[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 732 & 733. (Patreon)

Chapter 732: Orientation.

Many months ago, when I went to Sarah’s house to formally meet her family, Mr. West told me something that has stuck with me even all these years later. He said that anxiety is ‘the mind working in the future’ and it just sounds right. I always, even now, think of the worst case scenario of any uncertain situation. It would scare me and freeze me in place, but thanks to the girls pushing me to be better, I’ve found that those worst case scenarios rarely ever happen. Now I can push past those fears and move forward to do the things I’ve always wanted to do, be the person I’ve always wanted to be.

So of course the moment I start relaxing a bit reality hits me with this mother fucker.

The guy from high school I hate is in my class, the girls who hate ME are in my class, too, and the only other guy I know and I’m in neutral terms with is someone who’s also had it against me in the past.

Not a great start, and if this was the Oliver from a year ago, he would’ve short-circuited already. I’m not him, though, so while this sucks, all I can do is work with what I’m given.

Didn’t expect the teacher to give us an eerily similar lecture once those five minutes passed and all 20 students were in the classroom.

“Now that everyone’s here, let me introduce myself again,” the teacher said. “I’m Steeve Lewis, the head of the music department. Before you start wondering, no you’re not the only music students here. We’ve divided you at random into three groups, mainly because this building doesn’t have large classrooms like the others.” Mr. Lewis sighed heavily and leaned forward with his hands on the desk as he addressed the whole group. “I’ll be upfront with all of you. What you get out of studying music in this university is entirely up to you.”

No one said a word, but I think we all shared the shock of hearing the head of the department bluntly saying something like that.

“Mmm… You, the boy with long dark hair. What’s your name?” Mr. Lewis asked, looking uncomfortably close to me.

“A-Ah? M-Me? I’m E-Eric Bell, sir.”

“What’s your instrument of choice, Eric?”

“T-The drums, sir.”

“Ah, drums. I love drums. You’ll rarely ever get the chance to play drums here.”

Eric’s jaw dropped in confusion, and the rest of us were equally stunned.

“You, girl. What’s your name and what instrument do you favor?” Mr. Lewis asked someone in the front rows.

“Er… I’m Luna, sir. I play the violin.”

“The violin, you say? Well, most teachers here will love you. They will speak at length about the elegance of the and rich history of the violin, of the masterpieces it’s the centerpiece of, and each and every one of them will try to convince you they know the path to greatness you should follow. Ignore every single one of them.”

I had to hold back a snicker, but it wasn’t out of any malice towards Luna. No… I found myself smiling at Mr. Lewis’ words.

“Thoughout your time in this university, you will learn history you don’t care about, learn theory you don’t need, learn to play instruments you dislike, and even those practical classes will be 20% of your time here at best.”

He was saying all these awful things, and yet the frustration and exhaustion in every word… kind of felt reassuring.

“What you get out of your time in this university is up to you. What’s useful to you and what’s not, you’ll have to decide for yourself. You will ask your professors questions about music and art, and take every answer, even mine, as a suggestion. In regards to the question of ‘what should music be like’ there are as many answers as there are artists. My greatest hope, my main goal, is that by the end of these four years, you’ll have started on the path to find your own. This university has a bad reputation when it comes to the arts because, as an institution, they value theory above individuality. We will give you the theory, the history of music, the science behind it. Use those not as iron rules to follow, but as guidelines and tools to find your inspiration and your answers.”

I found myself smirking against my better judgement. He was basically telling us that our classes would suck, that they would be boring and was passing the responsibility of actually learning anything to us. Though I suppose learning is always your own responsibility, but still.

And yet… This had been my mindset all along when choosing this place. I knew learning would be up to me, so… I felt validated, in a way. And it was coming from the head of the department, no less. I don’t know, maybe that made it worse, but I was fine with it.

The professor sighed.“Still, even this is my personal philosophy. If you find that the way your professors do things works for you, please, follow that.” Mr. Lewis then smirked sheepishly. “And if you’d be so kind as to not go around telling everyone of this little speech of mine, I’d be very grateful.”

There was some faint laughter at that, but overall, it seemed to me like the majority of the class either didn’t know what to think of what he’d said or outright found it irresponsible. Then again, I suppose that’s the normal reaction.

Mr. Lewis then went on to give us a rundown on the classes we’d be having this semester. What they were mostly about, the professors who’d teach them and their credentials. What he said earlier began to make more sense when I heard that nearly all the professors had their backgrounds in classical music, orchestras and opera. 

For me, that meant one of two things: I would learn nothing in regard to the type of music I wanted to play and create, or I would learn to incorporate classical elements into rock and metal music. The latter option sounded far more interesting.

************

Chapter 733: Opinions.

After orientation was over, we had about two hours until the next class, which would pretty much be an introduction to one of our courses. Mr. Lewis… Or should I call him Professor Lewis? Well, after he left, I kind of expected everyone to get up and go on their ways, and that was my intention, too, but instead everyone stayed in their seats for some reason. And me, being the weirdo that I am, suddenly didn’t want to be the first one to stand up and left.

“Can you believe what he said?” one girl in the front row asked, turning around in her chair to look back at most of us. “Shouldn’t a professor, the head of the department of all things, be convincing us that we made the right choice coming here?”

“Well, would you prefer he had lied?” asked the same redheaded guy from before, the one who had been talking to Luna and Ruby. “We all knew, or at least I’d hope so, that this university didn’t have a good rep in regards to its arts majors, yet we’re here regardless.”

“Doesn’t it sound irresponsible to you?” another guy asked him. “Instead of improving things here, he’s making us shoulder the entire burden.”

Beside me, Eric grumbled and muttered, “That’s how it is, though…”

I sighed. “Yeah, but I get his point, too.”

“Learning was always going to be our responsibility,” the guy said. “Honestly, I think that what he said makes a lot of sense. In fact, I like the freedom we’re being given.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” another guy said. “You’re already earning by the thousands, aren’t you? What about those of us who feel like they’ve plateaued?”

Wait, earning by the thousands? “Is that guy famous?” I muttered to Eric.

“I suppose you wouldn’t know him since you don’t use social media,” he said in hushed tones. “He’s famous for uploading clips of himself playing all kinds of instruments, and all of them disgustingly well. Many of those clips go viral often. I believe he has a subscriber page.”

“I see…” So he’s a professional already? I wonder what he’s doing here, then.

“That’s true. I suppose some people learn faster with proper guidance…” the redheaded guy sighed. “Anyway, I’m just saying I’m fine with what he said. I’m not trying to convince anyone else to be.” He stood up, picked his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. “I’m going to grow regardless of where I am.”

“...”

The room went quiet, yet I could see some of our classmates muttering under their breath. I suppose talk like that coming from someone already successful rings hollow.

The redhead turned to Luna and Ruby, smiling like that conversation never happened. “Wanna go have lunch together?”

The two girls smiled. “Yeah, sure!” Ruby said.

Thankfully, that meant everyone else began getting ready to leave, too. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I didn’t want to be here anymore, so I stood up.

“Ah, you. The guy with the wavy dark hair!”

I flinched. Was that… me? I turned around and saw the redhead walking up to me, Luna and Ruby scowling behind him.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Would you join us for lunch?”

“Me? Why?”

“I want to talk to people who are putting their music out there already,” he said. “I want to share views and all that. Besides, you’re really cute and I’m hoping you swing this way.”

Beside me, Eric had to restrain his laughter and it ended up coming out as a snicker. The same thing happened at the very back of the classroom, too, right where I saw Julian was leaving.

I smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

“Well, shit. Lunch offer is still open, though. Show me some of your stuff. Music, I mean.”

That got a short laugh out of me. “You know what? Sure. Unless your friends are against it,” I said, looking past him to the girls behind him.

“Ah, right.” The redhead turned to Luna and Ruby. “Are you okay with this? Do you actually know him or is this just an internet grudge?”

Again, Luna and Ruby went red in the face. “W-We don’t… actually know him,” Ruby admitted.

“Cool,” the redhead said, grinning. “Then we can talk things out like the adults we now are. Speaking of, am I the only one still reeling from realizing I’m out of high school and in university already?”

I snickered. “No, I’ve been feeling that since yesterday.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one.”

Eric, feeling really awkward next to me, picked up his bag and was about to leave, but…

“Hey, you’re his friend, aren’t you? Come eat with us,” the redhead said.

“Who, me? Ah, but… I don’t… I don’t really share my music at all, so…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s not like that’s a requirement or anything. Come on, let’s all eat together.”

This guy… I guess social butterflies are everywhere. Those kinds of extroverts that just pull people to them like it’s as natural as breathing. He reminded me of Thomas, actually.

I patted Eric on the back. “We might as well, don’t you think? Or did you have other plans?”

Eric sighed and shook his head. “Not really…”

“Cool. It’s decided. Let’s go to the cafeteria. Ah, what ARE your names, by the way? I forgot to ask.”

“Eric.”

“Oliver.”

“Steven Rojas,” he said. He shook hands with Eric, then with me. He glanced back at the girls behind him, wordlessly, and kept that graze on them until they gave in.

“Luna,” the slender brunette said, shaking my hand, then Eric’s.

“Ruby,” said the curvy girl with the dyed red hair, doing the same.

It was a bit reluctant, yes, but a step-up from the hostility of the other day.

And just like that, without me doing much, if anything at all, I was part of a group already. We weren’t the only ones, either. Pretty much everyone had formed smaller groups.

And here I had mentally prepared myself to spend the entire day alone… You can’t predict anything in this world, can you?