Chemistry

Chapter 29: Bad Luck

The soft, low sound of Tiara's cello filled her whole room as she ran her bow along the strings ever so gracefully. She was playing a packet of music pieces that Mr. Hemmingsway had given her to practice on before the auditions. She poured all of her emotion into her instrument. That's how she was taught. Her fifth grade music teacher told her to play an instrument with grace, and emotion. Not only do you have to be a musician, but you also have to be an actor. She was taught to feel the music. Which was what she did every time she picked up a bow, and prepared herself to play.

She was playing her old cello. That's the one she'd been playing even after Brandon had gotten her a new one. And that was the one she was planning on playing during her auditions. She stopped for a second to stare at the beautiful fresh cello in the corner of her room. Untouched and lonely. She wanted to oh-so-badly to just open the case and grab it. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Her eyes then went down to her old, cracked up cello. She noticed a small crack near the neck of it, and sighed. She wondered how much longer her instrument would last. She hoped at least until after the auditions.

"Tiara." her mother's voice called from the doorway of her bedroom.

The attentive stare she had on the crack was sharply confiscated as she turned around in her chair to see what her mother wanted.

"You don't have to work for the rest of this week. I called Mrs. Fields and explained to her that we have to work out some legal issues. You don't have to work next Friday either because of homecoming," Mrs. Jones explained from the doorway.

"Thank God!" Tiara exclaimed. She placed her cello on top of her bed and pushed the music stand farther away. "And about homecoming. When are we going dress shopping?"

"We can go on Sunday," her mother said as she began to back out of the doorway. "Oh! Are you staying over Kendra's tomorrow?"

"Um," Tiara stalled. She tried to think of an honest answer that wouldn't make her mother want to 'sit down and sort out her problems'. "I have to see. I'll call if I do end up staying."

Her mother nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Tiara sighed and picked up her phone from off her music stand. Her and Kendra had never stopped talking to each other for so long. It's almost been a whole week. She was missing her best friend like crazy, but she didn't know what to do to get her back.

"Just talk to her," Daniel encouraged as they walked from Tiara's building that next morning. He had came to her house unexpectedly to pick her up for school. It was a pleasant surprise. And she was actually glad that she didn't have to sit on the school bus and suffer from all her peers' and neighbors' ratchet ways.

"I've tried," Tiara whined yanking the passenger's door to Daniel's truck open. They had been walking a distance since Daniel had parked around the corner. 

Daniel opened the driver's door and hopped in. "What'd you do in the first place?" he asked while turning the key in the ignition. The car let out a roar as it started up.

Tiara hopped in as well, using the handle that sat above the window inside the car for support. "She got mad because she found out I was still hanging out with Cheyenne." Both teenagers fastened their seat belts before Daniel pulled away from the project.

"Really?" Daniel asked as if he were surprised. "You and Cheyenne still hang out?"

"Yeah," Tiara grinned. "Why?"

"Because Cheyenne never keeps friends for long. Especially people like you. No offense," a voice said from the backseats of the truck. It startled Tiara, and made her quickly look behind herself.