The Perfectionists

Chapter 3

EARLY THURSDAY EVENING, JANE GODMOTHER, dressed in a light blue dress with her long, black hair clipped back from her face, sat in the passenger seat of her best friend Li Lonnie's car, humming along to Dvořák's New World Symphony. Mrs. Rabinowitz, their Honors Orchestra conductor, insisted they live, breathe, and sleep the piece until their upcoming concert. Jane absentmindedly moved her fingers along with the melody, as if her cello were right there in front of her rather than tucked in the hatchback of Lonnie's blue Ford Escape.

"Hello? Earth to Jane" Lonnie waved a hand in front of Jane's face. Jane snapped to focus, realizing that Lonnie had been talking to her. "Oh, sorry. I'm kind of out of it today." Lonnie glanced at Jane sympathetically, her perfectly pink lips pressed together. "Me too," she confided. "That assembly about Ben was so awful. I can't get over that he's just . . . gone."

Jane glanced out the window, staring at the too-green front lawns of the passing houses. Ben might be gone, but there were reminders of him everywhere—photos of him on the walls, news programs about his "accidental overdose," the morning announcements saying that his funeral was on Sunday, just three days from now. And that assembly, ugh. The principal had shown the pictures of Ben's marked-up face that Jane herself had posted anonymously from an internet café. Leave it to Auradon Prep, pressure cooker of all pressure cookers, to even make a memorial assembly intense.

But most intense were Jane's own memories of that night. "Can we change the subject?" she mumbled. "Sure. Have you heard back about your audition schedule yet?" Lonnie said.
The word audition sent another spike of fear through Jane's heart like a shard of ice. Lonnie was talking about the Juilliard audition. "Um, yeah. It's the Friday after next. Five PM."

"Yeah?" Lonnie straightened up, tossing her long, wavy hair. It was a style that would look horrible on Jane but looked amazing and adorable on Lonnie. The hint of a smirk danced across Lonnie's face. "Me too. Except I'm at four. Right before you, I guess."

Beads of sweat broke out along the back of Jane's neck. Jane and Lonnie had met as five-year-olds at a music camp for precocious preschoolers and had been inseparable ever since. Lonnie was übercompetitive with Jane, always trying to beat her out for first chair or dictating what they did every Friday night, but she was also the only person Jane had anything in common with—even with all the pressure to be perfect at Auradon Prep, not many people could understand the sacrifices they had to make for music. They shared everything: which boy they had secret crushes on, which music teachers they hated—how, sometimes, they didn't feel like playing at all.

Now they were both vying to get a spot at Juilliard, though the conservatory had never taken two cellists from the same school before. More than likely, there wouldn't be room for both. And given everything that had happened with them in the past year, Jane wasn't sure she wanted there to be. "Here we are." Lonnie pulled over outside Cupcake Kingdom, a popular spot in Beacon Heights, right on the town square. The afternoon rain had slackened, but the pavement was still wet and slick, and the trees and streetlights dripped water to the sidewalk below in arrhythmic patterns. "Have fun at band practice."

"Thanks for the ride," Jane said, opening the door to the backseat and carefully sliding out her cello case. Her parents had promised to buy her a top-quality professional instrument from Germany if she got into Juilliard—she'd need one if she was going to play with professionals—but she loved her current cello. She knew every little scratch and scuff in the glossy maple wood, every weird quirk it had. She'd even given it a name: Moomintroll. "Anytime!" Lonnie yelled out the window. "Tell Carlos I love him!" "Right, I'll be sure to do that," Jane mumbled as Lonnie zoomed off.

Then she looked in the window of Cupcake Kingdom. And there he was, wiping off the counter, looking hot even in a pink-and-white-striped apron. Carlos DeVil, the reason for Lonnie and Jane's friend-mageddon. Jane had become friends with Carlos in junior high and joined his band, Black Lodge. They practiced weekly, but it was only in sophomore year that Jane realized she liked him as more than a friend . . . though she had no idea what to do with that. She stayed late at band practice, went out of her way to be in his ensembles for chamber music festivals, and at strings camp she'd linger near him every opportunity she got. The only person she confessed her crush to was Lonnie.