The Lonely Piano

[5]

The school bell rings, and Amalthea is brought out of her daydream by a slam that echoed throughout the table. She jumps up slightly out of her seat, her eyes wide and her mouth open. There he is, the boy from earlier. His eyebrows furrowed and with a big frown on his face. Despite his clearly annoyed expression, Amalthea still notices the sun hitting his perfectly tanned skin, creating a bit of a golden glow about him.

"Yo, what are you staring at?" he drones as he leans closer to the girl. He then smirks. "Oh... I see. You think that you have a chance with me after you've gotten my attention. Heh, well guess what? You're not getting much from me, newbie."

Amalthea closes her eyes and lightly pinches the ridge of her nose. He must be delusional to think that she would even consider him as anything more than an annoying boy that she keeps bumping into.

Why does she continuously keep bumping into him? That's her question.

"What do you want from me..." she groans as she pulls away from her desk. "I don't suppose you're here to bother me." She checks the clock above the chalkboard. "It's not even 7:30 yet."

The boys behind him snicker at her. What are they, primary schoolers? They should behave better than how they are now.

She glances around desperately for her other classmates to say something, but they just shy away and ignore her. Of course they would. Yohan is right. They aren't really up to making alliances in this school.

Without hesitation she stands up and walks away from the boys. She doesn't bother looking back, since she can basically feel their stares from behind her. She hears loud thumps as the boy she pissed off shouts at her. "Just who do you think you are? Ignoring me!"

She turns around and glares directly at him. "I'm sorry for ignoring you, but I don't have time for you right now. I'll meet you at the practice room at 7:30, okay?" she then runs out of the classroom, not looking back anymore.

The classrooms all become a blur as she frantically runs down the stairs and away from the commotion. The voices all turn into a mesh of sounds, and she falls to the ground as she attempts to cover them up. When Amalthea finally reaches the entrance, she squeezes her eyes shut and brings her hands to her ears, collapsing her body to the ground. The world around becomes silent and calm.

You can't freak out like this, Amalthea. You told yourself that you will get through this. You can't give up on your dream. She lets out a shaky breath as the sound around her returns to her ears. She opens her eyes, the light nearly blinding her. There, in front of her, is a pair of legs a foot away from her body.

"What are you doing here?" a soft voice asks her. She turns her head upwards to see Yohan with glasses, in a more casual outfit this time. How did he change so quickly?

"Ah, the clothes," he says. "You see ah... class ended early, so I went back and changed. I thought of heading into town for a bit, if you would like to join me." Amalthea takes in the sight. The upperclassman wears a simple grey hoodie and ripped jeans. Compared to the uniform, he seems a little bit more approachable to her. "Unless... you're busy?" he chuckles.

Her cheeks flush at his invitation and she nods in reply. "I do have something to do at around 7 though. But yes..." She's honestly surprised that he'd accompany her after what happened that morning.

"Oh by the way... for earlier... I'm sorry about that." He sighs. "Maybe I should've worded that a lot better. But... I'm serious." She begins shaking at his words. "I'm just warning you. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything..." he scratches his head. "I mean..."

She nods her head. "Yeah... I think I get what you mean now, Yohan." She begins walking ahead of him as she heads for the familiar old stop. She listens for the sound of his footsteps. They're pretty different than that other boy's she notices, they're a bit more graceful and softer than his loud, brash steps.