lessons, and Delilah would come along to either watch or simply to pick her up at the end.

For some reason, the second I heard of that, I asked my father for violin lessons. Did I mean to excel at the instrument? Of course not. I remember solely going for the pure reason of seeing her. Sterling believes I had a problem at the time, but I didn’t see it. All I wanted to do was get closer to her, and for some reason, to this day... it’s still my goal.

It was ridiculous how much she took a toll on my life. She was all I thought about morning and night and was the cause of my anger and happiness.

I turned the page of my self-made sheet music collection and stumbled on the page that read “Delilah.” Yes, I most certainlywrote a song about her… multiple actually. Many sounded sweet, others sounded dark, and a few with a bit of... sensuality. The one I saw in front of me had a captivating dark theme to it. I placed my hands on the keys, letting the music fill my ears and enter my “empty” soul.

Getting lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even notice when I finished or if someone else was in the room.

“It sounds beautiful,” came the voice of my stepmother, and I shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s old. I wrote it a while ago.”

“What did you write about?” she asked, but I didn’t say anything. She continued, “Or ratherwhodid you write it about?”

I looked over to her to see a smile on her face. “Vivienne, don’t.”

She chuckled. “Whatever happened to ‘Mom?’”

Gazing back to the piano, I spoke. “You asked too many questions. That’s what happened.”

She raised her hands in surrender. “It’s not my fault you have the song title written in bold at the top.”

I snatched the papers from the stand and closed my eyes, slowly growing more aggravated. “Leave, Vivienne.”

She rolled her eyes. “I kid, I kid. No need to throw me out yet.”

I looked down at my sheets and sighed. Once I had started to grow somewhat close to Vivienne when I was younger, I began to call her Mom. The first time I did, I almost regretted the decision as she cried for a week straight. She was annoying, to say the least, wanting to know everything that was going on in my life, but I knew she meant well.

“How has the academy been? I know you’re going back full-time to focus on your studies.”

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