Peachy & Friends Book 1 - The Understudy

Chapter 3: Meet Cherry

Panda sat down at her shiny baby grand piano, new sheet music in hand. She cracked her knuckles and began to figure out the notes, when suddenly the doorbell chimed. She got up to answer it, and found Peachy standing with a blonde girl.

"Hi, Panda!" said Peachy. "I'd like you to meet Cherry Chardonnay. She's going to help you play the piano so that you don't feel overwhelmed." The blonde grinned.

Panda was shocked. She told Peachy that she didn't need any help, but she didn't listen. "Uh, okay," Panda said with a fake smile. "Peachy, can I see you in the bathroom for a second?"

After being pulled by her arm into Panda's bathroom, Peachy gave her a look of surprise. "Is something wrong, Panda?

"I thought I told you that I didn't need an understudy!" Panda hissed. "I'm perfectly fine on my own!"

"You're just delirious from all your hard work. Isn't it obvious?" Peachy replied.

"No! I'm holding up just fine,"Panda said. "Tell that Cherry chick to take a hike! There's something about her that gives me a bad feeling."

Peachy stared at her floor, her mouth all tiny and innocent. Panda took one look at that adorable guilty expression and sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll let her help me. But I'll need to hear her play before anything else."

Peachy's guilty face faded and she jumped up and down happily. "Yay!" she exclaimed, and together they left the bathroom.

Not long after introducing the two, Peachy had to run back to her house, claiming she had forgotten something. She left Cherry and Panda alone together so they could get more acquainted. Panda sat Cherry down at the piano and asked her to play the hardest song she knew. "If you say so," Cherry said, and with that she blew Panda away as she played the beginning of Fur Elise with ease. "Hold up, hold up," Panda interrupted, stunned. "How long have you been playing the piano?"

"Um, six years," said Cherry. "I'm fifteen, by the way."

"That's insane," Panda replied. "I've been playing the piano for almost twelve years, and not even I can play that good."

"Well there are some people out there who are better than you," Cherry said unremorsefully. "Looks like I'm one of them."

Cherry's arrogant statement offended Panda, but she just decided to push it off to the side. "Can you read sheet music?" she asked.

Cherry sneered. "Of course I can. Do you think I'm uneducated or something?"

She noticed the small stack of sheet music atop the piano and pulled off the piece that Panda had played earlier in church that day.

"Well, not every musician can read sheet music," Panda said uncomfortably, becoming rather irritated now. Cherry didn't respond, but instead studied the music for a brief moment and began to play it no problem.

Panda was at a loss for words. It had taken her nearly three weeks of sour notes and pressing the same keys over and over to learn the piece. Cherry knew it easily within minutes.

After she finished playing, Cherry stared briefly at Panda. "Well?" she said. "How good did I do?"

"It took me three weeks to figure out that song!" Panda cried. "How did you figure it out so fast?"

Cherry gave a snarky smirk. "It's 'cause I'm better than you, that's why."

Now Panda was pissed. "Now you listen here, you little skank. I have been nice to you since the moment you stepped in my apartment, where by the way, you were never invited. Yes, I do realize you're better than I am. But that doesn't mean you can be a total bitch biscuit and expect to get away with it!"

"PANDA!"

Swiftly Panda turned around and found Peachy standing behind her. Cherry stood up and rushed to her. "Panda called me a skank and a bitch!" she cried in a tone of voice that would extract sympathy from a murderer.

"Because you're a freaking narcissist!" Panda said.

"Panda," Peachy said scoldingly. "Just because you aren't happy with her doesn't mean you can call her those nasty things."

"You should've been in here two minutes ago!" Panda argued. "You should've heard what she was telling me!"

Peachy turned to Cherry. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying that I was a good piano player," Cherry said. "That's all."

"And that you were saying you were better than me!" Panda exclaimed.

"Stop!" Peachy cried. "Panda, I know that you're in denial about not needing help, and I understand that. But try not to be so cranky about it." She turned to Cherry. "Sorry about all this. We appear to have gone off to a rough start. Maybe next week will be better?"

Cherry nodded. "Okay."

Cherry left. Panda glared at Peachy. "Listen to me Peachy," she said sternly. "I don't need any help. What's it gonna take to get you to realize that?"

Peachy sighed. "I'm sorry for trying to help you for once."

"Peachy, my life is good. I have a great job, I have great friends, and I can play the piano just fine. What more could I possibly want?"

"Then how come earlier today you said your 16-year-old-life was all hard and miserable?" Peachy replied.
Panda was silent, not knowing what to say.

Peachy paused for a moment, letting it all sink in. "Okay, I'll try to talk to Cherry. But she seemed so happy to help you..."

Panda stared at Peachy dead in the eye. "I'm telling you, there's something sketchy about her."