Falling Off

        "Stanley Jacobson, are you ready to dazzle us with your final performance?"  This was definitely not an ideal time for Stan to give his drum performance.  Doctor Anderson always timed things so that Stan got screwed over.
        Stan pulled his music out of his bag and walked to the trap set, wondering why he'd dropped those three tabs before class and why a doctor was teaching high-schoolers how to play musical instruments.
        With the whole class and his teacher watching, Stan wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, picked up his drumsticks, and tried to focus before finally playing.
        Halfway through his performance, which was really good, the weight of the room fell on his shoulders and he felt like he was being dragged under water.  He glanced at his music sheet and did an awestruck doubletake.  His beat faltered but he recovered, noting Doctor Anderson scribbling madly in his grade book.  Stan tried to keep playing but when he looked down at his music again, what ever it was had startled him again.  He fumbled and recovered once more.  He guessed he was now at about a C.  He knew that this was supposed to be a big deal, yet for some reason he did not care.  It was as if he was watching someone else destroying their life.
        The third time he looked down, he stopped playing entirely and sat there, staring first at the music, then down at the floor, then back up to the music again.
        "Mister Jacobson, do you plan on continuing or should I just give you a zero?"
Doctor Anderson asked with the condescending sarcasm borne into every professional who hates their job.
        "I-I can't!  The notes are falling off the page!"  Stan slid off of the stool to the floor, trying to catch the invisible notes.
        There were snickers from the other students as he tried to pinch the notes with his fingers to pick them up.  It wasn't any use; they smashed into nothing, as if they were Spaghettio's.
        Tears rolled down Stan's cheeks as he asked the universe silently how something this profound could be happening and what it might mean.  His mind wandered to foreign concepts such as parental units and scholarships but it was no use; those ideas were as alien to him now as a world without music was to him yesterday.