charity project // mischa bachinski (ride the cyclone)

8 - jonquils

Thanksgiving break was only the Monday of Thanksgiving, unfortunately. We went back to school the day after, only to have an extra after school rehearsal for choir. Granted, we did need a bit of extra practice with the piece we were singing in Mandarin, and we all knew that. We had the risers set up in the auditorium for us already.

"I think that we will run through the repertoire at least two more times, and then you can go home. Remember, be here at 6:30 tomorrow for our fall concert. What will we be wearing?" Father Marcus opened his arms, waiting for our answer.

"Concert attire," We all answered in unison.

"Very well!"

We got through the repertoire and we all packed up to go. I made sure to drink plenty of water, and reminded everyone else to do so as well.

...

I pulled my concert dress from my closet. It wasn't much, but it was long and black and tied in the back to cinch in the waist. I knew a lot of people didn't enjoy wearing it, but I did. I liked the way it fit my figure, and it reminded me of how much I love singing.

I went to the bathroom and touched up my eyeliner and put on a subtle lipstick. I re-curled my hair because the curl fell

out throughout the day.

Turning off the light, I practically tripped over my skirt getting out of the bathroom.

"Your concert begins at seven, right?" Mom asked as I began to leave.

"Yep!"

"I'm excited to see you!"

I nodded gratefully and I opened the door to get to my car.

When I got there, I signed in with Father Marcus and then walked over to Noel and Mischa.

Mischa looked me up and down. "You look... very good."

"Thank you," I said.

Except it probably didn't come out like that. There was probably more giggling and blushing on my end. Overall, not quite my proudest moment. Noel just sighed and rolled his eyes into the back of his head.

I looked at Mischa and frowned.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's just..."

I reached up and straightened his collar. "Perfect."

"Just kiss already, oh my god," I heard Noel mutter under his breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing."

"That's what I thought."

...

We got up onstage, ready to perform. I stood with Constance and Ocean. Ocean sang soprano I, I sang soprano II, and Constance was an Alto I. Noel was a tenor, and Mischa was a baritone. Because of the size of the choir, we had to work extra hard with dynamic contrast, but we made it work. We sang through all six of our pieces, and the applause wasn't exactly loud given the small crowd, but it was enthusiastic. I beamed as we all stepped down from the risers to take a bow. The house lights came back on and we dispersed to get our congratulations from friends and family. After talking to my mom, I made my way towards Mischa.

"You did really well up there," I smiled.

"Thank you! You did very well too, so I brought something for you."

From behind his back, he pulled out a bouquet of jonquils and handed them to me. I looked up at him, gaping.

"Mischa, I don't deserve these!"

"What do you mean? Of course you do! You have the most beautiful voice in the whole choir, so I must give you the most beautiful flowers I could find!" He said happily.

"Thank you, but you did amazing, too. You deserve flowers as well."

I split the bouquet in half and gave it to him.

...

Later that night, I put a few of the jonquils into a glass with water. I pressed the rest in a book so I could keep them forever.

a/n: i chose jonquils because they were the first that came to mind. that's because i'm doing a monologue from the glass menagerie about them for my theatre class for a grade. so i looked up the meaning and it's really very sweet and goes along with the story and i suggest you look up the meaning of the jonquil flower :)