(This was page 42 in the handwritten draft. WOOO HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE!)
DISCLAIMER: If I owned the X Files, you would all know.
Mulder was, once again, pulling Scully down the hall, towards a classroom. This last class, the Intro Band or whatever, must be pretty exciting. Mulder's more enthusiastic than ever, Scully thought to herself as he dragged her down a more narrow hallway than most, and towards a door at the very end.
"Scully! Hurry up!" he exclaimed, tugging on her arm in a vain attempt to make her walk faster. "We're nearly there!"
When they reached the room, she hung back. "Mulder?"
"Yeah, Scully?"
"I'm pretty sure I was assigned to this class on accident. I can't play any instruments at all, and I didn't sign up for it."
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Scully. We'll teach you how to play. And you have to have at least one Fine Arts credit your freshman year, and another in your junior year if you want to graduate with the Distinguished plan," he explained. "This is the only Fine Arts available seventh period."
"Oh. OK," she said, following his through the door.
It certainly didn't look like your typical high school band room. Instead of music stands and chairs arranged in the traditional semisircle, there were microphones and guitar stands scattered around the room, and a drum cage in one corner, with what appeared to be a full kit, with Scully's limited knowledge. Posters of bands and soundproofing lined the walls.
"Mulder," she asked uncertainly. "What sort of band is this?"
"Rock, of course! Isn't it obvious?" Suddenly, he wheeled around to face her. "Can you sing? We need a singer."
"Not really. I'd like to learn, but I just make horrible croaking noises when I try."
"Damn. Guess I'm stuck with it till we get your voice trained.(Yes, I know Scully can't sing, but I'm pretending its just because she hadn't ever had any voice training, for the story. It *is* an AU!)
"Can you play guitar?"
"Didn't I already say I couldn't play any instruments? I played around with a friend's once, but that's it."
Mulder turned back towards the mess of amps and cables in the back of the room, muttering to himself.
"Scully?" he called, "Could you grab the black and dark red Rickenbacker on the rack? You can use that for today, and I'll bring you one you can take home to practice on tomorrow."
She walked over to the rack he had indicated and grabbed the guitar. "Thanks, Mulder. Are you sure its ok for me to use this? It looks like a really nice guitar."
"Yeah, its fine. I've got a few others I can use." (Mulder's family is rich. I want his Rickenbacker... I have a link to it in my profile, if you're interested.)
She slipped the strap over her shoulder, and was surprised at how natural it felt. It was heavy, but it felt normal, more so than it had the last time she had tried.
"It's not too heavy for you, is it?" Mulder asked as he walked over to her.
"No, it's fine."
She started away from him as he put his arm around her, then relaxed when she realized that he was fixing the strap.
"Don't worry, Scully. The strap is adjusted to fit Kyle, since he used it last, and it's way too long for you." Even as he spoke, the guitar felt slightly lighter, because of the shortening of the strap.
He smiled down at her, causing her to grin back. "Where is everyone else? The bell went off a few minutes ago."
"They're always late. Now," he walked around behind her and adjusted the angle of the guitar. "Do you know any chords?"
"No. Sorry to be such a bother, with you having to teach me and all," she responded apologetically.
"Nonsense! Now I have a legitimate reason to make you come to my house, and your parents can't complain about it, 'cause it's for school!" he joked, laughter evidently barely contained. "We probably won't get anything done today, since we're not starting a new song till tomorrow, but if you'd like, I'll come and get you tonight or tomorrow night and teach you some stuff?" he inquired.
"I'll have to ask my parents, but if they agree, I'd love to!"
A/N: Once again, this is a short chapter, but this is all that I have written up. I'll try to post once next week, but after that we have friends staying with us from out of town for two weeks, and then I have a chamber music summer workshop that is another two weeks. However, if any of you read Snape and Lily fanfics, a friend of mine and I are going to start one, alternating chapters, and the first chapter should be up in a week or so.