The Pianist

O n e

The first day of highschool. That was a tough one. Suddenly you're on the bottom of the food chain, starting a new life,  creating a new beginning for yourself.

My summer had gone by too quickly, mostly because I had spent more than half of it at band camp.

At my school all of the kids that were anything worth while were in band. To most of you, it's a parallel universe, but that's how we worked.

I walked in through the main set of doors, searching the overflowing corridor for any sign of my friends.

I was greeted by the most unexpected pair of emerald eyes. Alec.

He hadn't changed much, other than the fact that his hair had grown out. He looked older, and then it dawned on me.

It was his senior year, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he wasn't going to want to be with a freshman.

He turned back to his conversation with Michelle. She was a senior, and apparently interested by the way she had tuned out everything else but his too-handsome face.

I ran face first into my best friend, Tara. She had been trying to get my attention until I almost ran her over.

"Thalia, hey you okay?" She put her hand on my forehead, "You look like you just saw a ghost."

I nodded in response and sat down on a nearby bench. Alec had surprised me. More than surprised. Shocked.

You know he goes to this school, Thalia, I thought to myself.

The first bell rang, signaling it was 8:00. I headed off in search of my locker, surprised to find Tara, and our other friend Mia already there, twisting the combination lock.

"Hey Mia! How was your summer?" She looked up from texting. "Oh it was great, darling." Her drauling accent reminding me of last year. 

"My parents flew me out to London to spend some time with Stephan," her newest boyfriend, I assumed.

"Sounds great, I-..." she began talking to Tara and I took that as a sign to unload my two-ton book bag into my locker.

After I had finished, and nearly broke my arms in the process, I headed to the band room to put my new band binder in my locker and look through any new music.

The beginning of the year was marching band season, as well as regular band concerts. I wasn't sure if Alec planned on doing marching, and a small part of me wished he would.

I opened the doors, mouthpiece cleaner and the sound of a piano playing bowled into my senses.

I recognized the piece, Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre. Mrs. Jameson had promised we were going to start with this piece, and I had been looking forward to learning the piano part.

During band camp, the head director had let me look over the piece, but that was only for French Horn. I had tried to transcribe it to piano, but my attempts were futile.

I hadn't bothered to look over at who was playing the piano, and as soon as my eyes found the tall, blonde-haired senior I hid my face in my new chemistry book.

He hadn't noticed me so far, until my band locker door creaked open. Alec's head whipped up, making it look like he had been completely lost in the music.

"Hey Thalia," his voice strained. "Alec" I greeted.

"How was your summer?" He had coughed to keep his voice at the normal baritone.

"Short, but good," I walked over to the piano and noticed that there wasn't any music in front of him, he had been playing from memory.

Noticing I was staring, he coughed slightly, making our awkwardness increase.