Chapter 12

After the chant competition, the teams had free time until dinner. Miss Bradley had said that for the first day, they'd relax a little to prepare for tomorrow. Nick went back to his room to get ready for dinner. He decided to have a shower and get changed into a nicer set of clothes. He locked the sliding door and stripped down in front of the mirror.

Jeez. I'm kinda filling out. Nick thought optimistically. Pfft. Who am I kidding. Nick was about to turn away from the mirror before doing a double take at himself. Hm. Maybe I am...

He stepped into the shower that he'd been warming up and let the water stream over his body. He ran his hands through his wet hair and slicked it back as he showered. He washed himself with the soap he had brought along.

Nick exited the shower and began drying himself. His hair became fluffy and untamed as it stuck out in all directions. He slipped into his fresh clothes and gave an attempt to fix his hair with his hands. He settled on it flopping in front of his face and shrugged. As he was exiting the bathroom, Alex was sitting on the bed on his phone. He looked up and swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand up.

"Finally, Piano Boy. I've been needing to go to the bathroom for ages," He complained. "You know there's public toilets down the hall right?" Nick said holding the towel that hung around his neck. "Yea but I couldn't be fucked."

"Hm. Not surprising." Nick said as he watched Alex lock the bathroom door. He flopped on the bed as his phone buzzed. It was L.

L: Dude. Nick looked at the message and felt worry begin to stir inside him.

N: Um... Yea?

L: Your chant was totally AWESOME it was hilarious!

N: Oh.

L: Oh what?

N: I was worried when you said "Dude."

L: Oh haha. Nah don't worry about a thing.

N: Righto. So when are we meeting?

L: In due time my boy. In due time.

N: Ugh you're so cryptic.

L: You know you love me :)

N: Yea I know. <3

L: Well it's time for dinner so I'm gonna head to the dining hall.

N: Yea I'll go too. Ttyl.

L: Byeeee!

Nick headed out to the dining hall. It was a big room with eight round tables that all had pieces of paper with the team names on it. Nick found the three boys waiting for him.

"Where's Alex?" Drew asked as Nick was taking a seat. "In the bathroom. Probably taking a dump to be honest," Nick said rolling his eyes. He rested his face on his hand that was raised by his elbow propped up on the table's surface. "So, you guys have been on these camps before right?" Nick asked.

"Yea, we have." Liam answered. "So, what's all the hype about?" Nick was still a little confused as to what was so exciting. Sure, he enjoyed the chant competition and the fact that he had free time to explore the campus to be fun, but everyone seemed overly pumped all the time.

"We're not in school and instead doing music." A heavy weight landed on Nick's shoulders forcing him to jump in his seat at the same time the words were spoken to him. He gave out a small sound of fright. He turned to see Alex smiling. Nick gave Alex a shove which barely had an effect on his body. He was much larger than Nick and strongly built. Nick narrowed his eyes as Alex slid into the seat next to him. The other boys were laughing at Nick. He felt his face starting to turn red.

"Screw you guys," Nick sighed as he dropped his head into his folded arms on the table.

"That isn't a way to treat your friends, Nick," Nathan said. Nick's ears perked up at these words and slowly brought his head up too look at the other boys. He felt a tingle form throughout his body as he relaxed slightly. He looked at the boys staring at him waiting for him to say something.

"W-We're f-friends?" Nick stammered.

"Yea of course we are, Piano Boy. I mean, we are stuck with you for the next 5 days so..." Nick was so happy to hear these words. The corners of his mouth began to twitch up into a wide grin. "I-I won't disappoint!" Nick said with a lot of enthusiasm. The others just looked at him like he'd gone crazy. Nick tensely waited for something. Just, anything to happen. The boys just began laughing in unison allowing Nick to loosen up.

"Since The Prodigies won the chant competition today, they will get first dinner privileges tonight. Dinner's up!" Miss Bradley called over the students. The boys all quickly stood up and walked to the buffet that was prepared. Nick began to pile his plate with butter chicken. It was one of his favourite dishes. He waded through the array of round tables where the teams were all seated. Their eyes were all on him. He didn't care though. He kept walking, eyes set on his destination. Just as he was about to walk past the last table before his, he fell, dropping his plate that shattered into large, sharp fragments. He braced himself with his hands as he landed hard on the floor. A jolt of pain shot through his arms and even worse in his hands. He looked at the ground hazily, unsure of what just happened. He could hear laughter rise around him as the dining hall was filled with a wild roar. As his vision coalesced into a clear image, he could see pieces of plate and butter chicken splattered everywhere.

"Aww what are you gonna do, huh? Cry like a baby? Call for your mommy?" a voice to Nick's left sounded. He turned his head to see Max laughing and pointing at him, his brown eyes beginning to resemble ones of the devil. Nick only just noticed his leg that was sticking out where he had just been walking.

"What the fuck, Max!!" Alex shouted as he stormed over near the mess. The laughter began to quieten down.

"Pshh what do you mean? You're the one who always is shoving him at school."

"Yea. SHOVING. Not fucking tripping him over with a plate of food, you dipshit!"

"Seriously? Come on, look at him. He's fiiine," Max said gesturing to Nick. Nick had his hand to his face trying to focus on his surroundings.

"No he's not! He just landed straight on his hands with a ceramic plate." Alex looked at Nick worriedly. There was an eerie silence over the dining hall so tense that you could cut it with a butter knife.

Blood began to trickle down from Nick's hand, falling down his arm at the same time as the blood ran down his head.

"Shitshitshitshit..." Alex said swiftly bending down to help Nick up, pulling his arm around his broad shoulders. Nick shakily stood to his feet as Alex wrapped his other arm around his back around his ribcage and hoisted him up. Murmuring had arisen among the spectators. Alex stared at Max with flaming rage in his eyes. Max's face tightened as if he felt the invisible daggers that shot from his deep green eyes. Max nervously looked away and turned back to his friends at the table. Nick remained silent, his eyes empty and focused on the ground.

"Fuck you," Alex said with disgust. The two boys began to slowly walk out of the dining hall. They arrived at the bathroom and Alex helped Nick sit up on the bench of sinks.

"Are you okay dude?" Alex asked worriedly.

"Yea, I'm fine." Nick shifted his hands around in his lap nervously.

"Show me you hands, Piano Boy."

"N-No..."

"Show me." Nick shook his head but Alex grabbed his hands. Nick winced in pain as Alex revealed his sliced palms that was covered in blood.

"Fuck, dude. Don't worry, we'll clean this up." Alex grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and wet it.

"Give me your hands." Nick skeptically reached out. Alex slowly began sliding the towel over his hands and cuts causing the dripping water to turn a light pink. Nick gave a little hiss in pain.

"I'm sorry but this is gonna sting for a little bit," Alex said sincerely. After a minute of gently wiping, the cuts were revealed to be nothing more than large paper cuts, but they bled nonetheless. Nick placed the towel aside and slowly caressed Nick's hands inspecting the cuts to make sure there were no shards of plate in there. Luckily there wasn't.

"All clear." Alex was still holding Nick's hands.

"U-Um... T-Thanks a lot, Alex," Nick stammered. Alex looked up at him to notice that Nick was now looking down at him since he was on the bench. He smiled gently at him.

"Not a problem, Piano Boy." They stared into each others eyes before Alex's face turned red as he realized he was still holding Nick's hands. He pulled them away quickly and started to the door.

"Y-You stay here. I'm going to get some bandages from the first aid kit," Alex said opening the bathroom door. The sounds of chatter and the scraping of plates drifted into the room as Alex exited.

"O-Okay..." Nick said to himself. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. Why were they shaking? He wanted it to stop but he couldn't help it. The shaking spread to his arms, then his whole body. He dropped to his feet, his legs shaking until he collapsed onto the floor. He bundled his knees to his chin. He sat there and gave out a small whimper. Alex burst through the door and ran to Nick's position on the floor.

"Holy shit, Nick! Are you okay?!" Alex said frantically. Nick looked up at Alex with a quivering bottom lip. Alex pulled him into his chest and held him tenderly at the back of his head. Nick wrapped his arms around Alex waist. The warmth from his chest flowed into Nick's face and seemed to slow the shaking.

After a minute or so Alex pulled away from Nick and put his hands on his cheeks softly.

"Are you okay, Piano Boy?" Alex said with concern. Nick looked at him for a moment, his mind whirring before coming to a stop. He then smiled and let out a small chuckle. Alex looked at him with confusion.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh well, it's just... You called me by my name a minute ago." Alex's worried expression disappeared as he looked down at the ground with a smile.

"I suppose I did. But that's the only time, don't forget that! Now let's bandage those hands of yours." Nick held his hands out in front of him as Alex slowly wrapped his hands. Nick held back the urge to reveal his pain as Alex cut the bandage from the roll and stapled the bandage together.

"Staples?" Nick said with a laugh.

"I had to get back to you quickly didn't I?

"I suppose."

"Alright. Let's take you back to the room." Nick and Alex stood up and walked out into the hallway. They strolled in comfortable silence before reaching room 12 that Alex unlocked with his key card. Nick sat on the bed and stared at his gloved hands. Alex came around and slowly sat next to him.

"So... Um... What happened in the bathroom when I was gone?" Alex asked gently. Nick paused for a moment before answering.

"I've never really had friends my whole life. So I've never gone out and experienced playing and riding bikes etc. Don't get me wrong, I know how to ride a bike, but I never did it often. My life has been revolved around piano for as long as I can remember and lost any chance of social life. I suppose I saw that my hands were in so much pain I kinda lost it a little. Kinda like someone who's afraid of blood seeing their own cut bleeding. I'm sorry for worrying you, it's kind of stupid." Alex looked at Nick's solemn face that was staring at his hands. He gently flexed his fingers in and out of a fist making sure his fingers were okay. Alex put a hand around Nick's shoulder who then looked at him.

"Never apologize for that, Piano Boy. Many people freak out over different stuff. You can't be ashamed that you got scared that you hurt your hands because you need them to play piano. I think it was brave of you to not completely shut down." Nick's grey eyes lit up slightly at Alex's comforting words. He always seemed to know what to say. Alex noticed Nick's soft lips curve into a small smile. He smiled back.

Nick saw the shoulder of Alex's arm that was on his shoulder and saw a bunch of blood on his white T-shirt. "Shit."

"What's wrong, Piano Boy?" Alex said.

"Um..." Nick pointed to the other boy's shoulder and Alex glanced at it noticing the blood, his expression unchanging.

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's fine. I have heaps of other shirts. Besides, I haven't even changed today yet so I wasn't planning on wearing these again anyway." Nick relaxed as Alex took his arm off of his shoulder. There was a moment of silence that was disrupted by the growling of Nick's stomach.

"Um... Do you want me to bring you some food? You don't have to come out, it's fine. I'll bring it back here."

Nick smiled and said, "Yea that'd be great." Alex exited and left Nick sitting up on the bed. He pulled out his phone as he waited.

L: Jesus, are you okay?

N: Wrong name but yes I am.

L: ....I stg you're literally the funniest person I've ever met xD

N: Thanks lol.

L: Did you hurt yourself?

N: Yea, I cut my hands but they're all bandaged up now.

L: Oh good. Okay, I better socialize with my table before they realize I'm excluding myself.

N: Sure thing. Ttyl <3

L: Byeee <3

Alex entered the room with a plate of butter chicken in his hands. He went over to Nick's side of the bed and handed him the plate before bowing, "The last serving of butter chicken, Sir Piano Boy." Nick laughed as he put a forkful of rice in his mouth.

"Do you want me to stay while you eat or should I wait for you out there? A music quiz will be happening soon."

"You can go out. I won't be long. Besides, you're gonna want me on your team." Nick winked at Alex as he started towards the door.

"Sure. See you in a bit." He shut the door, leaving Nick in the room enjoying his meal, barely holding his fork as his hands were still a bit sore. He shoved another forkful into his mouth. Damn, he thought, This is really good...