text: [Themes: fantasy, serious]
  
  "Cerise?" you asks.
  "What?"
  "Is there anything I can do to help?"
  "Can you heal sprained wrists? If not, then a massive no."
  
  You sigh. Something's very wrong. You need to find out.
  
  "What piece were you going to perform?"
  "It doesn't matter now." She turns away from you.
  "It does to me."
  "You're so sappy." She sounds a bit happier. "Jesús bleibet meine Freude."
  You tilt your head. "Bach? I thought you were a Mozart girl?" She made fun of you before for playing Bach, yet she was going to do one for the talent show?
  "I am."
  "Then why..."
  "My father likes Bach."
  
  Your eyes open wide. That's the first thing you ever heard her speak about her father. Her dead mother, yeah, she said a few things about her, but never her father.
  
  She turns back to you. The scowl returns to her face. "Do you know how many times I saw my dad in the past two and a half years?"
  
  You think for a moment. She lives on campus throughout the summer like you. Also like you, she almost never leaves either. You never saw her father before. Oh crap.
  
  "Not once?"
  She nods. "Yeah, fancy that. What type of idiot do you have to be to not once see your little girl? Well, this was my chance. I heard from Nancy that he'll be in Albany this week, so I invited him to come in a letter. I told him I'd play Jesús bleibet meine Freude. My mom said that she performed it at their wedding, and my plan worked. He said he'd make it. He promised. Then, I fell down some stairs like a retard."
  
  Who's Nancy? Maybe she's her stepmom or her dad's maid... something like that. Cerise doesn't know any Nancy at the school.
  
  You feel a tear form in your eye, but you wipe it away before she notices. She'd mock you for being a girly boy.
  
  Poor Cerise. Now you know why she was crying. You should do... something. You're friends, sorta.
  
  > say "I'll Help You Play"
  "I'll help you play."
  "Excuse me?"
  "You can do half with your left hand. I'll do the other half. That way, we can still enter."
  "That won't work. The timing. We'll have to be in sync. Plus, I'd have to play the right hand stuff with my left hand. And... And..."
  
  She paces back and forth mumbling about the technical aspects. You think it'll work. You did some duet stuff before, though no one has with Cerise. They're all too scared and she's too prideful.
  
  "Are you sure you'd wanna do this?" she asks.
  "Absolutely."
  "Then, let's give it a shot." She gives me a smile. "Meet me in the music hall in fifteen minutes, okay?"
  "Sure."
  
  She runs off but stops. Then, she walks back to you. "Also, take this before we head back." She hands you the jacket.
  "You can keep it until we get inside."
  "Idiot, what will the gossip be when they see you and me walking out of the woods with me wearing your jacket?"
  "Oh."
  
  She sprints down the trail. You shake your head. "I better not screw up," you mumble under your breath. A cold breeze lofts through the forest again. You button up your jacket.
  
  > Practice
  You step into the music hall. It's old, older than anyone alive like the rest of the school. Bricks go up either wall mixed in with Greek architecture. In all honesty, you never liked the style. They say it's cultured. You think it looks more like a ghetto White House.
  
  Stored in cases and stacked in shelves, there's hundreds of instruments here. Flutes, sitars, and maracas... The higher ups didn't cheap out on anything, but you only care about one instrument, the grand piano. You walk to a dark corner of the hall. The high ceilings and small windows transform the school into a dungeon, but you don't mind. It gives a cool atmosphere.
  
  Cerise already sits at the grand piano. She's on the right side of the seat, so you take the left one. You run your fingers over the keys, and it gives a dark sound. You'd prefer it brighter, but this's the only one. The grand piano has a slightly brown tinge to its black exterior, and its sheer size gives the instrument a presence. When in the same room, it's hard not to look at it at least once.
  
  "Hey." You smile at her.
  
  She groans then points to the sheet music.
  
  "I know this piece by heart," you say.
  She narrows her eyes in anger. "You should've told me that before I dug this up."
  
  She flings the papers off to the right. They drift in the air before lofting onto the floor. You'll have to clean them up before you leave.
  
  "Okay," she says. "No metronome. I'll just start, and you keep up. Got it?"
  "Yeah."
  
  She places her left hand over the keys. She plays the music, and it sweeps you off your feet. Your head sways back and forth and you're transported to a peaceful, beautiful land. You haven't really listened to her play before. You've heard it, but you've never let it sweep you up like this.
  
  Then, you're brought out of tranquility with a sharp jab.
  
  "Ow!" You rub your chest. "Why'd you poke me?"
  "You should be playing with me..." She looks at the keys and hunches her shoulders. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm stressed. This's really nice of you though. Let's try again, alright?" She apologized to you, odd.
  
  She plays again, and this time you start.
  
  You go again and again until the bells ring out. In this moment, other children get into their beds. You should've left thirty minutes ago to be ready in time. You stand up to leave, but Cerise grabs your wrist. She looks you in the eyes and asks, "A few more times, okay?"
  
  You nod. It won't be much longer.
  
  Twenty minutes later, you yawn. For just one moment, you lose your concentration and her hand brushes against yours. She stops playing, so the room becomes silent. Your heart pounds in your ears.
  
  She stands up, and you nearly fall out of the chair. "We should get going."
  You nod.
  "I'll see you tomorrow. Let's be sure to meet up to practice."
  "Um, okay. Bye."
  
  She runs away. You shake your head. After putting her papers in a trash can, you look outside. If anyone would've checked, they'd have found you missing by now. There's no point in rushing back to the dorm, but you could use some sleep.
  
  > go Back to the Dorms
  You head back to the dorms. There's a bunch of them, and they smell like sweaty socks, but the school makes you sleep there. You wind your way past the brick, archaic buildings trying to stay in the shadows. You shiver from the cold. Not one animal makes a sound.
  
  "Taylor." You freeze from the sound of his voice. "Turn around."
  
  You do. Mr. Lawrence gets up from a bench. You gulp. "I apologize, sir." He's the only teacher who you like. He even calls you by your first name. No one else does that.
  
  "What are you doing past curfew?" He doesn't sound angry, just curious.
  "I... I was helping a friend."
  "Doing what?" He stops a few feet from you.
  "Practicing piano. She... she sprained her hand before the talent show, and I offered to do the left hand parts."
  "That was thoughtful, but you're still out at night."
  
  You sigh. There's no way you're getting out of this. You'll be suspended from activities for the next week. Cerise won't have you to help her, and she needs your help.
  
  "Sir?"
  "Yes."
  "She really wants to perform, but she needs me to do the other half."
  "I already know that."
  "Don't let her know I said this, but she's doing it just to see her dad."
  
  He rubs his chin and nods. You look around to see if anyone else spotted you. They haven't.
  
  "Go on."
  "Really?"
  "Just be there for Cerise."
  "How d-did you know?"
  "Lucky guess. I heard her screaming at the nurse today. Goodnight."
  
  You both chuckle. Then, you walk away. You sneak into your dorm and get ready for bed. Tomorrow will be a big day.
  
  > The Day of Performance
  Cerise kicks her legs back and forth. You both sit on a bench surrounded by other students. On stage, a sixth grader gets heckled by some kids in the audience, the poor idiot.
  
  All of the students wear their school uniforms, but the girls prettied up their hair. Well, they tried to. Cerise told you there's only so much a girl can do while using the allowed hair products. She has her hair back in a ponytail not wanting it to fall over her face during performance.
  
  She glances at you but looks away when you make eye contact. She licks her lips and swallows.
  
  She pokes your side, but you suppress yelping in pain. "Are you sure you're ready?" she asks.
  "Yes," you say for the fifth time.
  "Did you sleep enough?"
  "Yes, though I met Mr. Lawrence on the way back to my dorms. He didn't report me."
  "That's nice of him."
  "Yeah. I think he'll be out there."
  
  She nods. You're gripped in an awkward silence again. You look at the list of entries. Cerise's name sits under some guy named Erwin Brooks. Is that the kid on stage? Maybe. They'll announce you to walk up anyway, so you shouldn't worry about it.
  
  You notice Cerise breathes faster. You need to calm her.
  
  "Hey, remember that time you got into a fight with Dick? You got two black eyes somehow."
  "Yeah."
  "You're really tough. I'm sorry I didn't help you."
  "No, I wanted to get hurt. All parents get the school photos. I hoped that would've made him say something to me."
  
  Is that why she fought so much? Is that why the straight A student has her own chair in the principal's office? You'll need to do something about that. Not now, but soon. She shouldn't be doing all of that for her father.
  
  "Taylor, thanks." She smiles.
  
  Before you could ask what she meant, you hear her name called up to stage. The announcer person explains your presence to the crowd.
  
  Your heart pounds. Your vision focuses on nothing but Cerise and the piano. She sits down and closes her eyes. You lick your lips and take the spot next to her.
  
  The first note emanates from the grand piano. Then, the second. You join on the third. You're transported to a happy world, but this time you share it with Cerise. The music waltzes on by as you both walk on a green hill. The sun warms your skin. You stop by a creek and take of your shoes. She cools off her feet in the murmuring waters with you.
  
  Then, the music stops. The crowd claps. You wish it would be an eruption of joyous sounds, but it's just bored and polite. She takes your hand and leads you to the front of the stage.
  
  You look at the swarm of people. Over two hundred men and women dressed in expensive suits and dresses just... sit and clap. Their faces look plastic, frozen in an artificial smile. The few children that you do see appear antsy At least the teachers look impressed, but you know that they're surprised you and Cerise didn't squabble on stage. At least Mr. Lawrence seems impressed. He gives both of you a thumbs up.
  
  She raises your hand in the air with hers. You bow together. She leads you away. Once off stage, you open your mouth to speak, but she continues dragging you. She drags you away from the stage, down some halls, and out the building. Outside, she stops and turns around. Tears fall down her eyes.
  
  "Cerise?"
  "He wasn't there." She sniffles.
  
  You cringe. That no good bastard of a father! How dare he abandon his daughter like that! What should you do? She's standing there crying. Is she waiting for you to do something? Will she lash out if you do?
  
  > hug Her
  You take a step closer to her. She gasps as you wrap your arms around her. You feel her body relax. She rests her head on your shoulder and cries onto your shirt. Her arms rise up to your back and her hands hold onto your shoulders.
  
  Her breathing slows down. What should you do now? You have no clue, so you stay there, not letting her go.
  
  "Taylor?"
  "Yes."
  "You went up there on stage. You spent so many hours yesterday practicing. Now, you're still with me. Why?"
  "We're friends, remember?"
  "Idiot." Her tone lacks the usual venom. "Friends don't hug like this for so long."
  "I won't let you be abandoned."
  "I've never apologized for being so mean to you. Sorry. I think I still will, so sorry for that too."
  "It's fine."
  
  Behind the auditorium, you both hug. Maybe it's a minute later, maybe it's an hour; however, you end the hug. She wipes away the tears from her eyes. Her lips curl up into a smile. You smile back.
  
  "If you tell anyone what just happened..." she says.
  "Yeah," you joke. "You'll kill me."
  
  Both of you chuckle.
  
  "You wanna see if we won?" You point back at the building.
  "I don't care about that. Let's go do something else." She motions to the school grounds. "Like what?"
  "I'll be with you. Right now, that's what I want."
  
  You spend the rest of the day with Cerise. You talk, you laugh, and you play. It turns out to be the best day of both of your lives, one of many more to come.