The Lonely Piano

[3]

The older boy towers over Yohan, almost half a foot taller to his stature. Amalthea gulps at his intimidating stature. He seems more suited to join a football team than singing in a choir. With his serious expression, his blonde hair slicked back, and his cold blue eyes, he was a menace to be sure. His scowl didn't help either.

Now there he is, standing in front of Yohan, who seems to be sweating bullets. He laughs and mumbles something incoherently. Finally he says something. "Um... I don't know Markus... I thought I told you today that I wasn't going to practice today? If I recall?"

"Yes, I vaguely remember you coming to me cowering and leaving me a pathetic piece of paper telling me that you plan on not showing up today for practice even though I reminded everyone that this practice is mandatory. I can recall that very well."

Amalthea can't help but giggle slightly at his predicament. Yohan glares at her giggles before turning back to the more intimidating boy. "I'm sorry. I really do have an excuse today. I'm... here to help out this young lady navigate this school. You know, since it's really big and she's kind of new here..." he chuckles as he turns his gaze away from the other male. "I'll make it next time, I promise you!"

The taller male shifts his focus towards the girl and observes her from head to toe. Amalthea gulps as she presses her form inwards, trying to make her seem more invisible than before. His gaze softens and he approaches the female outside of the room. "You're new here?" he asks her.

"Yes..." she says softly, cursing herself for sounding too meek. Well then again, his towering stature still makes her tremble. "I'm... part of the Composer program. 3rd year, lower division." She finally forces herself to look up at his cold blue eyes. They don't look so hostile as his previous encounter with her companion. He arches an eyebrow as he continues to observe the female. When he finishes, he straightens his back.

"Name?" he asks her.

"Um... Amalthea... sir."

He chuckles, and she nearly jumps at his loud voice. "I see! You're one of the transfers! I'm head of one of the choirs in this school. Matthias Markussen, at your service." He extends a hand towards her. "If you want, you can come see this practice?" he asks her. "Normally they tend to be closed practices, however considering that you are checking out the whole school maybe you would like to check out the musical talents that we all have here." He turns back to Yohan, who chuckles slightly before clearing his throat.

"Yeah, sure! I'd love to!" she says nervously with a smile. When she finally turns to Yohan, she can see his twitching smile. He mouths 'why' before he feels a heavy hand on his back.

"I guess now you have no excuses Yohan boy," Matthias says with a smirk as he drags him inside. Amalthea follows both of them into the old piano room.

The room seems pretty grand even though it's one of the older rooms. She looks around at the bigger room. The choir is all seated in four rows all curled towards the leader. Behind them is a polished black grand piano, in the spotlight as if it's waiting to be played by someone.

"Ah yeah, that piano?" Matthias says. "It's been there for at least a century. No one has touched it ever since a supposed incident that happened a long time ago. It's the reason why we have those strange rules for this room."

"So you don't use the piano at all?" Amalthea asks.

He sighs. "Even if we did use it, no one maintains it. It's probably out of tune so we can't even make pretty good use of it." He turns to the groaning boy Yohan, sitting on the edge of the third row. "Now Yohan boy... you better follow my lead."

The other students laugh at him, causing him to roll his eyes and huff. He doesn't like the fact that he's being singled out. "Whatever Markus," he huffs.