The Pianist

Chapter One :)

I sat down at my piano and found a piece of paper sitting on top of it. 

"Hello Pianist, I think your piano is out of tune. You should probably fix it :)" They wrote, as if the piano was my responsibility and not the schools? I was playing it yesterday- I had no more classes and the music teacher liked me enough to let me in. I liked to practice before I had to go back home. Whoever put this note here must've done it after I left, which I thought was a bit weird, innit? It was the end of the day and class was over. Were they waiting for me the whole time, listening to me practice, judging me? That thought made my skin crawl. 

Either way, I reached into my backpack and pulled out a notebook. I tore off the corner of a page and I wrote:

"I'm guessing you play piano too then, if you can tell so easily. A repair man is coming on Tuesday to fix it." 

--

I walked into the music class after lunch, having devoured the best lunch from the cafeteria- hotdog with ketchup- and sat down at the piano, ready to rehearse with my group. I lifted the lid that covers the keys, only to find a scrap of paper kept underneath. When I unfolded it, I saw it was a response to the note I'd left the mysterious piano player! The pianist, if you will. While my group readied their sheet music, I wrote back to them:

"Hello Pianist, that's good to hear. By the way... Was that a My Chemical Romance song you were playing yesterday? They're my favourite and it sounded like it :)"

I tucked the note into my pocket and made sure to leave it on the piano when class was over, praying that we were the last music lesson of the day. After school I walked past the room on my way to the school bus and saw a new note on the piano! I ducked in and grabbed it before leaving and read it on the bus ride home.

"Dear :) Yes, it was Helena by MCR. They're one of my favourite bands too." When I got home, I wondered what to write next. It was like having a new weird kind of penpal.

--

I scurried to the music room at the start of lunch. I didn't have any friends or nothin', so I just practised the piano. I was improving quickly with this, as well as my after-school sessions which could sometimes last 2 hours. The longer, the better I thought. Not like I had a piano at home. Obviously, I was self-taught, but clearly I was a good teacher. When I sat down, I found yet another note left for me. 

"Hello Pianist, what's ya name, age, and occupation? I think it's weird to talk like this when I don't even know your name, age, or occupation. We're both musicians and like the same bands, I think we could be good friends :)"

I held the note and got lost in my thoughts for a moment. This :) person does seem nice, but that's only because they don't know who I am. If they knew I was the one they were writing to, they'd never write to me again. People like me don't make good friends. Bloody hell, I don't even talk. 

"I'd rather stay anonymous."