Fate is a Funny Thing

Didgeridoo

Is my dress too formal for a night at the Opera?

What do people even wear to the Opera?

Who even goes to listen to the Opera?

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Rafael chuckles as we pull up behind Mason's car, which is parked behind Evan's.

"Isn't this a tad too formal for the Opera?" I ask him, motioning to my dress.

Raking my dress with his eyes, our gazes meet and he gives me an amused smile, "wait until you see how people actually dress for the opera."

I send him a questioning look and he assures me I'll understand once we get in there. People will be walking around in the hallway, so we'll see them on the way to the instrument room. I'm about to ask how they know where it is, but then I remind myself they've done this before. They're all mad.

Everyone climbs out of their respective cars and walk towards the entrance. Trying to ignore the mischievous looks Zahlee and Hazel are throwing me, I quicken my pace and hide my face behind Rafael's body.

The lobby is crawling with people dressed formally, standing around chatting and slowly making their way to the main hall. Rafael was right about their attire. Every man is dressed in a suit and all the women are wearing formal dresses. Suddenly, I don't feel so cautious about my clothes. I look over at the Zahlee and Hazel and realise that they're looking beautifully classy too.

We all move closer to one another and navigate our way through the crowd and up the stairs. Stepping out onto the highest floor visitors are allowed on, we stop and start speaking to each other in an attempt to look as normal as possible. Out of the corner of my eyes, I notice the restricted area door for authorised staff only. Evan seems to have his eyes on that door too and he winks at us and then wraps his arm around Zahlee's shoulder and slowly walks towards it.

He accidentally-on-purpose bumps into one of the security guards. As he apologises, Zahlee manages to swipe his card and hide it in her sleeve. Oldest trick in the book. My eyes widen in surprise. I can't believe that worked.

When the rest of the guards turn their backs on us and walk out of sight, the rest of us follow Zahlee and Evan through the restricted door and gallop up the stairs. Following the signs straight to the instrument room, my heart beats excitedly as we rush in desperately trying not to get caught.

Collectively breathing sighs of relief, we shut the door behind us and laugh happily.

"I can't believe that worked! Such a rookie mistake," I giggle in astonishment.

"They really need to up their security," Asher agrees, "but then again, Zahlee is as sneaky as they come."

"It's a gift," Zahlee gushes with a smirk.

I zone out of the conversation after that, too busy looking at my surroundings to listen. For such a grand building, this room is as messy as rooms get. There are so many instruments all piled around, you could probably get lost if you went in too deep. I'm surprised at how little I can correctly identify here. How is it that I've never seen eighty percent of the instruments in this room?

Picking up a strange-looking instrument, I inspect it and look through its hole. I presume you blow through it to make a noise because I'm not sure what else you'd do with it. Unless you bang it with a stick, although I doubt it very much. Looking at the hole for the mouth, my eyes go wide at how big it is, even though the instrument itself is really big.

"Out of all the instruments in this room, you pick up didgeridoo?" Asher raises an eyebrow, approaching me looking very amused.

"A what?" I echo, biting my tongue at the name.