The Barefoot Violinist

Where Angels Play

His life returned to normal once again, or at least it seemed so to Bennett. He spent time with his friends, but most of his focus was dedicated to his music and studies. There were no more outside influences or distractions. For a while, he enjoyed the calm of not having his emotions spike all the time, going through ups and downs like a run-away roller-coaster. He had stopped looking at his social media pages and website. Although, that didn't stop strangers from going up to him to chat or take a photo. He accepted it with good grace, but now that his plan was back on track he didn't need to look at them. They would inevitably remind him of Cory, and he didn't want to scratch that wound.

After a few weeks, Bennett realised that he'd not seen Cory at school for a while. It seemed odd to him, but he boxed away any thoughts of Cory he had. He had quite a few boxes if he had to be honest with himself. Thoughts of Cory seemed to catch him at odd times, but he never gave himself any time to dwell on them. They were not part of his plan.

"Ben! Ben!!" his head snapped over to Blue who was trying to get his attention.

"Huh?"

"Fuck Ben! Did you even listen to anything I said?" she barked. "You've got that vacant look on your face. It makes you look dumb."

"Gee thanks Blue. That's the nicest thing you've said to me today!" he said sarcastically.

Blue looked at him incredulously. "That's what you came up with? I hand you the greatest set-up and that's what you come up with? What's wrong with you?!" she slapped him playfully on the back of his head. "Anyway, word is that there is a hunt out for Bennett." she said conspiratorially leaning in closer to the other three, as if sharing a secret.

"A what?!" He yelled.

"Keep your voice down Mary." Blue shushed him. "It's a hunt for the best picture of you. It's some competition where people submit pictures of you to win some sort of big prize. Nobody knows what the prize is, so of course these dumb asses think it's cash. Very creative."

"Wait, hang on, what? So what you're saying is that random people will be taking pictures of me all the time?!" he asked horrified, as it was, he people were already doing that, but at least he knew they were doing it.

"What did I just say? Hang your tights Beyoncé." Blue rolled her eyes at him. "No, the rules are really specific about the type of photo and all of that. It's written so you won't even know people are taking photos of you! It's crazy!" She slapped her hand to her forehead in disbelief.

"So, basically I'll be stalked by a bunch of strangers and can't even pick my nose in public? Sounds nice." hew snorted. "Where did you hear about it?"

"It was on the school's online message board. Apparently the competition is only open to a select group of people who pass some test." she said looking at the three of them.

"We should enter!" Victor immediately spoke up. "No, guys, just hear me out. If there is some big prize out there, who knows? We could split it!" he looked excited by the idea.

"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard in a while." Bennett laughed at him, "And I've heard a lot of them!"

"No, he's right..." Blue looked thoughtful as she said it. "We could get the prize without even working for it! We've got the real thing right here, so we could win with almost no effort!" Blue's eyes lit up at the prospect.

"And I don't get a say in this. What am I, beef?" he flashed.

"Come on Bennett!" Victor pleaded. "You don't have to do anything. It's a photo competition. We take one pic and we win! It's just one pic, please?" he pouted his lips and made puppy eyes at Bennett.