"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and go," the choreographer clapped his hands to the beat the orchestra was playing.
We'd been going for over seven hours straight, and I could tell that everyone else was as ready to be done as I was.
"Good!" He gave a thumbs up as we finished the step. "Lunch break, meet back here in two and a half hours!"
"Thank goodness." DeMarius whispered, collapsing.
"Do you guys wanna get lunch somewhere?" Josh asked.
I shrugged. "I'm down for whatever."
"Me too." Ben agreed. "I'll drive."
"Me three." DeMarius said, still sprawled out on the floor.
"One second," I stated. "I gotta go get my backpack, but I'll meet you guys at the front."
I made my way to where we'd all set our stuff, back by the extra music stands.
Since everyone had practically evaporated once a break was announced, I wasn't expecting to bump into anyone.
But I did.
I'd grabbed my backpack and jacket, and absentmindedly took a couple steps backwards, colliding with something very pointy.
I turned around, hearing the sound of paper hitting the floor.
"Sorry!" The girl apologized, bending down to pick up her sheet music. It took me a few seconds, but I realized that it was the same girl I'd seen earlier. "I stabbed you with my bow." She stated.
I crouched down beside her and helped her get everything back into its folder. "That's okay, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"I needed to reorganize all this sheet music anyway." She shrugged. "This'll just give me more of an excuse."
I breathed a laugh. "Glad I could help with something."
She smiled, putting her violin under her arm.
So she was a violinist.
The instrument itself, however, was different from any kind I'd ever seen.
"Is that yours?" I gestured to it.
She held it up. "Yep, this is Cephas."
"It's...blue?"
Cephas was painted a nice shade of turquoise, with some other drawings on it, but I couldn't quite make them out from the angle she held it at.
She motioned for me to follow her. "Walk and talk. I gotta put her away."
She led me to her orchestra chair, with an open violin case sitting atop it.
She set Cephas down and set her music folder on the stand. "I got Cephas painted a couple years ago. It's a very thin layer, so the paint doesn't choke the sound."
I leaned in closer, getting a full look at the image. There was a hill, whose end curved into a spiral, and there was a moon above it. Perched atop the hill was a skeleton wearing a suit.
"'Nightmare Before Christmas'." She explained.
I looked up at her. "You're a Tim Burton fan?"
She nodded. "Definitely. You're not?"
"The dude creeps me out." I shuddered.
She laughed. "Then you haven't seen the beautiful side of his work yet..." she trailed off, signaling for me to give her my name.
I stuck my hand out. "Sky Flaherty."
She smiled, shaking my hand. "Aiden Tracer."
"Nice to meet you."
