Timbre

Movement Two

Timbre: Movement Two

Carmen

I was barely on time to my first class of the day on Tuesday, music theory. Scanning the class for any familiar faces, I settled on sitting next to Elizabeth. She looked at me, closing whatever leather bound notebook she was working in to look at me. I smiled and she just turned to face the teacher.

Rude.

"Hello everyone," the professor clapped his hands together, "I am Professor Hamilton and this is music theory. As most of you come from many different backgrounds, I believe it to be beneficial to both you and me for you all to show me your skills. So, to start this semester off, I will be assigning a group composition project. Groups will really only be pairs and I will be assigning them, as in the real world you don't get to always choose who you get to work with; you take whatever life throws at you. So without further ado, I hope you do pay attention as I start to call out groups based on this handy website I found."

I zoned out for the first good ten minutes after Hamilton's speech, as him reciting off a bunch of names really wouldn't be teaching me anything. I debated putting on my headphones, but I actually paid to take the class, so sadly the better part of my brain advised me against doing so.

"And the last group is Elizabeth Sanchez and Carmen Jacobs," Hamilton finished, moving on to the next topic. "This project is a collaborative composition using an online program that the school paid for. We won't be getting the login information until Thursday, but I decided to assign this now so that you can begin to get to know your partner as they will also be your permanent partner for any and all partner assignments in this class unless I assign you a new one for a particular project. Now, I hope you all can compose pieces that you're proud of. To do this, I advise bonding be set up. Remember, compositions, no arrangements! Now, the rest of the class is yours to do whatever with."

I turned to face Elizabeth, but she was already facing me. I cleared my throat. "Hey."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Well, since we're partners, I was thinking that we could hang out or something so we could talk about the piece and whatnot. Like, what key do you want it to be in?" I asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't hang out outside of class. Plus, I have to work tonight. I am perfectly capable of getting the work done in class."

"That may be true, however, Hamilton seems to want there to be a deeper relationship between the pairs in order for the music to be as harmonious as possible. Hamilton will be grading the piece knowing full damn well that he gave us plenty of outside time to get it done. I'm not saying I know you, but I can tell from your organization that you're someone who can't fathom having anything less than an A plus."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "How did you?"

I just smiled. "I guess I'm just really good at reading people. Or it was just a lucky guess."

♬♬♬

"Darling you'll be okay."

"Jacobs." Elizabeth's voice rang through the restaurant, despite me having my earbuds in with my music playing.

I paused my song and looked up from my phone to look at Elizabeth who was still in her uniform. It was a polo shirt, khakis, and a hat that her hair was laced through in the back, securely tied up into a ponytail. I shuddered. I hated khakis.

"My shift is over. We can go back to my place now." Elizabeth sighed, pulling off her hat and taking out her ponytail, shaking her hair back into its usual place. "How come you didn't eat your burger? You only ate like half of your fries."