Teach You How To Love

Curiosity Killed The Cat

Avi looked at the attendance list. "Okay," he said. "You guys know the rules. If you know it you know it; if you don't then you don't. If you need extra time, you've had time. I'm going to read down the list. When I call your name, you'll sing. Any questions?"

No one had any questions.

"Alright!" Avi said. He read the first name. 

As the student sang through the notes of the scale, Mitch took notes on what he heard, and what the tuner app on his phone said. Scale tests weren't too difficult. If the student sang the right notes, with a steady rhythm, and had a good sound, they probably got a perfect grade.

As each student sang, Mitch took notes. 

Matt watched him, and, between testers, whispered things that he had noticed. Mitch left things out on purpose, to see if Matt noticed that. Occasionally, with a prod from Mitch, Matt gave out some advice. These days were good for him to learn some things about teaching a choir. The scale tests were the most common test that they did in this class, so it was important.

While he did this, he thought about the rumors that had been surrounding Scott and Mark. He knew they were together, but the students didn't know. They all either thought they were together, or thought they should be together.

After around one third of the students had tested, they stopped for the day. Mitch sent Avi and Matt into the choir office to grade the tests; then he turned to the class. "Alright," he said, rubbing his hands together. "We're going to spend the rest of the period--"

He was cut off when there was a knock on the door. One of the students went to open it. "Hi, Ms. Maldonado!" she said.

"Hey, Sophie," Kirstin's voice said. She came over to Mitch. 

"Mitch," she whispered. "I need to ask a favor of you."

"We've given you all the stands we could," he said warily.

She laughed a bit.

"No, that's not what we want," she said. "I need something else."

"Can you ask Avi?" Mitch asked her.

"No; you're more likely to say yes," Kirstin told him. Mitch laughed. Everyone asked him for things.

"One moment." He turned to the class.

"Look over Jupiter," he said. "Look at the parts you might struggle with. Look for when you have the melody versus the harmony. Look at details like dynamics, key signature, and time signature. You may discuss the piece with the people around you. You may discuss only the piece with only the people around you." He turned his attention back to Kirstin. "Sorry, I had to give them something to do. So, what's up?"

"Well," she said. "So, it's almost April, and it's time to start planning for April Fools! So, I want you to help me with mine."

"Okay," Mitch said.

"Well," Kirstie said. "We get all kinds of questions about Scott's relationship with Mark, alright? And he teaches the freshmen, so they're the ones who are the biggest issue. Now, our first freshman class is in period six. Your last one is fourth. So, can you just say some small thing that will just, like, imply something between them, to just kind of encourage them. Then, when they freak out in our class, Someone will be like, 'You should date Mr. Manio!' And Scott will say something like, 'Ewww,' and break their little hearts. It'll be great to prank them like that, and it'll make Mark freak out as well, 'cause you know he'll be hearing about it."

Mitch stared at her. "You're sick!" he said.

"Yeah, so was that a no?" Kirstin asked him.

"Of course I'll help, but it's so mean!" Mitch said.

Kirstin squealed. "Thank you!" she said, bouncing.

Mitch sighed, watching fondly as she left. She was silly, but this would be funny.

He turned back to the students, and as he went back onto the pedestal, he heard someone whispering from nearby.

"I bet they were talking about Mr. Hoying's relationship with Mr. Manio!" one of the sopranos whispered to her friend.

"We should ask if they were!" said the other girl.

"Did you guys remember to talk about only the piece?" Mitch asked the students, looking directly at the two sopranos. They both looked down, knowing they'd been caught.

"There's no need for ya'll to know about what Ms. Maldonado wanted," Mitch continued. "For those of you who disagree with me, remember, curiosity killed the cat."

***

These chapters are shorter than in my other books, I've noticed. But that's fine. They aren't super short. I hope that it's still a good read!