AN: This is the second part of chapter 5. It just got too long so I had to break it down. Enjoy!

Shortly after I dialled Eric up he was in the parking lot. He saw me walking with all of my stuff and turned off the engine of his truck to come help me. He grabbed my french horn and looked at the case.

"What's this?" He asked me, testing its weight like a typical guy.

"It's a French Horn." I said simply.

"Why do you have it?"

"I'm starting French Horn."

"What do you think your mom's going to say?" He asked me.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about that yet." I told him. I would figure out a way to tell her over dinner.

We threw the instruments into the back seat of his truck and then left the school. This time I didn't forget any of my stuff.

"Mom I'm home!" I cried, giving her my usual greeting. I tried sneaking past the kitchen to hide the horn in my room but, my mom caught me with it.

"What's that sweety?" She said, pointing to the case I was trying to hide behind my cello. It was a failed attempt at concealing it.

"It's a French Horn." I told her.

"What's it here for?" She asked me, being the smart mom that she was.

"I decided to give it a try." My mom raised her eyebrows.

"Well... As long as it doesn't interfere with your cello, I'll be fine with it." She said, being the totally cool mom I knew. I squeaked in delight and rushed up to hug her as best as I could while holding all of my stuff. I rushed into my room and lay the case out on the bed. Rachael, who was trying to do her homework on the other bed, looked over at it with interest.

"What is it?" She asked. I replied by throwing the case open letting the shining metal glint out at her. She climbed off her bed and crawled onto mine.

I had been itching to try it ever since I took it out of the case the first time. I opened one of the beginner books Larsson had given me to look through.

I found the mouthpiece and placed it where it was supposed to go and then I tried to make a sound. Nothing came out.

"I don't think you're doing it right." Rachael said, pointing out the total obvious. I looked through the first few pages of the book before trying again. Apparently I needed to form something called... embouchure.

I tried again, this time using the instructions.

Voila! A sound. It wasn't very beautiful but, at least it was a sound.

Rachael jumped up and down on the bed. "You made a sound! You made a sound!"

"Fia." The voice of our mom coming down the hallway was heard. The next thing I knew she popped her head through the door having us both look like deer caught in the headlights. "I'm happy that you got a new instrument but, for everyone's sake please only play it at school until you get a little better. Mrs Donahue just had a baby and we don't want to disturb it."

"Okay." I said, quickly agreeing. There was nothing worse than having a baby up all night screaming and crying in protest.

"Thanks dear." My mom said, wiping her hands on her apron.

That night as my mom gave us our dinner Rachael came up with a question for my mom.

"Mom, is it okay if I start an instrument too?" She asked. My mom's face paled a bit. The cost of an instrument for my sister was something we probably couldn't afford. We had barely been able to pay for my cello but, we had gotten help from my grandparents who had both recently died.

"We'll think about it." She said. I felt bad for Rachael. It was entirely unfair that she couldn't play one just because she was the younger child. Rachael's face fell a bit.

"So what kind of instrument do you want to play?" I asked Rachael later that night after dinner.

"Hmm... I was thinking about viola." She told me. I thought about it for a moment.

"What if I said I could try to help you get one?" I watched as Rachael's face brightened up. "But, you can't tell mom yet, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled. I bet she looked like me when I saw the French Horn earlier that day.

In truth I couldn't get her an actual viola but, I knew that Alice had an old violin that she didn't use anymore. I could pretty easily make it into a viola for her if I got the strings.

Beep!Beep!Beep!

I reached over to hit the alarm clock next to my bed. I looked at it.

5:00

"Ughhh! It's too early." I said. I reset the clock for another two hours for Rachael. I rolled off the bed with my blankets and wrapped myself up in them. During the winter it was freezing after I took my shower so I always wrapped up in a blanket.

I grabbed a towel and walked down to the shower that Eric, Rachael and I shared. I stood under the water for about two minutes like a zombie before I started to wake up. It was my morning routine; wake up in the morning, complain about it and then take a shower half asleep.

I jumped out when I heard Eric knocking on the door.

"Fia I have to be at work in thirty minutes." He said through the door.

"I'm almost done." I said, patting myself dry and wrapping up in the blanket. I put on my makeup, brushed my teeth and hair in the time span of a minute. I opened the door walking out of the steam. The cold air hit me making me take my breath in fast.

"Thanks." He said, rushing past me. His work wasn't necessarily close to us so I knew he had to hurry.

I blinked my eyes a few times trying to adjust to the change in lighting and then headed for my room. I started going through my closet throwing stuff on the bed that might be somewhat acceptable for the day. I finally decided on a dark green turtle neck and a pair of jeans. It was getting colder and colder faster now that fall was at it's height. If we were lucky it wouldn't snow for another month.

I walked into the kitchen and poured some water into a pan to make porridge and set it on the stove. I sat down at our kitchen table head in my hands, still trying to wake up.

I was almost back to sleep when I felt a pair of strong hands massaging my shoulders.

"Hey mom."

"Good morning." She said, "Do you have everything for school today?"

"Yeah." That's when I realised I had to take my horn in today too. There was no way that I could get it there without people noticing.

"What's the matter honey?" She asked, obviously feeling the tension in my shoulders.

"I don't know how I am going to get my French Horn into the school without other people noticing."

"Does it really matter if someone see's you with it?" She asked me.

"Yes." I ran to the stove and spooned the porridge into a bowl for my mom and I, turning off the fire. I took huge bites swallowing it fast.

"What's the hurry?"

"We have to go now." I said. If we were going to beat everyone to school we would have to leave right then.

"But, it's still so early." She pointed out. I checked my watch. It read 6:07.

"We're good. Besides you'll get to work right on time if we go now." I ran down the hallway leaving my bowl on the kitchen counter. I knocked on Eric's bedroom door. "We're going. Bye."

"Bye." I heard the reply.

Time to go. I grabbed my bag and two instruments and made a beeline for my mom's car. She was already inside waiting for me. I jumped in and we took off out the drive way.

"I still don't understand why you have to leave so early." She told me, when we were halfway to the school.

"Do you have any idea how many people would kill me if they saw this thing?" I asked her, she was silent as if thinking over what I said.

"I still don't get it but, that's okay. As long as it makes sense to you." She let off a huge yawn at our next stoplight.

I looked at the cars built in clock. 6:21. We were making good time.

As soon as we got to the school I gave my mom a quick kiss and then I towed everything to the music room. From what I'd seen so far the school was deserted.

I tried the door to see if I could drop off my stuff. Locked. I sank against the wall next to the door and rested my head on my cello case. I got comfortable and then I felt my eyes begin to droop.

It's too damn early.

The sound of keys tinkling against each other entered my dreamless sleep and then I felt a foot nudge my side.

"You okay?" Mr Larsson's voice asked me from above.

I blinked my eyes a few times and then looked up at him half dazed. "Yeah, I'm good, just tired."

"What are you doing here so early?" He asked me. I looked at my watch again out of habit. 6:34. Before-school classes would be starting soon.

"Well I needed to drop this off before someone see's me with it." I told him. He nodded his head and opened the door. He wordlessly took the French Horn case inside and set it next to him as he unlocked his office door. He brought it in with him and set it against the wall. "It'll be in here after school. We'll work something out so you won't have to get here so early each morning."

With that he waved me away. I dropped my cello off in the room and then left to go find my usual spot where all my friends hung out.

As soon as the bell rang I was out of my chair and packing my cello up. Mr Larsson said I could get my Horn from his office after school and that is where I went. He wasn't in there so I sat in his swivel chair and waited for the rest of the orchestra to leave.

The swivel chair was fun. I spun around in a few circles, completely enjoying myself, until I saw a dark blur standing in the doorway. It was Larsson.

"The coast is clear." He told me, I stopped spinning rapidly, and jumped up to get the horn. I wobbled a bit having gotten up too fast and held onto Larsson's desk so I could get stable again.

"Ughhh... Don't try that." I told him, he smiled a bit at me.

"I do it all the time." He joked.

Both of us turned around when we heard the outside door open. "Is she here yet?" Kevin's voice came from the foyer, asking Larsson.

"Yeah, she's waiting for you." Kevin walked up to the door and looked in at me. His own case swung at his side. He gave me a small frown, which I didn't understand.

"So you showed up?" I didn't answer him. Of course I showed up! He made a motion for me to follow him. "Come on."

"Here." Larsson threw him a set of keys, "Use the back practice rooms today."

Kevin unlocked about three doors before we finally made it into the back practice rooms. When Larsson said back, he meant back. I had never been in this practice room before. It was usually reserved for people that took lessons at the school... which was what I was doing now.

He switched on the light and closed the door behind us. The room wasn't exactly big or small, it was just right for the two of us to fit into with room to practice. Four chairs were stacked near the wall and a few stands were littered everywhere.

Kevin didn't say anything to me which just made everything really awkward. He handed me a chair and then took out his horn.

Finally he said something. "You can take it out you know."

"Oh... yeah." I said, knealing on the floor quickly to take it out, not wanting to fail my first lesson. I was really tense. I did not want to do anything to make myself appear to be stupid.

"So what do you know about French Horn?" He asked me, turning around with his horn. O-oh... If I hadn't wanted to appear stupid he probably shouldn't have asked that question.

"Umm... It sounds cool." I said, saying the only thing that came to my mind. Now that was a stupid answer. I brought the horn out of it's case in its entirity, trying not to look at his face, which was raised in a 'is-that-the-best-you-got' type of look.

"Besides that." He said, waving my last comment away.

"Then nothing really." I told him. Was it really my fault that I didn't know anything?

"Okay then, let's start with how you are going to hold it." He sat down in his chair and I followed. "Take your left hand and drape your first three fingers on the valves... valves are the buttons that you press on." He added, when he saw my confusion. Duh... how could I not know that? I placed my fingers like he said. He took my hand and made a few adjustments and then leaned back to admire his work. He nodded. "Now take your right hand and put it on the top of the bell." I figured the bell had to be the part where the sound came out. He nodded his head when I gripped onto it. Whew... I must have been right.

"Am I good?" I asked, he nodded his head.

"Later on when you get better I'll teach you how you can use your fist inside the bell but, for right now don't worry about it." He told me. "Let's worry about actually getting a sound out. We'll do notes later."

"Embouchure?" I asked. He cringed a bit. I had obviously pronounced it wrong.

"Yes, and it's pronounced em-boe-shur." He said, annunciating every syllable for me. "It's a french word meaning, 'form of mouth'."

He showed me what it looked like with his lips and then placed the mouthpiece against them. He took it away from his mouth and said, "You need to part your teeth a bit inside your mouth," He stretched his lips so I could see, "and let a steady stream of air come out. Don't blow down like you would with a flute, instead blow straight into the hole. Buzz your lips while you do it and don't apply to much pressure against the mouthpiece with your mouth. Just kind of relax." He held out his hand signaling for me to try.

Okay wait... was I supposed to understand that? He just looked at me expecting me to try. I raised the horn and attempted to do everything he had just showed me. Apparently I did it wrong though because before he even let me make a sound he stopped me. "No, you're pursing your lips too much."

I exhaled trying to calm myself down. I was tensing all over because of how nervous I was. Apparently he saw that I was, "Just calm down. You're all tense." He told me the obvious.

"No I'm not." I said, trying to deny it. I let my shoulders fall a bit though contradicting my words.

"Okay that's better. Let's try again." He said, running his tongue over his lips before putting the horn to his mouth and demonstrating for me again.

He watched me with hawk's eyes as I tried again, this time he made no move to stop me. I wet my lips like he had and then I blew. The note I made wasn't sweet and buttery like his note. Mine reminded me more of rocks grinding against each other. But still, it was a sound! I looked over at him waiting for his approval. He had a frown on that I was pretty sure was going to remain there permanently.

"No, do it again." He said, setting his horn on his knee and crossing his arms

An hour later I was still trying to get a note that would be considered somewhat acceptable in his eyes, when Larsson came to check on us.

"How are things going?" He asked us.

"She got a sound out of it at least." He told him.

"Let's hear." He said, looking at me. I wet my lips and took the exact same position I had been in for what now felt like forever. I blew in getting a note that was better but still really airy. Larsson didn't say anything to me about it, instead he turned to Kevin, "Did you teach her tonguing?"

"No, she's not ready for that yet. We're not moving on until she gets a solid note." He told him. They were both talking about me as if I wasn't there.

"Well at least teach her some good breathing exercises."

"I was going to." Kevin said.

"Okay, I'll let you guys go then. You might want to start wrapping it up soon though. Band practice will be starting in about twenty minutes." Mr Larsson told us both, closing the door as he left.

"You can pack your horn up." Kevin told me as soon as the door clicked shut. I obliged, "We're going to go over some breathing exercises."

As soon as I set the horn down I realised that my lips felt really weird. I touched them to try and reduce the tingly feeling.

"Just let your lips be, you'll get used to it." Kevin said, watching me as he put away his own horn, wiping any remaining fingerprints off with his cloth.

I sat back down in my chair waiting for his instruction. He brought out an old beat up metronome from a pocket in his case and set it on the stand turning it on to about 98 bpm. "The concept of this exercise is for you to get your breathing even by using your diaphragm. You inhale for twenty counts letting your stomach expand and keeping your breath steady. Then you exhale for twenty counts, hissing. You let your stomach deflate and you need to keep the hiss steady for all twenty counts." He demonstrated by putting one hand on his chest and another on his stomach. "Don't let your chest rise or fall while you're breathing... only your stomache. Got it?"

I put my hands on my chest and stomach like he had and tried it. I breathed in but, my stomach deflated instead of expanded.

"No you're doing it wrong. Breath deep down. You're a human vacuum. Remember that. Now try again." He said, I still couldn't do it. I frowned a bit, getting frustrated.

"I can't." I said.

"Try it again." I did but, still couldn't do it. "Okay you can go now."

I took that as a dismissal. I was upset and worried that he might not want to teach me again after this lesson. I reached for my horn grabbing it by the handle.

"Thanks for your time." I said, looking him straight in the face.

"You're welcome." Giving me no hint whatsoever of what he thought about our leson. He followed me out and into the music room, locking all of the doors behind us. A bunch of band kids were gathered getting ready for practice. Kevin left me and went into the locker room. I got a few looks from the band but, other than that they just let me be.

My cello was in the same corner that I had left it in and I put all of the music I had, inside the case. I felt miserable. Was he so willing to judge me after only hearing me once?

"Fia." I heard Kevin's voice calling me from the locker room. He was hanging around the door, "I'll see you directly after school tomorrow." He told me quickly, before walking back in to the locker playing a few notes on the trumpet like instrument that I had seen him playing on the field before. Yes! At least I knew that he wanted me to come back again. That must have meant that I hadn't done so badly.

I left the music room with one more thing to do before I went home. I entered Larsson's office. There were three other bando's in there, including the one that I had seen with the drumstick's at lunch the day before. They all turned towards me stopping their conversation and giving me questioning looks, which I ignored.

"Hey Fia." Larsson said, looking around at everyone after the awkward silence, "What do you need?"

"Can I leave this here tonight? My mom won't let me practice at home." I explained. He nodded his head and I left it next to his desk and hightailed it out before anyone else could come in.

I walked into the locker room leaving Fia behind to get her own things. She seemed pretty upset. It came to my mind that she might not want to take another lesson from me if I decided to take her on. I guess I had come off as a bit cold but, hey... if you can't take the pressure music puts on you then you shouldn't be there.

I was taking my mellophone of its shelf when I started to feel kind of bad about Fia. Ugh... Why do I have to have a heart? The next thing I knew I was holding onto the side of the door.

"Fia." I called, hoping that I had said the name right. "I'll see you directly after school tomorrow." I saw her eyes light up a bit but, I ignored it. I guess I had made the right decision to take her on. Maybe she would have some good come out of me training her. I ignored her happy face though and brought my mellophone to my lips for my warm-up exercises.

I guess she hadn't done as badly as I expected. I had hoped that she wouldn't show up or that she wouldn't have any knack for the horn at all. She had proven me wrong though. It had taken me much longer than her to even get half of the sound she had gotten today. One thing was for sure and that was that I would definetely be seeing more of her. I have to admit that I was honestly thinking about not teaching her again because she was in the orchestra but, she had passed every type of test I could think of to throw at her. She could have potential but, at the moment it was too soon to tell.

I put my french horn in its locker so I would be able to come and get it after practice. I locked it as habit remembering when I had left it unlocked in my frshmen year and then the upperclassmen had switched them all causing a great confusion. Especially for Larsson since it was his first year. Back then he was still soft on all of the trouble makers.

I walked into Larsson's office carrying my mellophone with me. I heard the voices of my friends discussing my new 'student' with Mr Larsson.

"Hey." I said, taking a seat on the floor. Robert took a moment out of the cadence he was drumming out on his binder to give me a mock salute before starting over again. This is what we usually did before practice when we had time... sit on the floor until Larsson was ready to not be lazy anymore and run practice.

"Hey Kevin." A voice that sounded like it had been painted over with sugar said, crawling over next to me. I rolled my eyes. It was Laureen, head of the frontline. She was probably the definition of band slut. She had a crush on a different boy every week and it was probably my turn to be crushed on. Too bad for her, she would definetely get the 'crushed' part out of crush if she wanted to like me. I wasn't going to fall for her tricks like every other boy in the band.

"Hey Laureen." I sighed, making it obvious I was uninterested in the seniors attention. Rob looked over at me as if I was nuts. Unlike him, I did not want someone who would end up leaving me after just one week. Sometimes I could swear someone had hit him in the head too hard with his drumsticks... especially when it came to girls.

"So who was the girl that you were in the back room with?" She asked. I figured she wanted to know so she could go and kill her. Not that there was anything going on between us that she would have to kill her for anyway.

"She's taking lessons from me." I told her simply, not wanting to give everyone the wrong idea. I think I made it worse though.

"I would like to take lesson's from you." Laureen said in a highly suggestive tone. That got everyone to raise their eyebrows and it made even Rob slip up on the cadence he was practicing. Not that it was really out of the ordinary for Laureen to say anyway.

"Let him be, Laureen." Cheryl said, from across the room next to Larsson's chair, "You're just embarassing yourself."

Thank God for Cheryl. She was one of those girls where what she said was final... no question. It made it hard to talk to her sometimes but, all in all she was a good person.

"So is the girl, Laureen, is talking about the one that came in here with the French Horn case?" Rob asked, resuming his practice.

"Yeah." Mr Larsson, answered for me. I hadn't known that she had come in here.

"She's hot." Rob said. He thought everyone was hot. "Do you want to try hooking me up with her?" Rob asked me hopefully, giving me a thumbs up and an extremely idiotic smile.

"She's not your type." I told him simply. I didn't really care if he dated her, I just needed her to focus on horn rather than Rob. The last thing I needed was her to be daydreaming about him during lessons... especially since I was already taking a lot out of my time to teach her the horn.

"Oh I get it. Working on putting your own moves on her. Don't worry I'll back off man." That was entirely not the point.

"No, man that is totally not it." I told him. Cheryl gave me a sympathetic look for Rob's idiocy and Laureen gave a little pout, obviously not taking Rob's words lightly.

"As interesting as the conversation is," Mr Larsson said sarcastically, cutting in, "We have to get to our practice."

Everyone was up grabbing their instruments. We walked down to the field together, with Larsson following close behind us.

I had the feeling this was going to be a long week.

AN: So what did you guys think? I still remember when I had to remember how to breathe right. It took me forever to figure out something so simple. It turned out I was concentrating too hard. lol. good time... good times.

Well thank you for all of the reviews and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I'll have the next one up soon.