Chamber Group

Chapter 11

The first day of school was a total mess for Sakura, one reason because her classes got warped. She wouldn't have minded if her theory class was junior theory I ( She took that the first year she came) or if her ear training class was ear-training II ( She took that the third year) and if she had the wrong teacher for her private lesson. ( She had stuck with Mizuki Kaho, but the director decided to change it into Katsuya Hitomi?)

She got to school about an hour early because her first class was at eight, which happened to not exist at all. She had to go to the office to find out what class she really was in, which happened to be at two, and that makes her first class start at nine. She really was not too happy about practicing in the morning because she had the worst week of her life.

She was actually in junior high school for one year already, so Sakura figured that she should be use to it. She was not. So what happened was that she came to music school tired and sleepy. Only to waste one hour of her sleep.

Of course, she can't go to sleep now! It's not her. First of all, she didn't have enough time, second, she can't fall asleep anyway if she woke up in the morning. It was a really sad situation. It was a terrific situation. So she tried to pass time eating breakfast, and being the person that she is ( she normally wakes up late so she has only two minutes to eat,) she finished breakfast ( in two minutes) and was left to wander about the school admiring the dirty pianos.

Finally she gave up and went practicing.

At nine her first class began ( With Katsuya Hitomi) and was greatly surprised. She explained to Katsuya that there was a mistake and Hitomi was greatly pleased. ( It turned out one of her best students was traded to Mizuki.) So forget about the lesson; she had another hour of wasting time.

At ten-o-clock she had chorus, ( it was normally at ten thirty but it was early this year) and the chorus teacher, Yamaha Zoe, ( She was the descendant of whoever made the piano company and the motorcycle company) was absent that week. She had an hour of boredom because the subsitute can't read music and can't sing either. At eleven, she went to ear-training class, which was the wrong class, of course, so she had the teacher fill out a form and went downstairs to the office for the third time, and then had forty minutes of wasting time. The rest of the ten minutes was used to get to class on time, which was Conducting ( she applied at Syaoran's suggestion).

Needless to say, Yoshihara was mighty upset at suddenly having so many underaged students in one year- ( Yamazaki and Eriol took it into their heads to apply as well) and he was not especially cross but not very happy either. The three thirteen year olds, however, couldn't care less. There were about eleven people in that class, all ranging from fourteen to seventeen, and they were the only ones that were thirteen, and were also the shortest ( except for a guy with a weird name Miko, who also had a weird appearance-that of a nine year old when he's sixteen) So Yamazaki, Eriol, and Sakura took time to keep each other company and to soothe each other when someone gets really freaked out at so many of the older kids.

Conducting was actually the only class that worked right because at one there was orchestra, and there they really didn't get to do anything because in the middle, Terada was called out for a meeting, much to his frustration, ( especially since he never knew there was a meeting in the first place) and the other half was spent more on taking attendance and scolding the latecomers.

At three Sakura went to Music History and Yoshihara wasn't there because he was out for a concert. So Sakura had to louse about with a subsitute that knows absolutely nothing about the Baroque Period. At four, she had theory, and that was bad because it was the wrong one, so she spent an hour doing nothing once again. At five, she went to chamber. This time the teacher was there, but the students weren't. Eriol had gone to the doctor, Tomoyo was absent that day, Meiling was sick, and Syaoran's schedule had his chamber class and his private lesson at the same time, so naturally he went to his private lesson.



The only thing Sakura could do was blame it all on the director, who was rather new at this and couldn't schedule right. She was rather new anyway so Sakura couldn't really throw things at her ( not that she usually does that, anyway.) But she was extremely unhappy had spending ten hours doing nothing. No one can blame her-she had the most uneventful day of all the others, except for Syaoran, of course.



First of all, the director thought Syaoran wasn't even a student at this school which was rather idiotic considering he won a competition the other year. So Syaoran's lesson at first was placed on a Sunday, which was changed about a week before the first day of school into the latest time possible-at five.

The next thing was that Syaoran's conducting class, which was at one, corresponded with his music history class ( which meant that both he and Yoshihara were very confused.) Naturally he sought out his teacher before going anywhere and both of them were late for class.

Which was perfectly fine with Syaoran as long as he doesn't get an F.

His composition class never existed and will never exist as long as the director remains director, so for a long time Syaoran didn't know where to go. He had absolutely no free periods on his schedule and he didn't know what happened. Of course, after consulting with the office for the fifth time that day he finally found out that the composition class was during his theory class, and he had to be moved out.

Well, the day didn't go extremely well.

Even worse, many students didn't receive the calender, so about ninety percent of the student population thought that school begins next Saturday.

The teachers were unhappy, the students were unhappy, and quite frankly, the cafeteria chefs were very unhappy because no one came down to lunch and they didn't have to come to work that day in the first place.



The next week everything popped back into place. Almost everything. Syaoran still has no schedule and Sakura still has no ID. As for Tomoyo, she was getting paranoid about the upcoming concert in December and Meiling was getting increasingly jealous of Sakura. Eriol was basically watching the group with an amused smile on his face, getting on Syaoran's nerves and making him exasperated.

" We learned where the word ' crap' came from." Eriol suddenly said.

Of course, Syaoran had no idea where that came from and thus cocked an eyebrow at him.
" The english word? Isn't that a curse?"
" Hai, but it was at first a name."

Syaoran was drawing ten thousand question marks in his head. Why did he bring that topic up?
" There was a British guy name Ted Crapper." Eriol began. " Or was it Tom Crapper? Anyways, it began with a T. He sells toilets." Syaoran snorted. " One time several Americans went to visit England, and they used the bathroom, of course, and on the toilets were the words " T. Crapper". The Americans thought it said " The Crapper". Naturally, they thought that the toilets were called crappers."
" You know, that's not funny." Syaoran began, " Especially since my English is very poor."
" Whatever." Eriol gave up. " You're hopeless."

Syaoran was drawing ten thousand question marks in his head.



( That story is true, by the way.)

" Actually," Syaoran began, " I am hopeful, but Eriol's acting really weird today, so whatever you do don't mind him."
" Who wouldn't." Chiharu sniffed. " With the new director, everything was a mess. I got placed in a chorus filled with five-year-olds. I signed up for the Women's chorus."
" Why chorus?" Syaoran asked. " It's so boring."
" That's because you're the only one that can sing." Yamazaki pointed out. Syaoran rolled his eyes.
" He doesn't sing much anyway." Eriol kicked at his leg. " Lousy gaki, I'll hand it."
" Eww!" Syaoran spat out the chicken. " Thing has some weird stuff on it. Lech! Tastes like ameba!"
" You know what ameba tastes like?" Yamazaki cocked an eyebrow.
" Sort of. Don't taste it. You'll get brain damage or something." Syaoran drank water to clear the taste. " Yrch!"
" Is it that bad?" Eriol asked.
" Hai!"

Sakura thumped down the stairs with her bookbag and basically threw it over the chair before sitting down and grabbing one of Syaoran's chicken.
" Eww!" She spat it into the garbage. " Tastes disgusting!"
" Someone's in a good mood today." Syaoran bit into the bread.
" I-went-up-to-the sixth floor...by stairs-from the-main-floor," Sakura panted, " And then-I-found-out-it was-the-wrong-room. I went-down-to-the-third-floor-to-find-it was on-the-fourth. I went up to the fourth-floor...and found out that the teacher had just moved it to the fifth. I went up to-the-fifth-floor to find-theteacherabsent!"
" Talk about bad luck." Syaoran moved aside so Sakura could sit. " What a lousy teacher you got. What was the class for?"
" Ear training." Sakura sat down. " We were supposed to have a test next week."
" Already?"
" It's just a quiz, actually."
" Oh, to see what level you're on?"
" Hai."

Tomoyo suddenly dropped her bookbag and sat down.
" Lord of the Rings." She muttered.
" Hoe?" Sakura blinked.
" It's amazing." Tomoyo rolled her eyes. " I read that book, or books. I really liked it...although it might be better in English but Japanese is easier for me. I was at music history class. There's this girl, who knows a guy, that taught his baby Quenyan. I have no idea if it's true or not, but it's truly absurd. I mean, that book is good and all, but there's no reason to be crazy about it. Those kids in that class practically want to live in the book. They think the guy who wrote that book-was that Tolkien? Was practically a god. It's scary."
" I know." Syaoran drank his soda. " I read that book in English. Couldn't understand half of the words in there, but I got the idea. It's a good story. But there are some kids who are just way over their heads with that book."
" If you think kids now are crazy," Eriol said dully, " Try thinking of it around fifty years ago when the book was first published. Was it forty or fifty? I forget. In any case, I think the only reason the book suddenly became popular was because they're making movies of the trilogy."
" Movie is good." Syaoran nodded. " They messed up the tree guy though. Is he called an Ent?"
" You should remember the names, you know."
" I can't. There are too many. Let's see, we have the hobbits, of course. Dwarves, Elves, Men, and what? Ents, is that it? And then we have Rohan...Gondor and Mordor, and...mukwood."
" Mirkwood."
" Oh. Right. And what was the other forest? Lo...Lororien."
" Lorien. Or Lothlorien. Depending on which one you're using."
" How do you manage to memorize all of these?"
" For one thing," Eriol said proudly, " I just bought the DVD's from England over the summer."
" Alright."
" It's terrible, I thought the movies." Tomoyo began. " They added the Japanese voices instead of subscripts, so you have Frodo sounding like a guy from Peking Opera or something like that. And the mouth movements don't match the words."
" Of course. It's in English."
" Hai, but I don't like it. It doesn't feel right. So if the movie's that terrible...of course, it's only because of the translations, why are people so crazy about it?"
" Elves, Dwarves and Men. Oh my! What do you think, Tomoyo?" Syaoran chuckled. " Either people have no life, or Tolkien's just too good."
" Tolkien is a professor at Oxford, you know." Eriol looked at Syaoran.
" He did study Anglo Saxxon history, Viking history, took the themes from Beowulf, all those things, yadda yadda yadda. I'll take that."
" Quite frankly, worshipping the guy is a little too much." Tomoyo pointed out. " I mean, some people are like, ' You DARE disgrace Tolkien!!!!'"

Syaoran choked on his soda and Sakura giggled uncontrollably.
" Forgive us." Sakura said to Eriol. " We only read the translation of the classic. But really-"
" Disgrace Tolkien? How's that possible? You can only disgrace yourself. The poor guy's dead. He no longer gives a thing for us little mortals and whatever we do. Imagine the ghost of Tolkien looming about the earth, watching the poor idiots sacrifice part of their brains and devotion to something he made simply by typing on his typewriter." Syaoran finished his soda.
" That's kind of what you said about Swan Lake..." Sakura grimaced.
" This is worse. You don't find people spending their lives in white tutus and acting like swans all the time, do you?"
" True."
" So that thing with the Quenyan is really ridiculous. I don't remember Tolkien writing anything in Quenya except for several random words in the Lord of the Rings..."
" I don't know. They probably made some up. Or maybe it was in the Simarilia, or whatever that book is." Tomoyo answered.
" Scary."
" Oh yeah."
" There are some weird people in the world..."

Eriol was shaking his head. Those guys. He thought. They don't understand. They only read the translation. They never read the actual thing. I feel so sorry for them.



" The oboe has to play over all forty of you over here. You have to play softly." Terada instructed the violins and violas. " You over there! Are you done with your yapping?"

Sakura muttered something under her breath. Today was the first audition for the seating arrangement in the Symphony Orchestra. The bad thing was Yoshihara was doing it this year and she had a bad feeling about it.

Eriol sat in the front line and looked at his music, humming the rest of the piece quietly.
" Weird. Is that a double sharp?" Sakura suddenly looked at the blurred symbol on her part.
" Iie, I doubt it. They rarely use double sharps." Tomoyo said beside her.
" Alright, everyone, measure fifty nine." Terada tapped his baton.



" I want it forced here." Wakabayashi marked the note on Syaoran's music. " Lean into your fingers."

The teacher displayed what was wanted and Syaoran watched at attention. Meanwhile, Eriol was outside with Tomoyo.

" He's late! Again!" Eriol grumbled. " Wakabayashi always gives a longer lesson for Syaoran."
" Don't complain. At least you get a longer lesson too."
" I am so complaining." Eriol grumbled. " We're going to be late for chamber!"
" Relax. It's on this floor. He's only five minutes late.

Syaoran thanked his sensei before putting on his bookbag and opening the door, wishing Wakabayashi a good week. He started at the sight of Eriol and Tomoyo.

" We're here to make sure your schedule is right." Eriol joked.
" Oh, don't worry about that." Syaoran laughed. " Where's Meiling?"
" Downstairs getting Sakura."
" Bad idea, Eriol."
" Whatever!"

The thirteen year olds strolled down the hall to meet their teacher and went in, and after a few minutes the teacher came in, although right after Sakura and Meiling did.

Luckily, the girls did not seem to bother each other too much. Syaoran gave an internal sigh of relief.

" How's the piano?" He asked Sakura.
" How am I supposed to know? I was released." She blinked. Syaoran shrugged and felt the keys.
" Ew. Too much dust." He muttered. Brushing at the keys he began pressing the A key, and then decided to annoy Sakura-the first violinist.

He began playing staccato, then playing the key an octave lower, until Sakura threatened to throw the bow at him. Finally he stopped and did the normal thing. For the others he was cooperative, even for Meiling on her viola.

The team was ready.

" Now, I have this piece in mind," Said Nakoti, the teacher. She handed out the copies and gave Syaoran the score. " Do you think you can sight read it?"
" Ano, sure." Eriol said uncertainly, looking at Syaoran.
" I'll try." Syaoran muttered, as he looked at the Schumann. All looked at Sakura, who was going to give the upbeat.
" How fast?" She asked.

So Nakoti counted. " One, two, three, one two-"

And they began.



Sakura's gotten better. Syaoran thought.
This piece is pretty hard. Eriol thought.
That brat! Meiling thought to herself.
Eriol looks so cool on the cello. Tomoyo thought.
Did she get a new violin? Syaoran turned the page.
Syaoran needs a page turner. Sakura thought.
Tomoyo looks nice today. Eriol thought for the fifth time that day.
I need more rosin. Tomoyo grimaced.
Why is she looking at him? Meiling glared.
We're falling apart. Syaoran thought.

And they were. The teacher gave a cut off sign and clapped.
" That's very good for today." She said.

Syaoran looked at the piece and fingered them lightly on the piano.

Wow, he didn't even make one mistake so far, Sakura blushed.
Why is she blushing? Meiling fumed.
The pegs are turning. Eriol frowned.
Why is my violin so squeaky today? Oh shoot, I put too much rosin this time! Tomoyo sighed.
How am I supposed to sightread that? Syaoran groaned inwardly.
What time is it? Meiling looked around for a clock.
I want to go home. Eriol bit his lip. My eyes are tired.
Eriol is having trouble with his pegs. Tomoyo thought.

" Let's start again. Remember the accents." Nakoti counted. " One, two, three, one two-"



" I can't believe you fell asleep while playing." Sakura gaped at Syaoran outside in the hall. " How is that possible?"
" Ano..." Syaoran blushed.
" Don't worry." Eriol teased. " Syao-chan does that all the time."
" Syao-chan?" Tomoyo blinked.
" Oh no." Syaoran answered.
" But seriously, I have never heard of a time when someone falls asleep while playing the piano! Seriously!" Sakura cried.
" Hey! You're getting too close!" Meiling suddenly hung on to Syaoran, who turned from blushing to sighing.
" Doesn't he get in trouble for that?" Tomoyo asked.
" Sometimes. Usually not. In truth, he doesn't do that all the time, just when he's extremely tired. Today was stupid." Eriol suddenly blushed. Tomoyo blinked.

The elevator opened, and the quintet went in. It's time to go home.