// Author's Note: Well, there's a bit more Dia in this chapter! I realise she's... ah, "different" in this fanfiction, but that's because I basically molded her into my own variation of Dia. She will become more like her real self later on in the story though, so worry not :)

Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are awesome! XD End Author's Note //

Chapter 10 - Rivals in Tune

The first part of the week had passed rather uneventfully - aside from Karen and Gwen avoiding each other, Dia keeping to herself more than usual, Mary zooming through book after book, and Joe repeatedly getting detentions for various reasons that are too long to list here - but these had all become part of the norm. Early Thursday morning, Sacchun was woken up earlier than she would've liked by a high pitch sound that was unfamiliar to her. She sat up, and heard her dog whine, while scratching at the door, wanting to be let out. They hated high pitched sounds. As Sacchun approached the door, she realised it sounded like an instrument. She opened the door, and saw Meg, a clip in her hair to keep her hair out of her face, holding a violin while reading sheet music off a stand.

"Haw, Meg! Whatchu doin' this early in the morning?" Sacchun asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm practicing, silly! Didn't you hear on the announcements yesterday? They're bringing back the music program to Flowerbud High... We're getting a new music teacher today!" Meg said excitedly. Meg had been playing Violin since she was young, among other things, though she hadn't played it for a good couple of years, and had gotten slightly rusty.

"Yer gunna wake up all the neighbours..." Sacchun yawned. Meg ignored her and kept playing. Since she was up already, Sacchun decided to fix herself some tea and sit and listen to Meg play, while watching the weather channel on mute.

"Y'know, even though we've been living together for a while I haven't heard you play your violin that much." Sacchun remarked, while sipping her tea.

"Oh, well back when I would take private violin lessons, I would practice there and at school, but after my teacher moved away, I kind of dropped it... I figured this would be a good chance to get back into it!" Meg said enthusiastically.

"Gosh, Is it really worth it if you have to wake up this early every morning?" Sacchun yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Hm... I just wanted a bit of extra practice... To familiarize myself with the instrument again before today's class." Meg said. She removed the clip from her hair, stuck it on her stand and helped herself to a cup of tea. After a bit, the two of them got ready and went to get changed. They ate a light breakfast, switched off the TV, and Meg put her violin in its case and swung it over her shoulder.

"I'll be right out, Sacchun." Meg said, walking into the bathroom and closing her door.

"'Kay." Sacchun sat on a stool next to their closet and tied her shoe laces, when a distant sound caught her attention.

It was the faint sound of a violin... She got up and put her ear against the bathroom. No violin there. She went back and opened the door to the corridor and stepped out - the violin sound was stronger. She was about to try and find the source of the sound, when she heard Meg open the bathroom door and come out.

"Wait up, Sacchun!" she said, running out into the corridor and locking the door.

"...Okay Meg! Let's go" Sacchun said, wondering who the mysterious violinist was...

The bell rung, signaling the start of the day and the start of first period. Lloyd and Joe met up with Meg and Sacchun, and the four of them went into class. They talked for a bit, then seperated and went to their assigned seats, which were in alphabetical order. Meg and Sacchun were fairly close to each other in the back, and Lloyd, Joe, Kurt, and (unfortunately) Dia were all nearer to the front. Principal Theodore's daughter, Mia was also in this class, as were Eve and Ray. Mr. Brassen, Ann's dad and their math teacher, entered the room and instructed them to all open their textbooks. They did so tiredly, not one of them in the mood to pay attention to Mr. Brassen's math lesson.

And so it droned on, and on. They all sat there, occasionally copying down numbers, formulas, and math problems lazily.

"...and if you factor out the y, you should be left with..."

"This. is. so. boring!" Eve hissed to Ray. Everyone heard her, but not Mr. Brassen. Sacchun was acctually asleep on her desk.

In the middle of a lengthy explanation, the P.A. suddenly crackled and they heard the voice of the school secretary flow into the room.

"As we announced yesterday, there will be a change in schedule for the students who will be taking part in the Music course for the year. Will the following please come down to the main office to have your schedules modified..." and she listed several names, including Lloyd's, Meg's, Dia's, Karen's, Gwen's, Mia's, Mary's, Rick's, and many others.

Their was a sound of chairs scraping against the floor as they got up and left the math class with no hesitation, Sacchun still sleeping soundly on her desk.

"Oh gawd... that was soo boring." Meg said as they got outside. Lloyd stretched.

"What do you expect? It's math."

"So what instrument are you picking?" Meg asked.

"Probably something simple. Like, Trumpet or something that doesn't require hours of practicing. You? Violin?" he replied

"Yep, how'd you know?" Meg said excitedly.

"...You kidding? Almost everyone heard you playing this morning!" Lloyd laughed.

"Oh crap! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake everyone up." she said, embarassed.

"It's alright... Joe can sleep through anything, and I was already up from walking the dog anyway."
"Speaking of which, did you think of a name for him yet?" Meg asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah! We named him Ringo." Lloyd said happily.

"Ours is named Momo. It was Sacchun's idea..." Meg said - not that it needed explanation. They arrived at the main office and met with the secretary, Gina. Her grandmother, Ms. Halls worked as the school nurse with Alex, but since they both couldn't be Ms. Halls and because Gina was probably the youngest member of the Staff, everyone just called her Gina.

They met up with other students who were called down and got their schedules modified, and by the time the whole modification was finished, the bell had rung and first period was over.

"Oooh, so we already have music second period." Meg said, examining her new schedule.

"I'm happy we missed the rest of Math!" Lloyd said truthfully.

"Hi guys!" said Karen, catching up with them. A bunch of her friends, including Popuri followed not far behind.

"Hey Karen. What are you doing for music?" Meg asked.

"Oh, vocal choir. I've been taking private singing lessons for a while, after all." Karen said proudly.

"Karen's such a good singer." Popuri said proudly. The other girls agreed.

"Ugh, you're in vocal choir also?" said a voice behind them. They all turned around to see Gwen and her own posse.

"Please, spare us the pain." Eve said at Gwen's side.

"Gwen." Karen said, glaring.

"Karen." Gwen said coldly. They had a traditional staredown, as per usual, with imaginary electricity crackling between them.

"Uh, guys?" Meg started, "Before this becomes another clash of the cliques, can we save it for once we acctually get to class?" she suggested. Without a word, they continued on to the music room.

They all entered the room, and took a seat. Each chair had a stand in front of it, and there was a seperate room with a sign on it which said "INSTRUMENT INVENTORY" where they kept all the school's instruments. Meg had her own violin in her case, and took a seat near the front. Lloyd ended up sitting with her, and Karen and her group were on one side, where Gwen and hers were on the other. Kurt entered and sat behind Lloyd, and Mia and Mary both sat near the back. Rick sat with Mary. Two girls, one red-haired and very tomboyish, Amber Starre, and one with short brown hair and had an interest in nursing, Erica Shields entered, chatting cheerfully away. They had been best friends all through High school, and were rarely seen without the other. Dia was last to enter, and took a seat near the back of the class. She too, had a black case that looked suspiciously like it held a violin.

Once the class had assembled, their teacher came in, accompanied by Principal Theodore. Their new teacher was a short old woman, with elaborate, big gray hair that almost looked like a wig. She had fancy glasses, a blue skirt, white vest and trendy scarf, and a strange umbrella with a brass bird-head as the handle that she seemed to use as a cane. She also had many rings and necklaces.

"Good afternoon class..." Theodore said absently, even though it was only second period. "I'd like you to meet your new teacher, Mrs. Romana Melodia, coming all the way from southern Forget-Me-Not."

"Good morning class!" she squawked. She walked in quick paces, her feet only taking small steps. She walked to the desk at the front of the class and wrote her name neatly in cursive on the blackboard.

"I am glad to see you are all interested in the field of music... So let's see what you can do. Anyone?" Romana asked.

"I play violin." Meg said.

"Raise your hand, dearie." Romana said sternly. Meg raised her hand.

"Yes, dear?"

"I play violin." Meg said.

"Yes, you already told us."

"I know, but you told me to raise my hand."

"I meant next time, dear."

"Okay." Meg looked at Lloyd and giggled.

"Very well. Anyone else?" Romana asked, looking around the room.

"Well, I'm the best vocal singer in the school." Karen said proudly.

"Raise your hand, miss." Romana said sternly again. Gwen raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"I'm the best vocal singer in the school." Gwen said proudly.

"...We'll have to have a singing competition someday!" Romana said happily. Gwen and Karen stared daggers at each other.

"Great, another reason for them to hate each other." Meg said sarcastically under her breath. As the class continued, Romana had assigned the other students who did not play anything an instrument. Lloyd ended up with Trumpet by request, and Kurt took drums. Amber and Erica, who both played flute when they were younger in elementary school, both took the flute. Mia played the organ and the piano, and Mary who wanted to learn became Mia's pupil. Rick took the trombone. Next, Romana redid the seating so that the band players were on one side of the room, and the orchestra was on the other. Meg looked surprise when her assigned stand partner was Dia.

"Now then! Let's see what the orchestra can do." Romana said, walking over to the orchestra's side. Meg glanced at Dia uncomfourtably. Dia simply said nothing and stared at her string.

"Please now, a D Major scale." Romana said. Meg raised her instrument, as did the rest of the orchestra, and they played a slightly shaky D Major scale. After that, they put their instruments down.

"..You were a bit out of tune on your C#, by the way." Meg whispered to Dia.

"...Thanks." she said coldly, not even glancing at Meg. They played another D Major scale. Meg leaned in once again to whisper to Dia.

"Your bow strokes were kind of crooked coming down..." she whispered. Dia turned to her irritably.

"I think I can correct my own mistakes, okay? I'm not like you, who needs everything hand fed to her before she can finally absorb it." she said quickly so that Meg was the only one who heard.

"Excuse me? I was just trying to be helpful!" Meg said - which was not true at all.

"Well you're failing at being helpful. So stop." Dia said, frustrated.

"Hmph."

"Now girls, quit with the chatter, we have much to cover." Romana said, tapping her umbrella-cane on the floor twice.

They played some easy pieces with the band so they can all warm up, and Romana spent a lot of time instructing the new musicians on how to play their instruments. She was currently having a lengthy talk with Mary and Mia about her own grand daughter who played the piano.

"You know, on that last piece you got lost in measure six..." Meg pointed out to Dia. She wasn't sure why she continued to do this, perhaps it gave her some slight pleasure to know she could bug Dia so easily.

"I know." Dia said through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you need more practice." Meg thought aloud.

"Maybe you should shut up." Dia said, once again through gritted teeth. Kurt was looking worriedly at the expression on Dia's face, even though he was sitting at the back of the class behind the drum set.

"Are you sure your violin is tuned?" Meg asked her mockingly.

"Are you sure yours is?" she said, and quickly grabbed one of the tuning pegs on Meg's violin and twisted it so far that Meg's E-string snapped.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Meg yelled - or rather, whispered very loudly.

"What the hell is yours?!" Dia retorted.

"Girls! Enough!" Romana walked back to the front of the class. "Dia, please play number sixteen in your Easy Solos book." Romana said sternly. Dia flipped to page sixteen and played the piece perfectly, earning her a bonus mark from Romana and an icy glare from Meg.

"Now you, Meg."

"But miss! I can't! My E string is broken." she said, holding up her violin.

"Now how did that happen?"

"Because Dia --" Meg was cut off.

"I was simply helping her tune her violin and the string snapped. It obviously wasn't strong enough." Dia said calmly.

"Hmm, I shall have it replaced. Meghan, please practice number sixteen for next time, as I hope to hear it flawlessly from someone who has played the violin for as long as you have." Romana told her. Meg stared icily at Dia and nodded.

The bell rang and Meg was the first out of her seat and through the door. Lloyd and Kurt quickly followed her out and caught up with her.

"You okay, Meg?" Kurt asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, a fiery glint in her eyes.

"She thinks she can out-violin me? This means war."