Pieces of My Heart

Chapter 1

I close my eyes, the beautiful piano pulling my heartstrings.

I didn't know how else to explain the feeling that overcame me whenever I listened to the intricately played songs flooding through my ears.

The earbuds in my ears shake with the sheer volume of the songs, every now and again I need to lower the volume, however I always turn it up again later.

Children chatter around me, throwing balls and playing cards. The odd toy hitting me while I listen to the piano, but I Ignore them all. Even when they ask me to shut my blinds, I just ignore them.

"Aelita... Aelita!" My brother says from beside me, poking me in my side.

I take my earbud out, the wireless object clutched in my hand, my brother gestures to the window and I spot the end of the bridge that leads to school.

I take the other earbud out, pausing spotify as I turn my phone fully off.

The children get up from their seats, bouncing around as the bus driver yells at them to sit down.

I sigh, the thought of school making me want to go to sleep. I scratch at my neck, the white shirt collar itchy and the tie bunching up at my stomach, making me look sort of plump.

My younger brother hops up, pushing the boy in front of him into the others. I look away, the sight bothering me intensely. He often got into trouble, and of course he couldn't help it, he had some sort of issues that my family had been trying to find out what they were exactly. The other year 7 boys in his classes had started pushing him, and now he is doing it to others...

What can I do...?

My waterproof bag weighs me down, almost forcing me to fall over even though I'm 5,8 and not the lightest person ever.

"Aelita, you can go." Anna stops by my seat, allowing me to go in front of her, I give her thanks and continue down the centre of the bus.

The bus driver grunts as I hop off and I take it as a good day, even though he doesn't say it.

Anna follows me off and we walk through the school to our lockers. We chat about the cold weather and how annoying the winter uniform is. She tells me all about her new kitten and I mention my dog. It pushes my upset mood from the morning away, and gives me hope of a possibly good day.

I drop my bag on top of my locker and wince at the loud sound.

Hope I don't draw too much attention.

I zip open it and clutch my laptop and pencil case, the new laptop is my most prized possession. It has all my writing on it and I don't know what I would do without it.

'Hellos' erupt as I enter the homeroom, my friends telling me all about their weekends. Only a couple out of the bunch asking about my own weekend. I smile and say it was fine, when I know it was the worst weekend ever.

Tears prick the corners of my eyes as I remember the helpless feeling of seeing my messy room so... messy. And falling asleep with books by my feet, hair products that fell off the bed as I wriggled about.

But I suck them back up, and instead sit silently imaging myself playing the gorgeous piano songs I listened too.

But I will never be as talented as I wish to be.

The bell rings and we file out of the room, onto our first period of the seven.

One of the girls came up beside me, "Hey, what decision did you make?"

I'm confused and have no idea what she's talking about. She must notice my puzzled expression and asks her question again.

"What decision did you make about those three subjects in Block B?"