Petals

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Onika Tanya Maraj

Onika hated being frustrated. And she often was when she didn't know what to do.

And that's what it felt like trying to learn how to play piano. She loved the idea of being perfect, and she was irritated that playing Piano didn't come naturally to her.

Beyoncé was a better teacher than Onika had expect, she was..patient with her. She didn't get frustrated when she didn't know how to do something—she didn't think she was stupid for messing up—Beyonce dismissed all of her mistakes.

But Onika was still frustrated at the hard time she was having.

Onika took a deep breath, "Press C minor." Beyoncé instructed and Onika did so, "Alright now A—F—E—G and in that order—then backwards." Beyoncé stated and Onika tried her best.

She managed to do it forward but she messed up doing it backwards and Beyonce watched her let out a frustrated huff.

"Sorry." Onika stated and Beyonce looked at her a little confused. She noticed after each mistake she made she apologized. Beyoncé didn't think she owed her an apology.

"You don't have to say sorry. You made a simple mistake. Let's try again." Beyoncé stated and Onika took a deep breath and tried again.

"This sucks." Onika groaned as she messed up the song yet again. Onika had been practicing for the last hour, and Beyonce started to feel a bit of pity for Onika.

She was trying hard and it wasn't going her way. She understood that. And Onika on the other hand was slightly embarrassed at the trouble she as having.

"It's not that bad." Beyoncé stated and Onika eyed her before looking away. "That's easy for you to say, you know how to play the damn thing." Onika said and Beyonce supposed she had a point.

Her usual pout settled on her features and Beyonce observed her—she'd only seen the girl smile once when her cat, "Honey" was present in their first lesson. This was their 4th and Onika was still having trouble.

"Piano is so difficult." Onika whined and Beyonce  rolled her eyes. "You just started. You've only been doing this for about—what? 10 days? It isn't an overnight thing." Beyoncé stated shrugging.

"Yeah but—I have a performance soon. I can't mess this shit up." Onika said, clearly irritated. Beyoncé looked at her a little confused, she didn't wanna get her business but considering Beyoncé was spending most of her week days with Onika she got a bit curious.

"You're just learning how to play piano—why are you being required to perform it so early? It took me a year of practice to master it." Beyoncé said and Onika looked at her jaw slacked.

"A year? I need to know how to play this shit in a month." Onika said placing both of her hands on her face.

"Considering professionally  playing can take 10-15 years, and "just for fun" playing takes around 3-5 years and it only took me 1–and you have a month—I'm really confused on why you have to play it." Beyoncé said shrugging. She as genuinely confused.

Piano was a difficult instrument, it took awhile to master and seeing as they were still starting with the basics—It was clear Onika had never even touched a Piano before.