The Delinquents were finally going on tour. It wasn't a world tour or anything but they were going to hit twenty different cities in the continental US, so Bellamy couldn't complain. His sister, Octavia, however could. "What do you mean we aren't going to Hawaii? I told you that you should make it the last stop and then just leave me there."
"You aren't even in the band, Octavia," Bellamy reminded her.
"No, I have a more important job." She paused for dramatic effect as if it would make her point stronger. "Moral support and cheerleader."
"We have fans for that now, so I guess you are out of a job," Murphy quipped.
"I also have connections, but I guess I am not going to tell you who I got to guest star in the tour." Everyone knew that Octavia's threat was empty. She had been nearly bursting at the seams to tell them who she got. "But since I am such a kind and forgiving soul, I will be the bigger person and tell you. I got Echoing Rome for the last half of the tour."
"I call hitting on Maya," Jasper shouted.
"Shush Jasper. I'm not done yet." Octavia hit him over the head for interrupting her. "I got the Grounders for the first three shows and they recommended a group called the Classical Duelists for the other shows."
"Who are the Grounders or Classical Duelists? I have never heard of them before," Murphy commented. "Do we know if they are any good? We don't want them ruining our reputation before we even get one."
Instead of practicing like they were supposed to be doing, the group spent the next twenty minutes searching videos on the Grounders and the Classical Duelists. The Grounders looked as if they could easily kill someone. The lead singer and guitarist, Lexa and Anya, had way too much eye makeup on, but other than that they were pretty good.
The Classical Duelists were another thing completely. The two members, Clarke and Wells, could play both piano and violin from what Bellamy could tell from the videos. The video that the group was watching now showed Wells on piano playing Beethoven's 5th. Then Clarke comes in and starts adding little flourishes to the music. The two bend the music so much that even though Wells continues to play Beethoven, the song does not sound like a classical piece.
After the gang finished their inquiries Bellamy had to round them up. "We still need to practice," he reminded them. Bellamy and Murphy had formed this band five years ago when they were juniors in high school. It consisted of Jasper on keyboard, Monty on drums, Murphy on bass, and Bellamy on lead and vocals. They also had Octavia running her so called moral support and Raven running tech.
The tour started in Chicago with the Grounders opening for them. If Bellamy were being honest, they scared him in real life. But he wasn't going to be honest because their bassist was looking at Octavia. But other than that the first show went off without a hitch. The next two shows were in two small towns that Bellamy had never heard of, but they both had a surprising turnout. Bellamy was just glad to be rid of Lincoln. He was too busy on this tour to be the protective big brother that he usually was so he suspected Octavia and Lincoln got to know each other a little better than he would have liked.
When they pulled up to the location in Boston they could hear hip hop music flowing out to greet them. The band was naturally curious and went to investigate the source of the music. It turned out to be coming from the Classical Duelists. They were both playing violins, but also seemed to be having a dance battle that also sometimes involved swinging their bow at the other person when they were not playing.
"In exteriores spatium, volabo solus," Clarke sang. "French."
Wells responds by singing, "Personne ne me voit flottant parmi les etoiles." Wells glances over and very obviously sees the group but continues none the less. "English."
"Except that one person with a telescope that probably thinks they're crazy." Her last words fade out as she turns to see the group standing there. "Sorry we were just killing time until you got here. How much of that did you see?" Clarke asked.
"Enough to know that it was amazing!" Octavia answered. "Can you work that into the show? Like could you make that work with their music?"
"We were just goofing around," Wells explained. "It's just… we work off of each other. I don't know how well it would work with others, but I guess we could try."
The band quickly set up their instruments. "We are going to play 'Mount Weather'. Just jump in whenever," Bellamy told them. He started to strum the opening chords and then sings. "You think you know me… But you really don't. I've got secrets I haven't told anyone… But don't worry darling I bear it so you don't have to."
Suddenly Clarke starts to rip into her violin. Bellamy is so stunned that he forgets to play which results in the entire band stopping. "Less aggressive, Clarke," Wells tells her. "You scared him."
"I'm sorry," Bellamy apologizes. "I just wasn't prepared for that."
"Okay, this time just be prepared for me to do anything and everything," Clarke warns him.
Monty counts them off and they start again. Bellamy mentally prepares himself for Clarke's vicious violin playing. "You think you know me," Bellamy sings.
"I think I do," Clarke sings in the rest. She doesn't have a mic but he can still hear her. Bellamy is taken back but manages to keep playing and singing.
"But you really don't." He feels her come up right beside him. "I've got secrets I haven't told anyone."
"So tell me." Clarke sings into his mic and raises her eyebrows in challenge.
"But don't worry darling I bear it so you don't have to." Clarke still rips into her violin but with a little less vigor than last time, but this time Bellamy is prepared with a riff of his own except he gets so absorbed in it that he misses his entrance for the chorus. Luckily Clarke doesn't.
"Baby don't you trust me. Darling, don't you love me." She leans back from the mic to signal Bellamy should take the next line.
"I just want the best for you. Mount Weather has changed me. I'm not the man I used to be."
They play the next verse then the chorus again and they usually finish with an instrumental of the chorus, but Clarke steps up to the mic instead. "Who we are and who we have to be are not the same. If its forgiveness you are looking for then I'll give it to you. You are forgiven." And of course she finishes off the song with a riff on her violin.
"Can we keep them?" Octavia asked.
"Octavia, they're not stray animals," Bellamy chastised.
"Can we go to the hotel now? I was promised I would get to sleep," Murphy complained.
"We'll see you tomorrow then," Wells declared. "Clarke and I were planning on practicing a little more."
"Do you mind if I stay and watch?" Octavia asked. "I just think what you guys do is so cool."
"Yeah not a problem you could give us some feedback," Clarke responded.
"Monty, you can drive Murphy and Jasper to the hotel. I'll stay and catch a taxi back with Octavia," Bellamy told the group as he tossed the keys to Monty. The group left and Clarke and Wells got ready to practice.
"I guess we'll just keep both violins for now," Clarke told Wells. "Concerto in D major."
Wells started to play the classical piece. At the beginning, Clarke would just add little flourishes, but they switched so that Clarke was playing the classical piece and Wells was adding the flourishes. It happened so seamless that Bellamy hardly noticed the transition. The playing continued to escalate until the song came to the end.
"So what did you two think?" Clarke asked.
"It's good but why don't you two do that hip hop thing? It is so cool," Octavia asked.
"All the performances we've done so far have been for black tie events, benefits, and such. We've just been performing for a bunch of old people," Wells explained.
"Just one question though," Bellamy said. "What exactly were you singing when we got here?"
Wells and Clarke exchanged a look before bursting out laughing. "It was a technique we used when we had to study. We would each sing a line then tell the other what language to sing the next line in," Clarke told him like it was a normal study technique.
"How many languages do you know exactly?" Bellamy queried.
"Well, English obviously. Latin because I thought I was going to med school when I was younger and Wells convinced me that I needed to be fluent in it for some reason," Clarke started to list. "We spent a few summers in France so we had to learn French and we know tidbits of other European languages."
"Well, princess, that is quite impressive," Bellamy mused. "We must seem like humble little beings in comparison."
"Actually it's really cool to actually interact with people that are around our same age," Wells said. "Last week I think the youngest people we interacted with were our parents."
"Okay but now you are going to be performing for people who aren't ancient, so why don't you try something a little more like what you were doing before," Octavia suggested. "It would correlate a little more with the Delinquents music."
"We can try. Clarke, start us off with a riff."