Perfect Pitch

[Kyle Underly]

"Ah, the courtyard, meeting place of the student body, where everyone frolics and plays in the sunshine," Kyle said, before taking a deep breath. His hands were on his hips and he stared out at the sunlit area as if he'd already staked his claim on it. The young man took a few steps forward, humming to himself as he went. yeah, he was awesome, and these people were learning it real quick. Some already knew, but give it time. Give. It. Time.

As he walked, however, he caught something that wasn't his own humming. He paused for a bit, craning his ear to catch the words and all. "Hark, an acoustic performance on the green? And is that a female's voice I hear?" He gave his eyebrows a bob as if performing for an unseen audience. Grinning, he leaned forward a little further. "Not bad, not bad at all. Let's get a little closer, shall we?"

Kyle then casually strode closer. He wasn't surprised to see a girl there, singing, likely to herself or to some smallish audience or something. Not to Kyle (again: give it time). "Not bad," Kyle called to her in a lull. "You're," he held his fingers up, barely separating thumb and forefinger, "about that much sharp," he said, before moving forward. "But not bad, not bad at all," and he flashed her his most charming smile, confident that he was about to blow her pretty mind.

Addison Sloane

[Addison Sloane]

Addison strummed a few notes on her guitar, accompanied with a bit of humming before she paused, quirking her pursed lips to one side as she jotted down the notes in the blue notebook that was opened on the grass.

You're the guiding light
For my ship to trail

Frowning, she bit her lower lip and rubbed out the words.

You're the guiding light
Carrying me through the waters

Sighing, she shrugged and decided to forego the writing for the day and do a cover instead. From a cheesy 90s boy band no less.

It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you
And when we are apart I feel it too
And no matter what I do I feel the pain
With or without you

She strummed her guitar haphazardly just as a guy came up to her, telling her she was sharp. She raised an eyebrow, her grip on her guitar tightening a little. She handled criticism well, really well, but not when it was given to her in a school courtyard.

"Thanks." She responded flatly before continuing with her cover.

[Kyle Underly]

"aww, c'mon now no reason to be like that," Kyle said. He walked a bit closer, studying the girl as he did. She looked vaguely familiar, like someone that Kyle felt like he should know from sight or something like that. She'd already started singing again, probably more than ready to brush him off. Well, Kyle Underly was not one to be ignored, particularly not by some girl who he thought looked kinda sorta maybe a little familiar.

Plus, he knew the song (who didn't?) and could easily roll into it. He could even match his pitch to harmonize perfectly with hers (without going subordinate, because Kyle Underly did not play second fiddle to anyone, no sir):


Baby I don't understand
Just why we can't be lovers
Things are getting out of hand
Trying too much, but baby we can't win

And of course Kyle had to show off his dance moves too, sliding over the grass and moving perfectly in time with the music. By the time he hit the chorus, he decided to start showing off a little more: Projecting his voice just behind her shoulder while he sang right along with the chorus. Yeah, he could definitely get into this.

[Addison Sloane]

Addison looked up at the boy when he started to sing along with her and dance. It bothered her when she realised his voice was suddenly everywhere. She stopped singing and started to pack up.

While he was so distracted by his own apparent awesomeness, Addison stood up and slung her guitar over her shoulder and turned to leave.

The dude loved himself, that much she realised. So while he did that, she would very much rather be anywhere else.

[Kyle Underly]

The whole performance definitely took Kyle's focus and attention, so much so that he naturally forgot about the person he'd actually be performing for. Why would he? She was just a moderately attractive girl with pretty decent pitch and skills. No one that he should really do more than talk to for a little while. But as he was about to hit the chorus again, Kyle noticed that she'd packed up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, moving forward and darting around to stand in front of her. "What's the rush? It's all about the performance, and we were doing so good there," or at least he was, and that's what counted. He gave her his most charming, charismatic smile. "How often are you gonna get an opportunity to sing with someone like me? C'mon," he extended his arms wide, giving her a "you know you wanna love me" look (which he called look #2).

[Addison Sloane]

Addison had to take a step back so that she wouldn't slam into the guy when he suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision. She rolled her eyes and thought: "Ugh he's one of those." She clutched onto the straps of her guitar and shifted her weight on to her left leg.

His smile rubbed her the wrong way, she wasn't sure exactly why.

She leaned back a little and gave him a look of utter incredulity at his sheer cheek. "Who in the hell are you exactly?" She asked.

[Kyle Underly]

Yep, Kyle recognized that look, and he knew that this one was probably a lost cause, at least for this go around. Still, even if she knew him for all the wrong reasons, she still knew who he was. That was progress. And he could probably spin this somehow or, for all he knew, she was one of those who nobody liked and her going against him would work to his advantage. See? All sorts of ways he still came out of this the obvious winner.

The question had him rocking back. "Kyle Underly," he replied, raising his brows. "And there's no need for the hostility. Who wouldn't want to join in when they heard something like that?" Kyle nodded. "You're pretty good at this whole thing, ever thought of actually doing something with it? I could totally set you up with some YouTube vids or something."

There, that should work. Most of these guitar playing, girl types went gaga over the chance at having a nibble of fame. Kyle couldn't even begin to count how many he'd gotten with the YouTube line (which is why his vids were filled with special guests, obviously).

[Addison Sloane]

Admittedly, the name did ring a bell. Addison wasn't entirely sure where she had ever heard it but fact of the matter was, he wasn't a complete stranger. Which just made her all that frustrated that he thought there was a problem with her singing.

"Thanks. Good to know my livelihood is good enough for YouTube." She snorted and tried to walk away again. Was that where she'd heard of him from? YouTube? Kyle Underly...

Oh God, he was that child star before, wasn't he...

[Kyle Underly]

The snorting nearly had Kyle wincing. Livelihood? "Hey, no offense met: we all gotta start somewh--" but Kyle paused for a moment, mostly because she'd paused. He could almost swear he could hear the wheels grinding, that incoming moment of recognition fast approaching. He took a few more steps to swing out in front of her again.

"You," he said with the utmost confidence, "just realized who you're talking to, right? It's cool," Kyle leaned back, "I get that. The whole brash, arrogant guy bashing the talented musician on the square. I'd probably hate me too. But hey," Kyle spread his arms wide, "I know what I'm talking about. Plus I've got a power that helps too, hence the pitch thing."

He smirked, knowing that his ability had a tendency to really impress musician types. He was betting this one was the whole, hit the coffee shops live from her art sort. Yeah, he could totally win her over.

[Addison Sloane]

"Start somewhere? Where exactly do you get off?" She demanded with a humourless laugh. "And yeah, you're the douchebag I kept switching my TV off on. Hey, no offense met. We all gotta start somewhere."

Oh this guy was so full of himself. She was reminded of Rob for a minute but then she remembered, he wasn't arrogant. He was confident. But this one...this one was something else.

Had he been less of a douche, the fact that he had such a useful ability would have actually impressed her. But not only had he insulted her pitch, something she had never had a problem with, he had also been such a douche about it. And he was still being a douche about it too. She shook her head and turned back to leave.

"You need to work on your presentation, slick."