A/N: Waiting for the AI finale to start tonight... tEEhEE...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 6: Festival

Kairi was hunched over on her stand, twirling her pencil in her hand. Fingerings really did trouble her... and Mr. Leonhart's weren't exactly the easiest to read on the music with his sloppy handwriting. So she had told herself that in order to get together some more confidence playing the cello, she'd figure out her own.

"So if I use 1 here, then I'd have to shift back down on that note... or I could cross strings, but I'm not good at that in a position other than first... ARGH!" she screamed in frustration. The walls of the orchestra room echoed her scream, taunting her. No one else was in the room- Mr. Leonhart and Sora were having a chat in the office, and today was one of the few days that no one decided to come by and practice. Her friends were off somewhere- Yuffie was probably talking to a few others in fencing with her, and Selphie was probably, oh, perhaps pestering Tidus? And Namine was in the art room, finishing up something that was due in seventh hour.

Selphie and Yuffie were still mad at each other and refused to speak; and with them both as principal chairs, it was a little hard to keep the orchestra together. Kairi was a little, wait, VERY surprised that Mr. Leonhart had yet to talk to the girls about it. He seemed to know most of the things going on in the orchestra members' lives. Sora and the 2nd violin principal had been trying to hold them together, but with the 1st violins a measure ahead and the violas a measure behind, so that didn't help much, did it?

Festival was coming up in four short days. And in those four days, Selphie and Yuffie would have to make up, Kairi had to get more accurate in shifting and counting, and she had to go to her next lesson with Sora.

She hadn't spoken much with Sora since her lesson, just a little hello or goodbye. Honestly, she was nervous to even approach the boy. When teaching, he seemed to have such a short temper, and she most definately did not want to irk him into the situation again.

Sora had popped out of Mr. Leonhart's office in response to Kairi's frustration. He came over next to her, and asked if there was anything he could do to help. She muttered something about fingerings, and so he sat down in the chair next to her to help her sort out the parts in the excerpt she was working on.

"This section-" he pointed out a few measures, "can all be played in first position, just with a few extentions with the sharps. And then here," he pointed to a note, "you need to shift to third position, and stay there until that phrase is done. Then, you can go back to 1st."

"But- but- I don't like switching strings in 3rd position."

"Then practice it. You'll get used to it." He patted her on the head and went back to his chat with the teacher.

Kairi glared holes into Sora's head until he was out of sight. Sure, he was a wonderful teacher and cellist, but WHY, oh WHY did he pat her on the head like she was a dog? And she couldn't exactly ignore the smirk in his eyes when he did so.

She decided to ignore that, just for now, so she could attempt to switch strings in 3rd position. After a few attempts, she got it- sort of. It wasn't exactly a beauty to hear, but at least her fingers weren't all over the place.

The bell rang, and Sora casually walked to his seat. He didn't have to rush anymore, because ever since Tidus had started going out with Yuna, he was much more laid back about his chair, and didn't really care that he wasn't the best anymore- possibly because Yuna was second to Selphie the way that he was to Sora.

"Hey, Kairi!" Selphie waved as she walked past Kairi's seat. She purposely took the long way around, just to keep away from Tidus and Yuna. The little girl had still hadn't gotten over the fact that Tidus might have found someone else. Not that he really showed any interest in Selphie in the first place.

"Hey, Kairi!" Another voice greeted her- Yuffie, and she happened to be going around the same way Selphie was. Kairi waved back, and saw that she and Selphie were having a glaring contest. Finally, Selphie had won, and Yuffie went around the other direction.

"Hmph." Selphie continued the way she was going and hustled to her seat.

Kairi rolled her eyes at her friends' immaturity. They were the ones who were better at their instruments than she was, so why did it seem like they were the ones who were bringing the orchestra down? She half expected this kind of behavior from Selphie, but never in a million years would she think that Yuffie would start acting the same way.

Mr. Leonhart tapped loudly on his stand. "As you know, we have the Islands Festival in four days. That gives us FOUR days to get together our weakest piece, "The Idylls of Pegasus," FOUR days for some people-" He gave Yuffie and Selphie a look- "to grow up, and FOUR days to speed up the other two of our festival pieces.

"I had expected a little bit more of you guys- according to Miss Heartilly, you guys have been one of the more talented groups that she's had- which is why I chose "The Idylls of Pegasus," a song that most likely only the Concert or Chamber would have the honor of playing. I had also expected your behavior to be MUCH better, from what I've witnessed last year.

"So, since I know that most of you aren't listening, I'm going to put on the tuner." The A tone came through the loud speakers as Mr. Leonhart pushed a button.

The class quickly tuned, intimidated by the fact that Mr. Leonhart could tell that most of them weren't listening. He seemed pleased by their sudden and newfound speed and accuracy.

"So, let's get out 'Idylls.'" He spoke, and a rustle of papers followed. "From the last note of Sora's solo, measure 13, I think."

They advanced through the song, up until Selphie's first solo. Then, Mr. Leonhart cut off the orchestra, and sighed. "You guys are really disappointing me. Violas, you were about 10 beats slower than the rest of us. Violins, you're rushing REAL bad. Cellos, you aren't sounding together. And I need more bass. From measure 40."

They followed the upset teacher's command, but were stopped once again at the same place they were the first time. "VIOLAS," he said, and glared. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you do NOT need to follow your principal like a flock of faithful sheep. Please realize that she is occasionally WRONG. VIOLINS," he said in the same harsh tone, and turned to face them. "YOU are doing the same. I know that you are all well taught enough to count on your own, not just to be slaves to the rest of your section. Seconds, your part is not even CLOSE to the firsts and you are still listening all too well to them. FIRSTS, I don't how else to say it, so PLEASE STOP RUSHING!" He took a long breath. "Yuffie, Selphie, I need to see you two after class."

The whole orchestra finally got the point. After that outburst, the rest of the rehearsal ran smoothly.

-

Yuffie and Selphie glared at each other as they walked into Mr. Leonharts office for the "talk." They both reached out to knock at the same time, glaring at each other, but Mr. Leonhart decided to stop the argument before it started and beckoned for them to come in.

He didn't hold back with what he had to say. "You two," he stated, "may be one of the more talented people of the Destiny High Orchestras, but let me tell you this." He paused for a second, making sure he still had their attention. "I don't know what petty fight that you girls have gotten into, but it HAS to stop. Your sections are counting on you. The whole orchestra is counting on you. And yet you mess it up on purpose just because some personal fight."

Yuffie gave him a complete I'm-perfectly-innocent-she-started-it look, but he continued. "Don't think that you're fooling me with saying that you can't play it. I happen to KNOW that you two can play perfectly well on tempo. Have you forgotten All-State?"

Having no more to say, he finished, "I'm done. Get to class." They briskly walked out and headed toward Science.

"I can't believe you, Yuffie! You're the one who totally screwed up the piece."

"I wouldn't be talking, Miss I-can-play-faster-and-better-than-the-rest-of-you-so-why-don't-we-play-a-game-of-chase. At least my section was together. Yours was all over the place."

"Yeah, right. You were just playing slow because your sections sucks, and neither you or Mr. Leonhart will admit that."

"Psh, that's because you get the easy job. Leading a bunch of private teacher taught students. I happen to know that Mr. Leonhart thinks higher of me than you because I have had to deal with people who need more help."

"You know what, Yuffie?" Selphie pulled on the handle of the door in front of her.

"What?"

"You're a real bitch." Selphie stepped into the Science classroom, letting the door swing closed behind her in Yuffie's face.

-

Festival arrived, finally. The group was up at 10 o'clock sharp, but Mr. Leonhart had asked the group to be there at 8:30 in order to watch the two groups in front of them and warm-up.

Namine was going to be there, to cheer on her friends and to hope that Selphie and Yuffie would be getting along once again after the festival. And, being Namine, she had walked with Kairi, Selphie, and Yuffie to Destiny High. (How lucky they were that the Islands Festival was hosted at their school.)

The walk was rather awkward, since Yuffie and Selphie refused to walk next to each other, Namine and Kairi created a barrier between the two sides. Namine and Kairi talked a little bit, just to try to clear up the tension. Every so often, Yuffie or Selphie would join the conversation, only to recive a glare from the other girl.

"Kairi, I don't get it." Namine spoke barely in a whisper. "I thought that they would have made up by now."

"Well..." Kairi responded in the same hushed volume. "One day, Mr. Leonhart asked them to just try to work together in a really harsh way, and well, then it didn't work out so well in the end."

"I see. But why can't they just get over themselves?"

"I don't know, either... but I really can't stand it being like this for any longer."

"Neither can I." Namine looked down. There was obviously something else troubling her.

"Namine... what's wrong? I know that it's not just their-" Kairi rasied her eyebrows toward Selphie- "fight."

"Well..." Namine took a long breath, then moaned. "Roxas found out that I was diabetic. I don't know how... and he's just been worse. So much worse."

Kairi put a comforting arm around Namine. "You can stand up to him. You just need the right time... and meanwhile, just don't let what he does or says to you get to your head. He's probably just jealous or something."

Namine giggled. "Jealous? Of what?"

"Um..." Kairi was speechless. "I don't know, but you're so much better than that idiot ever will be, Namine." She smiled.

Through their conversation, they didn't realize that they had slipped behind, and were about thirty paces behind the other two party members.

-

"Yuffie..." the small girl said, as calmly as possible.

"What?" The other girl snapped back at her.

"I'm really sorry. I mean... I'm really REALLY sorry. I wouldn't be more sorry if I had dropped a huge uneaten ice cream cone."

Yuffie was silent. Was this a trick? No... it was Selphie. She wasn't exactly bright enough to play tricks with your emotions. "I guess... I'm sorry, too, then." She smiled at Selphie. "I guess I shouldn't have made that comment about Tidus..."

"It's okay. I think I'm over him anyway-"

"-No you're not! You are SO TOTALLY NOT!" Yuffie smirked; she knew that she was right.

"Fine, I'm not."

The two girls giggled together as they approached the auditorium of Destiny High. "KAIRI! NAMINE! HURRY UP!" They screamed for the other two girls.

-

"You three," Mr. Leonhart said, "are late. I didn't expect this from you."

"We were-" Yuffie started. "Um..."

"Preoccupied." Selphie finished for her.

"Right." He said, then remembering their fight, he let their lateness go. "Sit and watch, kids." The four friends sat together in the audience.

"Hey," Mr. Leonhart tapped Namine's shoulder. "Could you please sit somewhere else? This is reserved for the orchestra members only."

Namine looked at Kairi, who gave her a look that said, "Sorry." Namine got up, walked to the section of the auditorium next to theirs. "I'll be okay." she mouthed to Kairi, who still had a worried look on her face.

-

At 9:30, the orchestra was lead into tiny and cramped ensamble room. Mr. Leonhart tried to keep the chaos down, but the group couldn't contain themselves. "Okay, I want violas to my left, 1st violins to my right, 2nds to my far right, and basses and cellos to my far left. Try to get your instrument in tune as close as possible- Selphie will lead us in tuning on stage, the way that we practiced yesterday. I know that we don't exactly have stands in here, but let's try to get "The Idylls of Pegasus" in once before we're onstage."

As soon as he finished speaking, a low roar rose up in the room in everyone's attempt to find their stand partner and music folder in the small room.

Running through the music was chaos, with everyone looking down at their music in an awkward position and the cellos attempting to play without chairs. By the time they had reached measure 50, Mr. Leonhart just cut everone off and held his head in his hands as everyone else conversed around him.

An older Destiny High orchestra member popped into the room about twenty minutes later, beckoning to Mr. Leonhart that they were up in ten. Mr. Leonhart did his usual stand tapping to quiet everyone down, and said, "Basses and cellos get onstage first. Violins and Violas, get in order, and follow Kairi."

Kairi waited her turn with her instrument, and slowly trudged toward the stage door. A girl was holding it out for her. "Thanks," Kairi muttered as she half-tripped onto the stage.

Their command was to stay standing on stage until the whole orchestra got on, and then they were signaled to sit.

The performance was running smoothly, although everyone was slightly rushing. Kairi had hit a wrong note here and there, but she wasn't playing too loudly, and she hoped that it wasn't noticable by the judges.

In between their second and their last piece, the infamous "The Idylls of Pegasus," Kairi accidentally let her bow hit her string in the utter silence. She quickly tried to cut it off by covering her strings with her hand, but the whole orchestra still set a glare on her. Mr. Leonhart also looked at her, but he looked away a second later to try to calm the rest of the group down. "It's okay," he whispered. "You guys are doing good."

They switched their music, and were about to start. Mr. Leonhart's hands were at his sides, then turned to face Sora, and raised his hands up to give him the cue to start his solo.

Why did it seem to Kairi that Sora had been getting better at his solo every day? And every day, as he got better at his solo, her self-esteem went a little bit lower. She grumbled to herself, but inside her head, so no one would yell at her to shut up.

She felt a nudge at her side. It was her stand parnter- Sora's solo was over, and now it was time for the rest of the piece to start. She had missed her cue, being in her daydream. She mentally kicked herself, and told herself not to drift off again.

The rest of the piece was not what was expected. Although Yuffie and Selphie were no longer fighting, Selphie had become so accustomed to rushing, and Yuffie had been so accustomed to playing at her own pace that the piece was comepletely falling apart. Kairi herself was struggling with the shifts in the back.

Finally, at the end, the piece finally came together once again, and they gave a good finish... if no one in the audience was musically trained, that is. Unfortunately, the judges were watching very intently and making many notes.

Mr. Leonhart put down his hands in distress. He knew what rating the judges were going to give them- because of a big mess up. Why didn't he choose an easier for the group? It was going to be an all-time low record for the school.

He sadly led the group off the stage in an organized fashion, and led them to the orchestra room- where they would have a clinic with the judges.

The judge, with a name tag that said, "Mr. Strife" on it, was holding the door for the orchestra when they were at the room. Mr. Leonhart sat dejectedly in the back, preparing to wince for the comments that the judge was going to give the orchestra.

All of the kids silently walked to the seats, all knowing that they didn't play their best.

"Okay, kids." The blonde haired judge sat on the chair at the conductors stand. Every single eye in the room was on him, begging to know what they had gotten. "I guess there's no point in trying to delay the inevitable. You guys... slightly disappointed all of us. We expected more out of one of the top freshman orchestra in the Islands. Maybe our hopes were just a little too high- you guys recieve a 'Good.'"

The whole orchestra seemed to groan, all upset with themselves.

"It's okay, it's just a rating. It's not the end of the world- and of course, you guys have the Northern Islands festival next semester to make up for it. So, let's get down to business. I think you all know what your weakest piece was- The Idylls of Pegasus."

The class spoke no words as they pulled out the dreaded sheet of music.

"Mr. Leonhart, I'm not sure what you were thinking, but this piece is made for a higher level orchestra. I'm not saying that this orchestra is bad, I'm just saying that your hopes were a little too high."

The teacher regrettably nodded in the corner.

"Let's start with a few good things. Violas, you were completely together the whole time. You sounded like one big viola, which is what we aim for." He turned to Sora. "Very, very good Solo." He grinned, then turned 180 degrees to face Selphie. "You too." They both gave a small nod in appreciation.

"But for the rest- I doubt if thirty minutes would be enough to get this piece right. Cellos, you were FAR from being together. Your intonation was all over the place. 1sts, you were all going at different tempos. 2nds, you were right along with them. Has Mr. Leonhart ever told you guys to follow the conductor if you don't feel you're on tempo?"

A wave of nods went through the orchestra. "Well, you need to practice it a bit more. Let's start... at measure 40. I'm going to count out loud for all of you."

He snapped while he was counting, and he was following Yuffie's tempo- slower than they were used to. Needless to say, everything felt dragged. Mr. Strife cut off the orchestra, and turned to the cellos. "Cellos, you are completely out of tune. Start at 56, please." He cut them off about two measures later, and said, "Do you guys practice scales?" They all nodded like little robots. "You need to practice them more- they'll help you all get 3rd position and the positions higher than that better." He seemed to be looking at Kairi while he was speaking.

The rest of the thirty minutes were spent with the judge constantly stopping each section and individually speaking to each. He looked at his watch. "It's time for me to let you guys go. I know you are a talented bunch, you just need to practice a bit more- I'll look foreward to seeing you at the Northern Islands festival in April."

He let the group pack up, and finally, some people had the nerve to speak. Kairi's stand partner was one of them. "I can't believe you. You don't even bother to count- being in orchestra means absolutely NOTHING to you, does it?" She glared at Kairi. "Wait 'til you get a piece of Sora's mind. He talks to all of us individually after each festival and concert."

Kairi wanted to retort back. Really, she did. But two wrongs didn't make a right- so she held her tongue. And she wasn't about to deny that she wasn't paying attention during their "The Idylls of Pegasus" entrance. She really has some nerve, Kairi thought. Saying that orchestra meant nothing to me.

She noticed that Sora was walking toward her while she was slowly packing up her instrument. "You." He seemed upset. "Are bringing down the whole section. Kairi, I've told you everything that I could have to try to help you- and yet you still bring the rest of us down like this." He paused to try to collect his temper. "I'd suggest learning how to count this weekend. And possibly doing nothing but practicing."

"I can't believe you!" She had lost it. "You all say that orchestra is all about teamwork. And yet, then you go around- just being such a sore loser! If you thought that orchestra was so troublesome, why didn't you just go to Julliard solo the way that they wanted you to?"

"Because-"

She interrupted his excuse. "I have REALLY had enough of all of you in orchestra. You act so stuck up, so much like you're better than everyone else, and I'm not going to be a part of you any longer." She set her cello down on the ground, and waltzed out the door.

Sora watched her, disappointed at first, but then his frown turned into a smirk. "It'll be better without you, anyway." He told the door that Kairi let swing behind her. Afterwards, he picked up his cello to walk home.

-

End notes: Okay, I have to say, the measures & fingerings for "The Idylls of Pegasus" most likely aren't exactly accurate- but I have a reason, because I don't have that piece in front of me. Nor may I ever again. But if I do, I'll be sure to change it so it's at least a bit more accurate in the measures & where the parts that are easily messed up are & stuff...

oh, and btw...

REVIEW! haha... first time I've asked for them in a long time... but I want to get at least 50 by the time this story is posted. && you should review because this is this longest chapter in the story. So please make me happy & thanks to the people who already have reviewed!