Chapter 4

Nick woke to the sound of his alarm at 7:30 am. He slowly got out of bed, stretching his cramped legs, pulled on his new school uniform and fixed his tousled hair in the bathroom mirror. His mom is always asleep at this time so he needn't worry about her antics and short fuse.

Nick had a banana and a bowl of cereal for breakfast and quietly sneaked out the door with his schoolbag at 8 am. The bus arrived and let Nick climb up. There were a few whispers and stares when he made his appearance on the bus.

"Is that his house? God, he must be poor!" Nick heard a girl whisper to her friend who then began to giggle. Nick ignored them and took an empty seat. He rested his head against the window, his brown hair falling slightly into his eyes' vision. He sighed as he watched the bus slowly accelerate, increasing the blur of houses out of the window.

Nick was last out of the bus and took in a deep breath of air. It smelled like wealth, but not in a good way. As if the smell was emitted from a spoiled brat or an entitled business man. He exhaled and started towards his locker.

"Okay everyone, listen up!" Miss Bradley called, "The school has confirmed that this year's camp is going to be in 2 weeks!" Cheers and clapping arose from the class in excitement. Someone even made a loud whistle with their fingers to add to the noise. Nick just sat silently.

After the class quieted down, Miss Bradley continued what she was announcing, "Bad news is, we will not be at the location from the previous years. The camp's budget has be cut by an ungenerous amount. You will all now have to share dorms in pairs. I know it's not as private as having your own room, but each room will have a bathroom for itself." The class whispered among themselves upon hearing this news. "You may talk among yourselves." Miss Bradley confirmed, encouraging the class's voices to rise to normal conversation level. Nick sat quietly about to reach for a thin book in his pile of books when Miss Bradley came to his desk and placed two sheets of paper on it.

"This is the consent form. We need this back by next Wednesday if you want to come. It is mandatory so no skipping out, Nick. And this is information about the camp and what you must bring." Miss Bradley's voice was very monotone when talking to Nick. She was a young teacher with long blonde hair and glasses. Maybe she's on their side Nick thought. He thanked her as she left swiftly, making sure not to give him any more of her time.

Nick reached for the book he previously was going to read. He pulled out the full score to his favourite piece, Chopin Ballade No. 1. He studied the sheets in front of him taking into account every rhythm, every dynamic, every accent.

"Jesus, can you play that?" He looked up to see Alex at his desk, hair falling in front of his face today that hid one of his enchanting green eyes.

Nick sat frozen for a moment, bewildered and not sure what to say. "Um... I-I um... kinda? I've just started learning it now." Nick stuttered embarrassed. Why is Alex being nice to me today? Nick thought, It must be a trick.

"But you're just reading the score. You're not even playing." Alex said in surprise.

"Y-Yea well, this piece is very intricate and has a lot of things that you might miss so I find reading through the score closely very helpf-" Nick was cut off by Alex slapping the piece out of his hands onto the floor.

Alex leaned ever so close to Nick's face with an expression of murderous intent on his face, Nick wide eyed and caught off guard. "I didn't ask what goes on in that fucked up head of yours, Nick. You got that? No one likes you or wants to like you. Stop trying to prove something."

It was a trick after all

Nick felt the fury flow into him again, just like last night. He wanted to burst. Burst out at Alex in front of the whole class. He was so angry that no one in the school liked him. He was so angry that no one in the school even considered him a person. He was so angry that no one even gave him a chance...

Except L....

Nick's anger diminished slightly at the thought of L. His fists unclenched, leaving crescent moon markings on his palms from his nails. He looked up at Alex.

"Fuck off, Alex" He blurted.

Alex looked at him shocked. The entire class fell silent and were now looking at the two teens. Alex's face loosened as he bent down slowly to pick up Nick's sheet music. He stood back up and offered the book back to Nick with a small smile. Nick's eyes lit up as he reached out for the book.

Just as Nick was about to take the book, Alex pulled the book away, grabbed Nick's wrist with his other hand. Nick freaked out and tried pulling his hand back to himself, but Alex was a lot bigger, stronger than Nick. He pulled him in by Nick's tense and stiff arm, slamming their foreheads together, Nick's frightened expression versus Alex's determined and angry one.

"Listen here, Nick. First off, I don't want to see this shit in my face again. Ya hear?" Alex said sternly, tightening his grip on Nick's grip.

"Y-Yes. I-I-"

"And second, never talk to me that way... Please," Alex's expression softened into one of plea, "I-It kinda hurt my feelings." Nick and Alex stared into each others eyes for a few seconds before the bell rang and all the curious onlookers that was the rest of the class stood up and gathered their things.

Alex realised what he was doing and pulled away from Nick's forehead in an instant and rushed out of the room, cursing Nick under his breath.

Nick sat in his seat, hand still where Alex had gripped. Along with Nick's red wrist, he noticed so was his face. He sat there blushing, heart beating out of control.

Someone gave the back of Nick's head a slightly firm tap and knocked him out of his trance. He looked around to see the last of the class leave.

Nick stood up, gathered his things, including the score that Alex had dropped and couldn't help but smile, even though he knew Alex hated him.