Bears Know Best

Chapter 15: Introductions

THE NEXT MORNING, I woke up and headed out with Alyssa for our fourth straight day of riding with each other in the morning. She decided to push it on a shorter ride, and see how fast I could ride and still keep up with her. We were pushing about twenty-five miles an hour for a bit before I had to slow down.

"Not bad," Alyssa said to me when I rode up out of breath behind her to our houses.

"Not bad? You left me in the dust!" I complained.

"Yeah, but you're also like eight inches shorter than I am, you have to use more energy to keep up with me," she told me.

"That's true," I said and grimaced, "any way to overcome that?" I asked.

She shrugged, "If you can keep your cadence higher you might be better off," she said as we both drank from our water bottles.

"My what?"

Alyssa went into a ten-minute spiel explaining the idea of the cadence setting on my bike computer, and how eventually it could help out quite a bit.

"I guess that makes sense," I told her.

She smiled, "I probably told you way more than you ever wanted to know... I am kind of obsessive about this stuff."

"That's okay; it's fun to ride with you! Maybe I'll get just as obsessed."

I split off from her and headed into the house to take a shower. Mom had gone into work, but I was supposed to be ready by noon when she came back to pick me up. The shower felt great, and I took extra time with my hair and makeup so that I'd make a good impression on Mr. Fark. He was considered one of the greatest horn players in the country, and I really wanted to study with him.

'I hope Mr. Harringen didn't tell him too much about me...' I thought nervously to myself. Explaining why I was a girl now was not something I really wanted to do. 'At least you really are a girl,' I reminded myself. For not the first time I felt bad for those that I had read about online that had always wished they'd been born in another body. I'd never even had a single dream like that, and it came true for me.

When I finished getting ready, I thought I looked pretty, and was reasonably confident that I would make a good impression on both appointments today. 'I should go warm-up,' I said to myself and headed downstairs to get my horn. I spent a good hour just on my warm-up routine and getting the best sound I could before running through some orchestral excerpts and the two pieces I had prepared to play for him.

'I hope it's enough' I thought to myself as I took out a polishing cloth and wiped down every surface of my horn. When I was certain it was clean, I unscrewed the bell and got it put away in the case. I took my music and put it in a folder and headed upstairs with both in hand. It was only ten-thirty so I didn't know what to do. My lesson was supposed to be at one-thirty, but Mom was planning on leaving early enough to ensure we arrived there without rushing. He was meeting us at a music school.

I decided just to sit down and continue Twilight on my iPad.

"Ready sweetheart?" Mom asked, startling me. I hadn't even heard her come in.

"Yeah," I said, "let me go to the bathroom really quick." I told her. I decided to save time by just using the downstairs half-bath, and we were soon on the road back to Cleveland. I kept reading my book on my iPad as we drove.

"We're going to have to get you some more books for that thing before you go in," Mom suggested.

I nodded grimly. I was trying not to think about that. Mom decided to stop on the way in for lunch at Panera, and we both enjoyed half a sandwich and a bowl of soup. It was light enough I wasn't worried about it upsetting my stomach for my upcoming audition. After the meal I excused myself to the restroom, where I brushed my teeth. When we were back in the car, I pulled my mouthpiece out from my purse and annoyed Mom as I buzzed and warmed up on my mouthpiece some more.