Piano Keys

Chapter 1

Intro

Dear Prior, here is something to provoke you:

I have a big problem. As a 16-year-old high school student, I am convinced my mother's new boyfriend is the reincarnation of Satan. He always tries to boss me around, tries to be my new dad, and, worst of all, he never does it in front of my mom. He always acts like a perfect angel around her, and then when I'm home alone with him he's always huge jerk. Whenever I try to tell Mom about it, she just blows it off and thinks I'm overreacting. My mom deserves the perfect guy, and he is definitely not it. Help!

~Concerned Daughter

Dear Concerned Daughter, here is something to provoke you:

So you think your mother's new boyfriend is Satan's incarnate, huh? This is a frequent situation that, unfortunately, a lot of teens are put through nowadays. You need to realize that if this guy really makes your mother happy, then you need to let her be. Have you ever considered that maybe you're not ready for a new guy in your life, but your mom is? Maybe if you let him in, have a nice sit-down dinner with a good talk, you'll end up really approving of him for your mother.

~Provoked Prior

I harrumph as I read my rival's advice. It's ridiculous. Personally, I would've told Concerned Daughter to get over herself. Well, not exactly. I'd put it in nicer words. Tris is so naïve. It's blatantly obvious that she's a newbie and doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I, however, have been doing this for four years. It's all I've known since I graduated college.

I toss the Montrose Mirror into the trash bin beside my table at the coffeehouse.

Tris Prior is the best advice columnist I've had the pleasure of butting heads with. She gives guidance in the nicest possible way, even though that doesn't always work. She takes risks, and I think that's why she is so well-liked. Even by me. She's extremely callow, and that's also another reason she's good at what she does. She writes the first thing that pops into her head. She's one of the first advice columnists that has morals and uses them in their writing.

Yeah. Journalists don't have morals.

Maybe that's what makes Tris stand out as a journalist. Maybe that's reason she gets so much fan mail and good feedback, is what I'm saying.

Not only do we get readers from Illinois, but most of America. We're kind of known for our little rivalry. Well, not exactly little. It's pretty huge. It's frequently in the news about the latest roast we've given each other. Most of the mean things I say I don't even mean. It's mostly publicity stunts.

I'm not saying that I hate her, but I definitely don't think highly of her. I think that she's naïve and way in over her head. I respect her as a writer, but her personality is something that I don't have high regard for.

She's one of those people that you have to like because everyone else loves her. She is so nice, to the extent where she is too nice. There's only a certain extent to kindness that I can handle. She needs to learn to be more aggressive. You never get anything your way or win any arguments without being a little assertive, right? Though I've never met her in person, she's been featured on radio shows, interviewed on some nationwide news programs, and, of course, I read her column. In person could be much different though, so I shouldn't get this preconceived idea in my head.

I am Tobias Eaton (more commonly known as Four), advice columnist for the Burnham Park Bee. It also happens that my father runs the newspaper I work for. I'd rather not go into detail about that though.

I turn back to my laptop and take a sip of my coffee. I continue composing my responses to my writers, and then I see someone mount above me, standing just in front of my table.

"I saw you read my column," she says, "and then I saw you toss it out."

I look up. I'm met with a girl dressed in black leggings and a gray nike off-the-shoulder sweatshirt. Her hair is up in a surprisingly sexy messy bun, and she wears black Vans on her feet. She is blindingly beautiful.

"Ah," I begin. "Yes. Please sit."

She glares. She knows something is up.

"Nice finally meeting you, Tris."

She smirks. "Likely. Now get to the point. If anyone sees us together the press will have it spread across the country faster than you can blink."

Maybe she's not too nice after all.

"I have a proposition for you."

"What might that be?" she asks, questionably raising her eyebrow.

I smile. "I want you to work with me."

She laughs for a good half minute before realizing that I'm completely serious, because when she does, her laughs fades, and so does her smile. I don't take her offensive laugh to heart. In fact, I think it was quite funny.

"Wait, seriously?" she asks.

I smirk. She's funny. "I am very serious. I think you have a great deal of potential. And since we are two of the brightest columnists out there, I think that if we put our heads together, then we could gain readers by the thousands. Plus, we could get so much publicity from television interviews, radio interviews… you know, stuff like that."

She is so surprised her eyebrows are about up to her hairline. "We can't work together, Four. We have one of the biggest rivalries in the nation. We can't work together," she repeats, as if she is disturbed.

I give a crooked smile. "I told my editor about this plan, and she loved it. She knew I was extremely persuasive, so, you know, I got your email from my editor. I figured it'd be worth a shot to ask."

"Points for bravery. But I don't know…," she says ambiguously.

I close my laptop and offer Tris a smile. Then, I stand, grab my coffee, and say, "Think about it. Let me know in two days, by Friday. Here's my personal and business numbers." And then I throw in a wink with it.

I stalk out of the urban coffeehouse, and then begin to walk in the direction of my office.

When I first got the idea, I knew that she'd be reluctant. But something I hadn't expected was for her to be… Well, not aggressive, but she was definitely assertive. I was expecting her to be super slap-happy and chipper, but she was definitely confident in who she was and, well, that wasn't exactly a bad thing.

I'm not saying she's this perfect masterpiece. Sure, she's absolutely stunning, she has a bright personality, and is very successful, but it was also clear that she was a walking disaster. Bags under her eyes, fingers calloused, and dressed as if she didn't have a care in the world. She had deadlines to meet so she was staying up all hours of the night, and her fingers were worn out from typing so much, probably. She was painted with beauty and tragedy.

I know these things because I experience the same. Being an advice columnist sucks pretty badly. But the ability to help people is so provocative that sometimes I can't believe it's what I actually do. I love being able to make differences in people's lives.

All I can help thinking is that I want to get to know the real Tris Prior, and that, hopefully, she will be able to provoke me.