You're the Music of My Heart

Eight: A New Chapter

The video above is a great SNK Nightcore (So Ist Es Immer) song to listen to while reading. Enjoy!!^^

When I woke up, I realized all of my friends were gone. Well, no kidding, it was 6:32. Class was at 9am like always now and I at least had time to get ready before heading over to my morning job at the coffeeshop. Because it was very popular, lots of people were on deck as staff so fortunately my shifts aligned well with orchestra class, since that was in the mornings. But I also had German and Russian in the mid-afternoon today too and then it would be replaced by European History every other day. Yeah, my schedule was tight.

I often felt bad because I didn't get to do as much stuff as I wanted to do with Armin or Jean and just hang out. That's what I did with weekends, and then I'd see my family in the holidays, for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the summertime.

I got up and headed to the bathroom where I opted to take a shower before work. I grabbed a gray undershirt, a black jeans and underwear before retreating to the warm, steamy shower. As I scrubbed my hair with foamy shampoo, I began to think of Jean. His silky blondish brown hair, his strikingly handsome hazel eyes, his black ear piercings. I wish I got to meet him so much earlier than now, he would've made a great friend. Maybe even a best friend, especially since I didn't have any.

Growing up, my family was the kind-spirited, warm-hearted, caring people everyone wished to have as a neighbor or friend. But we weren't very sociable, albeit my mom who was a social butterfly. But she was delicate and loving and supportive, while on the other hand, my dad was tall and a bit beefy and quiet. He worked at a normal office and had longer shifts but when he was home he often spent time with the family. I had an older brother named Thomas but he was much different: he was more popular and had blonde hair; he also had friends and I had to hang out with them because I didn't have any. He played sports and did woodwork shop at school while I did orchestra and math team.

We often went to the beach on Cape Cod as a kid in the summertime since we had a little cottage there and it helped me escape reality and have a getaway to my own imagination and happiness. We fished a lot or played in the sand. I often drew and played in the garden while my brother swam in a little bay just off the ocean next to our cottage. I had to watch him though in case he got hurt or something happened, and vice versa. But we had a lot of fun and it was one of the only ways to liberate my harsh high school life.

I remember coming out to my parents when I was 13. I knew I was very young to learning about my sexuality but I knew that wasn't going to change. At first they assumed that because I was "early into puberty and so far ahead of everybody else" (it was so darn embarrassing) that it was just a temporary thing. But my parents quickly found out it wasn't, but they also had a feeling I was as a really young kid.

I wasn't skinny so people also ridiculed me for being on the chubbier side. I wasn't incredibly heavy or overweight but I never lost my baby fat so I was pudgy, courtesy of my dad's genes. But no one was supportive and helped me so bullying was really a daily routine for me. One way or another, I was teased and picked on by kids in the bathroom, locker room, or other times the hall.

Long story short, it led me to be very self-conscious and it shrank my self-esteem a lot. -

I stepped out of the shower clearing my thoughts of my childhood's highest highs and lowest lows and focused on my day ahead of me.

I put on my clothes after drying myself off and brushed my teeth before heading to my car in the parking lot for work. -

After a couple of hours, I left the shop with a waving Sasha and a croissant in her mouth before driving back to campus for orchestra. I was able to talk to Sasha about what happened the other day so she let me run the coffees and pastries while she had the register. I didn't want anyone to see my black eye, and she was thankfully respectful and supportive about it.

As I stepped in class pretty early, I knew the inevitable fate, Mr. Smith immediately pulled me aside with as much finesse and as little attention as possible. I prepared myself and gulped.

"Y-yes, Mr. Smith?" I asked him. "What happened to your eye, Marco? Is everything alright?" I nodded. "What happened, if I'm able to ask." He brought up with no accusing tone. I decided that it was best for him to know so I told him the story about it. He stroked his chin and looked at me.

"Did you report it at all?" I shook my head and he seemed bothered. "Now, I've known for a while, Marco. You don't start fights ever, so this had to be something done by another person. They could get in serious trouble for it and if you don't say anything about it, they'll come right back to do it again." I sigh, remembering I had the same discussion with Jean. Simply, I told him it wasn't worth it since I didn't know who they were anyways and became silent for a minute.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Bodt. Did you get your passport and visa registered for Austria? We leave in 3 weeks." I completely forgot about Vienna for a while. I was so stressed about other things but at least I got the papers taken care of much earlier.

"Yeah, I did" He nodded in approval and handed me a large packet. "This is stuff you need to bring and pack for the trip. There's also a schedule for rehearsals and the competition, a map of Vienna, and an itinerary for everything else. And also directions to the hotel and to the concert hall. We will be discussing this for the rest of the day today unless we finish early." "Thank you, Mr. Smith. I appreciate it." He smiles. "No problem. And by the way, if you need...to talk about...er, the bullying, don't hesitate to stop by here. I'm free anytime from now until 1pm or call my work phone if necessary." "Thank you," I say again. "It means a lot." He nods and I turn around headed to my seat in the room.

By now, other students are entering the room so class must be starting soon.

The bell rings and Mr. Smith clears his throat.

"Ahem! Good morning class! I hope you had a good weekend!"

So, now I've finally made some good progress in this Fanfiction and I'm getting really excited! I will be leaving to Alaska in about two weeks so I may not be online for a while. However, that doesn't mean to refrain from you liking, commenting, or reading this by any means. But I also hope you enjoy it! By the way, if you DO like it, make sure you follow me for updates and new fanfics! Stay classy! -Andrew