8-years-ago
“‘Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do’.”
“Bien. Continue.”
“‘Do Ti La So Fa Mi Re Do’.”
“Good. Your pitch has improved and your tone is very clear. Let’s focus on your posture and breathing techniques next time. For now, let’s have some lunch.”
Magdelene grins at Flora’s praise. They go to the kitchen where Magdelene settles at the dining table and in no time she’s presented with a plate of a ham sandwich with a side of tortilla chips and a glass of milk. Definitely not good for her throat, she’s told, but they’re done with practice for the day.
Flora sits down with her own plate and takes two bites before setting her sandwich down. “Shall I continue the story?” Cheeks swelled like a chipmunk hoarding nuts, Magdelene nods vigorously. Flora chuckles. “The club was packed to the brim that Saturday night. My usual piano player had suddenly called in sick, leaving me with no one to accompany me. And that’s when the bartender came up and said that he knew how to play.
“He’d been on shift for every one of my shows, so he knew exactly which songs to play and in which way to play. Oh, I was skeptical at first. But when he went through the set to practice, he blew me away with his technique. When I asked him why he didn’t play professionally, he told me,
“‘I lost my passion long ago. But I still practice every once in a while.’
“When we performed, I could hardly notice it. He played so beautifully that it made me fall in love with him right then and there. I asked him how he was able to play like he did, and he replied,
“‘I let my instincts guide me.’
“And that’s how I’ve sung ever since. By letting my instincts guide me.”
Magdelene knows all about instincts. The wolves have instincts to hunt her family’s flock. The dogs have the instincts to protect their pack. Even humans have instincts of when to avoid danger. They have instincts to tell them what’s natural to do and not do.
“So you’re saying I should sing naturally?”
Flora smiles. “That’s right. Practice and technique can only go so far. What’s most important is the passion that drives you and where it leads to. That’s the difference between a regular performer, and a true singer. Make sure you never lose sight of that.”
)O(
“I GOT A FUCKING ZERO?!”
Reggie lowers his hands now that Elen has stopped her screeching. He can’t blame her, though. Not with that kind of grade.
“Do you think there was some kind of error?” he asks carefully. “Like your project was swapped with someone else’s?”
“That better be the case! Or else I’m going to put a curse on whoever’s responsible for this!”
“Remember that curses come back to you threefold!”
Elen pays no mind to Reggie’s warning as she stuffs the offending paper into her bag and storms off to her advisor’s office. There’s no way Mrs. Zhou would give her a zero. She’s tough, yes, but she’s fair. And she was always saying how good her and her group had been doing whenever she checked in on them.
*Knock Knock*
“Come in!”
She takes a deep breath to calm down and remind herself that going in guns blazing would be counterproductive. Once she takes that second, Elen opens the door to the office. “May I have a word with you, Mrs. Zhou?”
“Ah! Elen! Yes, I was just about to call you in. Have a seat.”
Elen does and takes a moment to think that Mrs. Zhou really needs to stop wearing that teddy bear on her head. It’d be appropriate for a primary school, but not for high school.
“I assume you’re here about the grade you received?”
“Yes.”
“It really is a shame. I was looking forward to hearing what you had.”
Elen furrows her brow. “You gave me a zero because you didn’t hear my assignment? Was there some kind of error on the flash drive?”
She and Mrs. Zhou stare at each other, both having a raised eyebrow. After a stretch of time, Mrs. Zhou folds her hands on the desk and leans forward. “Elen. I never got your submission.”
They stay silent, trying to comprehend what exactly is going on before Elen comments, “But that’s not possible. We gave it to Jessie to turn it in.”
Mrs. Zhou bites the inside of her cheek before taking out her AIDCard. “Alexander Wattana Tomov and Jessica Yaffe Oakley, please come to my office.”
Neither speak for the few minutes of waiting until there’s another knock on the door. Alex and Jessie enter, him confused and her looking shifty as hell. Elen looks, and sees that her aura is flickering chaotically and she can’t tell if it’s a black or gold color.
With a wave of a hand from Mrs. Zhou, Alex and Jessie take the two unoccupied seats on either side of Elen. “I’m sure you know why I called you here?”
“Because of the grade we got on the project?” Alex asks.
Mrs. Zhou nods and takes out a paper. She slides it across the desk and Elen picks it up, seeing it’s a list of groups, their project titles, and check boxes for either “Received” or “Missing”. Next to her group, Elen sees there’s a red checkmark under the “Missing” column.
She hands it over to Alex who looks at it like it’s his calculus homework. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to form the words. “But… That shouldn’t be possible. Jessie? Didn’t you take the USB drive to turn it in?”
Jessie’s aura flickers like a flame and her face turns white. Elen has to dig her nails into her legs to keep calm as she realizes just what happened.
“Why didn’t you tell us you haven’t gotten it yet?”
“I tried. But Jessie said that she’ll get it to me as soon as possible.” Mrs. Zhou narrows her eyes and they all turn toward her. “Jessica?”
Elen growls and jumps to her feet. “You didn’t turn in the project?! Why the hell didn’t you do that?!”
With a returning snarl, Jessie stands as well. “The track was crap anyways! I was embarrassed to even put my name on it!”
“‘Embarrassed’?! You jeopardized not only your grades, but mine and Alex’s! How are you so damn petty that you’d cut your nose to spite your face?!”
Alex also stands and grabs Elen’s shoulders to pull her away. Just as well, because she’s just about to throw hands again. Maybe rip out that frizzy, badly dyed hair and find out if it’s a cheap wig like she’d heard others gossip about.
“Calm down!” The order echoes through the room and they still. Mrs. Zhou breathes in and says in an even tone, “Considering the circumstances, I will accept a late entry and won’t penalize your group for it. Jessica, you will keep the zero and I will talk to the dean about this. In the meantime, you’re not allowed to go near Elen or Alex for the foreseeable future. Elen, Alex, that goes for you too. Understood?”
Elen and Alex nod their heads in agreement. Jessie, however, kicks the chair behind her away before storming off and slamming the door. Mrs. Zhou writes something on a notepad before bidding them to sit again.
“As I said, I’ll accept a late admission. Do either of you have access to the track?”
“We do. I’ll send it to you.” Alex scrolls through his phone for several moments before putting it back in his pocket. Mrs. Zhou’s computer dings and she taps the screen to play the track.
It’s not a lie that Elen considers this her best recording yet. Her voice is clear and strong and it matches the acoustics perfectly. She’d even hit that one high note that had been giving her the most trouble, which she pulls her shoulder’s back in pride when that part comes up.
When the song ends, Mrs. Zhou takes a tense minute to think. When it looks as if she’d made her decision, she picks up the list and writes something down. She clears her throat before leaning on her desk with folded hands. “Your track is very good. The mixing is clean and I can tell you guys have worked incredibly hard on it. Elen, I recognize your style of guitar so I know you made it from scratch. It’s a shame you were sabotaged by Jessie. I’ll ensure you two never have to work with her again. That being said, I’m amending your grade to a B+.”
What? “Why are you giving us that grade?”
Mrs. Zhou coughs. “Alex, you’re dismissed.”
Alex glances at Elen before exiting the office with a look that clearly says “good luck”. Now alone, Elen feels like her heart is lodged in her throat.
“Like I said, the song itself is good, so that’s not the problem. I’m giving you this grade because of the vocals.”
Elen swallows in an attempt to force down the obstruction. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve heard your singing at the recent shadow program. I was amazed by how many emotions you conveyed in it. This, however,” she taps the screen, “doesn’t have any of those emotions like that. Yes, your voice is beautiful and I’m impressed by how you were trained, but this is all technique and no soul.”
Now it’s Elen’s stomach that drops. Is that why Jessie said that she was embarrassed? The very thought of that pisses her off and she digs her nails in her legs again where her skirt can hide the marks. ‘Don’t take it personal. It’s constructive criticism. She’s trying to help.’ She extricates her nails from her skin and stands again. “Thank you for correcting this.” Elen turns to exit the office and walks out to the hallway.
She finds Reggie sitting at the bench in front of the office, an almost amused smirk on his face. “I saw Jessie. She looked like she wanted to murder someone,” Reggie tells her, rising from his seat. “And you look like your whole world was shattered. What’s wrong?”
She doesn’t say anything and fast-walks through the building to the exit with Reggie hot on her heels. When she’s nearly off campus, she hears, “There you are! We were worried you’d already gone home!”
Elen looks up to see Salacia and Áine standing (very closely, she quickly notes) at the gates waving in greeting with Jackson and Mikan standing next to them. Reggie goes up to Jackson and kisses his cheek before wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Mikan simply waves with a large smile and bright eyes.
Jackson cuddles into Reggie’s chest. “Mikan and I were just chatting with these two about the upcoming Quarterly Concert. We got in, right?” Elen turns her head to avoid his gaze and Jackson straightens. “You didn’t get a spot?”
She hangs her head and bites the inside of her lip.
Áine comes up and puts a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know you worked hard on your project.”
“Thanks.”
“We’re meeting Māra and Iris at Grove Park,” Salacia chirps with a nervous smile. “Let’s go.”
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