Who Cares Who Wins? (boyxboy)

Chapter 10. If Music Be The Food Of Love......

Niko Dela Cruz played by Wex Andre

Xander's POV.

Along one side of the large rectangular main room in the Music Wing there were a number of soundproof booths, one containing a small upright piano, and on the opposite side there were mainly windows. At one end there was a low stage with a grand piano, a set of drums, and an array of speakers on it. At the opposite end of the room was where the storage rooms and cupboards were.

There were only seven boys in our group learning either the guitar or piano. Three of us, Arthur Henderson, Caleb Armstrong, and I were learning the guitar and the other four, Jacob Hewel-Brown, Roland Calthorpe-Drummond, Logan Holland, and the new boy from last term, Niko Dela Cruz, were learning the piano.

Niko was Filipino and one of the few non Caucasian boys at the school but I knew very little about him. I heard his roommate, who I knew was a friend of Fabian, had warned him to steer clear of me and he did just that.

Nessie and his trainee teaching assistant, Mr Bryce, generally tutored us in pairs during our weekly lessons, with me being the odd one out and not having a partner. It wasn't because neither Arthur or Caleb hadn't wanted to be my partner, not at all. It was because they were learning to play an electric guitar whilst I only wanted to play acoustic. Anyway, I was far more advanced in my ability than them and preferred the one-on-one teaching that Nessie was able to give me.

Mr Bryce, who had been nicknamed Percy for some obscure reason, had sharp facial features, dressed in a tweed jacket, complete with leather patches on the elbows, and dated dork like glasses. It was a shame that he looked like a real nerd as he seemed a decent enough chap. We had been told that he had attended the Royal School of Music and was really very talented but I was still relieved that he was mainly tutoring the boys playing the piano and not tutoring me.

Jacob, Roland, and Logan had their own electronic keyboards that they kept in one of the storage rooms as they were not allowed to have them in their dormitory. Niko mainly used one of the piano's and on some occasions he used the school's electronic keyboards. Storage of their electric guitars was the same for Arthur and Caleb and I knew that they held some animosity towards me as I had always been allowed to have, and play, my acoustic guitar in my room.

Still they did have permission to come and play in any empty soundproof booth as long as Nessie or Percy were in the music wing.

I stood leaning against one of the window frames on the side wall with Cliff waiting for those that had already arrived to finish setting up their equipment on the stage, as we were each to perform the piece of music we had chosen to learn as our homework.

Roland and Jacob were the last to enter the hall and Cliff went over and greeted them, giving both boys a high five each.

"Since when have you been friends with The Hon. Jacob Hewel-Brown and the Earl of Hockley?" I asked, using their full titles in a sarcastic tone, as Cliff came back and stood beside me. "You never mentioned that you knew them."

"Oh!" Cliff exclaimed looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that I had to tell you who I had been making friends with. Are you jealous or something?"

"Why would I be jealous?" I retorted as I dug him in the ribs, trying to hide the fact that I possibly was.

He nudged me back. "If you must know, I met them on my first day at rugby practice. They introduced themselves to me as the cannon fodder and helped save me from serious injury that the gruesome threesome were intent on inflicting on me."

"I'm sorry," I apologised, noting his reference again to Toad & Co. "It's just that we used to be friends.... But ever since the accusations regarding Ashton surfaced they have pretty much stayed clear of me. They have only ever been remotely friendly during our music lessons together. Any other time they blank me....., not even a hint of a smile or an acknowledgement of some sort that we were once friends."