More Smiles than Tears *One Direction AU*

Chapter 3

“How was your weekend?” I asked Ryan excitedly. It was Sunday afternoon, and we were all ready for our three-hour rehearsal. Being a part of the London Youth Orchestra (and the highest one, the Repertory Orchestra, might I add) was pretty demanding, especially when it came to giving up my Sunday afternoons for rehearsal and my Thursday nights for private lessons, but I loved the cello and every piece of work that came with it. There was something about the tone of the instrument itself that made me fall in love with it every day that I played it.

Ryan just shrugged. “Eh. It was…okay.” Ryan was my stand partner. He was first chair while I was second, but he and I clicked right off the bat. He had clean-cut black hair that was always combed back and he always shaved when he needed to. He took private lessons with my teacher, Ms. Preston, but he was a hundred times better than me. He came from a richer family so he had a $4,000 cello whilst I only had a $1,500; but boy his talent was undeniable regardless of the quality of his instrument.

“What happened?” I asked. His dull brown eyes, which usually were so full of life, were a dead-giveaway that he was upset. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, we both saw the director make her way to the podium. In the orchestra world, this meant ‘shut up and get down to work.’

Dr. Benson pulled the first set of sheet music. “Alright. Let’s start off with a B Minor and a C Major scale. Then we’ll move to Eine kleine Nachtmusik.”

I groaned. This was going to be a very long rehearsal.

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“No, Dr. Benson! Please, I promise that I won’t do it again!” I practically begged.

She shook her head with a stern look on her face. “No, Jennifer. You know the rules and you intentionally broke them!”

“No, Dr. Benson, it wasn’t intentional I swear!” I was so close to getting on my knees and gravelling.

She sighed. “Alright. Jennifer, I won’t suspend you from rehearsals just yet-”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!” I squealed with happiness.

“But you had better heed, Jennifer. Though I won’t be suspending you, I will be notifying your parents. I expect a professionally written letter of apology first thing next Sunday.”

I bit my lip to keep from asking for the suspension. The London Youth Orchestra was my life, but if she was going to notify my parents then I’d be receiving a spanking from hell. I couldn’t decide which option, either the suspension or the spanking, was the least detrimental. “Yes ‘mam.” I sighed, defeated. A spanking would be in my very near future; that was for sure.

“Alright, you may go. It may be best for you to just tell your parents yourself.” She waved me off and I sighed again. All I had done was leave rehearsal during our fifteen minute break to go to the gas station and buy a bag of Doritos. What was the problem?

It was a rule during rehearsal that we weren’t allowed to leave during it. We had to stay in the concert hall even during the breaks, which was stressful. I usually got hungry as well, but we aren’t allowed to bring any food or drinks inside with us. How was I supposed to go from 3 o’clock to 6 o’clock without food?

I noticed Louis’ red Sedan the second I exited the large concert hall. He had to have been the only parent in the parking lot; I was arguing with Dr. Benson for a whole twenty minutes after rehearsals! He motioned for me to quickly get to the car, so I hurried my little steps. My cello, which was safely in its case which was on my back, went in the trunk before I got in the car.

The second I buckled my seatbelt, he started speeding off. “Dad, slow down. You’re going to kill the both of us.”

“I got a call from your Physics teacher, Jennifer Rae.” He seethed.