The antique wall clock ticked on the wall ever so slowly. Tick-tock, tick-tock. It was a nice wooden clock, it was possibly thrifted.
Tick-tock-tick-tock.
Vincent and Avery were practicing instruments in Avery's room. Avery was still shy about the steamy sex they had that prior day. Vincent was not any different than he was before, which might have meant he had more experience in the night life activity of swimming in sex... Avery thought to himself. What if he had threesomes before? No, foursomes? What if he goes to orgies?
He lost control his violin in his hand while lost in thought, and it dropped onto the floor because he was not paying attention. The music sheet stand toppled over in Avery's clumsy panic. Sheets of music from Bach to Frédéric Chopin flew onto and all over the floor.
"So you prefer to play the violin over viola?" Vincent snickered. "I can play that as well but my speciality is the cello after all, I have been playing it since I was around six or so. I still have my original instrument. It was my great grandfathers so it's pretty old actually and I don't use it out of fear it might break. It seems we have a lot in common..."
Vince positioned his legs around his cello, grabbed his bow and began to play his own stylized version of Beethoven's "Fer Elise." The mutual tapping of his foot and fingers on the wood created a nice vibe suitable for a nice fancy restaurant. His confidence and gentlemanly composure came out in his music.
Avery looked in inspired awe as his picked up his instrument from the floor. Vincent was so talented in comparison to himself even though he was highly acclaimed in his own state back home. Instead of playing his violin for a while he just admired Vince's musical performance then put his bow back to the strings and gulped.
"This technique is called "pizzicato", it is a little tricky to learn but once you do it correctly it is quite fun, and I enjoy playing cello this way the most."
Avery started to bow his violin alongside Vince's rhythm and the two created a sound together so compatible it was as if it were angels in a choir. It was like making love with tunes only the two of them could hear.
"You play just like an angel," Vince exclaimed with a grin, winking in a flirty manner and looked back at his cello which laid between his legs on the floor.
"Thank you very much." Avery became blushful trying to keep on a studious face.
Just as the two lovers caught eyes, a knocking was heard on the door.
"Vince are you in here?" A female voice called from the other side. "We have to prepare for our classes since school starts tomorrow, I heard you were hanging out with the new kid in his room I would also like to meet him."
Vince got up from his seat and laid his instrument against the wall. Avery looked onward as Vince opened the large wooden door. A small woman with long curly black hair opened the door.
"Oh, dear Frevisse how are you?" Vincent spoke.
"I have been looking all over for you, I need to practice my clarinet in a duet with someone." She put her arms on both hips and stomped on the floor in a bit of anger, her loafers made a tappy sound as they hit the wood. You know how woodwinds are, it takes a lot of energy and breath strength to be good at it and I want to be in top shape before I graduate next year! And it has to be soon because I have to do a rigorous performance for my ballet course next month.
Frevisse was a thin gorgeous Asian girl about five-foot-three and wore black fishnet tights. She wore a a pair of black daisy-duke shorts and a designer-looking plum striped tube top with a matching elegant black ribbon choker. Her anger quickly subsided and was replaced with a perky smile.
"Let me introduce you both." Vince put his arms out towards Avery in a welcoming gesture. "This is Frevisse Hagiwara. She is my ex-girlfriend, a second year at St. Rosé, besides being a credited clarinet player, she is also a ballerina. And Frevisse this is Avery, a top graduate with many awards in classical music from America."
"Kobanwa." The girl giggled and held up her hand in a waving gesture, the other hand rested ladylike over her waist. She was extremely beautiful and above-average looking.
"G-girlfriend..." Avery muffled under his breath in surprise. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped.
"You mean, this Vince was sleeping with this girl before I enrolled here??" Avery thought to himself while turning completely crimson. "I'm so inexperienced I can't possibly compete with her, they were probably super serious too, I'm talking to a girl who also made love with Vince!"
"Hi my name is Avery Knightley," Avery reached out his hand in a benevolent way ignoring his bitter thoughts.
"Hi hi, my name is Frevisse! I'm half-Japanese, half French! My parents own the Hagiwara Clover sushi bars throughout Europe so I can afford to go to school here."
She held out her hand back to Avery in an amicable handshake while brushing the small ringlets of her hair back gracefully. She was like a black swan.
"Everyone at this school is richer than me." Avery thought to himself. He put one hand in the back of his head in embarrassment whilst shaking Frevisse's lovely hand.
"I guess everyone is getting along." Vincent said casually.
"Yeah," Frevisse chimed in while squinting her eyes in glee. "It's great!"
Avery giggled sweetly to himself. "I am not a fan of this probably." He uttered under his breath.
×××××
The Academy's bell rang. Unlike the schools in America Avery had been to, it was a repurposed Catholic church bell that was raised high above in an artfully carved wooden tower on the Rosé Academy campus. All the gifted attendees of the academy were having a unique lesson on strange instruments the first day of school.
"So who can tell me what a cello horn is?" Said the frustrated looking teacher at the head of the classical-looking classroom.
A woman with honey-blonde locks and two dark red ribbons braided in her hair stood up while raising her hand high. The women's uniform consisted of a plaid pink and gold trim skirt with a white lace underskirt under it. The top half of the uniform was the same as the mens' uniform minus the kind of tie and resembled the kind of attire you'd see in a live orchestra performance.
"Yes, Miss Cerise Oxford?" Professor Bistodeau responded. Bistodeau was a very French old balding man who seemed a tad more on the irritable and angry side but very intelligent. In comparison to the students he stood out a lot as a person and a little controlling for an adult education teacher.
"The cello horn was invented in 1938, and was a combination of a horn and a cello and made scientific news all over the word." Cerise Oxford responded.
"Good job Cerise!" The teacher congratulated the girl then reverted back tp his grumpy expression. "Now lets get a little more difficult, who can tell me what a Theremin is?"
Cerise stood up excitedly again. "A Theremin is an electronic instrument. It was invented by young scientist Leon Theremin by accident! There also exists a theremin mixed with a taxidermized badger called the badgermin."
The college-age students gossiped and laughed at eachother. "Badgermin?" They said amongst themselves.
A young man leaned over and held his hand to another mans ear. "Miss Oxford Dictionary is out here pretending to be Einstein like it makes her special."
Cerise turned around while standing up, and screamed out. "Hey! Stop teasing me! I know I'm super smart and all but you are all just jealous!"
"This is no time for gossiping, you are all young adults and should act as such in this college-level classroom this instant! However you are all dismissed for today head back to your dorm rooms to practice." Professor Bistodeau shoe hit the floor and the rest of the class became silent.
Avery grabbed his leather book bag and wrapped it around his shoulder. The girl was crying outside in the main library of the academy near the entrance holding some kind of stuffed bear.
"Cerise?" Avery called out to her.
"Yes, that is my name, I am from England but since my mother is French I'm staying with her while attending this academy. I play the harp." She took one of her hands and fixed the maroon ribbons in her hair. "Cerise means cherry you know!"
"Oh, my name is Avery and I am a violin and viola player that graduated in the United States with top grades in Classical Music in the entire country so I got a grant letter... how do they say it in France... bonjour?" He held out his hand in a kind gesture to the other girl with his own awkwardly.
The girl was quiet when she wasn't constantly raising her hand to answer the professor's questions. They shook hands and smiled at eachother. Cerise's big forest green eyes blinked a few times and she pulled up her legs onto the chair, she was wearing pink frilly socks with ribbon ties. She began to touch his hand.
"You know, I named my angora rabbit a French name, Bijou, it is the French word for "jewel."
"Your hand is pure, like a girl's." She smiled softly with her eyes closed and distracted from what Avery said.
"Yeah it is."