Leaning over her vanity to examine her makeup in the mirror, Juliette popped her lips and fluffed up her perfectly curled hair, courtesy of her older sister's help.
Violette, her older sister, was reclined on Juliette's bed, clad in a white cashmere sweater and blue jeans, typing away on her phone. The sound of painted acrylics tapping on the screen, and the hum of Vivaldi's Winter from the Four Seasons, filled her bedroom.
That piece was certainly one of Violette's favorites, having played it during her last year in Cortland's Youth Symphony. Unlike her sister, Violette had chosen to play the flute, and by extension, played in their school's band for several years, up until now.
"Why do you keep checking the mirror?" her sister asked, her dark eyes focused on her phone's screen.
"I don't know, there's just something about wearing all black and carrying an instrument as big as you that's so empowering," Juliette said, turning to her sister with her hands on her hips. As usual, her black flared trousers and blouse were meticulously ironed, paired with her favorite gold hoops and pendant.
"Empowering?" her sister asked, looking up from her phone with her eyebrows raised. "Aren't you like, 14?"
"Oh my god, let me live!" Juliette says exasperatingly, throwing her hands up in the air. She picked up her cello and sheet music before leaving her room and skipping down the stairs to retrieve her shoes.
Despite the past week's events, her heart leapt at the idea of performing in front of a crowd once again. She would perform at her school's concert hundreds of times, but the thrill of gathering together to put together a performance was renewed each time.
Nothing could wipe the grin off of her face as she sat inside her sister's car, ready to head to their school.
***
Just like every other day, Callum opened his cello case, gently taking out his instrument and bow, tuning it as per usual. His strings were always a hair off, but today, they were perfectly in tune, which seemed to send a good omen for tonight.
Rehan, their assistant section leader, did the same, laying his case on the floor and opening his cello. He let out a little gasp once he saw his A string, slackened and laying across the instrument's fingerboard.
Callum glanced inside the case, his eyes widening when he saw Rehan's instrument. "Well, that's unfortunate."
The worst was always inevitable right before a concert. No matter how many precautions Mrs. Moon took, something always went awry.
"At this point, I would rather break my hamstring than my A string," Rehan grumbled, taking out his instrument. "We're on stage in 20 minutes--I need to play," he said, waving over Josh from across the room, who was engrossed in a conversation with the lead second violinist, debating which of Beethoven's symphonies had the most emotional impact.
Since Mrs. Moon was currently conducting the intermediate orchestra, who was performing right before them, the only one qualified for replacing a cello string was Josh.
It was a good thing they always had extra strings on hand.
Setting his cello down, Callum stood up, surveying the classroom to see who else had arrived and began preparing for the concert. His friend, Bryce, began talking about their recent physics midterm, while warming up on scales and exercises to get his fingers moving fluently.
"Honestly, I might have used my protractor wrong. I don't think it's possible to throw a ball at 467 degrees..."
Callum had tuned out when his eyes spotted his stand partner across the classroom.
She was standing with her usual group of friends, smiling and laughing while tuning their instruments and rosining their bows.
After a few words into her sentence, Juliette paused as if she felt his gaze, and met his eyes across the classroom. Hazel and Vivian exchanged a glance, muttering something about heading to the bathroom, and in moments, their group dispersed.
Without a thought, Callum mumbled to Bryce, "I'll be right back," before crossing the room to her. Juliette set her instrument on the floor, crossing her arms.
"Truce?" he offered without any greeting, extending his right hand between them.
Juliette's eyes flickered between his hand and his eyes. "Is this your way of making me let my guard down now?"
"What do you mean?"
"This isn't over yet, Forger," she said, her glossed lips turning upward into a smile. "We have far too many concerts left for me to give up on being a soloist yet."
Now that they were standing so much closer together, he could finally see her features more clearly--wide, bright eyes, the tinge of pink on her cheeks, the precise shade of her eyes.
He dropped his hand, his smirk growing. "Let loose a little, Desmond. Does everything have to be a competition for you?"
She wanted nothing more than to slap that smirk off his face. "Isn't it to you, too?" she asked.
He said nothing, and Juliette caught his eyes lowering just a fraction before making contact again. Her eyes turned away for just a moment, staring at the midst of the chaotic classroom before meeting him again.
"Fine. Let's call a truce. Just for today," she said, extending her hand.
His eyes widened in surprise, hardly hesitating before meeting her hand with a firm shake. Her arm slackened, ready to break away from the contact, but he still held her hand in front of them.
"Nervous?" he asked, their hands still connected.
"You wish," she said, rolling her eyes before turning away and dropping his hand. Any longer and she would've started second-guessing her feelings. It was already enough that the thought of him pushed her to practice her instrument relentlessly.
I guess that's just how the human brain works. The more you hate something the more you're going to remember it.
"Just don't mess up on stage and you'll be fine," he teased, his palm still tingling from the contact.
"Whatever you say, fourth chair," Juliette said, before taking her instrument and bow and heading to the multipurpose room with the others.
It was showtime.
***
The foyer was abuzz with light chatter as the musicians took their places in lines, the first row closer to the backstage entrance, from the first violin section leader to their cello section leader.
"I'm telling you, you're supposed to be ahead of me," Callum insisted, holding his bow and cello in one hand. They were in the second and third rows of the orchestra, where their rows resembled a mass crowd more than a line.
"Wrong. You're in the row behind me."
"Did you just say I'm wrong?" Callum hissed. The nerve of her--
"I'm older than you, you should show respect to your elders," Juliette pointed out with a grin, taking her right place next to Vivian in line.
"By only a few months!" her stand partner pointed out, taking his respective place in the other line. They would both be at the end of the line for each of their rows..
"Whatever you say. I'm still older," Juliette stated as a matter of fact.
"When's your birthday?" he asked, seeming deadly serious.
"Why? You wanna send me a present?"
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."
"March 1st."
"October 22nd."
"I'm seven months older," Juliette said with a smirk.
Callum narrowed his eyes. "We're essentially the same age."
"I'm older," she sang, grinning in his direction before their line began walking to the stage. She followed right behind Vivian, heading up the stairs behind the stage and directly under the bright beam of stage lights.
Juliette and Vivian sat down in their seats, with Juliette sitting closer to the audience. After setting up her end-pin anchor to her chair, she spared a glance at the audience, searching for her father's face.
She spotted Hazel's parents, who were sitting directly in the front row, waving at her. Juliette smiled and waved back. She almost felt a stab of envy towards her best friend--Hazel's parents never missed a single one of their concerts.
They had only been sitting on the stage for a minute, and yet the warm lights beaming on top of them made the stage seem several degrees hotter. Vivian was suddenly glad that she liberally put on deodorant again. She took a deep breath, realizing that this would be the last time that she would be performing on stage with her peers for the rest of junior high.
But this realization didn't spark tears this time. It was a bittersweet sense of nostalgia, and a tribute to all their hard work the past few months; so as heartbreaking as the decision was, Vivian was ready for the future, with or without orchestra.
Mrs. Moon took her place at the podium, welcoming the audience and introducing their first piece for the night.
"...Our first piece tonight will be Eric Whitacre's October..." their teacher introduced. After a brief explanation on the history of the piece and the composer himself, Mrs. Moon finally turned back to the orchestra, who waited eagerly in their seats.
Then, so quietly it might've been a whisper, their teacher counted them off in a 4/4 tempo while waving her baton, beginning the few measures of tremolo from the violin section. The other sections remained pin drop silent, counting their rests in their head, waiting for their turn.
And after the glorious viola solo, they all came cascading down into a crescendo, one section after the other, a waterfall effect that would take the audience's breaths away as the violins brought the melody to life, the cello section in perfect sync with them.
Just like the season of October, this piece had little nuances in them, small bits and pieces played by sections overlaid with the harmony of the other sections, capturing the wavering transition of the seasons, always surprising the audience with what might happen next.
Vivian loved their piece selection for this concert, a perfect blend of the classics and modern pieces, all tied together with a similar theme in mind. Playing the cello had never been a burden to her, but rather something that renewed her soul. There was something about playing with so many other musicians and being able to bring such beautiful music back to life.
So, despite her underlying sadness, she tuned out the audience, solely focused on her playing and the talented musicians around her.
She would cherish this moment for as long as she could.
***
OKKKAYYYY THIS CHAPTER WAS GETTING LONG AS HECK SO I HAD TO STOP THERE
in honor of our orchestra having our concert in less than week i thought this was perfectly on time ahjdjjsjsj
SOOO WHAT DO WE THINK???? THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITEEE OMGG
SEE YALL IN THE NEXT ONE 🤞
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