5:30 ; d.h

0.01

The crack of my soda filled the room as my thumb rolled over the crisp page of the thick book in my hands, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I was rereading for the third time now, since I wasn't in sports, or any extra-curricular activities for that matter, so I sat in the living room while my brother watched the TV.

"Nova!?" My mom yelled from another room as I turned to the next page.

"Yeah, mom!"

"Remember, I signed you up for those piano lessons. They start today, in about an hour, you'll have to leave soon." She said casually as if she didn't know that I would rather be dragged to hell by my eyebrows. I let the book fall on my face as I let out a loud groan.

"Mom, I told you I don't want to go."

"I don't care, you need to get out of the house more." She replied.

"You should be proud of me, I don't go out and have sex and snort cocaine!" I raised my voice a little in agitation.

"Nova, you have no friends, none. I want you to go, and you will go!" She demanded.

"Mother, I have plenty of friends on here." I pointed at the laptop laying underneath the stack of books I've been reading.

"Honestly, I don't know whether you're pointing at the laptop or your books, both are unhealthy."

"Mom, piano lessons aren't going to get me friends. It's going to get me a skill I'll never use in life." I pressed on, trying as hard as I could to get out of the situation.

"You're going, and we're done talking about it." She said and walked away. I slid off the couch in a bundle of frustration, making it blatantly obvious that I was annoyed. I walked down the hallway to my room and put my hair in tight ponytail while slipping on my black boots. My feet carried me back to the living room as I juggled my car keys in my fingers.

"I'm leaving then!" I called to my mom who ignored me. I walked to my car in the garage and opened the door, climbing inside. The seat belt clicked around my body as the car engine fired up.

I drove my car into the parking lot of the small building and parked next to the front door. I climbed out, leaving my phone and purse behind (you're probably not going to need those when you're learning a useless skill in life anyway). Piano practice was held in a small building, and when I walked in, a middle-aged woman was sat behind a counter, her name tag read "Delores."

"Hello, if you're here for practice, just sign in here." She said and handed me a clipboard as I walked up to her. I filled the blanks with my name and the date and handed the clipboard back.

"Excuse me, but I've never actually been here, and I have no idea where I'm supposed to go." I said nervously. Delores simply smiled and turned her swivel chair towards her computer. She typed in my name in the search bar.

"You're going to room 185." She said sweetly and noticed my uneasiness when I didn't walk away. "Go up the stairs, down the hallway on the right, it's the last room. Your teacher is Mr. Howell."

"Thanks." I smiled and walked toward the stairs. The next five minutes of my life consisted of me worrying if my teacher was a wack job or not. My entirety hoped he wasn't some old creepy guy that volunteered for the job because his grandchildren didn't talk to him anymore.

My feet padded down the hallway and finally came to my room. The door was cracked open the slightest bit, so I could see the end of the piano. Beautiful music filled the room and leaked outside for me to hear, and I could feel myself liking this idea just a little bit more.

I didn't want to disrupt whoever was playing so amazingly, for all I know this could be the wrong room and that was some kid who's had eight years of practice. So I leaned on the wall beside the door and listened.

There was complete and udder peace for about fifteen seconds when I felt the sudden urge to cough. So without thinking, I coughed, which made the player of the music abruptly stop playing.

Shit.

I turned towards the door and knocked lightly.

"Doors open." Chirped the man inside. My palm pushed open the wooden door and I stepped through. To my delight, a young man sat at the piano. He had straight brown hair that fell in front of his face, long enough to nearly cover his left eye, and his eyes were very dark brown.

"Mr. Howell?" I asked nervously, I probably got the wrong room.

"That would be me." He announced and stood up and maneuvered around the piano stool to walk over to me. Man, he was freaking tall, well taller than me anyway. I noticed I was just standing there while he was waiting for me to say something, do something, probably introduce myself.

"Oh! My name is Nova, I-I'm here for piano practice." No shit, Nova. Why else would you be here?

"Of course, Nova," He paused as he walked back to the piano and picked up a clipboard. "Nova Harrison at 5:30." He smiled softly as he set it back on the black, shiny wood. "The first day is always really simple, the curriculum states that I'm supposed to go over the basics and what you already know about playing the piano."

"Well that will be easy, seeing as how I don't know a thing about the piano." I chuckled softly while looking at my feet that strangely became more and more interesting.

"Then we'll start with the basics." He stated. "You can put your coat on the chair over there and we'll get started."