Let it Ring

Natural Talent

Seraphina eyed the pianist at the back of the room. There was a certain air to him, all of the percussionist seemed comfortable with him, Kuyo was already treating the kid as if he was a younger brother, and the black haired boy seemed much more confident than he did when she saw him audition. Speaking of audition, he never did. 

She remembered seeing him walk in, twig-like legs trembling beneath him as he walked like a zombie around the music hall. He looked pathetic, to put it nicely. Seraphina had heard him ask around for where the pianos were and that alone piqued her interest. There was no way, this scrawny shivering boy could play the piano. So she followed him in his expedition to find a piano and silently celebrated as well when he found it. 

It was easy for her to play it off to others passing by. She was simply leaning on the door taking a break, the violin did make her arm sore after all. When she had heard the first notes of the song, she immediately recognized it. 'Rachmaninov- Prelude in G minor.' It was an interesting piece to practice on, as she assumed that he would want his fingers to be prepared for the actual audition. So she eventually walked away, went on to practice on her own for a bit more, until she saw the head director Vaughn enter the room the pianist was practicing in. 

Pressing her ear against the door, Seraphina listened. She listened to Vaughn excuse the boy without hearing an actual audition piece, and admittedly her heart sank a bit for him. However, she couldn't feel sorry for him. Everyone in the music hall had spent years honing their skills for this moment. She had spent so much of her free time practicing the violin, missing out in time with friends, spending her allowance, she did everything she could to be the best. 

And she was, her mother said so herself. Her mother had Seraphina out her hair in a nice updo, and decide on an outfit that was too flashy, but still showed her professionalism. She was the best, so Seraphina walked into the audition room with her chin held high and her eyes locked into Vaughn's. He allowed her a five minutes practice period, and she refused, to his shock. But she didn't need it, and so she played a piece that her mother had drilled into her head since she was six. 

Summer-the presto movement. 

She played it fast, and each note came out smooth and clearly in her ears. She smiles, feeling the violin shake under her as her bow ran across the strings. She stopped with a confident smile on her face, and lowering her bow she bowed to Vaughn. "Well, I can't deny that was an amazing performance." It felt like a punch to the gut, his words implied that he had found something wrong with her performance, and she knew that there was nothing wrong with her performance. "You got off tempo during the beginning notes, but you were able to bring it back. Be sure your violin is in tune before you audition for anything else, a few of those notes didn't come out quite right."

She was shaking, the wood and strings on the neck of her violin were threatening to snap with how hard she was clenching her fist. Her confident facade had faded and she lowered her face to the ground. "Overall it was a good performance, it just doesn't help that I've already heard summer about ten times today."

...

How? That was such a hard piece, she spent so long trying to perfect that piece. She could still feel the phantom pain in her fingertips from pressing in the strings too hard. She could still hear her mother yelling at her to start over when she played a wrong note or rhythm. 

"I-I can play something else."

"I've heard enough Seraphina."

Her breath caught in her throat, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest as she was escorted out of the room. She could feel several pairs of eyes in her, probably thinking that she had botched her audition, but she didn't! She lifted her chin once more, no one would see her cry, and she stalked out of music hall.

It had taken everything she had, and a scream for her mother, for her to go check the results. 

Seraphina|highschool-third year|transfer|violin|accepted

She was accepted, but why wasn't she happy about it.

She now knew the reason, it's because that boy, who was born with natural talent had beaten her. She heard him play the scales at the beginning of the piece and jumped as she scrambled to draw herself back into reality. Drawing her bow up she was a second behind the rest of the violins, frowning to herself as her fingers stumbled across the strings. She stood at the end of practice, Vaughn advising players to go practice on their own, and glared at the pianist. He must have felt Seraphina's gaze, because he turned around and smiled at her.

She huffed, tossing her ponytail behind her shoulder and leaving the music hall and that pianist behind. She would practice until her heart gave out, that raven haired pianist would not best her.