Heart Strings

Chapter 1: Demetri Andreadis's Chamber Orchestra

The concert room was filled with the low buzz of conversation before the performance. Everyone's program read Demetri Andreadis's Chamber Orchestra and the show was scheduled for 7:00 PM. At 6:59, the audience was at the edge of their seats, waiting. The orchestra had been tuning their instruments for the past ten minutes, making sure they were all in sync with one another. As soon as the clock hit seven, a single harmonious note flowed out of each of the instruments. The crowd briskly clapped and grew silent.

A cello broke out into Brian Depalma Suite and was joined by violas and more cellos. The night was filled with various works of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss, Vivaldi, Richard Wagner, some of Demetri's own works, and a modern touch with Yo-Yo Ma and Yiruma. There were a wide array of beautiful compositions with plenty of solos and duets. The finale was a well-liked modern, Rufus Wainwright's version of Hallelujah. With or without words, the song was beautiful and powerful. The crowd cheered as everyone onstage stood and bowed. Plenty of handkerchiefs were wiping the emotion from their eyes. The orchestra was clearing their things offstage and the conductor-composer, Demetri Andreadis, was giving a short thank-you speech to the crowd.

Things weren't going so hot offstage. There was a commotion going on in the practice room, "Just calm down, Shane." One of the oboe players was trying to cool off the situation. "No! You don't get it! I fucking hate playing with you assholes! My agent said it herself; I could be having so many more violin solos if Demetri wouldn't be such a dick! I'm out, I quit! I can find an orchestra ten times better than you pushovers," the man shouted. "Good, get the fuck out of here Shane. You think you're better than all of us? Nobody here cares how good you are, the fact is that there would be no orchestra without the rest of us. So go have some other orchestra feed your oversized ego!" The pianist shouted at the angry violin player's back. Shane flipped everyone off before walking out of the practice room, shoving a small Asian violin player out of the doorway. "You idiot! We still have tomorrow night's show! I'm going to get him," Lenny, another violin player, said reluctantly.

"Holy shit. What is all the noise?" Hayden Milo, the best viola player in the orchestra, wore an immensely annoyed face. "I could hear fucking screaming from backstage. What happened, Chase?" The viola player waited for an answer from the pianist. The curly red-headed man shrugged in reply. "Um...Shane may have just quit. But! Before you freak out, Lenny is talking to him right now," the small Asian girl replied, still caressing her violin from when she was shoved, making sure her precious item was okay. Chase's face was pale. Hayden shot him a look that said, what did you do this time? "Sorry, I'm an idiot. But you know I hate him, Hayden. Everyone does. He's a narcissistic ass who always insults anyone who isn't as good as him, which is everyone! It pisses me off that he's so good, he doesn't deserve talent!" Chase ranted. "You have to be fucking kidding me! Spare me your opinions for once! We know he's a complete dick, but we need that dick. Where did he go?" Hayden was close to panicking. Chase started laughing, "Do you realize what you just said?" He was practically on the floor, holding his sides. Hayden shot him another glare. "Okay, let's go find him," Chase muttered as he wiped the grin off his face. "No, you stay here. It's best if he doesn't see you right now." Hayden abruptly left, running a hand through his brown hair.

He bumped into Lenny on his way to find Shane. "Where is he?" He demanded, holding onto the man's arms ready to shake him. "He's gone. Completely gone. He got all of his things and left," Lenny said wide-eyed. Hayden cursed and shook his head. "Some of the violin players know some of his solos and duets. We can substitute some of the other players for him tomorrow night. People will be disappointed but we can tell them that he's sick. I learned his duet with Sam because I tried out for that part," Lenny said, trying to figure out how to fix this. "That'll have to do. We'll have to improvise something. But that's not all I'm worried about." Hayden's face suddenly rid itself of any annoyance as a terrified expression crept into his features. Lenny motioned for him to continue. "Who is going to tell Demetri?" Hayden let the words hang in the air for a moment. Both men cursed.