The first day of highschool. That was a tough one. Suddenly you're on the bottom of the food chain, starting a new life, creating a new beginning for yourself.
My summer had gone by too quickly, mostly because I had spent more than half of it at band camp.
At my school all of the kids that were anything worth while were in band. To most of you, it's a parallel universe, but that's how we worked.
I walked in through the main set of doors, searching the overflowing corridor for any sign of my friends.
I was greeted by the most unexpected pair of emerald eyes. Alec.
He hadn't changed much, other than the fact that his hair had grown out. He looked older, and then it dawned on me.
It was his senior year, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he wasn't going to want to be with a freshman.
He turned back to his conversation with Michelle. She was a senior, and apparently interested by the way she had tuned out everything else but his too-handsome face.
I ran face first into my best friend, Tara. She had been trying to get my attention until I almost ran her over.
"Thalia, hey you okay?" She put her hand on my forehead, "You look like you just saw a ghost."
I nodded in response and sat down on a nearby bench. Alec had surprised me. More than surprised. Shocked.
You know he goes to this school, Thalia, I thought to myself.
The first bell rang, signaling it was 8:00. I headed off in search of my locker, surprised to find Tara, and our other friend Mia already there, twisting the combination lock.
"Hey Mia! How was your summer?" She looked up from texting. "Oh it was great, darling." Her drauling accent reminding me of last year.
"My parents flew me out to London to spend some time with Stephan," her newest boyfriend, I assumed.
"Sounds great, I-..." she began talking to Tara and I took that as a sign to unload my two-ton book bag into my locker.
After I had finished, and nearly broke my arms in the process, I headed to the band room to put my new band binder in my locker and look through any new music.
The beginning of the year was marching band season, as well as regular band concerts. I wasn't sure if Alec planned on doing marching, and a small part of me wished he would.
I opened the doors, mouthpiece cleaner and the sound of a piano playing bowled into my senses.
I recognized the piece, Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre. Mrs. Jameson had promised we were going to start with this piece, and I had been looking forward to learning the piano part.
During band camp, the head director had let me look over the piece, but that was only for French Horn. I had tried to transcribe it to piano, but my attempts were futile.
I hadn't bothered to look over at who was playing the piano, and as soon as my eyes found the tall, blonde-haired senior I hid my face in my new chemistry book.
He hadn't noticed me so far, until my band locker door creaked open. Alec's head whipped up, making it look like he had been completely lost in the music.
"Hey Thalia," his voice strained. "Alec" I greeted.
"How was your summer?" He had coughed to keep his voice at the normal baritone.
"Short, but good," I walked over to the piano and noticed that there wasn't any music in front of him, he had been playing from memory.
Noticing I was staring, he coughed slightly, making our awkwardness increase.
"Seal Lullaby, one of my favorites," I broke our silence. "You know this piece?" I nodded.
Careful to keep my new floral dress I had chosen for the first day smoothed down, I joined him on the bench.
I could hear him playing, and my fingers found each of the keys, and after I had finished my gaze melded into his.
Alec's mouth hung slightly open, clearly in shock. I looked down and began to move away but he place a hand on my shoulder, "You're very good, how long have you been playing?"
"I started teaching myself this summer, I'm not very good at reading music yet but, if I can hear it, I can play it."
He nodded, and I pushed off the bench, the small space suddenly too claustrophobic. I latched onto a folder that had my name printed on it, and the bell rang.
"See you later, Alec," I excused myself from the room.
I walked down the hallway, music and water bottle in hand. My face still held a tinge of red from our encounter, and I walked into Chemistry just before the bell dinged, signaling that students coming in late were marked tarde.
"Ms. Johnson, can you please explain where convection cells occur?" My Alec-induced fog cleared and I answered quickly, "In the mantle," he nodded his approval and continued on with the lesson.
Instead of paying attention to the review, my mind wandered to playing. I could nearly feel the smooth, white and black keys beneath my finger tips, and I couldn't help but hum the melody from earlier.
***
At the end of 6th period I was relieved to go back to the band room. I pulled two small oranges and a yogurt from my lunch bag and sat down on a chair.
It was only the first day of school and I felt safer in the music suite. Though I was 5'7" the towering senior guys made me feel like an ant running underneath a giant, trying to avoid get smashed.
I finished my lunch and filled my water bottle, drinking about half and then setting it back down. I had barely even noticed the couple at the back of the room. Completely obvious to me, they had their arms and legs tangled around eachother.
My eyes widened and I hurried off to the practice room, shut the door and flicked the light on. I inwardly groaned as I saw who my company was.
You guessed it. Alec. He was sitting in the back of the confined space, a small book lamp clamped to a novel he had delved into. I squeaked out a "sorry" and twisted the handle.
The lock didn't turn. I tried twisting it the other way, but it was clearly stuck in place. I had almost forgotten that most of the doors locked from the outside, and Alec suddenly gazed up to glance at my problem.
His eyes went wide and then flickered to my own. Alec Miklos was locked in a small, confined space. With me.
I pulled out my phone to text Mia or Tara, but I had no signal. "I need to get higher to see if I can text someone," he nodded and bent down near a chair so I could climb up on his shoulders.
As I neared the top of the small room, he had been trying to reach for his water and suddenly we crashed into each other. I landed on his chest, clearly knocking all of the breath out of him.
His green eyes glimmering and melting into my dark brown ones.
"Ehm," the door clicked open a Michelle stood there, hand on hip, looking expectantly at Alec. I moved off of him, but my eyes never left hers as I walked out the door.
Her smirk signified her triumph, and I inwardly rolled my eyes. My feet barely made a sound as I crept back into the music room, and I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed the couple had finished their scene and left.
On the board near the door there was a small sign up sheet for the musical orchestra. There were two spots for French Horn and I signed my name under the first slot. Michelle and Alec came out from the practice room, her thousand-watt smile adding to my annoyance.
"Alec, can you drive me home please?" His eyes met my hopeful ones. "Don't you have your own car, Michelle?" "Yeah, but it's in the shop, please Alec?"
"Okay, sure," a frown forming on his face. I was sure he was just as confused as I was about our encounter in the practice room.
I sat down at the piano, running my fingers over the keys. I opened my binder and started "Seal Lullaby." I could still hear Alec's playing in my mind. How clearly he accented each note with quiet confidence.
Alec played with emotion, he felt the notes, rather than just going through the process. He flowed through the notes and rhythms like he wrote them himself.
Alec Miklos was the most confusing thing that had ever happened to me.
I think I'd rather be confused with him than sane with any other person.
First Chapter, hope you liked it :)