Amelia's mouth dropped into a frown as she neared the Juilliard drum room. The clashing of cymbals spilled out of the open doorway. Looking in, the frown turned into an annoyed slash. Reynolds was crowded by five girls, watching as he showed off, his lips a cocky smirk.
"Alright, out!" Amelia shouted.
Reynolds stopped playing and looked up.
"Is it hard for you to listen to someone play the drums better than you?" Reynolds asked, grinning.
Amelia didn't bother with her sarcastic response of 'oh Reynolds how did you know', knowing it would go over his head.
"I'm tutoring. I need all of you to leave," she said.
She started to shoo the girls with her hands, ignoring their glares. Reynolds sauntered out from behind the drums and joined the girls, the swing in his step joyfully pompous.
"Come on ladies, I believe we have better places to be," Reynolds said.
Amelia pulled out her phone and leaned against a desk, waiting for her students to arrive. As they slowly trickled in, Amelia found out their needs and sent them to drum sets. Everyone was settled when one last person slipped in. She froze when she came face to face with Sebastian. A large man, in all black, stood just past his shoulder. Amelia hadn't planned on seeing him until the next day for their second writing session.
"Hi, can I help you?" Amelia asked, hiding her surprise.
"I'm here to learn how to play the drums," Sebastian said, evenly.
"So you came here?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Instead of hiring some professional to come to your apartment and teach you there? In the comfort and privacy of your own home?" she said, slowly, like she was trying to puzzle out what he was saying.
"Is there a problem?"
"No...its just, you came here to learn?" Amelia asked, as if she wasn't getting the joke.
"I have my reasons."
Amelia shrugged, pushing away her confusion.
"Alright, would you like me to find you a professor?" she asked. "Professor Mathews is an excellent teacher."
"You will be acceptable," Sebastian said, his voice sounded military, it was so level.
"Alright then. If your...uh..."
Amelia looked to the large man behind Sebastian.
"Bodyguard, Jones," Sebastian said.
"If Jones wants to take a seat by the desk, you can take one of the drum sets. Do you know how an electric drum set works?"
A confused crease between his eyebrows was all the response she needed.
"Okay, follow me."
She directed him to an empty drum set. He sat awkwardly, his body unfamiliar with the setup.
"Okay, so it's already on. You wear these," she said, holding out headphones. "You'll be able to hear the drums."
He slid on the headphones and she tapped one of the rubbery cymbals. He nodded. Amelia went over the basics of drumming. She left him with a simple exercise while she went around to the remaining students.
Amelia was helping a freshman named Collins when there was a shriek. At the door was a group of girls, their eyes glued on Sebastian. Sebastian's head snapped up at the sound, his eyes going wide with surprise. Amelia rushed to the door before Jones could even move.
"If you will please leave, I have students I'm teaching," she said.
The girls looked determined to move past, but Amelia's hand was on the door, her expression stony.
"I wasn't asking," Amelia growled.
A shadow fell over Amelia and she knew Jones must be behind her. The girls shrank back from the hulking figure and Amelia pushed the door shut.
"Thanks, for the backup," Amelia said.
Jones's calm look disappeared as he gave her a smile before sitting back down.
"Back to work," Amelia told her students.
****************
"Okay everyone, that is the end of our session," Amelia said, two hours later. "You know where to find me if you still need help."
There was a scattering of noise as everyone stood and collected their things. A group quickly formed around Sebastian.
"Move," Jones said, positioning himself in front of Sebastian. "Mr. Colfax will not be taking photos."
"See you all next time," Amelia said, ushering the students out.
Once the classroom was cleared, Amelia swung her satchel over her head. Sliding her hands into her jean pockets, she stepped up to Sebastian.
"You had a really good start. You were looking more comfortable by the end," she said, her tone encouraging.
"Don't patronize me. I was far from sounding anywhere near comfortable," Sebastian said.
"I wasn't. You sounded far more comfortable than you had in the beginning. That's were practice comes in," Amelia said, her tone friendly.
Sebastian merely nodded.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow-" Amelia started to say.
"Aims," Poppy said striding in. "Charlie has given you the okay to be either a really ugly witch or the bearded lady. I say we go with witch. I think you would look awful with facial hair. Who doesn't for that matter, so-" Poppy froze mid step when she spotted Sebastian.
"I agree Pops. I would look terrible with facial hair," Amelia said, smiling at her.
"Sorry, I didn't realize someone was here with you," Poppy said. "I'm Poppy Watson. We meet after your Madison Square Garden performance, I'm Amelia's best friend."
"Pleasure meeting you again," Sebastian said. "If you'll excuse me. Good afternoon."
With that Sebastian left the drum room closely followed by Jones.
"Oh my gosh! What was he doing here? Why didn't you text me! Oh my gosh, I'm gonna faint!" Poppy said, her words tumbling from her.
"If you do, I'm not going to catch you," Amelia said, flatly.
Poppy scowled at Amelia and forgot about fainting.
"Come on, let's go find me a costume, I'm not going as a witch though," Amelia said.
************
"So what was he doing at Juilliard?" Poppy asked.
She looked at Amelia over the rack of costumes.
"He wanted drum lessons," Amelia said, absentmindedly.
"Why didn't he just hire someone?"
"I asked him that, but he said he had his reasons. I didn't press the issue."
Amelia pulled out a Little Bow Peep outfit, studying it. Deciding it wasn't her, she hung it back up.
"Aren't you at all curious about why he came to our school?" Poppy asked.
"Of course I am, but it's none of my business. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me."
Poppy was silent for a long minute. The sound of voices and metal rubbing against metal filled the store. Amelia moved on to the next rack.
"Pops, I don't think we're going to find anything. Let's head home and I'll go to your party dressed as a girl drummer. I seem to able to pull that look off," Amelia said.
The sight of a short nurse uniform made her think there wasn't a costume out there she would ever want to wear.
"Don't say that. We'll find you something. We just have to keep looking," Poppy said.
Amelia groaned loudly. Poppy gave her an annoyed glare.
Poppy spent the next hour pulling out costumes and holding them up for Amelia to see, her face wearing a bright smile. Amelia shook her head at each one, adding a small frown for good measure. After Amelia vetoed every costume, Poppy threw up her hands.
"That's it, you'll have to figure out your costume on your own. I'm done. I don't know why I even try," Poppy said.
"Finally. Let's go home."
Amelia tossed her arm around Poppy's shoulders.
"I'm not even sure why we're friends," Poppy grumbled.
"Because we complete each other Pops. Plus, Charlie and I are the only Americans that can make a real pot of tea."
Poppy let out a laugh.
"Well that's at least true, I guess I'm stuck with you," Poppy said.
**********************************************************************
Hi Hi!
Did any of you catch the reference to A Second Chance? If so let me know!
Vote, comment, follow. Tell me what the best halloween costume is?