Hello again! Next chapter! FYI, I'm trying to fit this to the film's canon as feasibly as possible despite this being majorly non-canon. Knowing this, from time to time I will lift a line or plot point just to draw it back to centre so please don't think I'm doing it for lack of ideas. I feel it also helps to remind us of the characters as well. This is fanfiction after all so its best to remember who we're writing with!

Et voilà…

Play For Me, Jack

Chapter 5

This week seemed to be dragging. Every day seemed to be longer than the last and as Jack lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling waiting for his alarm to go off, he wondered if time had actually slowed down despite himself still running at regular speed. He was never awake before his alarm and he hadn't had the best of nights. Logic should dictate that he would desperately want to sleep in instead of be awake before 7AM but still, there he was, wide-awake and his mind already fixed on Bunny.

Feeling as if the Australian visitor had kidnapped his consciousness, he did his best to retain some kind of control over his thoughts. It was useless though; he just couldn't help thinking about him. The man had captivated him and he didn't know why. Well, that wasn't strictly true. He knew he found Bunny attractive and had enjoyed their bantering a couple of days previous. He found him annoying though and it was clear they got on each other's nerves and usually that was enough to put Jack off of anyone. Why not this time though? Was the balance not right? Was there something amiss? In the end Jack just brushed it off and tried to make peace with the fact he'd probably have the same kind of day today as the rest of the week's apparent theme. At least he got to teach later on and that was most definitely something to look forward to. He was teaching Jamie and that was a blessing in disguise considering Jack's need for a pick-me-up. That kid always put a smile on his face but he'd just have to look forward to that for a little longer and concentrate on getting through the day.

When he got to work he went into the studio as usual and unpacked his violin. After quickly tuning up he went to his seat and got everything ready before Tooth arrived and, as he did so, began to listen to the conversation around him. It sounded a little frustrated and as he started to listen he got his first bad news of the day.

"Hey, Tina, what's that I heard?" Jack asked one of the second violinists that sat nearby.

"Pitch is running rehearsal today" the girl said, "Can you believe it?"

"Aw damn" Jack said with a sigh, "Where's the new guy?"

"I dunno. Didn't he tell you anything?"

"Why would he tell me anything?"

"You two are friends already, right?"

"Really? That's how everyone sees it?" thought Jack as it dawned on him how quickly his colleagues formed half-baked rumours and let them spread. Who was he kidding though? He was just as guilty of the same when he wasn't the subject.

"No. He didn't say anything"

"Okay. Well, good luck not getting picked on"

"Thanks" Jack said turning back to his stand.

Great. If there was one thing he wouldn't have wished for instead of Bunny running rehearsal it was Pitch. After his review the day before it was clear that the evil psychopath would make sure to keep an eye on him and he wouldn't hesitate to humiliate him in front of the whole orchestra given the chance. Not that anyone would laugh at him. They all had sympathy for whichever unfortunate person upon whom Pitch would decide to take out his loathing and they all tried to hold it together as a unit. That was not to say that Pitch wouldn't take on the challenge of making a whole orchestra feel lousy by the end of the day though and he'd certainly won out in previous years. Hopefully today he wasn't feeling particularly mean.

A shadow seemed to befall the room and everything went silent for a second as the very person they'd all been dreading entered. All heads turned to look as Pitch silently made his presence known as he stood in the doorway for moment staring them all down. He then made his way over to the conductor's stand where he scanned everyone once again.

"Shall we get started?" he announced whilst everyone was clearly not ready.

"It's only just 9. Not everyone's here yet" a voice came from somewhere in the back and Pitch shot whoever it was a glare.

"A 9AM start means a 9AM start! You're not paid to be late"

Everyone exchanged awkward looks with one another and quickly shuffled to their seats, the gaps amongst them painfully obvious.

"Swan Lake, please" Pitch said opening his score, "The Act one, Pas de trios."

"Which one's that?" another voice came meekly.

"Scene 4" he replied with a sneer before mumbling "Dear God…"

Jack thought about ticking him off some more and asking where Bunny was but he didn't want to draw attention to himself too early. Quietly, he opened his score and picked up his violin, waiting for Pitch to bring them in. It didn't take long for him to do so and almost catching everyone off guard. They sounded quite feeble as they began and the lack of players exposed the incomplete chords that existed in their absence. They didn't produce the same richness of sound or volume that they usually did but it seemed enough to beckon the straggling players from down the hall, most of whom hurried in trying to juggle cups of coffee and the other things they had with them. As the orchestra continued to play the late players did their best to make their way to their places but the disruption was obvious. Pitch halted their playing and stood there bitterly as they sat down and waited until it was silent again before speaking.

"Tardiness, you should all know, is not acceptable in one of my rehearsals. I don't care how far that new, happy-go-lucky jackaroo from Melbourne is willing to let standards slip. You are all permanent members of this orchestra and you should all know better than to waste time"

"Happy-go-lucky jackaroo?" thought Jack as he replayed Pitch's characterization of Bunny in his head. Nonchalantly he turned his eyes to Tooth who had just sat down next to him and together they shared a silent snicker. If only he'd been there to hear that. It would have been hilarious.

Once again they started and after an hour they had only made their way to part four of the scene's six and Pitch didn't look pleased. It was perhaps a little slower than they usually progressed through music but not uncommonly slow. He had taken several opportunities to knock a few sections down but it seemed he was saving up whatever he had for the strings, and surely there would be something. At 10AM on the dot, the door opened and in walked Bunny as they played. Jack didn't see him at first since the door was behind him but looked over to the tall man as he came into his eye line and then darted his eyes back to Pitch so he wouldn't lose his place. It wasn't long before they finished the piece and Pitch grumbled something negative as usual before turning to Bunny and relating his version of how the rehearsal had gone so far. Jack watched as Bunny listened to him and smiled as he watched him becoming visibly less comfortable with every passing second. It seemed he hadn't warmed to Pitch much either and was looking for a breakpoint so he could send the discomforting man on his way.

"Okay, thanks…" he heard Bunny say as they finished speaking and then watched as Pitch returned to the stand to pick up his baton. In a flurry he then spun to the left, stepped forward to leave and bumped hard into Sandy. The short, cheery man had stood and bent over to pick something up off of the floor and the resulting catastrophe made everybody flinch as they watched it unfold. Pitch's collision was much harder than might have been expected and being as short as he was, Sandy's centre of gravity didn't help him to find his balance in time to stop himself from falling. As any violinist would do, in the split second that followed before he hit the floor he opted to save his violin before himself and slammed into the ground with his right arm twisted underneath his body. Much to everyone's surprise he let out an unexpected yelp and then brought his hand around to his front to cradle it gently. A few members from the violins rushed to his side and Pitch simply straightened himself up with a disgusted look on his face. It didn't look as if he cared. It simply looked as if he had been purposely inconvenienced and he looked as if he had to force out an apology whilst he looked down on their stricken concertmaster.

Jack was worried. He'd seen how hard Sandy had gone down and put his violin down to go over and see how he was. It was worse than he had expected, far worse. Sandy was clearly in pain and even as he stood up he looked extremely worried as he clutched his injured hand. It only took a few moments for it to become clear that he needed to see a doctor and then it began to sink into all of them that they had lost their concertmaster. Hopefully it wouldn't be for long but Jack had seen how badly he'd landed and was becoming more and more worried about what they were going to do if they lost him for longer than the rest of the week.

As Sandy was lead out of the room to go to the hospital, everyone's eyes turned to Pitch who was having words with Bunny again. As they once again finished up he turned to see everyone looking at him with disdain and simply glared back to show he hadn't time for their condemnation. Like a demon he slunk out of the room leaving the orchestra and Bunny in a quiet, almost mournful circumstance. Jack caught Bunny's eye as he stepped up to the stand, put his score down and smiled at him letting him know he was glad to see him. Bunny smiled back and then grabbed everyone's attention once more. He decided to lead on from where they'd gotten to and finished off the rest of scene four. Sandy's chair stuck out as it remained empty, almost like a monument to his memory. Morale had taken a hit the moment he'd left and it sounded as if it was reflected in their playing. Their energy and sprightliness was lagging and everyone just seemed blue. It was a chore for Bunny to get them to the end of the scene and the break he gave them when they were finished came as a blessing.

Jack got up to stretch out his back and then turned to Tooth as he felt his shoulder blades crack.

"You think Sandy'll be okay?"

"I hope so. He did go down pretty hard"

"I know. And hey, what about Pitch? You'd think he might show even the slightest bit of humanity since he basically crippled him"

"Maybe he did it on purpose"

"I wouldn't put it past him". Jack sighed, "At least he's gone now"

"Yeah. You must be pleased to have your boyfriend here"

Jack groaned, "No. Don't start that. Not today"

"Please? Just a little"

"No. I was up all night thinking about-…well, it doesn't matter"

"What? What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing! Just forget it"

"I thought you looked a little tired today! Were you wishin' on a star for a date with Bun Bun?"

"Damn it, Tooth!" Jack spat as he looked around to make sure Bunny didn't hear, "He's right there!"

"Okay, okay. I'll save it for later" she chuckled.

"Ugh!" Jack grumbled as he reached down for his water bottle. As he did so he took another look to where Bunny stood and saw that he was looking strained. Trying to conduct an unenthusiastic orchestra was like trying to swim through molasses and Jack felt for the man who had obviously been trying his hardest. That still didn't take away from how much he wanted to tease him but perhaps today he would give him a break. After all, there was always tomorrow and Jack always liked to goof around on a Friday. It seemed to put everyone in a good mood and readied them for the weekend.

When Bunny brought them all back, Jack was already sitting and conversing quietly with Tooth.

"Alright. Scene five, please" Bunny announced and raised his arms to prepare them. Having taken a breather, their entry to the scene was far more convincing than their first try with Pitch and the rich, confident sound seemed to get everyone's blood flowing. The fact that it was an upbeat waltz probably helped but whatever the case everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as they played. The firsts held the melody for most of the first part and, for lack of a better word, it made Jack feel rather jolly. It was a nice piece and something you could imagine a bunch of rich, aristocratic people from the nineteenth century dancing to at some fancy ball in a Cinderella castle – despite what a cutsie thought that might be.

As soon as it had begun, it finished and everyone waited as Bunny held his arms up to lead into the next piece straight away. As the silent moments ticked by, everyone began to puzzle until Bunny finally lowered his arms and looked up at the firsts.

"We don't have a concertmaster" he said and everyone knew what he meant. The next part contained the featured violin solo from the Act one pas de deux and Sandy wasn't here to play it. Jack simply sat back and pulled out his phone to check email as he expected the deputy* to step up to the plate. He startled when all of a sudden he heard "Jack!" echo out over the heads of the silent orchestra and looked up to see Bunny turned to him with that smirk he'd come to be known by on his face. He figured he was just going to be berated for using his phone during rehearsal and didn't expect what happened next.

"Fancy having a go?"

Jack's eyes widened.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Think you can handle it?"

Jack sat there with his mouth open until Tooth gave him a shove and he stumbled out of his seat and hobbled over towards where Sandy had sat. Briefly he caught the eye of the woman who sat in the opposite seat and tried not to let the obviously inhibited look of scorn get to him. To be fair it was generally the unwritten rule that whenever the concertmaster wasn't there it would be she to fill his place whilst someone from the back would come up to take her seat. It was practically unheard of for someone else in the section to step up to the concertmaster's chair without proper protocol, whatever that may be. As he began to sit he was stopped.

"No, no, no. Stand next to me" Bunny said walking over to the corner and grabbing a stand for Jack to read from. He placed it down just behind where he stood to his left and facing him diagonally. From there Jack knew he could easily hear him and follow his playing and-… "Oh my God!" thought Jack as he suddenly realized that they would now be practically following him. He was the solo player and it was up to him to take control for the most part. With the look of a startled deer on his face he met Bunny's eyes where he found himself speechless.

"Just until Sandy gets back" Bunny said warmly, "You don't mind, do you?"

"No" breathed Jack before looking over to his section and seeing the same look of bemusement amongst them. Why did Bunny choose him? What made him so special? They had never gotten called for anything like this before. Jack realized what was happening would probably only serve to enforce the rumour that he and Bunny were best buds already and he didn't like the prospect of being given special treatment as they would all dub it. The only one who looked happy for him was Tooth who smiled and mouthed "Go for it" as he caught her eye.

With a deep breath, Jack raised his violin, found his high F-sharp and put his bow on the string. With a meek nod to Bunny, the tall, dark man turned around, prepared the orchestra and led them in. With a fierce wobble of vibrato, Jack hit his first note and began the delicate but passionate playing demanded by the page in front of him. Tentatively he made his way through the first couple of bars intact and then felt his heart race as he realized he was doing it right.

Unfortunately, it seemed those well played bars were all his blessings tapped out for one day and as he played on he proceeded to butcher the whole piece. His ornaments were sloppy, he was flat in the worst places, his runs were badly measured and it was altogether painful to listen to. He felt his cheeks begin to burn as he forced himself not to look at the other players sitting in front of him but even without seeing them he knew they would be cringing at the sound of the cat he was strangling. It was perhaps the single most embarrassing moment of his time in that orchestra so far - even more so than his choking episode a few days before – and he just wished he could die there and then. That would be the second time in a week. Wow, the week itself really was fast becoming a write-off.

It seemed to take forever for the section to come to its end and as Jack fought to make the most quiet, most delicate part sound good he couldn't help but rush and as a result ended up out of time with everyone else. Eventually he did reach the trills on the high C-sharps at the end and was able to lead into the next part which was much more animated and allowed him a lot more opportunity to hide his mistakes. It was faster too and allowed him to rocket to the end, aided by Bunny who was clearly conducting it a lot faster to try and spare poor Jack any more humiliation.

Fortunately it seemed Jack got most of his double-stops right, or least okay, and it didn't take long for the piece's final chord to echo around the room. An extremely awkward silence followed and persisted for a good few moments before Bunny turned around with a that smirk on his face and not a look of sympathy that Jack could have used.

"Feeling a little off today, mate?"

"Clearly" Jack grumbled as he tried to avoid eye contact.

Bunny just smiled and turned back to the orchestra. "Maybe we should take a proper break. Back in half an hour, please."

With that the orchestra began to bustle and Jack did his best to ignore the amused and sometimes condemning glances at him. He simply stood there in front of the stand Bunny had placed for him feeling about an inch tall and wondering how on earth he was going to ride out this one.

"Jacky" he heard Bunny call and looked up, "Come with me"

Jack followed the tall, dark man towards the door and out of the room into the hall where they stopped. Jack tried his hardest to regain some kind of confidence but really it was no use.

"What happened in there?" Bunny asked as he looked down at the white-haired boy.

Jack gritted his teeth, "I…I don't know. I just screwed up"

"You think you can bring it back? Or should I ask someone else to play?"

"I dunno"

Bunny placed a hand on his shoulder, "I chose you 'cos you impressed me yesterday"

Jack looked up at that, "Really?"

"Yeah. When you were in there with Pitch and played that…what was it? Act three…something or other?"

"More or less"

"Yeah. That was great. You really sounded good so…what happened in there?"

"I don't know. I guess I panicked or something"

As Jack looked up at him he was glad to see him being so compassionate. This was the side of Bunny he liked and wanted to get to know better. He was friendly and warm and altogether easygoing. His smile was undeniably dreamy too and that helped for sure. Yes, Bunny was great when he was like this but then, as Jack might have expected, he went and ruined it.

"Why? Do I make you nervous, mate?"

Jack resisted the urge to snort and denied to himself the fact that it was a little bit true.

"No. I just…I dunno. I had an off moment"

"A very off moment" Bunny joked making Jack scorn internally. "Look. Try it again, and this time don't worry"

"You really wanna risk it?" Jack asked now feeling more annoyed with Bunny than he was embarrassed by his playing.

"Yeah. I heard you play brilliantly yesterday. I'm just hoping it wasn't a fluke"

"A fluke?!" I'll show you a fucking fluke!" Jack thought and then forced a thin smile, "Let's find out"

With that, the two re-entered the room and parted ways for a little while. Jack went back to where he'd been sitting and received Tooth's pacification. He wasn't embarrassed any more though. He'd had a fire lit under him once again and this time he was going to show that smug Bunny just what he had.

When their break finished a little while later, Bunny brought them all back to the beginning of the scene. Jack stood at the stand placed out for him and steadied himself as he waited for the piece to begin. As before, the first part he played along with the firsts leading up to his entry on his own. Stealing a quick glance to his section he noticed a few pairs of eyes fixed on him waiting for another blunder, but this time he wouldn't give it. Their lack of faith wasn't enough to quell the desire, no, the need to do well to put that damned Bunny in his place. Placing his bow on the string and finding his fingering, Jack waited for the downbeat and then hit his first F-sharp like a nail with a hammer. He wouldn't allow himself to screw up this time and as he played with the image of Bunny's smirk in his mind's eye, he found the conviction and the mass of talent buried within him to make his playing sound beautiful. No one could have perceived what a difference there suddenly was and as Jack felt the music flow through him, so too did it ring out from his violin and dumbfound the whole orchestra. His tuning was perfect, his scales and phrasing were clean and you could hear the feeling in the sound he created. Truly it was sublime and absolutely no one could fathom how on earth Bunny had gotten him to do it.

When the Allegro* came, Jack hopped into it and played it lightly and happily. That was most definitely not the look on his face though and even though the music was upbeat and fun, Jack's face was shrouded in shadow. He had only served to make himself madder as the piece had gone on and even though he realized he was doing a far better job, he didn't care. He was doing this for one purpose and one purpose alone: to prove to Bunny this his playing the day before wasn't some accident; to prove that he wasn't some fly-by-night, one-hit-wonder hack that had a lucky break one cold winter afternoon. Maybe they had boys that occasionally had a rare good day back where he was from but Jack felt he was something special and he wasn't going to let Bunny think otherwise. He would make the man believe in him and it seemed, as they hit the accelerando* towards the end of the section, that he was starting to do just that. Jack ripped out the final chord across his strings – even though it wasn't written for him to play – and stood there panting softly as he glared at the music for a second and then to Bunny who in turn took just a second to look back and smile before leading them into part three.

What was that? A little 'well done' smile? How dare he! He wasn't some kid! He'd played that better than ever and he didn't need credit for it. He knew he'd done well. "What an asshole!" he thought.

When they'd finished the scene, Jack went back to his seat and was caught off guard by the comments on the way. They were not simply full of praise as he had hoped, they all included mentions of what a great pep talk Bunny must have given him and they asked him as he went what had been said to him. When Jack failed to give an answer they all sat back and agreed with one another about what a great leader he must be and Jack was left standing there with his feeling of victory ripped away and an empty, almost hurt feeling in its place.

They had all thought it was Bunny. Every last bit, they said it must have been because of Bunny. They didn't congratulate him. To them, his playing had been all because of Bunny. Not him. They didn't believe in him in the least. He was left alone and unappreciated as always. Even after a great, no, stupendous performance like that none of them assumed it was simply because he was talented. Bunny had been the one responsible in their eyes and as usual Jack was left unappreciated and alone.

Alone, apart from Tooth that was. She threw herself at Jack as he sat down in disbelief and as he turned to her with a glimmer of hope in his heart she dashed it straight away as she too asked what Bunny had said to him to bring a performance like that out. Jack simply looked away in disbelief. He felt cheated of the praise that he should have been getting. Worse than that though, he wasn't angry. He was sad and, as the seconds ticked by, feeling as he was becoming upset. How dare that stupid, self-important ass steal his thunder! Bunny hadn't even done anything and even now as he sat he still heard everyone around him murmuring their praise of his leadership. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

"Jack?" Tooth asked as she received no response after a moment or two. "Is everything okay?

Jack shook his head. "He didn't do anything" he nearly whispered.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she quickly became aware of his bother.

"He didn't say anything, he didn't do anything and nobody cares that I played that all on my own."

"Of course they do"

"They all think it's whatever Bunny said to me, and he didn't say anything"

"Nothing at all?"

"No. He just pissed me off. That was it. He didn't say anything encouraging or give me any advice. He just got me angry and…and…I dunno"

"Huh…" said Tooth as she listened to her down friend. He would never usually be so blue after playing like that. He'd be deeply proud of himself and to see him otherwise was unsettling to her. "I don't know what to say to that"

"Forget it. It doesn't matter"

Clearly it did matter but she just didn't know what to do. Gently, she reached out and squeezed his shoulder as he looked down at his knees and then pulled away when they were readied to play again.

A few feet away at the conductor's stand, Bunny smiled as he led his orchestra into the next scene. Jack had really pulled it together that second time and he knew the guy had had it in him. Looking over to where he now sat he puzzled when he saw him looking so sad and then wiped the smile off his face when he realized the confidence he'd seen only moments ago was now completely gone again. What had happened? He'd done a great job and surely a guy like Jack would be pleased with himself. Had somebody said something to him? Was he overly critical of himself? Something just didn't sit right and Bunny did his best to keep an eye on his new favourite player as he continued to conduct.

Later that day…

Jack sighed as he got up to get ready for the lesson he had this evening. His favourite student, Jamie Bennett, came in from his hometown of Burgess with his mom for lessons every week and usually the prospect of teaching his favourite student was more than enough to put a smile on his face. Today, though, he had come forward from his abject state of despondency and was now lodged deep within the realms of melancholy. He couldn't have very well gone around and shouted his own praises when lunch had finally come. His head wasn't that big. Still, more and more good words came regarding Bunny's leadership and every time someone spoke to him about it he felt it sting just that little bit more. Why couldn't they have at least thrown him a bone and complimented him? Even as a side note, anything would have been nice.

Still, he'd sucked it up. This week had seemed determined to screw him over and, with that final blow earlier today, it seemed it was winning. Jack was close to giving up on trying to bring it around because it just seemed useless. Whenever things seemed to be getting good he was knocked back down again and left to pick up the pieces for himself. He was getting tired of doing that for one week and he just didn't want to try anymore. This week was rapidly going to hell and in many ways it seemed it was already there. Next would be better. It had to be.

As he walked out down to the back entrance of the concert hall, he stopped, straightened himself out, took a deep breath and smiled falsely. There was no reason Jamie's lesson had to be ruined just because he was feeling like crap and so, with a stiff upper lip, he pushed the door open and stepped outside to greet the boy and his mom who were coming up the steps towards him.

"Hey, Jamie" he said cheerily, "Mrs. Bennett"

"Hi, Jack" the boy said in return

"How you doing?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Great. You ready to play?"

"Sure, I guess"

"You guess? Come on, man! Where's the enthusiasm?" Jack said good-naturedly and poking Jamie gently. "God knows I need some enthusiasm today" he thought to himself.

"Okay, okay" the boy said and thrusting his case into Jack's arms, "See you in an hour, mom"

Jack and Jamie proceeded to make their way back into the building where Jack gave his lessons during the evening hours on a Thursday. The admins were happy to turn a blind eye to their players using the rooms for free when no one was there. They probably figured they owed it to them after scrimping on their paychecks month after month.

"Have you practiced much this week? Jack asked as they walked.

"Sure"

"You little liar!" Jack laughed

"Hey, you don't know that!"

"You know I'll be able to tell"

"No you won't"

"We all need to practice, Jamie"

"Well, how much have you practiced this week?" the boy asked cheekily.

"I've practiced plenty"

"Yeah, right"

"I did! I had a test yesterday so I needed to"

"You don't take tests"

"It was kind of like an test"

"Did you pass?"

"You can't really fail, but yeah, I passed"

"That's cool"

"If you'd had been there you wouldn't have thought so. The guy running it was the freakiest guy ever!"

"Was it that scary guy I see around here sometimes?"

"Bingo"

"Ew"

"I know, right? Anyway, get your violin out" Jack said as they entered the room, "And bring the scale sheet I gave you last week"

"Aw, come on! Don't make me start with that"

"Scales are important, Jamie"

"Yeah, but, please?"

Jack sighed and smiled. How was it this kid could run rings around him when he wanted to?

"Hey, who's the teacher here?"

"PLEASE?!"

"Okay, fine. What do you want to play?"

"This one" said Jamie thrusting the piano music for some Mozart piece at him. Jack stared at it for a moment and then gave in. Hell, if the kid actually wanted to play something then who was he to tell him to do something else? That was what he liked about Jamie, he always knew what he wanted to play and always looked forward to playing it. He said it once and he'll say it again, there's nothing like teaching a kid that genuinely enjoys what they're doing.

"Okay, hot shot. Let's see what you got" Jack said as he walked over to the piano and sat down. "Ready?"

"Are you?" Jamie fired back making Jack chuckle.

His piano playing wasn't great but it was enough to give Jamie something to play off of. When the boy's entry came he started off really well and continued to play nicely for a while. Of course, there were some moments when he was a little rocky and out of tune but any kid playing the violin could be forgiven for that. Jack continued to smile as he played along with him and quickly forgot about his troubles from earlier as the lesson got underway.

By the time the hour was up he had completely perked up again and sent Jamie away with a mountain of praise. Perhaps it was his wish that somebody should get some well deserved praise that day if he wasn't going to get any that made him do it, but the kid always did well and deserved to be told so.

As Jack packed up and picked up his things to go home, he opened the door and turned to flick the light switch before he left. As soon as he turned around again he yelped as he was suddenly confronted with Pitch looming over him having come out of nowhere.

"Damn it, Pitch!" he said as he straightened himself out and looked up to the frightening man.

"I heard you earlier, Frost"

"Oh, I didn't see you"

"I thought it was better that way"

"That's your call"

"Yes. I do hope our little meeting yesterday hasn't thrown you completely off"

"Far from it" Jack responded feeling his hackles rise once again.

"Hmm. Well, whatever the case, it seems that new conductor certainly brings something out of you. Who'd have thought it'd take a visitor from Australia to bring your playing up to something worth listening to?"

"Bunny didn't do anything"

"Oh no? He must have done something. How else can you have played so well after playing so terribly with just a quick chat in between? "

"He wasn't there yesterday when I played that other solo for you"

"Perhaps not. Still, I wouldn't pass on him just yet. It certainly seems as if he managed to do something. Perhaps his being in charge is what you've been waiting for"

Jack was seconds away from snapping.

"Damn it, Pitch! He didn't say or do anything. It was all me!"

"Why so angry, Jack?"

"Because I'm pissed! Everybody thinks it was him that got me to play well and it wasn't. All he did was piss me off and still everyone thinks he's a miracle worker. I've got the talent but nobody freaking believes it! I don't know why I'm telling all this to you though…"

Pitch just watched him with those piercing eyes and then smiled after a moment.

"You don't like it when people don't appreciate you, do you?"

"You think?" Jack huffed

"Hmm. You're afraid you'll never get noticed for what you really want people to see you for. A good player that needs no one's help to sound good."

Jack sighed frustratedly. Of all the people to get to the root of his problem without being told, why did it have to be Pitch?

"What's it matter?"

Pitch chuckled deeply, "Maybe it's for the best. After all, if people don't believe in you then you can't disappoint them when you fail"

"That's a sad way to look at it"

"And yet, strangely relevant"

"Are you saying I can't play well enough?"

"That goes without saying; you overestimate yourself, Frost. But what I'm really saying is you wouldn't disappoint anyone regardless of how well you play. If nobody believes in you as a player then there's nobody to let down. Not seriously anyway. As evidenced by what happened earlier, don't you agree?"

"Not really"

"Well, you don't have to. Fact is, you shouldn't need to be afraid if no one believes in you. And they don't really, do they?

Jack looked down dejectedly. This was too much.

"You are afraid though, aren't you, Jack?" Pitch said knowingly. "You're afraid you'll never get your chance to impress the world with your playing"

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing" he said with a smile, "But remember, you can't kill fear, Jack. And slowly it will consume you. And perhaps that, Jack, is what would be for the best in the end. After all, would it not be better to fade out quietly than to go down in flames?"

With that, Pitch turned and made his way down the hall before turning a corner and disappearing from sight. Jack was left alone in the doorway with his thoughts and Pitch's words circling around in his head. After a moment or two he slowly sank back into the dark room behind him and let the door close. He let his bag and case fall to the ground and then slid his back down the door until he was sitting. There he stayed alone in the darkness with his head in his hands for a long time just thinking about what Pitch had said. God damn him for being so effective with his words. He was just so cruel and it wasn't fair that he was allowed to get away with things like this. What could Jack do though? Tattle? No. That wasn't him. He didn't whine when things got tough. He would bottle this up and try his best not to let it get the better of him.

He was only human though and what Pitch had said hurt. He knew he was a good player. He didn't need anyone or anything to make him good. He was good all on his own. In fact, he was fantastic. Why then could Pitch always make him feel like dirt?

Jack sat there in the cold, dark room for nearly an hour as he tried to find the strength to stand up and go home. What a rotten week it had been. What a horrible, atrocious, absolutely rotten week.

Glossary:

Accelerando: The point when the music gets faster.

Allegro: A style of playing that literally means fast and bright. When speaking terms of piece with several movements (different parts of piece that are written in different styles) it denotes a specific movement or section. This is the way it was used in this chapter.

Deputy: Exactly as it sounds. Every principal player in a section will have deputy behind them to fill in when they are unable to play. Larger sections, like the strings, may have several titled deputies but effectively it's only the first desk that are ever used.

Pitch is a dick! And Jack didn't cry. I thought about it but I figured Jack is tough and would only cry if he were really, really upset. Maybe not even then.

In any case, thanks for reading. I hope this chapter wasn't too dreary. More things will happen soon, I promise. Thanks again for all your reviews and follows. They're majorly appreciated!