Don't Instruct the Wind

Chapter 6

The advice given by Ms. Volasses could have worked out in the flute class if only the teacher had given a damn about anything. In the last few days, I was purposely yawning out loud in the class, I was scolding kids for their heads being in my way, and I even pretended to sleep and purposely mimicked the snore of a grown man. I even had my feet up on the desk. Nothing got the teacher's attention.

But yet the other day when my leg was shaking all over the place due to my "anxiety" that bothered the teacher so much.

I eventually gave up being an annoyance in the flute classes and just quit showing up. Next was me pretending to not know how to function a flute for the practice performances—which I haven't shown up to for a while. This should go as planned because people who work for the king are going to hear it. The school will grow embarrassed by me playing awfully and kick me out for sure!

After showing up late, not by accident, I walked up onto the stage and waited for Mrs. Cukyer and the king's workers to signal for me to start playing.

I carelessly played my flute as if I were a caveman who had just discovered one. There was no rhythm or correlation as every note reached for the sky one second and then scraped the ground the next.

"There's your fucking performance!" I abruptly snapped after I was done. This should, for sure, get them to want to kick me out.

"Profanity, young man!" One of the king's workers scolded.

"You know," Mrs. Cukyer said, "you did an outstanding job just now!"

"I agree," another one of the king's workers claimed.

"I've never heard such a unique way of the flute being played! You carried each note with such pride and elegance and I felt as if I was being taken through ten different universes all at once!" Mrs. Cukyer excitingly explained.

I damn near lost my sanity. "What? But I—"

"If I were the king, you'd have your very own castle built out of gold!" One of the king's workers swore. "That unique piece of music will forever live in my memory!"

"Our memory!" Another one of the king's workers corrected.

"T—thanks," I whispered, barely able to speak, and walked off the stage to exit the auditorium.

"Wait, we're not finished here—" I heard Mrs. Cukyer say just before I slammed the doors behind me.

Well, that didn't work. At all. I'm so skilled at playing my flute that I can't even pretend that I don't know what I'm doing.

"Hey," I said, entering Ms. Volasses' room. "It's been a few days, and I've got nothing out of being a terrible student or performing really shitty!"

Ms. Volasses appeared pensive for a moment before replying, "Geez, did you even try to perform as if you were unfamiliar with the damn instrument?"

"I'm too skilled to preform terribly—"

"Don't start! You weren't trying hard enough if you're not kicked out of this school yet!"

"It's just not going to work! Thanks for trying to help, but I have another idea that can get me kicked."

If I'm caught sneaking out of the school, there's no way they'll keep me here! The policy for leaving campus must be extremely strict.

The next morning, I found myself climbing out of Ms. Volasses' window to head on to the village. If I'm going to sneak out of the school, I might as well go exploring.

I entered a bakery and began to plan how I was going to steal one of the danishes.

The man behind the counter was dealing with other customers, so this gave me time to discreetly stuff one in my shirt and head out the door as if I didn't want to purchase anything.