✏️ Under One Roof

26. One Compromise

"I just don't think the harmonica works for that part," Tegan said, biting her lip. She had a dozen scores piled up in front of her now, but right now she couldn't remember what the actual arrangement for Melancholy and Ivory Towers called for. She stared at the page, trying to work out why exactly it didn't sound right even when Maia managed to play the notes flawlessly. Would it sound better if those notes were on a swanee whistle? Or a theremin? She could hear the track in her head now, but she couldn't pick out that precise sound, and it was one of the ones that she didn't think she'd seen the video for.

A week before, she had been so sure that the harmonica would fit well enough. But the guys in her band followed the score well enough now that she was sure the problem was in the orchestration. This was the part she was supposed to be in charge of, and she was quickly finding out that she might not be as competent as she had thought.

"Think your chicken's going cold, too," Theo's voice cut into her thoughts. She looked up, and remembered that they were hanging out at Friedville Moist Chicken, one of the many cafés on campus and a serious competitor for the one with the silliest name. They were theoretically getting lunch and discussing how well all the first years had handled their first month of studies, but Tegan had arrived with a bunch of music clasped in her hand and hadn't been able to resist taking one more look at it, to see if she could figure out what was wrong with their sound.

Theo was right, of course. Tegan pushed the score to one side, and moved a box of fried chicken pieces to the centre of the table in front of her.

"Sorry," she said. "I just, well... I'm trying to put a band together, you know? And I thought we were doing well, even with people who can't keep time and people who don't want to stick to the score. Like, we're learning this stuff together, and I enjoy it. But now, I think we all played the right notes in the right order, but it still sounded wrong. And I think we've got the wrong instruments, I thought that the harmonica would sound close enough to whatever Kriegheimer was playing, but it just doesn't sound right. I mean, we haven't got a keyboard, but I'm pretty sure the guitar can cover that part. It's the woodwind that's not right. It needs to be more piercing, and it's like there's a constant hum behind it. I don't know why, but it seems to be a huge difference. Even if a harmonica can play continuously, it just doesn't sound right."

"Notes like that are just blobs on the page to me," Theo admitted. "Wish I could offer more help, but it's really not my thing. Unless you need a wannabe psychiatrist on the team or something."

"No worries," Tegan answered, shaking her head. "It's hard to put it out of my head sometimes, you know?"

"It's the opposite for me, I'll procrastinate over anything. But if you find it hard to focus on anything but an immediate task, I know that can be a problem too. I've read plenty of books about stuff that can help you to manage your attention, if you want. But nothing I can offer right now except remind you to eat. You don't think so well on an empty stomach, you know? And it would be sacrilege to waste this chicken."

"It's so good!" Declan replied, reaching over to help himself to a piece from Tegan's box. That finally jolted her into life, and her own arm reached across to grab a piece from his box in return; and some of his chipotle mayo dip as well. They both laughed, and then Tegan could keep thoughts about the instrumentation out of her head for a little while.

They weren't practising that night. It wasn't practical to get the whole band together more than once or twice in a week; but Tegan always felt a little nervous on the days that she wouldn't be playing. She would have stood at the station alone, her last lecture of the day being an hour later than those of her friends, and felt like she was wasting time that could have been put to better use. But today's lunchtime meeting gave her a better option: staying in Moistville to check out some of the local nightlife. She was supposed to be meeting up with Theo, Linus, and Karina. In theory they were threatening to drag Declan out as well, but Tegan didn't think that was particularly likely.