Even a Scream Has A Musical Scale - Chapter 5

The coldness in his voice left her paralyzed, unable to utter a single word. Remington crushed the gloves in his hands as he stepped closer.

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m not mad at you.”

“……”

“I just don’t care about you.”

He handed the gloves back to her. The moment his cool eyes met hers, it felt like the temperature around them had dropped.

“I don’t have to be kind to everyone, you know? There’s no reason I need to like everyone.”

“……”

“Not even you.”

“Ah…”

Her face flushed a deep red in an instant.

“Deal with these gloves however you want. Keep them, throw them away… I don’t care anymore.”

Humiliation and shame washed over her. She took a sharp breath, her body trembling as if soaked in icy water. An unfamiliar chill crept over her. Remington had already turned his back, heading off the terrace. She clenched her fists, glaring at his retreating figure.

“If this was how you felt, why did you lend me the gloves in the first place?”

At that moment, Remington’s black Oxford shoes came to a halt. The slanted sunlight cast a dramatic shadow on his face as he slowly turned to look at her.

“Yeah. Why did I?”

Remington answered with a bitter expression.

“That pisses me off too.”

****

Remington was a person she found difficult to understand.

Always unpredictable, he continuously pushed her into a pit of confusion.

He couldn’t stand sharing the same air with her, yet couldn’t completely ignore her either. She didn’t even know where to start.

One thing was certain: from the moment he first saw her, he had no intention of showing her a shred of kindness.

****

She saw Remington frequently after that. In the chapel, the lecture hall, the cafeteria, the lounge, the park bench… wherever she went, she always ran into him.

Part of it was due to the predictable paths students followed, but mainly it was because once he was in the same place, she couldn’t help but notice him. He always had people around him.

“Remington, you’re coming to the party tonight, right? It won’t be the same without you.”

“I have training until late. I’ll try to make it afterward.”

“You have to come! If you don’t, half the girls won’t show up. And you’re the best at giving speeches.”

“Alright, Terry. Calm down.”

She quickly understood why the principal referred to Remington’s friends as his ‘followers.’

The students of Eratum seemed to trust and admire him. Some even seemed to love and revere him.

Sure, it might seem impossible for a high school student to captivate people to such an extent. But we mustn’t forget that Remington is the son of Julia Howard.

Julia Howard.

A global actress who once ruled Hollywood as its highest-paid star. The scene in the movie Chocolate, where Julia, with a dreamy expression, stabbed her husband’s corpse while slowly chewing chocolate, was often cited as one of the most beautiful scenes in cinematic history. I believed much of that credit belonged to her face. The detectives in the film, fumbling to protect the beautiful murderer despite the gruesome crime, foreshadowed how the public would defend her during her future scandals.

Despite numerous scandals, Julia’s inherent beauty and elegance continued to captivate the public, maintaining her position at the top for many years.

Remington was her son.

As the offspring of the world’s sweetheart, Remington played the perfect sweetheart of Eratum.

****

Handsome and magnanimous Remington.

Kind and gentle to everyone, Remington.

Why did Dani have to be the exception?

****

“What would it feel like to date Remington?” Emma sighed, her voice echoing through the girls’ locker room after swim class.

“I ran into him in the hallway earlier, and he noticed I dyed my hair. He said, ‘Hey, Emma. Did you dye your hair? It looks good.’ And then he lightly touched my hair… I mean, I didn’t know hair could be an erogenous zone until today.”

Emma mimicked Remington’s indifferent tone, her body trembling as if electrified, looking every bit the smitten schoolgirl.

“Honestly, I don’t know how Eleanor can look Remington in the eye. Can you get used to something like that? I felt like my body was melting,” she continued.

Cassie chimed in, making the conversation even more dramatic. “Emma, do you know why Eleanor looks Remington in the eye when she talks to him? Because if she doesn’t, she’ll check out his body without realizing it.”

“Cass! That’s so crude!”

“Why are you acting like this? You were the one who zoomed in on Remington in the pool photo on the school website and sent it to everyone.”

Cassie laughed, showing her phone to the girls. The photo featured Remington standing with his chiseled body, while the other boys were cropped out. Despite their grimaces, the girls couldn’t help but steal glances at Cassie’s phone.

In the noisy locker room, I was the only one who remained expressionless. Just hearing Remington’s name made my shoulders tense and my head throb. It felt like I was developing a neurosis. Whenever his name was mentioned, I would recall his piercing blue eyes looking at me with disdain, and my stomach would churn.

“Roderson, are you pretending, or are you really that stupid?”

Every time she remembered Remington’s gaze, her heart felt like it was encased in ice.

“I just don’t care about you.”

Why did he have to say it like that? So harshly, so coldly.

After changing, Dani pulled a small pill bottle from her blazer pocket and swallowed a tablet with a gulp of water. Just as the pill slid down her throat, Cassie leaned against a locker, blocking her path. Her untamed hair and purple lipstick drew attention.

“Hey, Dani. How’ve you been?”

Dani had heard about Cassie from other students. They said she was the strange girl who sold drugs at school. There were warnings to stay away from her, but Dani never paid much attention to rumors.

“I’m good. I’ve been fine.”

“Really? I knew it, Dani.”

As Dani forced a smile, Cassie’s eyes suddenly lit up with interest.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, I heard you had a big encounter with Remington recently.”

“What?”

“Come on, Dani. No need to pretend.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cassie looked at her with a pitying expression, as if Dani’s denial was amusing. Then she got straight to the point.

“Didn’t Remington accept your confession?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Dani’s voice involuntarily rose in surprise. The locker room buzzed with excitement. The rumors spread even faster.

“Did Remington confess first?”

“Are they dating?”

“Really? What about Eleanor?”

Watching a rumor take shape was astonishing. Dani firmly corrected them.

“Remington and I never had such a conversation. We’re not involved. We just talked briefly because I had something to return to him.”

Whether they believed her or not was up to them now. Dani had no more control over it. Cassie responded with an “Oh…,” but her eyes remained knowing. She brushed her unruly hair back and whispered into Dani’s ear.

“For someone who’s not involved, Remington sure looks at you a lot.”

“What?”

“You didn’t know? Even when he’s with others, he’s always watching you.”

“……”

“Sorry. I’m not stalking or anything. It’s just how it looks to me. I like observing people.”

Cassie rubbed her palms against her skirt and then extended her hand to Dani.

“If Remington has to date someone, I’m rooting for you, Dani.”

Dani stared blankly at the offered hand. Cassie grabbed it, squeezing gently as she wrinkled her nose in a playful gesture.

“From my observations, you seem quite different from Eleanor Lester.”

Eleanor Lester was the name of the blonde girl often seen with Remington. People gossiped about how intimidating she looked, but to Dani, she seemed nothing less than a stunning beauty. Since I didn’t know Eleanor personally, I couldn’t understand why Cassie spoke about her that way. The misunderstanding was uncomfortable, and being observed and analyzed by someone was even more unsettling.

“Thanks, Cassie. But I’m not involved with Remington. There’s nothing between us, and there never will be.”

“Call me Cat. Let’s be friends.”

“Sure, Cat. Thank you.”

“You say ‘thank you’ a lot. Is that because you’re a politician’s daughter, or is it just a habit?”

Cassie had too many questions, and it felt like she could read too much into even my briefest responses. I smiled and quickly left the locker room.

****

“Good morning, everyone. I’m Remington Howard. I’ll be delivering the announcements in place of Mr. Barton.”

Morning assembly. The moment Remington stepped onto the chapel stage, applause and playful whistles erupted from all sides. The room quickly filled with excitement.

Remington raised his eyebrows mischievously, scanning the room. Dani watched him expressionlessly, annoyed by the difference in his demeanor compared to when he looked at her.

“We’ve had reports of some tenth graders sneaking into the eleventh-grade lounge. I know who’s behind it, but I won’t name names here. I just want to let that person know that rushing to become an eleventh-grader isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just look at those poor souls trapped in essay hell.”

Remington pointed to the section where the eleventh graders sat, making a playful joke. Laughter erupted throughout the chapel. He had a knack for turning a rule-breaking issue into a joke, handling it as smoothly as any seasoned politician.

Whether Remington knew the identity of the tenth grader was unclear. But his confidence was so brazen that it made people believe him, even without evidence.

Dani saw her father in Remington.

A person who, even under intense scrutiny, could effortlessly command the room and seem naturally at ease in the spotlight. Someone for whom maintaining dominance in relationships was as easy as flipping a switch. Both excelled at captivating their audience and achieving their desired outcomes.

Watching him any longer would only worsen her headache, so she quietly stood up to leave.

And then it happened.

Screech.

The sound of Dani’s chair scraping the floor was barely noticeable, but Remington’s gaze snapped directly to her. It was as if he had been aware of her the entire time.