Hey kiddies! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted up, but (1) it took forever to write and (2) school was getting in the way (and still is). And... I kinda thought that I had already posted it... gomenasai! So I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter, and the next one might be rather short just so that I don't have to wait forever to get this posted up again. So here you go...

Chapter 4

Richard tentatively reached out for Starfire's hand. "It's nice to meet you…" he said with a strange glisten in his eye. Starfire could not identify what the look had meant. After he let go of her hand and his father had gone back to work, Richard walked Starfire over to a door in the corner of the store. It seemed to be so isolated that no other customer probably realized that it was there. On the way, he tripped on the carpet from not paying attention to where he was going. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Starfire ever since he had first seen her. The poor girl didn't seem to notice.

"This is the crowning achievement of my family's entire musical career" Richard said. He slowly opened the door, inch by inch. Starfire stared in amazement as the crack got wider, and wider, and then... The glow in her eyes immediately disappeared. There was nothing to be excited about. The room beyond the door was small, and looked cramped. There was one window, which probably provided all of the oxygen needed to play on the piano. In fact, the piano appeared, and most likely was, old and dilapidated. Starfire wondered how many people this thing had injured, for it must have splinters in it waiting to attack the unwary.

"Here we are; old Rusty" he said. "Ain't she a beauty?" Starfire looked at it for a second, puzzled. "Well," she answered, "I do not know a lot about pianos at all, so I do not think that I am justified to say anything about it's present condition..."

"You can just say it's a wooden dump. I honestly don't know why the old man keeps this thing around. It's just a musical death trap, if you ask me." Starfire giggled at this and was thankful that he had said what she was too afraid to. "How whimsical, Richard!"

"Please; call me Rick. Its not that I don't like Richard, but it gets too formal sometimes."

Starfire walked over to the old piano and sat on the just as equally worn out stool. As she touched the knobs to adjust them, Richard stopped her. "They don't work anymore. I don't know what happened, but they're good as dead." Starfire, disappointed, decided to lift the seat instead to see if anything would happen. And indeed, it lifted up to reveal a stack of sheet music inside! Star quickly fingered through them as Richard informed her of what songs she had come upon. "That one's Silent Night, and that's Chopsticks; we'll get to those soon..." She turned back to the piano. Richard put a chair next to the stool and took his seat. "Now, show me what you've got!" he said enthusiastically.

Class was in session.

Star nervously fingered the keys without making a sound. How could she play any of her so-called 'music' in front of him?! He'd think her a fool to even try with her lack of talent. She accidentally pressed a key down.

"Well, that was a good warm-up" Rick said, "Now we'll start the real lesson." Starfire was dumbfounded; he was nothing like his father. His nonchalant manner was very calming to her and she couldn't help but loose some of her tension;but not all of it.

"We'll start with the basics." He pointed to the piano keys. "These are white, and these are black. Now, the dude who made them like that wasn't going for a new fashion statement." Starfire giggled. "The white ones are used most of the time. They range from A to G. Go on, try it !" He gave Starfire a look of encouragement and then she knew that it was all right. She touched a key, and then pressed it softly. A clear Ahh rose from it. "Now that," Rick stated, "is A. One of my favorite notes on the entire board. But onto the black ones, now. These are used less often than the white, but they are still used frequently. They're flats and sharps used to increase the quality of a note. Press the one right next to the A." Starfire did as told, and a strange, sour note rang.

"Rick, this note does not appeal to me much. Why does it sound so... unpleasant?" He answered, "Well, I think that it sounds wonderful. Every note on the piano does. But different people do have different tastes." Starfire pondered this for a second, and then pressed the note again. She still didn't hear what was so great about it, but maybe it would come to her later.

As the lesson progressed, it got darker outside and the customers in the store diluted. Starfire had been pressing keys all afternoon, discovering which notes were which and how many keys a piano held. There were eighty-eight all in a neat, strangely organized row. Going through a lesson so slowly annoyed Starfire and made her feel childish and insignificant. Why couldn't she just understand the material already? Playing the piano didn't seem hard at all. Why, if she could just get the chance to spread out her fingers again and play like she had two days before...

"Ok, class is over!"

Starfire jumped out of her daydream after hearing Richard exclaim this. She looked up from the piano for the first time in a while and saw from a clock on the wall that it had been about two hours since they'd started the lesson. And now the long, slightly boring introduction to music was over.

"I thank you, Rick, for all that you have done for me. How much do I owe you for the first lesson?" Starfire hoped that it would be a cheap price as his father had told her the day before. She didn't want to have to ask Robin for money because he'd want to know why and everything would be ruined...

"Don't worry about it. This one was on the house. But if the old man asks..." he said, pointing to the clerk's desk, " just say that it was ten bucks. He hates to loose profits." Starfire thanked him again and walked over to the store's section of sheet music. She looked at the pictures of grand pianos on all of the covers, and thought to herself: One day, I will be able to understand such a complex wonder...

She walked out of the store, leaving the doorway bells ringing after her.

Hey again! So I hope that this satisfied everyone, and look forward to the next chapter! It should have some Starfire and piano quality time stuff in it (I hope). Or maybe it'll be just about Richard for once, who knows? Tell me what you'd like in your reviews! And you all have been doing very well with reviews, so press the purple button!

You'll get a cookie...