Delightful Duet (Sasha)

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

Cici smiled, grabbing her sheet music, acoustic guitar in its case, and heading to the auditorium. She was meeting Sasha, a younger member of the school band, to practice a duet together. The younger girl was so talented at the flute, that Cici just hadn't been able to resist asking her if they could duet together! Besides, although she was super cute, she was also a bit quiet, and Cici wanted to get to know the girl a bit better and hopefully help her to come out of her shell a bit, even if it was only around Cici- baby steps. 

Cici walked over to the stage and, not bothering going around the sides to the stairs, simply flew up onto it. Setting her guitar case down carefully, she pulled a couple of chairs over for her and Sasha, and set up some music stands. Pulling out her own sheet music, Cici placed it on the stand, then grabbed her guitar and set to work tuning it and making sure everything was in working order. Then, she looked over the music. Ständchen by Franz Schubert was what they had chosen, a classical instrumental piece with a lilting, ethereal feel that Cici found pleasant. Normally, she didn't play a lot of classical things, unless asked to for music class or the band teacher, but Sasha had quite liked this piece and so Cici had happily decided to give it a go. 

She had been practicing in her room, and the guitar part was easy enough, but Cici couldn't wait to see what it sounded like with the flute. Smiling, the short girl closed her eyes and began to strum a random tune, fingers expertly plucking the strings while waiting for Sasha to arrive. 

[Sasha Adams]

Sasha hated being late, and yet late she was. It wasn't entirely her fault; her Biology teacher had returned tests from the week before, and she had missed some questions. So once the bell rang she had stayed behind to ask about them, in order to see where she'd gone wrong. This took longer than she'd expected, and so when she had finally left class she'd realized with a start that she was supposed to be in the auditorium already. 

She had nearly run down the hallway to her locker, dialing her lock so quickly that at first she spun to the wrong numbers and had to try again. She shoved her books inside, tugged her flute case and sheet music out, and then ran to the auditorium until a teacher stopped her and sternly reminded her that running in the hallways wasn't allowed. 

She nodded her understanding of this with a mumbled, "Yes, sir," feeling her heart hammer with fear at being late as she walked as fast as she could. This wasn't especially fast, given how short she was, but she didn't want to miss her practice, which she would if a teacher decided to give her detention for running in the halls. 

When she arrived at the auditorium Cici was already strumming her guitar. Sasha sighed in envy; Cici was so cool. Playing the guitar was also cool. Of course, cool didn't impress fathers, so guitar playing was out for her, but she could still admire this skill in other people. 

She fidgeted with her hair a moment, took a deep breath, and then tiptoed towards the stage. She climbed up the stairs on one side and plopped into the chair the older girl had taken out for her.

"Ummm. Sorry I'm late!" She whispered as she snapped open her flute case. 

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

So lost was Cici in playing the guitar and plucking at the strings, eyes closed as she focused on the notes, she didn't notice Sasha until the girl was right in front of the stage, going around the side and up the stairs. Stopping suddenly as she realized she wasn't alone, she smiled warmly at Sasha, then wondered why the younger girl seemed a little nervous. About to ask as the younger girl sat down, she was beaten by Sasha saying something in such a small voice that Cici had to lean towards the girl to hear, and even then she barely caught the girl's whispered apology. 

As she heard it, she wondered if that was what was making the girl seem more timid than normal. Blinking for a second, she smiled brightly and waved a hand in the air. "'s all good! 'sides, imma bit early neh, wanted ta set up." She quickly assured Sasha, trying to put the girl at ease. She didn't want to make her uncomfortable, just the opposite in fact. She wanted to have a fun practice that both girls enjoyed, but that wouldn't work unless Sasha was in the zone. Besides, music always sounded better when you were in the right mood, not playing or singing reluctantly or with a distracted mind.

"So how're ya? Everything good? T' be honest, I'm lookin' forward ta dueting with ya, you're so talented at flute! I can barely even whistle!" Cici exclaimed, chuckling slightly. In spite of the joke at the end, what Cici had said was true, and she she shook her head with a wry smile. Curling her hair back behind her ear, she cheerfully remembered all the times she had tried to do the dog whistle thing, where you stuck two fingers in your mouth to whistle loudly. A friend had tried to teach it to her once, but she'd failed so miserably that the pair had ended up collapsed on the floor, shaking with fits of laughter that had had her gasping for breath. 

[Sasha Adams]

"Thank you!" Sasha could feel her cheeks turn red with the compliment, and so she busied herself rifling through her folder for the music she needed. She always kept her music in alphabetical order, which made searching for it that much easier; once she found it, she set it carefully on the music stand. 

"You can't whistle?" 

That was a surprising revelation. Whistling had come easy to Sasha; she'd learned at the age of four, and whistled everywhere all the time as soon as she'd learned. She had known peers who had more difficulty with mastering that particular skill, but she was still shocked that someone as cool as Cici would have difficulty with it. 

Cici seemed like the sort of person who never had trouble with anything. 

Or perhaps she was just laid back enough that it was easy to overlook any failures. 

She took a deep breath, glancing over the music. The guitar entered first, so she needed to keep time in order to not miss her own entrance. 

"I hope I live up to your expectations," She laughed nervously. "I've never played a duet with a guitarist before..." 

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

As Cici observed Sasha's cheeks turn a pretty shade of red, she giggled and had to resist reaching over to pat the girl on the head. Then at Sasha's question, Cici replied cheerfully, "Well, I can whist'e normally, bu' the real loud dog whist'e is so hard foh me!" To prove her point, she lifted both hands to her mouth and her pointer fingers under her tongue and blew, but the desired loud whistle sound did not come out; only empty air. Pouting in mock disappointment, Cici laughed at her own failure and shrugged. "Can you?" She asked curiously. 

The young girl still seemed nervous, especially with her next words, and Cici put on what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "'n I've nevuh done one with a flu'e, good experience for 's both, yeah? We c'n teach each other lots, I reckon!"

Happily, Cici strummed her guitar, and glanced at Sasha. "Are ya ready?" She asked softly. "I'll start playin' so you c'n get a taste of wha the guitah sounds like, 'n' if ya just need ta listen for awhile, even aftah your part starts, tha's all good! Ya don't need ta jump in right away if you're not ready." Turning her gaze to the sheet of music in front of her, a soft smile lit the girl's face as she began to pluck at her guitar strings. Eyes closing involuntarily as she began to play, the contentment that filled Cici made her feel great. She always felt this way, able to just let herself melt into the music, and she barely even glanced at her music sheet after that, knowing her part by heart; it was more a reference in case she forgot how the piece went.