The Pianist

T w o

He was standing before me, dressed in a suit and tie. I had never felt so gracefully perfect before.

And then I realized it was not me who was walking down the aisle. Michelle stood at my place, her hands clutched in his.

Her smile was sickening, and I could feel my stomach's repulsion.

"You may now kiss-..."

I shot straight up in bed, sweat rolling in beads down my face. Call me crazy but, I'd had that dream ever since the first day of school started.

My emotions overcame me, and I felt like a jealous monster. He wasn't mine to have. I guess my subconscious just couldn't accept that.

Avoiding Alec proved to be the most difficult. He had chorus with me. And Michelle. We shared Gym and Lunch together. With Michelle.

It's like she specifically put him in front of me only to snatch him away right as I fell into his trap. I now knew what a mouse felt like being chased by a house cat.

As I climbed into my mom's car, I put earphones in to help drown out the lingering worry of my dream. We were fortunate in the fact that the school wasn't more than ten minutes away, and many people who lived on larger pieces of land had trouble finding a bus route they could ride.

She dropped me off at the bottom of the sidewalk. I walked up to the main entrance where cliques of high schoolers waited until the first bell rang. My phone read 7:59, and I was relieved to know that I hadn't had to try to wade through the mass of kids when the bell did ring.

I found Mia and Tara together. Huddled in a small corner we had claimed for ourselves. The fall had subsided and winter was on its way so, many people wore tall boots and heavier jackets.

"Did you hear what Eric was saying to me?" She had toned down her accent, but remnants of it still clung to the vowels.

"He told everyone how we had cheated on his girlfriend, why would he do that?!" She had dumped Stephan because of the whole "long distance thing," as she put it.

Then, she had started to date this junior named Daniel. She quickly became bored with him and had a mini-affair with Eric Clapton, while he was dating Katrina Anders.

I could barely keep up with her love life, or desperation for the male species.

Breaking me out of Mia-world, she continued, "He has no right to tell anyone," by now, tears streamed down her face, makeup running from her eyes.

I handed her a few tissues, "Mia, he just wants to make you feel bad because he did an awful thing to you and Katrina, and now he has nothing," Tara soothed.

I nodded in agreement and continued, "He's not going to be someone you wanted to spend your life with, if he's willing to cheat on Katrina then what do you think he'll do when you're older?" I reasoned, and she nodded. But soon after, fell into another round of endless tears.

The bell must've already rung, or the students that had filled the space earlier would still crowd us. Tara and Mia had the first three periods free while I had to listen my chemistry teacher drone on and on about atom masses.

"I'll meet you guys in the band room after Chem, okay?" They nodded and headed to the bathroom to, no doubt, fix Mia's makeup.

I stopped by my locker, reached for my text book and headed to class. There were only a few students that arrived after I did, mostly sophmores. As Mr. Ridley checked the homework, I noticed that across the hall, Alec stood at the board clearly writing an equation of some sort. His Physics teacher, Ms. Vivian, gave him a look of approval as he sat back down.

The period dragged on, and as the bell rang, I hurried myself to the bandroom. Mia wasn't sobbing anymore, but a crack in her voice told me that she still wasn't over it.

She raced over and gave me a hug, Tara joining in. We kind of just sat there for a moment, and I suddenly became really angry with Eric. He shouldn't have hurt my bestfriend, but I knew now was not the time to start ranting.

We released, but kept our eyes on Mia seeing if she would have another meltdown. She sniffled a little, "Okay, yup, I think I'm over it," then she grabbed her bag, yelling over her shoulder, "You guys coming? Let's go get some ice cream."

Tara and I gave eachother a confused look, but that quickly turned to a grin. Our bestfriend never really had a broken heart. She became upset, and then she bought ice-cream and everything was all hunky dory.

If only I could get over someone that fast. My mind wandered to Alec, but as soon as I began to feel a longing towards him, I put up a barrier.

The cafeteria had a large ice-cream freezer. And of course, it held Ben and Jerry's. Heart-Healing Heaven, I called it. "Crap, you guys, I forgot to grab my money. I'll be back in five," they nodded and sat down at a table.

I left my wallet in the music suite, and was glad to see that it held all of my cash. The thing that startled me the most was a couple behind the percussion equipment.

Gagging I began to turn my back, until my eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the room. Sandy-blonde hair had blood-red nails running through it.

Nearly dropping my wallet, I left, the doors crashing behind me.

My breathing was rapid, and I never though that I would be so utterly broken by what I had just seen. It was unnatural for me to feel so, so... I didn't have words for it.

I heard the door open and someone yelled out name. I signed out of school and walked down to the small clearing where a circle of boulders sat.

Taking a few deep breaths and couting each one, helped clear my head. But the residual anger and disgust never diminished. I couldn't believe Alec, especially with Michelle.

I heard footsteps behind me and held my breath. Expecting Mia and Tara I released it and turned around, but Alec entered my view.

His hair was disheveled, and he noticed the outline of tears that had stopped running down my cheeks. He reached out to touch my hand but I moved it away, scooting farther from him.

"Thalia I..." he stopped and looked back up at the school. Michelle stood as close as she could get to the window.

He opened his mouth again, but before he could speak I interrupted, "Alec, she's waiting," I couldn't help the small break in my voice, but they were laced with venom and I hoped that would get my point across.

***

"Wake up Thal, come on honey wake up," Tara and Mia were standing over me.

I remembered it was the last period of the day, but as I looked around I noticed no one else was in class.

"Where did everyone go?" "It's 3:30, we were trying to find you. I guess you fell asleep in class and no one ever woke you up."

That was completely unlike me. I guess I was so distraught that Alec had been with Michelle that it completely drained me.

My mind flashed back to the images of her mouth colliding with his. I gagged, which caused Tara and Mia to look at me quizzically.

"The three-thirty bus should be here, I'll catch up with you guys later," they nodded, but still looked as if they were going to say something.

I didn't give them the chance to as I went to my locker to fish out the things I needed later that night for homework.

Rain had started outside, and I hoped no one would notice the silent tears streaming down my face.

Thank you for reading (: