“Are you sure that’s what she told you, Octavia?” Laura asked hesitantly as she and her classmates, except Frederic, were following Octavia to the staffroom, all of them carrying their instrument cases.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Octavia assured. “She said that we could ask for the key of the classroom to drop our instruments. She even gave a written authorization with her signing on it,” she explained. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to carry my cello during all the rest of the morning classes.”

“Ah’m with the teach’s ambassador on this one!” Fiona nodded while Octavia slightly frowned at her new nickname. “T’was already a pain to get to school with ma fiddle case on ma bicycle, ah don’t want to carry it around all day long.”

“We did look rather silly in physics class,” Beatrice commented. “Mr. Turner didn’t appreciate the cluttering of his lab.”

“If only you’d have told us that sooner, Octavia.” Viola sighed.

“It’s not my fault if my driver picked me up later than planned and thus making me arrive only two minutes before classes!” Octavia retorted.

“Well, I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal about carrying your instruments around!” Laura and Diana said simultaneously, earning wicked glares from Henry, Harpo, Beatrice and Octavia, as the four of them were carrying the largest cases.

“Easy for you to say, a lyre and a flute can fit in a backpack. Do you see the size of my instrument compared to yours?” Henry asked angrily, showing the large case containing his kettledrum.

“Wow,” Laura let out with a very impressed tone. “You must be the first boy I hear complaining about his instrument being too big,” she said playfully.

A deep, awkward silence settled in between the nine classmates after Laura’s banter.

“Too early for size jokes?” Laura asked awkwardly after a few moments.

“Yeah, kinda,” Harpo replied in a dry tone as the others nodded, settling his harp in a more comfortable position on his back. “Can we hurry up a little? It’s getting heavy.”

The group arrived to the staffroom in which they only found the school’s History and Literature teacher, Selene Heliopolis, sipping a cup of coffee. When the group entered, the teacher turned around to look at each one of them with curiosity until her gaze fell on Laura.

“Ha, Ms. Hart,” Selene called with a smile. “It’s been a while! How’s the music department’s been treating you?”

“It’s been great so far, Ms. Heliopolis,” Laura answered cheerfully. “A bit surprised with this year’s teacher, but other than that, everything was fine.”

“I get what you mean.” Selene nodded. “Ms. Scratch’s enrollment sure was a surprise for everyone. Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“We’ve been told by Vin... Ms. Scratch,” Octavia corrected herself quickly. “That we could ask for room 303’s key in order to store our instruments for the rest of the day,” she explained.

“Oh, yes,” Selene said with a nod. “I remember her saying something like that when she arrived thirty minutes ago.” Selene searched through the key closet for a couple of seconds. “Normally Ms. Scratch should be in her classroom, but who knows? There!” Selene extended the key to Octavia. “I must warn you though, she seemed to be in a sour mood. Something about her roommate waking her up at the crack of dawn.”

That’s weird. I thought she wouldn’t be here until this afternoon. Octavia frowned internally as she remembered what happened this morning. Hang on....

Knock Knock

“Vincenza?” Octavia called from outside Vinyl’s bedroom. “Vincenza, are you up yet?”

The young cellist heard a lot of bedsheets noises along with low grunts.

“Ché c’è?” [What is it?] the voice of Vinyl asked in a very sleepy tone.

“Hum....so, Ché means ‘What’.... é means ‘is’...” Octavia whispered to herself, trying to remember the short crash course her father had given her during the weekend in order to better understand Vinyl’s Italian ramblings. “I think I got it... It’s Octavia, you’ve asked me to wake you up,” Octavia explained.

Octavia heard a heavy thud coming from the bedroom followed by various cursing in Italian. Thankfully, her father’s crash course didn’t cover the variety of swearwords in the Italian language which Vinyl seemed to be reciting in her bedroom.

Octavia didn’t understand a single word of what Vinyl said, but she understood what happened. Vinyl simply fell out of her bed. When Octavia was about to ask if Vinyl was ok, the bedroom door bursted itself open, startling the young cellist and letting a messy DJ come into view. Well, messier than usual.

Luckily for Octavia, the DJ had started to wear clothes to sleep in order to preserve Octavia from the embarrassment of what happened the first time she went into Vinyl’s room. Vinyl was wearing light blue boxer shorts and a light pink t-shirt with three balloons; two blue and one yellow, and the following message tagged on it : I partied with the biggest party animal on the planet and woke up wearing this pink T-shirt!

The DJ’s hair was even more spiky and rebellious than usual. It looked like she had used firecrackers instead of curlers in her hair and that they all exploded during the night. Her cerise eyes didn’t shine with their usual playfulness, they were very sleepy and a bit angry.

“Why did you wake me up?” Vinyl asked slowly.

“Huh... You asked me to wake you up as soon as I was done with the bathroom,” Octavia answered in confusion.

“Hai visto ché ora é?” [Did you see what time it is?” Vinyl asked in a complaining tone. “Why did you use the bathroom before seven thirty when classes start at thirteen and a half?”

“Because classes start at eight and a half, maybe?” Octavia suggested.

“Cosa?” [What?] Vinyl asked incredulously. “No, that’s not possible. My planner says thirteen and a half!”

“Yes, that’s for music classes on Monday, but I have other classes in the morning,” Octavia said abruptedly.

Vinyl blinked. “..... Should’ve checked that before I asked you to wake me up,” she admitted with a long sigh before rubbing her eyes sleepily. “I guess you counted on me to drive you to school.....” Vinyl yawned loudly. “I’m gonna get ready real quick then.”

“There’s no need for that!” Octavia interrupted her softly. “Since I have to bring my cello, my father called my usual cab driver before he left a couple minutes ago,” she explained.

“Oh yeah, I’ve asked to bring the instruments today. Hang on a second,” Vinyl whispered before disappearing in her room.

Octavia waited patiently at the door, hearing Vinyl scribble something. When Vinyl came back into view, she gave the young cellist a small folded note.

“It’s a written authorization for asking for the classroom’s key,” Vinyl explained when she noticed Octavia’s interrogative frown. “You and the others can store your instruments in there for the morning. I think it’ll be ok without the note, as long as you don’t run into the Vice-Principal. She’s a bit on the strict side of life.”

Octavia nodded. “Speaking of the devil, there was a letter to you from her in today’s mail.”

“Oh,” Vinyl let out apathetically. “Well, it’s probably nothing important, you can burn it if you want. On that note, I’m gonna end my night.”

Octavia giggled at Vinyl’s joke about the letter. “Alright, see you this afternoon.” Octavia waved at Vinyl who slowly waved back.

“Buona giornata,” [Have a nice day,] Vinyl whispered sleepily as she closed her door.

She thinks seven thirty’s the crack of dawn? Octavia thought in bewilderment. And, how dare she put the blame on me? She’s the one who.... Raaa forget it! “Thank you, Ms. Heliopolis,” Octavia said politely as she took the offered key.

“You’re welcome,” Selene smiled softly. “Be sure to bring it back before the next class starts.”

“Oh, dear!” Viola let out. “We’d better hurry in that case!”

The musical group was about to leave the room when Theresa Sedgwick walked in. The group and the vice-principal bidded each others hello until Theresa’s gaze fell on the key Octavia had in her hands.

“What’s the key for, Ms. Philharmonica?” she asked with curiosity.

“Oh, it’s the key of our classroom,” Octavia explained. “Ms. Scratch said we could ask for it to store our instruments in it until our music class starts.”

“That’s very nice of her to suggest that,” Theresa said with a nod, though her tone was a bit colder than few seconds earlier. “Did they give you a written authorization for the key, Selene?”

“I didn’t ask for it.” Selene shrugged. “Vincenza warned me about that when she arrived thirty minutes ago,” she explained casually. ”No need to bother them with that.”

“Selene, you know that we have procedures and rules for that kind of situations,”

“Excuse me, Madam Vice-principal,” Octavia chimed in. “I do have a note from Ms. Scratch authorizing us to take room 303’s key.” She pulled the note out her shirt pocket, and gave it to Theresa. “Here you are.”

The vice-principal unfolded the note before reading it. Vinyl’s students and Selene noticed Theresa cocking her left eyebrow higher and higher as she read the note in silence. When she was done reading, she blinked before starting to chuckle softly. The students and the other teacher in the room couldn’t help to hear that it was a cold, and clearly mocking chuckle. Not by much, but still quite noticeable.

“Is there a problem?” Octavia asked uneasily.

“Are you sure it’s Ms. Scratch who wrote this?” Theresa asked in a neutral tone, her chuckling fit now over.

“Huh.. Yes, I am,” Octavia replied. “She gave it to me personally. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, for nothing.” Theresa waved off before going to her office. “It’s just that I’ve seen better handwriting and spelling on a middle schooler,” she whispered for herself loudly enough for the group to hear.

“Children, you should hurry!” Selene chimed in quickly in a rather well hidden angry tone. “You won’t get time to store your instruments if you don’t.”

“Right!” Laura exclaimed, looking at her wrist watch. “Come on guys! We have only ten minutes left before Math class starts!” she added before pushing the others to the door.

When the group left the room, they managed to hear the Literature teacher’s voice before the staffroom door closed.

“Theresa! Sit here for a bit!” Selene growled in a cold anger. “We’re gonna have a little talk about....”

“That could've become embarrassing if we'd stayed,” Viola commented softly, when the group had put enough distance with the staffroom.

“What’s Ms. Sedgwick’s problem with Ms. Scratch?” Diana asked. “As soon as Octavia mentioned her, she seemed pissed off. Or it’s just me imagining things?”

“Well, at first I wasn’t sure...” Harpo replied. “But, after that remark about the note, I’ll say you’re not imagining anything.”

“Ah hope Ms. Heliopolis don’t get into trouble with Sedgwick,” Fiona said softly.

“Doesn’t.”

“Whatever, Viola,” Fiona replied with a roll of her eyes.

“I would worry more about Sedgwick than Heliopolis, if I were you,” Laura interjected with a knowing grin. “After all, she was vice-principal when Sedgwick got her first job here as a teacher. Also, seeing as the Headmistress is her big sister and that it was their grandmother who founded this school... I’ll say her voice weighs a lot more than Sedgwick’s.”

“She was vice-principal before?” Diana asked with shock.

“I wonder why she’s a teacher now...” Beatrice pondered as the group started to climb up the stairs.

“I heard that she wanted to go back to teaching,” Nathan said casually. “She didn’t like the image the vice-principal function gave her.”

“Yeah, rumors said that back then she was a real nightmare,” Henry chimed in. “It was rules, rules, rules.... Even worse than Sedgwick. Students were so scared of her that she got a nervous breakdown and had to take a sabbatical year before she returned to teaching.”

“How did you knew that?” Fiona asked with curiosity.

“How did you know that, Fiona,” Viola corrected.

“Rumors... “ Henry shrugged. “Don’t know what’s true in it and what’s exaggeration though.”

“I’m getting tired of you all ignoring me whenever I do that,” Viola said with a pout.

“Maybe it’s a cue for you to stop doing that, don’t you think?” Laura asked playfully while the others chuckled.

“I’m just trying to help.” Viola sighed, not without chuckling herself. “If you want to be illiterate like Ms. Scratch, it’s your problem,” Viola said playfully.

“Viola, shut up!” Octavia shouted angrily, breaking instantly the playful mood of her classmates.

“Geez, I was just joking, Octavia,” Viola replied, taken aback by her friend’s outburst. “No need to be so snappy about it.”

“Well, it wasn’t funny!” Octavia muttered. “She’s our teacher, you’re supposed to respect her!”

“She’ll have to do more than a two bits speech about her past experience as a DJ to earn it,” Viola snapped.

“Wowow! Hold on a minute!” Laura waved her hands defensively. “She must earn your respect?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow. “Aren’t you getting way ahead of yourself?”

“Just because you like her for being some sort of big shot in electronic music doesn’t mean she’s what it takes to be our teacher,” Viola argued.

“Because ya know all what it should take to be our teacher?” Fiona asked sarcastically.

“Well, not really all of it,” Viola admitted. “But I know that we need at least someone with a decent classical formation for this year. Something Scratch doesn’t really have!”

“She kinda has a point,” Harpo conceded slowly. “I don’t agree on that having to earn our respect part, but you gotta admit that all our formation’s program for this year are based on classical music. It’s not really Scratch’s field of expertise.”

The others nodded quietly at Harpo’s remark. They all decided to not press the matter further as it’d likely come down to an angry shouting match. The group arrived in front of the room 303 a minute or two after. Octavia knocked at the door before remembering that room was soundproofed. After hearing a few chuckles from her classmates, she used the key to unlock the door.

As soon as the door opened, they heard and felt deep, but quiet beat of bass. The students all walked in the room with curious expression that turned to complete surprise when they saw no one inside the room despite the music playing, and that the curtains were all drawn, leaving the classroom in semi-darkness.

Diana and Laura slowly walked up to the mixing console next to the stage while the others put their instruments next to their respective desks. A white laptop with an engraved double eighth note was plugged to said console, probably the source of the music playing in the room.

“You think it’s normal that Ms. Scratch’s not in the classroom and that she left the music on?” Beatrice asked.

“I don’t know.” Octavia replied. “Let’s just store our instruments and go to our next class!”

She turned her face to her right and frowned in confusion. Fiona, Nathan, Diana and Laura were staring at something on stage with their mouth agape. She looked at the rest of her classmates, only to see that they were doing the exact same thing. She turned around, mimicking her friends’ expression. Apparently, their teacher never left the room in the first place.

Vinyl was sitting on ground at the stage right, her back leaning against the wall, wearing a plain white t-shirt and her usual worn-out jeans -Usual from Octavia’s point of view-, her biker jacket on her lap. What shocked all her students was that she was sitting merely a couple of inches in front of a massive subwoofer that was the source of the deep beat that filled the room, peacefully asleep.

Vinyl’s t-shirt’s folds gently moved to the rhythm of the music along with few strands of her hair. Her chest went up and down according to the same rhythm. Even her soft snores were perfectly in tune with the music Vinyl’s laptop was playing.

Octavia broke out of her stunned shock faster than the others before walking slowly to their teacher’s sides. She waved her hand in front of Vinyl’s face, earning no responses whatsoever from the deeply asleep teacher.

Looks like you never finished your night of sleep at home. Octavia chuckled mentally before waving at her friends to quietly go out of the classroom.

The group, still rather bewildered by what they had seen, slowly went out of the room, with Laura doing exaggeratedly large and useless movements, worthy of any comedy sitcom, in order to be more stealthy. Until Beatrice and Diana both whacked the back of her head to make her walk normally afterwards, leaving Octavia alone with the sleeping Vinyl.

Octavia picked up the jacket on the teacher’s lap, figuring out it must landed there after Vinyl fell asleep, before putting delicately on Vinyl’s upper body like a short blanket. When the jacket was secured on its owner’s shoulders, Octavia smiled before tiptoeing off stage.

“Sweet dreams, Teacher,” Octavia whispered softly, taking a last glance at Vinyl before heading out and locking the door behind her.

“Alright, class!” a cheerful and on top form Vinyl said to her students. “Welcome to your first music lesson!”

“It feels strange to see her so full of life after this morning,” Beatrice commented in a whisper.

“Kinda,” Henry whispered back, imperceptibly nodding along with Octavia and Harpo.

All the students were sitting on chairs placed in arc of a circle on stage, their instruments out of their cases and ready to play. Frederic was on a stool in front of the class’ piano. A microphone on a perch placed in front of every single one of them.

“I see you all brought your instruments like I asked last Friday.” Vinyl clapped her hands together. “I’ll need to listen to each of you play a little something, and...” Vinyl pointed at the microphones, all connected to the mixing table which was plugged to her laptop. “... I’m gonna record every single one of you so that we can listen to your playing afterwards to try to point out what was right and what was wrong together. Everybody got it?” The class answered with a collective nod. “Perfect! Who calls dibs?”

The students all uneasily looked at each other, none of them willing to go first.

“No one?” Vinyl asked before shrugging casually. “Luckily, I came prepared.” She pulled a large, blue, ten-sided die out of her pocket. “Lady Luck’s gonna decide for you!”

“You keep a ten-sided die in your pocket?” Frederic asked with puzzlement.

“Of course! I’m a Dungeon Master level 76!” Vinyl said with pride.

“Seriously?” Laura asked.

“Nah, they kicked me out of the D&D club before I reached level 2. Something about me having issues with respecting the bestiary,” Vinyl chuckled, not without a small, sour note to it. “Jerks!” she muttered under her breath. “I just bought it last saturday in case something like that..” She waved at them. “..would happen!”

“Huh-huh,” the students replied, not really knowing what to make of that answer.

“Let’s see...” Vinyl rolled the dice. “... it’s a four. Diana, you’re up!” Vinyl said happily before going back to her chair behind her laptop. “Play a few notes, will you? I need to see if the recording program works correctly.”

“Huh, ok,” Diana timidly said before playing her flute for a few seconds.

“Perfect,” Vinyl said while tapping various buttons on the mixing console, and on her laptop. “Ooookay. It works. Diana, whenever you’re ready!”

“What should I play?” Diana asked.

“Anything you feel like playing,” Vinyl said with an encouraging smile. “A piece you know very well, or that you like, a little improv, anything,” she suggested.

“Ok.” Diana brought her traverse flute to her lips, taking a deep breath. “Here I go..”

Vinyl started the recording a second before the first notes were blown out of the little blonde’s flute. The new teacher observed the young flautist with attention while her ears were focused on the music. Diana had skill, Vinyl was convinced of that. Sure, she couldn’t help to notice a few wrong notes here and there, but it didn’t worry her much.

What did worry her was that Diana was clearly stressed. It felt so through her playing, and in her posture as well. Diana was tapping her right foot, only a little bit. Barely visible, but Vinyl saw it nevertheless. It wasn’t in rhythm with what she was playing. It was a complete nervous gesture. Vinyl typed up a few things on her laptop.

Diana, instrument : Flute. Remarks: good playing, good respiration control. Few wrong notes here and there, probably because of stress. Way too stressed for a simple exercise! Must work on that!

Vinyl let her play for a couple of minutes, hoping that it would reduce her initial stress. It didn’t. If the teacher was disappointed, she didn’t show it.

“It’s okay, Diana,” Vinyl said softly, before Diana stopped to play. “It was really good.” Vinyl applauded politely along the rest of the students.

“T-Thanks,” Diana said with an embarrassed blush.

“Any volunteers?” Vinyl asked. “Or should I let Lady Luck decide again?”

Emboldened by Diana’s try, a few hands raised to get their chances. Vinyl decided to pick the one who had raised her hand the fastest, namely Laura.

“Laura, it’s your turn,” Vinyl called as she switched the record input on microphone 2. “Go!”

Laura rolled her right wrist as a warm up, her lyre firmly grasped in her left hand, before plucking its strings. Vinyl happily noted that Laura was completely relaxed during her piece. The melody she had chosen was very relaxing and somehow ancient. Vinyl could definitely see the influence of Laura’s time in Classic Literature.

Laura, instrument : Lyre. Remarks: Good focus, good attitude: relaxed when playing. Shows influence of Classic Literature... I think... must check!

“Very nice, Laura!” Vinyl commented while the others were applauding the lyrist. “So, who...” Eight hands were raised before she could finish her questions. “Glad to see you’re all motivated now!” Vinyl chuckled before picking Beatrice who had raised her hand first. “You’re up, Bea!” Vinyl switched to microphone 7. “I must ask though, is that your tuba or your sousaphone?”

“It’s my tuba, Ms. Scratch,” Beatrice explained, before bringing the mouthpiece to her lips.

“I’ve told you can drop the Ms. thing with me,” Vinyl said playfully. “Ok, go!”

Beatrice took a short breath before starting to play. Vinyl was really surprised. Beatrice carried on the notes at such a swift pace for an instrument as breathtaking as the tuba. Vinyl knew of the piece Beatrice was playing. It was often used as a solo piece for flautists, and Beatrice was playing it with a tuba.

Beatrice, instruments: Tuba/Sousaphone. Remarks: Excellent lung capacity and respiration control. Can play fast paced piece! Doesn’t seem to be stressed.

“That was excellent, Beatrice!” Vinyl said, unable to hide the fact she was very impressed by the brunette.

“Thanks.” Beatrice beamed as the others applauded her with more enthusiasm than before.

“Well, since you were all willing to participate, let’s roll the dice!” Vinyl rolled the dice. “That’s number 3.. Fiona, show me what you got!”

“With pleasure, Teach’!” Fiona nodded before positioning her bow against her fiddle’s strings while Vinyl switched to microphone 3.

“Vai!” [Go!] Vinyl clacked her fingers before pointing at Fiona.

Fiona closed her eyes as she started to quickly move her bow across the strings. Vinyl blinked before softly smiling. She knew that song. Rarity’s fiancée, Jacquelyn, had played it at their last Christmas party. While Vinyl wasn’t one for country music, she could dig for catchy songs like that one. Even more so as Fiona was playing it better than Jacquelyn did.

Fiona, Instrument: Violin or Fiddle. (gotta check what’s the difference!) Remarks: Very at ease with this piece! Seems like the country type! No wrong notes spotted so far.

“Thanks, Fiona!” Vinyl said happily. “It was nice! Why don’t we pass the torch to our other violinist?” Vinyl asked, her gaze locked on Viola who was sitting at the other side of the stage.

“I don’t mind at all,” Viola replied matter-of-factly while Vinyl changed the record input to microphone 10.

“Whenever you’re ready, girl!” Vinyl smiled.

Viola delicately put her bow against the strings of her violin, and started playing. Vinyl slightly cocked her eyebrow when she recognized the melody. That was one of the most technical violin pieces in history. Viola played it really good for a girl of her age, far from perfect but still really good. Vinyl thought that Viola liked to push herself, until she saw Viola taking an imperceptible glance at Fiona accompanied with a smirk. When Fiona didn’t seem to react, Viola missed a small note before focussing back on her playing.

Viola, Instrument: Violin. Remarks: Very good technique! Clearly aims for the summit of her discipline, and has the skill and apparently the will to reach it. Seems to consider Fiona as a rival... Keep that in check!

“I’d have chosen something else than one of Paganini’s twenty-four caprices, but I must admit you pulled that off quite nicely,” Vinyl commented under the applauses of the violinist’s classmates, which became less intense after that remark.

“... How does she know Paganini’s....” an extremely bewildered Viola began asking Octavia in a whisper.

“It’s not because I’m a professional DJ that I only know about dubstep and electronic music,” Vinyl explained casually. ”Nor that my hearing ability isn’t of ten outta ten, if you’re wondering how I heard you. You’ve got to see further than what’s on the cover of the book, Viola.” Viola blushed in embarrassment. “Anyhow, let’s hear the boys for while... Nathan, gimme some sound!”

“Huh, alright,” Nathan said, a bit taken by surprise, as the DJ/teacher set the recording on microphone 5.

Nathan pulled a plectrum out of his pocket and started to play. Vinyl observed that Nathan was calm while playing, despite his music carrying many emotions. She also had to contain her laughter when she saw Diana casting a short dreamy glance at the guitarist next to her. Anyway, Vinyl was pleased that at least one of her students tried to do a little improv. Nathan searched his ‘notes’ as he played, causing a few wrong notes here and there, but nothing worth mentioning as his piece was really enjoyable.

Nathan, Instrument: Guitar. Remarks: Very emotional playing, seems to be good at improvising! Good skill with guitar. wonder if he can play bass guitar... Will have to check later.

“Very good, Nathan,” Vinyl said.

“Thanks,”

Vinyl rolled the dice. “Frederic, it’s your turn,” she added before switching to microphone 1.

Frederic nodded before loosening his finger up. He then sat comfortable on the piano stool, and pressed the keys to start his piece. Vinyl gave a short appreciative nod at the music he had chosen to play. The young teacher noted that his posture was too rigid; standing upright like a pole despite his hands nearly ‘dancing’ on the keyboard. The music was beautiful but it felt a bit wrong for Vinyl.

Frederic, Instrument: Piano. Remarks: Excellent technique as well, no wrong notes spotted. Playing might be a bit too mechanical for now. Need to hear him more!

“That’s enough, Frederic. You did great.” Vinyl smiled. “I’m in the mood for some rhythmic beat. Henry, think you and your drum are up for that?”

“It’s a kettledrum,” Henry specified. “I’m always up for that!” he added playfully.

“Good to know!” Vinyl chuckled as she set the record input on microphone 6. “Whenever you feel like it!”

Henry did a few spins with his mallets before drumming his tune. Vinyl was once again surprised. She didn’t think Henry, who she had classed as the male comic of the class -Laura being his female counterpart-, would have put such stern, and focused face to play. After recovering from her surprise, she couldn’t help to notice that Henry knew what he was doing. His performance had a deep raw power to it and its rhythm was well paced.

Henry, Instrument: Kettledrum. Remarks: Good sense of rhythm, Got a good beat! Really looked different from how he is normally.... (Must get to know him to see if that’s true...)

“Really good, Henry!” Vinyl commented when he stopped playing. “Makes me think about adding some drums to my next mix.... Maybe yours if you’re interested.” Vinyl winked at the percussionist who started to blush.

“Well... huh... We’ll see,” he stammered under the chuckles of some of his classmates.

“Okay, Harpo,” Vinyl called.

“Yes?” the harpist replied with his deep, low tone.

“How about you show me how does the melody of a harp sound like?”

“With pleasure,” Harpo smiled before getting in position.

As soon as Vinyl switched the input to microphone 9, and gave him the signal to start, Harpo plucked the strings of his harp. The melody Harpo decided to play was really relaxing. Vinyl, having never heard the sound of a harp before, was rather pleased by the sounds it could create, not to mention that Harpo was playing it nicely.

Harpo, Instrument: Harp. Remarks: Calm and collected while playing, like his usual self. Good playing, must check possibilities for harp music!

“Thank you very much, Harpo,” Vinyl said happily while Harpo was receiving polite applauses from the others. “That leaves my little ambassador, as Fiona called you,” she added playfully as she switched to the microphone 8 input while nodding at Octavia.

“I’m not your little ambassador!” Octavia pouted angrily, ignoring the discrete, mocking chuckles from her classmates.

“Se lo dici tu!” [If you say so!] Vinyl chuckled. “Impress me, Ambassador!”

Octavia rolled her eyes in annoyance before swiftly moving her bow across the strings of her cello. Vinyl blinked when she heard Octavia playing. Now, she understood why she had been chosen three times in a row for the Grand Gala. Her playing was just flawless, not a single wrong note, nor any unnecessary movements.

Vinyl kept listening with great attention, forgetting to take notes about Octavia’s performance. All the other students listened to the cellist playing in a religious silence. When Octavia stopped playing, she looked at the teacher with a smug grin.

“Impressive enough for you, Teacher?” Octavia asked.

“Most impressive, teacher’s Ambassador.” Vinyl nodded slowly before typing up on her laptop.

Octavia, Instrument: Cello. Remarks: Flawless Victory! Nothing else to say.

“Well, now that we got that out of the way, who do you want to listen to?” Vinyl asked.

“What about you?” Laura asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah, why don’t ya play us a little somethin’?” Fiona said cheerfully.

“Guys,” Octavia called. “Stop it.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to listen to electronic music,” Frederic commented. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it,” he quickly added to the teacher.

“No problem, Freddo.” Vinyl waved off with a chuckle. “Though, I’m a little offended that you think I’m limited to that style of music.”

“Well, you did tell us that you’ve been DJing for five years, so we...” Diana began.

“...thought that I’ve never touched any actual instruments during that period?” Vinyl suggested knowingly.

The music students all slowly nodded with embarrassment.

“Don’t be sad!” Vinyl laughed. “You were right!” She stood up from her chair, and walked toward the piano. “I can try though. Do you mind if I take your seat, Freddo?”

“No, not at all,” Frederic answered quickly, before giving his spot to the DJ/teacher. “And, it’s Frederic.”

“Duly noted, Freddy!” Vinyl replied with a chuckle while sitting on the stool.

“Don’t you want to record it?” Henry asked playfully.

“Nah, it probably won’t even be comparable with what Freddy did,” Vinyl explained, loosening her fingers up. “You’re ready?”

“Yeah!” they all replied, some with excitement, others with apprehension.

“You’ve asked for it, Kiddos!”

As soon as Vinyl played the first note, all her students’ jaw attempted to touch the ground. Vinyl tinkled away an incredibly quick paced melody. Her hands were moving so fast that it looked like the DJ had another pair playing the music. They kept staring in awe at their teacher’s focused frown as she simply poured music out of her fingers.

What the....

You’ve gotta be kidding me!

Not comparable to Frederic.... Yeah, Frederic could never play like that!

Wow!

Is that the DJ we met last Friday?

Queen of Clubs....Yeah, right! Queen of Music, that’s what she is!

….So awesome!

I’ve got to learn how to play like that!

That’s a far cry from what we saw in those videos of her...

Vincenza... How many surprises have you still got in reserve? I don’t think I’ll survive any more of those.

Vinyl suddenly lifted her hands off the piano’s keyboard, slightly panting, and sweating from the effort. She wiped her brow before facing her audience which was still looking at her with wide, shocked eyes, and agape mouths.

“What do you think?” she asked playfully, earning no responses. “Speechless, huh?” She rubbed her T-shirt nonchalantly. “I do have that effect on people. I’m gonna give you a couple of minutes to recover, then we’ll move on to the rest of the lesson. Ok?” she asked with a good hearted laugh.

Author's Notes:

There you go, a very musical chapter.

I Hope you liked it

Thanks a whole heap to G3k0771 for editing the chapter and for his more than helpful musical suggestions.

Stay tuned for what's next.

Mariacheat-Brony.

Ps: whose music selection did you like the best?

PPS: the sleeping Vinyl scene was inspired by that gif