When lunchtime came around Nick went to his locker and put his books away to only find another note in there. He carefully opened it.
"Don't mind them."
The vague message replayed in his mind countless times before he smiled to himself and tucked the note into his pocket.
He started towards the cafeteria where he received his lunch and walked towards the only empty table. From what he could gather, at lunch, the cliques sat together just like any other school. As he walked past one table, he heard someone talking about Tchaikovsky before pausing to glare at Nick, indicating for the others to stare. The cafeteria went eerily quiet and the air was tense. He hurried toward his destination in the corner of the cafeteria, but was halted by three boys, one of which, was Alex.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Alex demanded, arms crossed over his chest. Nick couldn't meet his gaze. Those green eyes were scary.
"I... Um... Getting my lunch..." Nick said to his feet. He heard Alex scoff and take a step towards him. "You aren't allowed to be here. So in future, I recommend that you bring your lunch to school." Alex pointed one of his fingers into Nick's chest and gave him a firm push.
"Alex, please I-I just paid for this. Can I please just eat here today?" Nick said shyly. Alex was taken aback from his politeness. He tilted his head upward, looking down his nose towards Nick.
"Hmph. Fine. Today and today only. From now on, you go find another place on campus. Might i recommend the dumpster we have out back?" He laughed as the three boys pushed passed him.
Nick sat down and contemplated what had happened that day. He began to wonder why piano was hated so much at their school. Perhaps a previous pianist had done something terrible so now all of us are the same? He thought.
Before thinking too much into it, he felt his phone start buzzing an insane amount. He pulled it out of his pocket to see 200 new Instagram notifications. He gawked at the number and unlocked his phone.
Nick navigated his way to the message section of Instagram to find 200 new people have sent him a message. As Nick went through them, all of the messages were reminding him how worthless, trash, garbage he is.
"Go back to your old school, LOSER!"
"Fuck off and get the fuck out of here."
"Dickhead"
He felt a pain in his chest and began to sweat. He wanted it to stop but he kept scrolling, he saw every single message that was sent to him, making the pain in his chest grow and grow. He wanted to stop but his fingers wouldn't let him. He kept going and going, sweating more and more. Heart pounding faster and faster, breathing becoming more and more erratic, harder and harder, vision blurring, head pounding, until...
"Don't mind them :)"
Nick stared at the message and released his grip on his shirt. Emotion left his face as a single tear rolled down his cheek, dripping off his chin onto his screen with a tiny 'pdt' sound. The sound rang in his ears and he came too. He relaxed and smiled at the message. He looked at the the sender of the message and found that it was an anonymous account. He replied,
Nick: Thank you. That made me feel better :)
The anonymous person began to type...
Anonymous: No problem! Who knows why everyone hates piano players. I heard that some only play along so that they don't get bullied too :O
Nick: Well, this school sure is something haha
Anonymous: It sure is :)
Nick smiled widely at his phone and bit into his apple. He disregarded all the stares he was still receiving from the rest of the cafeteria. He didn't care what they thought at that moment.
Alex looked over to Nick and his face screwed up seeing him smile. He furrowed his brows and kept it to himself. He didn't feel like making a commotion today.