"Go ahead, Carter. We're all waiting." Alyssa closed her eyes took a deep breath and when she opened them her fingers began to move. A note rang out a note, then two softly gently like a breeze passing over the driest heaviest things. The room held its breath the first sound echoed a soft low note like a drop of water falling onto a still pond but before it could fully resonate a muffled giggle broke out somewhere in the classroom tearing apart the fragile atmosphere.
Alyssa was trying to create. She felt it immediately a heavy invisible pressure on her chest as if every nerve in her body had suddenly tightened. Eyes, dozens of them were staring at her not with curiosity or expectation but with mockery. From the corner of the room Madison tossed her hair back crossed her legs in a practiced manner and turned to her friends with a scornful sneer. She didn't need to say anything just that raised eyebrow was enough to make the group burst into laughter. "Well, sounds promising," a girl's voice chimed in laced with laughter. "She probably hasn't even touched a real piano before," another one whispered but loud enough for Alyssa to hear. Alyssa didn't need to turn around to know who was saying what she could feel every glance every disdainful look that swept over her like razor sharp blades some were whispering to each other others smirking but they were all waiting for her to fail. At the center of it all stood Mr. Grayson his expression betraying nothing but indifference he didn't laugh but the way he folded his arms tilted his head ever so slightly spoke volumes this wasn't a music test it was a trial he was sure Alyssa would fail he had seen kids like her for outsiders, dreamers crushed by reality. Alyssa was just another one of them, and he didn't need to say it out loud to be sure she wouldn't change anything.
Alyssa blinked but not to focus she was trying to push back the old memories that were flooding in she remembered the first time she touched the keys of the old church piano its keys were worn some chipped but to her it was more beautiful than all the expensive pianos Madison and the others had. She remembered the late nights when her mother came home after a long shift still trying to smile even though her eyes were tired beyond belief she had worked tirelessly not to buy Alyssa a shiny piano or a new dress like the other girls had but just to make sure there was food on the table in a roof over their heads. She remembered the rejections the scholarships she applied for but never received the pitiful advice from her old teachers: "Alyssa, you should focus on something more practical instead of chasing a distant dream like music." All of it once made her want to give up and maybe if this had been another time, another place, another day she would have. She would have lowered her head sat back down and let Madison and Mr. Grayson have what they wanted. But today something had changed. Alyssa took a deep breath her fingers still on the keys, but this time she didn't tremble. She could lift her head look Madison in the eye look at those who were waiting for her to fail and say she didn't want to play she could turn to Mr. Grayson pretend to be confused pretend not to know how to play so he could sneer shake his head and move on to another student. She could take the easy way out. But she didn't she didn't know what had changed. Maybe it was the long nights of silent practice maybe it was her mother's words maybe it was the pain that had been lingering too long but now she didn't want to run anymore. She didn't need to prove anything to Mr. Grayson she didn't need to make Madison change her mind about her but she needed to prove to herself that she wasn't as small as they wanted her to believe. She relaxed her shoulders her fingers lightly gliding over the keys and this time when she played the first notes nothing could stop her anymore. The classroom gradually fell silent the mocking laughter that had once filled the air seemed swallowed by the first notes of Clair de Lune Alyssa was playing.