Autumn's Concerto

Autumn's Concerto, Chapter 2: First Sight

Chapter 2:

                                                                     FIRST SIGHT

I walked inside the classroom. I sat on the only seat available, next to Robert. I greeted him politely when I laid my bag onto the table.

                            "Hi. I'm Audrey Lee. You should be Robert, the new kid, right?" I managed in a small voice.

                            "Yeah." he said, smiling. I couldn't understand why, but somehow warmth radiated from his smile. Our professor continued her discussion while I scribbled some notes in an illegible manner onto my notebook. "So I want everyone of you to compose a song about love. Your partners will be your seatmates. Is that okay, guys?" She took off her glasses. Everyone nodded, or I could say everyone else except me, did. I cleared my throat lightly.  I turned to Robert. " We should probably get going now. We can go to the mini theater nearby. The members of the orchestra usually practice there, so probably they have a lot of instruments there." He was silent for a while. "Or, if you prefer, we should stay here and just use the piano at the back." I tapped my fingers on the table for a moment. "No, the theater's fine. We should probably go now." He looked around the room, which was half empty. I nodded in agreement. I stood, gathered my belongings, then set off for the theater. For a moment, I thought that he whispered something into my ear, but it could probably be just the wind.

                          When we arrived at the theater, I was right. There were plenty of instruments we could use. We walked to the piano at the back-left section, near Mila and Jess. "Here." He handed me a black music sheet. "I don't need this. I have my own." I grabbed my stack and showed it to him. "See?" I said. I was surprised. Everyone here had music sheets in a music school. When I looked at him, he was playing a mellow sound, yet it was accompanied with a graceful manner of playing on the piano. I glanced at the once empty sheet. It was now half-filled. "Hey," I said, "That's nice, you know. Pretty impressive for your first day. Let me help," I offered. I sat next to him and played the wonderful composition. I was amazed. It was wonderful. Even better than Fur Elise or Minuet or Canon in D. It was like a combination of the three in a respectable and legible manner. Beautiful and graceful. I added a few notes that would match with the piece. "There. Perfect." I smiled. I glanced at my watch. "Uh...we should probably go back to the classroom now. Our class is about to end. Uhm..." I said, " I just wanna ask you about what you said to me a while ago, when you whispered to me, if you did," I said, while I gathered my belongings. He glanced at me. "Oh, it's just that I...uh...uhm...I never did, Audrey," he said. Was that true?

                           After school, I headed straight to my apartment. I was surprised to see Jess and Mila there, for two reasons: one was that they had never known my address, and second, I always leave my apartment locked when I leave for school. And it's impossible for them to enter without the key. I suddenly dropped my bag on the couched, and screamed, "What are you two doing in here?" "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" they both shouted. "Oh my gosh! HOW DID YOU TWO GET HERE?" I complained. "Simple," Jess giggled, "Do you know why your bag fell back at school during lunch?" I shook my head. "We took your keys while you were eating." She held my apartment's keys in a possesive manner. "Wh-wha-wh-wait....it's my birthday?" I asked, confused. Was it my birthday? I counted the days in the back of my mind. How could I not remember my own birthday? I groaned and sat on the couch. "Thaanks for remembering, guys. I hope that another celebration like this didn't cause you any money or trouble. Anyway, this place's a mess. How come you managed to stay here before I arrived?" "No prob, Aud. I assure you, no trouble caused. Well, we spent a little too much money on gifts...but it's okay so don't worry..." Mila said. "YOU SPENT MONEY ON GIFTS? BUT EVERYTHING'S OKAY! You shouldn't have Mila, you shouldn't have...Remember what happend last time? Your parents got mad at you and Jess for buying the whole mall!" I shouted. "Everything's fine now, calm down," Jess giggled. "We actually saved money so there's nothing to worry about. I promise, there's no waste of money this time. You'll gonna love the new outfit we bought you." I smiled.