Intuition.

Music. The one subject that had me wanting to run down the halls and throw myself, head first, into the classroom. I really wanted to check out their piano here as I’d been told it was good. It only took me a few moments to recognise Gerard’s loud laughter and then locate his always smiling face.

“Hey,” I said as I walked up to him. “I thought you were in level 3?”

“I am,” he answered. “Level 3’s and 4’s have the same class but different marking systems.”

“Oh,” I said frowning. “The classes here are so different.”

“Really?”

I nodded, looking at the people around me. They all seemed so normal, some not even looking the types to be into music at all.

“Pretty weird crowd for such a high level music class, eh?”

I turned back to Gerard, surprised at his uncanny ability to voice exactly what was going though my mind.

“Yeah, I was just thinking that,” I replied hesitantly. “What do they all do?”

“Real mixture, to be honest. Some play the same instrument but completely different styles, some of them are singers like me. Bit of an array, I guess,” he explained, his eyes unconsciously scanning the crowd that surrounded us.

“Oh, okay.”

I listened to Gerard babble about the rest of the class, not really paying attention. I sort of tuned out from thoughts of my own.

“Frank…Frank!”

“What?” I looked up.

“I’ve been saying your name for ages, mate! It’s time to go in,” Gerard answered, laughing. “You off with the fairies?”

“Yeah, something like that,” I mumbled with a sheepish smile.

“They must have been hot then,” he replied, waggling his eyebrows. I laughed outright.

In the music room everything was so tidy. Someone who worked in the music room must’ve have OCD.

“Class, take a seat please. Be smart about it, orderly fashion is needed,” the teacher shouted sternly but with a smile on her lips. The class laughed and sat on tabletops, the floor, each other, everywhere. To say I was confused would be an understatement.

Gerard saw my expression and lent over to my ear, “She’s joking around,” he whispered. My mouth created a perfect circle as I nodded in understanding.

“Okay, enough of the formal shit. Who’s ready to create some lovely, musical and eccentric music? To get the heart thumping! Your body filled with passion, the yearning to move to the beat, the rhythm. To make beautiful sounds which inspire, provoke and warm the soul.” She paused, her voice soft, “Who’s ready to create our own world in which we can all be individuals, one to each of our own? At one with ourselves.”

I was awestruck, as were many in our class. The teacher, who looked so ordinary, was nothing short of amazing. The way her voice rose and softened when she spoke managed to make the whole class silent and she had all eyes on her, as if she were a transfixing angel covered in a halo of heavenly light.

The passion in her voice invoked a deep feeling that rumbled in my stomach. It was surprising.

“So?” she prompted with a smile after several moments of silence. The class erupted with cheers.

“Miss! I have something new to show you!”

“Can you teach me this song this semester?”

“What date is the concert this year?”

There were so many questions and it was so unlike other classes I had attended so far at my school, so alive and the air filled with an electric buzz that warmed you from inside out. This ordinary looking woman had inspired a classroom of teenagers. The sight of which was overwhelming.

“That’s how I felt when I first heard one of her speeches,” Gerard said from beside me. I looked up at him, speechless.

“Sometimes what she says doesn’t actually make sense though,” he laughed. “But the way she says it makes you want to join in, it does something to you that can’t be undone.”

I nodded. “She’s amazing,” I breathed.

His laugh became louder. “And taken.”

My head jerked up. “So?” I asked, bewildered as to why he would say that.

“So, don’t go getting a crush on her,” he replied, the smile that he was forever wearing, was faint on his lips.

“Trust me; you don’t have to worry about that.” It was my turn to laugh now. Gerard tilted his head on the side, confused.

“I don’t exactly bat for her team if you catch my drift,” I mumbled. I waited for Gerard’s reaction, waiting for him to either tell me I’m disgusting or for him to just glare at me.

“Well then, Ray’s not going to be too happy,” he finally said, the smile that was already on his lips growing wider.

It was my turn to be confused. “Huh?”

“Ray and the boys had a bet going on how long it would take you to crush on Miss B. He just lost about sixty dollars,” he explained, laughing the way he did so frequently.

And after that comment I knew it was going to be okay. Gerard obviously wasn’t against gays or homophobic which meant I’d be fine. I relaxed.

Miss B had let us move around and get whatever instrument we wanted and she sat on her desk, her feet swinging over the edge. Students came up to her, asking her to help tune a guitar or unblock a spit valve and she helped each one with a smile and a few words of encouragement and inspiration.

Once all the students had gone off into other adjoining music rooms, and Gerard and I were the only ones left in the main room, she walked over to us with a fast but graceful stride.

“So Gerard, ready to be put in level four yet?” she asked, a knowing smile on her lips. She sat herself on a desk in front of us and crossed her legs on the table.

“Nope. Not yet,” he replied cheerily. She sighed and shook her head.

“You’re really good though. With a little more practice you could easily be the best singer in all my music classes,” she pleaded.

“Nope, not this year, Miss. Sorry.” He looked at me, smiling. I smiled back; I saw what he meant about her persistence.

“Okay then. I get it, you’re a lost cause. What about you? Frank isn’t it?” I nodded. “Well what do you play? I haven’t heard much, just that you’re amazing at what you do.”

“I play piano. Have done for years. How’s the piano here?” I replied, feeling hopeful.

Miss B nodded. “Yes, we do. Some of the other students are playing it right now. Do you want to have a go?”

“Yes please!” I didn’t need to be told that my eyes had lit up. Gerard’s smile grew even wider, if that’s even possible, and he followed Miss B and I into the piano room. Some students were gathered around a shiny, black upright piano and one of them was playing something from The Getaway Plan and the others were singing along.

“Hey guys, do you mind if Frank has a go?” Miss B asked them, the one playing stopped and moved from the stool. There was about seven people in the room including Gerard and I. IT felt weird to have an audience, the only person I had ever really played for was Charlie and my Mum before shedied went away.

I sat down and ran my fingers along the keys of the piano, smiling. “What do you want me to play?” I asked softly.

“Anything,” was the reply. I didn’t know who said it; I couldn’t be bothered trying to figure it out either.

I stretched and cracked my fingers as I thought of what to play.

“I’m going to play something by a South Korean pianist, the song’s called Kiss the Rain,” I said before letting my fingers flow across the keys. The song was slow and graceful but I let myself speed it up slightly.

I heard the gasps from behind me, mainly coming from Miss B. “I know this song,” she whispered. I kept playing.

When I was finished, everyone clapped. I turned to see that my audience had grown throughout my playing. I smiled sheepishly at everyone. Gerard wasn’t clapping, he was just smiling his legendary smile.

The rest of the lesson was spent with me doing requests from everyone. I played from Mozart all the way to some stuff from Avril Lavigne.

At the end of the lesson Gerard was still smiling.

“Does your mouth ever get sore from smiling so much?” I asked as we walked out of the music room.

He glanced at me. “No.” And then he grinned.

“You’re insane,” I mumbled. My stomach growled and I blushed, willing my stomach to shut up.

“You’re hungry, why haven’t you eaten anything?”

“Because it’s not recess yet, dumbass,” I replied, forcing myself to laugh.

“It doesn’t matter; just have something quick to eat now.”

I paused, my expression wary. “I’ll wait thanks.”

He looked like he was going to say something for a moment but then he let it drop and he changed the subject.

“So, Frankie the amazing pianist. How’s that working for you?”

“It’s just something on the side, I guess. My studies are more important,” I replied, lying.

“Yeah, whatever you say,” he laughed, looking at me peculiarly.

“What?” I asked, alarmed.

“Nothing, Frankie. I have to get to class, see you on the oval at break?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you there.”

He waved as he walked down the hall of crowded students, his smile and laughing face setting him easily apart from the scowling teenagers surrounding him. I smiled. He wasn’t like everyone, that’s for sure.

He was different.