For the Love of Music

Chapter 3

Artie walked up in front of us and knocked on the door.

A few seconds passed before a man in a navy blue dress shirt with the top two buttons left open and a pair of straight-legged, dark washed jeans and shiny black shoes walked out. His shirt was the same color as his striking navy blue eyes and his hair was darker than onyx with streaks of gray hair along the edges. The wrinkles around his eyes and mouth suggested that he smiled a lot and when he saw the five of us, that is exactly what he did.

“Wow, what a surprise. What's going on guys?” he asked the group. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against the door frame and waited.

Artie stepped forward and the twins stepped to the side, letting me come into view. When the man saw me, his eyes smiled sincerely.

“Why, hello. Who might you be?” the man pushed off the door frame and stepped closer to me.

I stared up at him from underneath my eyelashes and replied quietly, “Charlotte Grey, sir. My name is Charlotte Grey.” I straightened my shoulders. I did not know why but I wanted to make an impression on him.

His smile widened. He put out his hand for me to shake and began to speak. “Hello, Charlotte. My name is Maxwell Thomas, but you can call me Max, sweetheart. I am the Headmaster of this school.”

“Hello,” a hint of a smile fell onto my lips without my knowledge.

Suddenly, Max started talking again.

“You know, I opened this school in August of ‘83, the year after I graduated college with a Bachelor's degree in Business Management. I minored in music and I wanted a place where kids could come and study music – and music alone – and not have to worry about budgets being cut in a public school and them not being able to continue to learn about their passion.” Max continued.

I nodded my head and furrowed my eyebrows in false interest.

“Hey, Max. So, before you bore Charlotte to sleep with the story of your success, can we talk about the reason we brought Charlotte here. Do you think we could talk in your office?” Artie asked.

Max nodded immediately. He turned to look at me, his eyes asking a silent question that I could only shrug at.

His office was huge and decorated in navys, browns and blacks. The ceiling was dome shaped and the wall across from the door was made completely out of glass. In front of the window wall, was where his desk was stationed. On the other side of the room, there was an L-shaped black, leather sofa with four navy chairs facing it. The walls were a bright white so all of the furniture contrasted greatly with it.

Max pointed to the sofa so we all walked toward the sofa to sit down.

Daniel and Sophie took a seat on the left side of the sofa and Artie, Skylar and I took a seat on the right. Max sat on the chair in front of us.

“So, why's Charlotte here ?” Max asked us.

Artie scooted forward. “So we went to the City Hall Park Fountain again to perform and Charlotte was in the audience. I left my violin resting against the fountain while we went around to get tips. We were thanking some people in the audience when I heard someone playing my violin. I turned around and Charlotte was playing it by herself. The same thing I had played. I thought she was trying to steal it while my back was turned, so I rushed over to her. I might have been a little rude at first,” Artie laughed, embarrassed, “I asked her what she was doing with my violin and she told me that she just wanted to see what it was like to play it, but the important thing is, she played a level five violin composition with no prior training, or experience whatsoever. She had never even seen a violin in real life before, Max.” Artie’s eyes were shining in excitement.