The Barefoot Violinist

School on Monday was a nightmare. For the first time in a long time, he wished to be invisible again. The pointing, staring and unashamed gawking was getting on his nerves. Also, the fact that students were taking photos of him at random intervals, felt uncomfortable. It got so bad that he rushed to the music room to get some peace.

"Dude! What did you do?" Victor asked as Ellie and Blue followed quickly behind.

"Ask Cory. Apparently, this was his great idea." Bennett scowled at each of them.

Then all their phones beeped at once. They all looked down, Victor holding his up after a moment, mouth open, looking from Bennett to the others. "Is this really you?" He asked his mouth still open.

"What now?!" Bennett snapped, taking Victor's phone and playing the video. It was one they had shot together on Sunday. Cory had taken him to different spots, making him play for him. Bringing different clothes, telling him where to stand. He even got a drone out, which confused Bennett further, but he allowed Cory to continue. He was half mortified, half impressed by the video, which transitioned so smoothly it looked professional.

"That's basically soft porn with a music track." Blue snorted at Bennett. "Why's your shirt got to be open the whole time though? Does it make the music sound better?" she frowned at him, then broke out in laughter.

"It's not opened the whole time. I didn't even know Cory was going to do all this." he defended himself, gesturing to their phones.

"Well, look, we are going to be the popular kids now..."

"By association..." Ellie added with a smile.

"That too" Victor continued, "so we need a game plan. I'll book all your blind dates, Blue will get rid of the psychos and Ellie, you can try and find him shirts that actually close!" The three fell about laughing at his expense. In the end he joined them at the thought of the ridiculous situation he found himself in.

Getting to his locker, he was surprised to see a dark-haired boy standing there. Ignoring him, Bennett grabbed some books and shut the door.

"So, you're the Barefoot Violinist." he drawled, smiling lazily at Bennett while looking him slowly up and down. "I'm Xavier." he held out his hand to Bennett, who only looked at it, before looking up at Xavier again. "Don't worry, I don't want to be a groupie, I just thought I'd say 'hi'." he smiled seductively, his white teeth standing out against his olive skin.

"Who are you?" Cory asked rudely, coming up from behind Bennett.

"I was just introducing myself to the delightful Bennett here." he winked at Bennett. "We'll chat again when we have more privacy." he threw a grin to Cory, before pushing off the lockers and strolling away.

"I don't like him. Who was that?" Cory frowned at Xavier's back.

"I don't know, you tell me." Bennett sighed. "You caused this." he said as they walked out of the school building.

"If you weren't so damn hot playing your violin, then we wouldn't have this problem." Cory looked over at him. "Oh, and you've been booked to play this Friday at the school cheer rally." Cory continued steering Bennett to his car.

"When did this happen? And when did you become my manager?" he insisted.

"Just give me a kiss and stop worrying. My forever angel baby Bennett!" Cory smiled down at him, leaning in for a kiss.

"I'm just Bennett and I'm not yours!" Bennett snapped at him suddenly. Hearing Cory call him that always made him feel like he was missing something important. The question is, does he still want to know what it was?

--

Friday afternoon, Bennett stood barefoot in front of the school in the auditorium. He absolutely refused to unbutton half his shirt as Cory had asked. Looking over, he saw Cory standing in the wings, holding his thumbs up and grinning like a fool.

Since Cory had started all the online channels to market Bennett and his music, the response had been astounding. Within a week they had over a million views, with Cory suggesting bigger and better plans. Even the merchandise which Bennett scoffed at, was selling out faster than they could get new stock. Bennett has to admit, Cory had a talent for this type of thing. Maybe he should hire him as a manager, after all. He has certainly raised his profile within a short space of time.

Smiling over at Cory, Bennett lifted the bow of the violin, closed his eyes and started playing. He opened his eyes to tumultuous applause and shouts from the student body. Cory nudged him to play another, this time a pop song that everybody was familiar with, something that he rarely did, but Cory said that this would push up views. More views meant more money, meant more opportunities. The crowd was screaming and shouting his name as he left the stage. Walking into Cory's waiting arms, he smiled up at him.

"How did you know?" Bennett asked, looking back at the crowd.

"Easy, you need to think like a teenager. We like sex, fame and being cool. So, we sell them sex by keeping you half naked, fame they get by association and they are cool just by following you.

"No, you're basically selling my body to make a buck." Bennett smacked him on the ass as he moved to put his violin away.