Chapter 2- Introductions and Auditions
I said goodbye to Sue and ran to the office to pick up my schedule, then wandered to the music room and knocked on the door. An elderly gentleman opened the door, so I asked, "Um, excuse me, are you Mr Reynolds?" He smiled at me and said, "Why yes, I am. Are you here about lessons and auditions?" I nodded and he motioned for me to enter the large music room. He sat down at the desk and said, "Ah, a violinist, well that means you get the pleasure of being taught by our new violin teacher, Mr Doyle. He's here on a Wednesday so I'll let him know about you. Now, band auditions for strings were actually in the summer, but you appear to be in the seventh grade so wouldn't have known." I sighed and said quietly, "So is it too late for me to audition? I really love music and so badly wanted to be in the band." He smiled at me again and said, "No, it's never too late to audition, all you need to do is play me two pieces from your repertoire, one which I select, and one which you select, preferably written yourself, but that doesn't matter. Now, what level are you at?" I smiled and said, "I'm at Level 8 Mr Reynolds." He was taken aback, as most kids my age were only at Level 3 or 4, maybe 5. "Well, shall we start with Bach's Fourth Movement?" I picked up my violin and began to play the piece, it was one I knew fairly well, and when I finished Mr Reynolds applauded me. For my second piece I chose one I'd written myself, "Broken Dreams" and played my little heart out, I'd written that when I'd wanted to be a model but was told I was too small. Again I received applause, and Mr Reynolds said, "Welcome Cherry, you're in the band. Now we're not a marching band, we're static, and we play at the start and end of all major games, and at half time too. We practice every Friday until 4:30. Considering school ends at 3pm that's a long practice, but it's worth it, we're the best in the state." I was so happy, I ran and put my violin carefully in my locker, and raced to my form room to tell Sue. I reached Room 353 at 8:55, five minutes before the bell. Sue raced up and said, "So, how'd it go?" I grinned and explained. She laughed and said, "Good for you, you work hard, this is your reward. Me, I barely practice all summer and now I have to go through an audition!" I smiled at Sue and said, "You'll be fine!" At that point the bell rang and the door to Room 353 opened to reveal a tall, slender redheaded woman. "Come on in kids!" She said with a tone of pure excitement. Sue wasn't in my form, so I grabbed a seat in the middle row and wondered who might sit on either side of me. The first person was a girl with dark blue hair and even darker blue eyes. She was wearing black halter top and cream jeans, with black Converse trainers. I smiled at her and said, "Hey, I'm Cherry, nice to meet you." She turned her head and smiled back, then said in a deep voice, "Hi, I'm Raven. Pleasure to meet you." No one had sat on my other side, and I was kind of glad, peace and quiet. But then, it came to an end, as the door opened once more and a small skinny boy walked in, carrying a pile of books, which he promptly dropped. The teacher turned to look at him and said, "You're late." He nodded and said through heavily braced teeth, "Sorry ma'am but I was helping out in the office." The teacher glared at him and pointed to the seat next to me. He picked up his stuff, moved over to the desk and sat down. The teacher stood at the board and wrote her name up for all to see. "Hello class, I'm Mrs Barker and for this year I will be your form tutor. Lateness, Mr Halley, will not be tolerated, so after school you shall come back here and write lines. Now, that's my only rule, do whatever you want during form time, just be here ON TIME!" She said in her booming voice. She meant business, she was dressed in a green trouser suit and carried a briefcase. I turned back to Raven and said, "So, what are you into?" She smirked and said, "This and that. Mainly computers and music." My heart skipped a beat, could she be another girl who appreciated both Britney and Bach? As it turned out, no. I enquired, "So, you in a band?" She nodded and handed me a poster, "Flaming Love" was embossed across the top in blue flames. I liked Raven though, she was cool, and she didn't care what anyone thinks. "So, what are you into Cherry?" she asked quietly. I sighed, knowing this would be the end of any potential friendship, but said, "Well, actually I'm into music, all kinds really. But I'm a violinist by trade, I made the school band. I sometimes write my own music." I was surprised when Raven nodded and said, "Wow, that's really cool, I wanted to play the fiddle, but mum said I'd have to make do with my dad's old electric guitar. It's actually kind of cool, but I still dream of playing a fiddle at a country and western night. Hey listen, why don't we meet up at band practice? I'm a cheerleader and we practice at the same time." I nodded and said, "How about we meet at lunch too. My other friend Sue has a tuba lesson so I'm on my own. Would be good to have some company." Raven nodded and said, "OK, meet you here at 12?" I nodded and then the bell rang and I had to get to my first class, English with somebody called Mr Phipps. I strolled down to Room 127 and took a seat up front. I love English and I wanted to make sure I could do the best possible work. Mr Phipps was handing out copies of Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night" which excited me as I had read it for fun over the summer, while me and my dad were waiting for the car to drain out after we accidentally left the hose running nearby and all the inside electrical parts got flooded. I knew the story and so thought that I could work wonders. Mr Phipps stood at the front of the class and in his Scottish accent said, "Right class, this term we're going to read "Twelfth Night" and learn how to write about a text analytically for your exam at the end of the year." Most of the class groaned at this, but I was quite excited, I had never written analytically before, so this would be a new challenge.
After English I met Miss Kelly, my Science teacher, and we began a lesson on elements in the Periodic Table. I'm not the best at science, so I struggled through the lesson, but eventually I understood. I received more homework, on top of the practice essay I had to write for Mr Phipps, and my usual hour and a half of violin practice. Then I raced down to the canteen for lunch and met Raven half way there. She had just had music with Mr Reynolds and said, "Wow, you've got a tough Band Director there Cherry. He has a seating plan and everything. And it's so tough to understand all this music stuff! I only want to know how to play "Don't Stop Me Now" on the guitar, and then I'm happy. And hey, why are the schedules different for different people?" I had been wondering that myself, then I realised that there were three seventh grade classes, and to add a little spice to life at school they had been mixed up, to make kids make more friends, or so I remember the lady in the office telling me. "So, you want to get some lunch or what?" I said to Raven, who smiled and said, "Yeah, but let's go down to the pizzeria instead, we're allowed apparently." We walked the short distance to the local pizzeria and I ordered a medium pepperoni, Raven ordered a meat feast. We sat at a table and talked about the day so far. "So Raven, I had this Mr Phipps for English, he is so dull, but you know, I'm learning a lot from him already. It's crazy!" I said through a mouthful of pizza. Raven winked and said, "Oh my older sister Amethyst warned me about him, she said he likes to set practice essays on the first day." I showed her my planner and her face crumpled, "Oh no! I have him next, I'm rubbish at English, and I'm going to fail!" She cried. I told her I'd help her if she needed it, and we walked back to school. That afternoon I met Mr Reynolds again for music, and Mrs Belton, who was my history teacher. After school I raced to the bus stop and grabbed seats for me, Raven and Sue on the back row, after picking up my violin from my locker. Then I remembered Sue had a band audition, and so it was just Raven and me, talking about past school years. She moved into Twin Peaks just two months ago, from Boston. She told me about her band, and I told her the story of my current violin, which I call Chelsea, because it came from a shop in Chelsea, England. The bus pulled up at my stop and I said goodbye to Raven, promising to meet her by my locker the next day. I'd arranged that place because that's where Sue was going to meet me. Then I could introduce them to each other. I rushed into the house and got started on my homework. It took a long time, but by five o'clock I was done, and I could finally do what I had wanted to do all day, practice my beautiful music. I started with some basic scales and arpeggios and then moved on to one of my favourite pieces, "Somewhere over the Rainbow" for violin. It always made me realise that dreams should never be forgotten. After that I moved onto "Little Brown Jug" just for a laugh. It was one of the first pieces I remember playing without the teacher moving my fingers for me, and it was nice once in a while to go back to it. After that it was "Yankee Doodle" and "It's Raining Men", which sounds a bit, rubbish on violin, but it was something Miss Farrell, my old teacher wanted me to learn, as she said the hand positions needed practice. Then I moved on to some of my own work. I played "Broken Dreams", "Spring Garden" and "Lola Be Mine". That last one was written when dad saw a Lola race car for sale, but couldn't afford it. Before I knew it, six thirty had rolled around and I had to stop practicing and go and eat something. I'd play all night if my parents didn't stop me! I ran downstairs and met my parents at the dining table; Zoë was late again, as she was working down in a bookshop in town. So we sat down to a meal of chicken tacos and discussed what had gone on in the day. "Well, I auditioned for the band." I said, not giving it any real thought. My parents stopped eating and stared at me. "Well, how did it go?" Said my dad, with a smile. I gave him the thumbs up and they were both so pleased they nearly screamed, "I knew you could do it Cheryl!" Said my dad, he always called me Cheryl, my full first name, even though he knows I prefer Cherry. I told them the practice times and then mum said, "Well, you'll be a busy little bee from now on. I don't want you to go forgetting about the really important things, for example your school work. If I find you're struggling to get it all done on time I'll confiscate your violin until you're back on track. You do know that, don't you?" I smiled and nodded, she said this to me every month nearly, she means well though.
After dinner I had to prepare for some more work I had to do. My old teacher thought I was at a good enough level to teach little kids the violin, and tonight a little girl called Loraine was coming round for her first lesson. I'd met Loraine before, her sister was in the seventh grade too, and her mum brought her into school when she needed to come in. There was a timid tapping at my bedroom door, and I opened it up to find little Loraine standing there, with her tiny little violin case in one hand, and the book I'd asked her to get in the other. I moved aside so she could enter my room. "Hi Loraine, nice to see you." I said, smiling.