The Magic In His Music by Beatit777
Summary: To escape her unhappy reality, 11-year-old Maria DeJardin
seeks solace in the music, and the magic of the angelic voice of young child music prodigy Michael Jackson. Disclaimer: This story is fictional. Any inclusion of a real fan's name is purely coincidental.
Categories: Jackson 5: 1965-1975, Family, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Michael, Original Girl
General Warnings: None
Trigger Warnings: Emotional Abuse
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 2 Completed: Yes Word count: 4261 Read: 1707 Published: May 12, 2017 Updated: May 12, 2017
Story Notes:
The Magic In His Music is the most autobiographical of my stories. Enjoy

1. A Typical School Day by Beatit777

2. The Magic In His Music by Beatit777

A Typical School Day by Beatit777
After overseeing his students, to ensure the twenty eleven-year-olds had understood the instructions of the assignment, Kurtis Statler, a sixth-grade teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada, made himself comfortable in the chair behind his desk, and proceeded to grade the papers and quizzes his students had recently taken-and recorded grades earned by each student beside each student's name in his grade book.

As often happens, whenever the teacher's attention is diverted elsewhere, a handful of Mr. Statler's more easily distracted students began to talk and laugh amongst themselves, while one or two more students (also easily distracted) began to look for ways to create mischief in the classroom. Soon, after spotting classmate Maria Louise DeJardin, busy at work on the assignment, one of the mischief minded students tore a piece from the corner of a piece of paper from his notebook, and after scribbling a message, folded the paper into a neat little triangle (which he then aimed at Maria's desk), and sent it hurtling through the air with the help of his thumb and middle finger-watching as the little paper projectile came to rest in the middle of the sheet of paper Maria was presently writing on.
Having her focus on her assignment interrupted by the plop of the paper projectile, and tempted to crumple up the 'gift' but at the same time curious to see the written message inside, Maria carefully unfolded and opened the paper fragment to find written inside: "Hey..Retardin...look over here." before looking across the room at her classmate, only to find him mockingly sticking out and waggling his tongue, while simultaneously pulling down the corners of his eyes with his fingers, before chuckling heartlessly at his mimicking of classmate Maria's physical attributes.

Shortly, after beginning his paper grading task, Kurtis Statler, annoyed by the noise his easily distracted, talkative students had been making, closed his grade book, set aside his papers, and after retrieving a legal pad and a ruler, set to work creating a list consisting of squares representing the desks of the students, as well as a list of students' names, beside which were numbers which Mr. Statler spent the remainder of the class time, before afternoon recess, placing in each of the twenty squares on the legal sheet.

"Alright kids...Kids!" Mr. Statler called out, attempting to quiet his noisiest students by rapping his knuckles on the top of his desk, a noise Maria had heard before to which she pled under her breath: "No...Please, Mr. Statler...not another seating chart...please!" as her teacher continued by instructing his students to: "Empty out your desks, take your stuff with you, and line up in front of that wall." while indicating the wall inlaid with a bay of windows facing the playground.

'Line up in front of that window, and listen for your names, and your new seat numbers..." As Maria watched, as her classmates listened to, and obediently followed their teacher's instruction to relocate themselves, and their belongings to new desks arranged according to another of their teacher's seating charts, charts their teacher made whenever his students annoyed him with their natural talkativeness, or rambuncteouness, Maria nervously waited, as the memories of the last five years...years of endless taunting by classmates who perceived her physical attributes as 'funny looking' or 'abnormal'--years of attempting to stop the taunting and laughter, only to be told (by so-called friends): "Just ignore em...they'll go away." Years of seeking help from her teacher and/or principal, only to have her pleas ignored...Years of showing interest in helping out in the cafeteria or other areas of the school, only to be told: "You need to learn to get along with people better...Seemingly endless years of attempting to escape the torment of her bullies by leaving school without permission, only to be gently scolded by her mother, and sent back to school following a phone call from the school's principal...Seemingly endless years of bullying culminating in this moment, as an 11-year-old in her sixth and final year as a student at Agnes Risley Elementary School...Memories which served to increase the fear Maria now felt, the fear of being required to sit next to yet another of her bullies, and to endure further taunting and rejection, a fear which, when mixed with the desire for the taunting to end, led Maria to cry out, when she heard her name and seat assignment: "Mr. Statler, you can't keep doing this...The other kids keep making fun of me! They make fun of me all the time!...You can't keep making me sit next to them!...You can't...you just can't!" a plea to which Kurtis Statler replied, with a stunned but unsympathetic gasp: "Heavens!', as Maria's classmates watched in silence, as the bell announcing afternoon recess could be heard over the school's intercom system, leading their teacher to excuse them, while seeming to put to rest his seating chart discipline idea.

All through recess, her classmates (not understanding Maria's feelings), wishing to forget Maria's outburst, and seeming defiance of her teacher's instructions, ignored Maria, and busied themselves at various playground activities, leaving Maria to play by herself at one side of the playground. After tiring of the solitude of her game of tether ball, and finding the game of hopscotch another classmate was engaging in more interesting, Maria crossed over to the classmate, and proceeded to join the game, only to be told (as the classmate gathered her hopscotch implements (stones and a piece of chalk) and moved to another area of the play ground: "Get away from me!...You embarrassed the whole class!" Knowing her classmates had no idea of how hurtful their treatment of her was, and knowing she didn't deserve to be treated so heartlessly, especially for things she knew she had no control over(for example her physical appearance-which consisted of long, slender arms and legs, a tallness of stature (5'7" to be precise), an oval shaped face, and eyes which just happened to slope gently down at the corners.), Maria found a second stone, and proceeded to take over the hopscotch grid abandoned by her classmate, continuing the game (undisturbed) until the sounding of the bell signifying the end of recess prompted Maria and her classmates to return to their classroom, and to the desks and chairs they'd occupied prior to their teacher's most recent attempt at rearrangement of students (to separate the talkative mischief makers from their friends), an attempt Mr. Kurtis Statler had seemingly abandoned, since on mention of seating charts was made (at least to Maria's recollection) for the remainder of the school year.

After the final bell sounded, dismissing the students of Agnes Risley Elementary for the remainder of the school day, Maria placed her school books in the woven white/pink striped basket fastened to the handle bars of her green and white bicycle (which she unfastened from her space in the bicycle rack, before wrapping the chain link combination bike lock around th e metal rod which held the seat to the rest of the bicycle), mounted the bicycle, backed the front wheel of the cycle out of the bike rack, and pedaled home along the dirt path leading the eleven-year-old from the school, past the local swimming pool, neighboring jr. high school, and performing arts gazebo, and down into her neighborhood at the end of the dirt path.

After pedaling through her neighborhood,arriving at the house she shared with her mom and dad, pedaling up the driveway,dismounting the bicycle, and securing the cycle out of sight behind the attractive wrought iron pillar connected to the roof overhang sheilding the front porch from the morning sun, Maria retrieved her school books from her bicycle basket, crossed up on to the front porch, retrieved her house key from the colorful ribbon draped around her neck, unlocked the front door, entered the house and closed the door behind her.

"Hi, Sweetie." Maria's mom, an attractive brunette in her forties, dressed in the casual slacks and top popular in the early 1970's,( presently at work in the family's kitchen,) called out as Maria crossed through the living room, into the dining room (divided by an attractive partition made of four leaf clover patterns cut into the partitions smooth, white painted wood), where she set down her school books, binder, and lunch box, before pulling out the chair at the center of the table, and making herself at home, bottom on her chair, elbows on the table, her chin resting atop her two fists.

"How was school?' asked mom Lillian, as she continued her current task in the kitchen, as Maria allowed herself to be distracted from the thoughts of the events of her day at school, by watching the antics of family pet Leander, as the feline ascended the wood partition, draped his slim fur-covered body over the top of the partition, and proceeded to entertain himself (and Maria) with a game of 'Grab the tail', as he reached an eager paw (or paws) through one of the cut outs in the wood, in an effort to capture the tip of his long, ellusive, equally fur-covered tail.

'The kids made fun of me again, and Mr. Statler wanted to make another seating chart."

"Ahh...I'm sorry Sweetie." Lillian DeJardin replied sympathetically, well aware of the bullying her only daughter had been subjected to since the beginning of her first grade year as a student at Agnes Risley Elementary School in the Reno Nevada suburb of Sparks, Nevada. 'Well, at least tomorrow is Saturday, and you know what that means.' Lillian concluded brightly with a hinting in her voice, and a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah!...No school!" Maria replied enthusiastically, her expression brightening, as the thought of not seeing her heartless, mean-spirited classmates, and her teachers (who it seemed (at least to Maria) cared more about the amount of money in their paychecks than in the well being of their students) brought a smile to her face, and helped her cheer up enough to sit back in her chair at the dining table, as she continued to enjoy the antics of her tail-grabbing feline house pet.

A few hours later, after Maria, her mom Lillian, and her dad Daniel DeJardin (a research scientist with a local university whose slender six-foot one inch build, brown hair and blue eyes complimented his wife's slim five foot six inch frame brunette hair and dark brown eyes, and when combined created offspring Maria's five foot seven inch frame, shoulder-length brown hair, and contrasting hazel eyes) enjoyed their evening meal together, at which time mom, dad, and daughter shared with one another the events of their individual days, before splitting up, and retiring to their rooms of choice: Lillian to the kitchen to tidy up, Daniel to his den to further relax from a long day at the university laboratory. Maria followed her mom and dad's lead (and instructions), and retired to her bedroom where, after changing into her play clothes, and depositing her school clothes in the hamper near the doorway to her room, Maria made herself comfortable on her tummy on her bed, and proceeded to do the math problems, as well as write the sentences her teacher had given her and her classmates for homework, along with a reading assignment with questions about the reading, the same questions Maria was attempting to answer when she was interrupted by the heartless, mean-spirited taunting of the classmate whose antics (among others) had threatened to subject Maria to another new seating assignment at the hands of her seating chart favoring sixth grade teacher who seemed to think reassigning all his students would keep the handful of talkative students separated, thus solving the discipline problem (or so Mr. Statler assumed), but in reality was only a temporary fix, a fact demonstrated by the recurring talkativeness of the students, and the recurring creation of seating charts by Mr.Kurtis Statler.

Following the completion of her homework assignments-except for a couple of the math problems (one a complex, long-division problem with a two digit divisor, and a quotent (or answer) requiring correct placement of a decimal point; the other a Pre-Algebra problem where "X" was equal to 'plus or minus a/b' (with a being equal to -5 and b being equal to 10)", Maria, after closing her text books, and stacking them with her binder and other school supplies on the shelf fastened to the wall facing her bed, crossed to her stereo system (setting on a lower shelf on the same wall as her shelf with the school supplies), opened the lid, after taking a minute to look through her rack of long-playing 33 1/3 record albums before selecting her favorite album (one with a cover photograph of five brothers with chocolate brown skin, and afros-and the label reading "The Jackson Five") , removing the vinyl disc from the card board jacket, placing it on the stereo turn table (by sliding the disc down the metal spindle through the hole in the center of the vinyl disc), depressing the stereo's on/off lever, thus activating the stereo, and allowing the pleasant sounds of the songs on the album to be heard through the accompanying stereo speakers...


The Magic In His Music (c) 2016
The Magic In His Music by Beatit777
Author's Notes:
This chapter depicts the fantasy world Maria finds herself in when she listens to Michael's music
...The following morning, as Maria approached Agnes Risley Elementary School, and pedaled through the parking lot toward the row of bicycle storage racks located beside the entrance to the school, the eleven-year-old couldn't help but be aware of a noticeable difference in the surroundings of the school, the absence of her fellow students for instance, the sound of a familiar tune heard from somewhere within the school building for another.

"Where is everybody?...What's going on?" Thought Maria to herself, as she proceeded to fasten and lock her bicycle to her accustomed space in the bike rack, before looking around, trying to determine the source of the music (an up-beat, cheerful tune which seemed familiar to Maria, though she couldn't be sure of the source...

"You went to school to learn, Girl,
things you never never knew before,
like 'I' before 'E' except after 'C"
and two plus two is four."...came the familiar voice of a singer Maria perceived to be the same age as herself.

'I know that song...'ABC" by the Jackson Five." Maria thought to herself, as she continued through the unusually empty hallways before arriving at a room that seemed to contain the source of the music Maria was presently hearing .

"The cafeteria!?!" Maria thought to herself, as she remembered the cafeteria of Agnes Risley Elementary being used for performances by her and her fellow students in the past. 'Oh no! I'm late!" thought Maria briefly before being reassured by a quick glance at the watch fastened to her wrist by a navy blue leather strap.

"What's going on in there now?" Maria continued, as she grasped one of the two door handles, and pulled, finding she had access to the cafeteria, where upon entering she found herself facing the source of the music: the same five, brown skinned, afro'd brothers whose record albums she'd listened to countless times, and who she was now watching in person: her all-time favorite music group: The Jackson Five...

"Reading, writing, 'rithmetic
are the branches of the learning tree,
'I before E' except after C..."

...Michael continued, as if from out of nowhere, masses of school children (none of whom Maria recognized as her heartless, mean-spirited classmates) entered the cafeteria from somewhere outside, surrounded the stage occupied by Michael and his brothers, and began to dance to the music, as Maria sat watching from the back of the cafeteria, her mind filling with questions regarding the identities of the children presently dancing in the middle of the cafeteria; children who seemed to be nothing like the classmates Maria remembered so vividly-kids for whom a rousing game of dodge ball on the playground was a pleasure, and participation in any performing arts activity was a repulsion.

"Oh, hey I know...It's Saturday...That's why none of the teachers are here...or the principal." Maria thought to herself brightly at the prospect of a school day off from being teased and made fun of. Maria's brightness soon gave way to confusion, as her thoughts continued:

"But, wait a minute...If it's Saturday then why did I get dressed and come to school if nobody else did? And why did my mom make me come to school like she usually does? And who are all those kids? I don't recognize any of 'em...I'm not at the wrong school, am I?" Maria continued, as she looked around the cafeteria, and spotted the metal name plate (with the name "AGNES RISLEY ELEMENTARY" engraved in it) fastened to the top of the door frame. "No, this is my school...But those can't be my classmates...And what are the Jackson Five doing here?, I'm the only one who listens to their music...All my classmates (the girls) act so silly about that DORKY Donny Osmond." Maria's thoughts continued, as she felt herself shake her head and roll her eyes.

"C'mon, Girl!...I think I love ya!" Maria heard the voice of the Jackson Five's cute little brown-skinned lead singer Michael call out to her, as if, from out of nowhere, Maria found herself surrounded by the happy, dancing school children, all smiling at Maria, as young Michael, having moved from his place on the makeshift stage at the opposite end of the cafeteria, moved toward Maria, encouraging her to join the other students as he sang:

"Shake it. Shake it, Baby...C'mon now...
Shake it. Shake it, Babe...'

an invitation Maria found herself having trouble resisting, due to the infectious nature of the music, as well as the encouragement of the friendly, smiling children, who cheered Maria on, as young Michael and his brothers continued singing:

"ABC...Easy as 123...
Do-Re-Mi...ABC...123
Baby, you and ME!"...

"Hi, my name's Michael...What's your's?" Michael asked Maria following the end of the song, as the other children cheered and applauded Michael and his brothers for their performance...

"I'm Maria." Maria answered, having to lean close to Michael's ear in order to be heard above the cheering and clapping.

"Hey, everybody! Michael replied, in response to Maria's answer, as he attempted to quiet the others down so he could be heard. Hey, everybody!...Let's say HI to MARIA!", to which the other children responded with a friendly, boisterous HI MARIA !", followed by more cheering and applause, a response which led Maria to suddenly fear being the center of all the attention she was presently getting, a fear which led her to begin looking around for the nearest exit, as the thought of a past scenerio in which she had been the center of attention prior to becoming the victim of a practical joke by her mean-spirited classmates returned to her mind.

'Oh no...Not again" Maria heard herself murmur, as she felt herself instinctively starting to back up, as though readying herself to flee the area at the next possible moment.

"Hey, Maria...Where ya goin?" One of the pleasant, smiling students was heard to ask, as Maria attempted to push her way through the wall of students which now surrounded her.

"Maria?...Hey...What's wrong?" young Michael was heard to ask, as he, as he and the girl who had questioned Maria previously, joined Maria in her newly found 'safe area' on one of the benches beside one of the walls to the side of the stage in the cafeteria...

"Th-this SAME thing happened J-Just before the other kids..."Maria continued, before trailing off, as she shook her head, a look of sadness on her face...

"..The other kids, what?"...Huh?" young Michael continued kindly, a look of concern on his young face, as he tried to understand Maria's situation.

"I think I know..." answered the girl. "They welcomed you...surrounded you...and then they played a prank on you, huh...didn't they?"..."It's okay...it's happened to all of us..." the girl continued, kindly as she reached for, and gently touched Maria's shoulder, causing Maria to flinch a little, and look at the girl cautiously for a moment, as another of the happy smiling children who'd welcomed Maria came over while inquiring: 'What's happened to all of us?", to which the first girl reminded the current child of the past experiences with being bullied and rejected, to which the current child replied: "Oh yeah...happens to ME all the time...i STILL have pranks played on me..." this statement leading Maria to reply: "You DO?", to which the child, a boy of about the same age as Maria replied "Oh SURE...and I hate it...but now i listen to Michael and..."

"MICHAEL!!!...GET YOUR DAMN RODENT OUT OF HERE!!!!" came the deep booming voice of an adult male, whose identity was still unknown to Maria and some of her new friends, a sound which led some of the children who were scared of rodents to run for cover, as Michael obediently crossed over to the center of the cafeteria floor, and gently picked up the little rodent in question as it sat frozen, cowering, soon to be calmed by Michael's soft voice as he sang (to music which played softly from a distant unknown source):

"Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you my friend will see
You've got a friend in me...

"Ben, you're always running here and there
(Here and there.." came the echoed voices of young Michael's four older brothers)
You feel you're not wanted anywhere..."
(Anywhere..."again echoed by the voices of Michael's brothers)
If you ever look behind
And don't like what you find
There's something you should know
You've got a place to go...."

"Oh Michael..." Maria heard herself whisper, as she found herself relating strongly to the little rodent now being stroked lovingly on it's fur-covered back by the gentle fingers of its young master as he continued singing. "Oh Michael...You're singing MY song!" Maria heard herself exclaim, tears streaming down her face, leading others of the happy, smiling, now compassionate children who had related their stories of being bullied and rejected by their classmates, leading Maria to feel better, realizing there were others who shared her experiences, others who now surrounded her, and comforted her, as Michael did...not only with his words but also with his actions.

"I'm sorry that's happening to you, Maria...That's happening to all these kids too." said Michael, sitting next to her, holding her hand, on the bench in the 'safe area' in the cafeteria of the elementary school. "I don't sing what I don't mean." he continued, leading Maria to reply, with a nod: "Oh, I know." as some of the other children who shared Maria's experiences of bullying and rejection (including the two who first befriended her) crossed over to the safe area, and sat and stood beside Maria and Michael, as the music to yet another song recorded by Michael and his brothers began to play softly from an unknown source:

"You and I must make a pact...", sang Michael again in the clear angelic voice Maria was oh so familiar with. The voice, which every time she heard it, brightened her day and made her feel as though everything would be okay, in spite of the brutal sounds of the heartless words of the classmates she spent most of her time with five school days a week..

"... we must bring salvation back
Where there is love, I'll be there

I'll reach out my hand to you, I'll have faith in all you do

Just call my name and I'll be there..."

"...Miss Dejardin!...Put your transistor radio away, and pay attention..." came the firm voice of Maria's teacher, the following school day, as Maria once again sat with her heartless, taunting classmates, most of whom (following the outburst of protest by Maria with regard to the newest attempt at seating chart implementation the previous Friday)chose to simply ignore Maria, rather than risk the embarrassment of another outburst by one who they (the other children) felt should have just done what she was told, and NOT made a fuss.

"Yeah, RETARDIN...Put that radio away!" Ronald Brently, the mischief minded 11-year-old who sought pleasure in taunting Maria, chimed in, as he again poked fun at Maria's physical attributes by pulling down the corners of his (Ronald's) eyes, and waggling his tongue; leading teacher Kurtis Statler to reply, with a smirk of amusement "Pipe down, Mr. Brently.", as Maria obeyed her teacher, removed the ear phone from her ear, wrapped the cord around her hand-held transistor radio, and placed the device in her desk, before turning her attention toward her teacher at the front of the class room...

As Maria sat among her classmates, the 11-year-old found her thoughts returning to the previous day, and her 'chance?' meeting with young Michael Jackson, his brothers, and the legion of school children with whom Maria found had been treated as outsiders by their peers, and found solace, and encouragement when they would listen to music by Michael and his brothers, music which Maria now found 'playing' in her young mind:

(Michael): I'll be there...I'll be there....
Whenever you need me, I'll be there...
Just look over your shoulders, Honey!"
I'll be there...
I'll be there...
Just call my name...
...I'll Be There "

...Music which Maria felt encouraged by, encouraged and strengthened, and no longer as beaten down by the taunting of her classmates, and the heartless indifference of her teacher as in the past.






The Magic In His Music (c) 2016
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