Discovering Rose

Chapter 5

I was grateful at Thea for still not deserting me by recess and offering to tour me around school. She found me funny, not because of what I was saying, but because of my English accent.
"Your accent is neat," she said, flapping herself with a textbook to cool herself down. "You sound like that actress in the pirate films."
"Do I?" I asked laughing slightly.
"Yeah, like the queen."
I laughed again. "I never thought I sounded that posh."
"Well, you do with us Americans. So, what's it like in England?"
"Pretty much the same here, except we have a queen, and a different accent."
She laughed, continuing to fan herself. "Then you should fit in fine."

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We grabbed our lunch in the canteen, and headed outside. It was too hot to sit inside. Once we were sitting at the bench table, I gestured towards the other tables with my coke. "So, who's who?"
"Okay, so, those guys over there, they're the jocks. Mad about football." She waved her hand towards a bunch of muscly guys, tipping coke all over each other. "And stupid. Those ones, the plastic girls. Giggly. Stupid. Dumb. You get the drift. Over there we have the geeks. Like nerds but with more technology." She glanced at some students, twirling memory sticks and chatting, using terms I couldn't understand. Thea had a pretty blank expression at their science language too. We glanced at each other and laughed.
"So, what was your old school like? Hogwarts?"
I snorted. "More like this."
"Well that's good then."
She continued to name people and groups, until I pretty much knew who everyone was.
"Then there's the bad boys, you won't catch them here with us. Way to cool. Probably hanging round the parking lot. They rarely come into classes. But oh, when they do all hell breaks loose. Zed ..." She sighed. "Oh, how I wish he was mine."
"Who?"
"Zed Benedict. He's like, the hottest guy in school. All the girls adore him, and all the teachers are even a little in shock of him. He's a right troublemaker. Been suspended  countless time before too."
"Wow," I said, cocking my eyebrow.
"Yeah. There's seven boys in his family. Zed, Yves, Xavier, Will, Victor, Uriel and Trace. Trace, Victor and Zed used to ride around on motorbikes getting involved in fights at local bars and leaving a trail of broken hearts after the female population. The older two, Trace and Victor have settled down now, got jobs.  Yves is the clever one. Ahh, those cute little glasses. Zed, Yves and Xav are still in school. Uriel is a police agent, helps them track down suspects. Trace is a cop, works in Denver. Will just finished school last year. Yves is the clever one. Ahh, those cute little glasses. Zed, Yves and Xav are still in school."
The bell rang, leaving us to grab our trays and shove them into the rack, running to our next lesson.
"What have you got now?" Thea asked.
I had managed to memorize my timetable, so I didn't have to pull it out.
"Music."
"Cool, I'm in Geography next. See you around."
I smiled, watching Thea give me a grin and walk off down the corridor.  
I managed to direct myself to the music classrooms In the classroom, I noticed a few familiar faces from History and Physics. The few I had met in Physics gave me small smiles. Well, at least I'd made a good impression on them, knowing the answers to all of the pop quiz questions, despite being told I didn't have to take it if I wasn't too sure, being new. Suddenly, a boy with light blonde hair appeared in front of me, grinning widely.
"Hi," he said in his American accent, holding out a hand. "I'm Kamil Brockman. You're Rose, right?"
"Yeah," I smiled sheepishly. "Rose Carrigon." Then I realized. "Aren't you -"
"Yeah, Meryl Brockman's grandson. So you've met her then?"
"Uh huh."
Kamil grinned, and I decided I liked him. He wasn't like Mrs Brockman at all, way to cool.
I sat down at a desk, and he slid in beside me as Mr Henderson strolled into the room. Brown, neatly cut hair. Average height. Hefty man.
"Welcome, all you budding musicians, welcome. As we are all aware, music concerts are coming up quickly. Orchestra starts on Tuesday, Jazz band on Thursday. If you need to book a music room for practice, come and see me first, although why do I bother - you all know what to do." Then he noticed me. "Except, perhaps you." He brought his gaze, and the rest of the class's to me.
Being new sucks.
"I'm catching up first, sir," I said.
"Good for you. Name?"
"Rose Carrigon, sir."
"And what do you play?"
"Guitar. A bit of piano. Oh, and a bit of tenor sax."
"Is 'a bit', English code for really good?" Mr Henderson asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Um..."
"Genre?"
"Jazz, I suppose."
"You don't sound very certain, Miss Carrigon, music is not take it or leave it, music is life or death!"
I nodded. "Jazz," I said more strongly.
He nodded, convinced, and began talking to the whole class again, to my relief.
He was interrupted by a latecomer, a Hispanic biker.
"How kind of you to join us, Mr Benedict. " Mr Henderson said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We are thrilled you've managed to join us today and tear yourself away from your obviously far more important schedule."
So he was Zed Benedict. Now I saw what Thea meant. Zed strolled down the desks, one hand thrust in a pocket, the other spinning drumsticks, face, cool and calm. I noticed that the girls sat up straighter, flipping their hair and the boys looked at him with envy, straightening their chests. Part of me wished I could be like him, almost feared amongst the school, flipping out the rest of the world...
Zed stopped at the desk at the back, sitting next to a boy with a clarinet who looked quite similar to him. He was wearing glasses, and I suddenly realized he was Yves.
"I'm late?" The Hispanic biker said as if he couldn't care less, raising an eyebrow. The clarinetist elbowed him in the ribs, a move reminding the biker to behave.
"Yes, and I think you are aware of that, Mr Benedict," Mr Henderson said icily. "And I also believe it is custom to apologize to a teacher if a student is late."
Zed didn't sit down. The whole class tensed up, waiting for Zed's response. Zed stopped spinning his drumsticks and stared at Mr Henderson like he had just told him to kneel down to him and sing. His expression was arrogant.
"Sorry," Zed muttered finally. The tension broke, everyone silently relieved.
"I know you aren't, Mr Benedict, but watch your step. You may be a talented young musician, but it doesn't mean your have the will to have a bad attitude."
Zed rolled his eyes, but luckily Mr Henderson had already turned around, probably to avoid more conflict between this dangerous lion.
Zed dropped onto the chair lazily, ignoring the mutters and quiet insults and threats coming from Yves.
"Rose, I hope you are more enthusiastic than our Mr Zed Benedict over here?"
How unfair.
"Um...well I have been late before."
The Hispanic biker flicked his gaze towards me, and then dismissed me as nothing more than a fleck of dirt.
"Now, let's see what you can do. Jazz band, fall in. Kamil Brockman, sax; Yves Benedict, clarinet, perhaps you can prevail upon your brother to delight us all upon the drums?"
"Of course Mr Henderson. Zed, get over here." Yves shot Zed a dark look. Once again, I felt that moment of shock that those two were brothers. Yeah, they might look the same but with behaviors they were on different planets.
"Miss Carrigon can take my place on the piano."
"Um, I'd maybe prefer -"
"Piano."
I slowly got up, taking a piece of music from on top of the piano. This looked okay. Not to hard.
"You're gonna do great," Kamil whispered to me as I opened the piano lid. "Don't worry. He does this to everyone, testing your nerves."
I shot him a 'Thanks' look as he set up the music stand and picked up the saxophone.
"Take it away," Mr Henderson said, leaning against the wall.
From the first note, my nerves dissolved into a feeling of relaxation and harmony. Nothing could separate me from the piano, as my fingers moved in a swift motion over the keys. I was aware of the other musicians around me too, not as people, but as the music. Kamil, smooth and loose, Yves, jittery, quirky and fun - and Zed, the heartbeat, drumming along. I began to enjoy myself, each staccato, each note, the whole piece. When we ended the song, Mr Henderson gave us an over-enthusiastic round of applause. "Excellent, excellent!" he applauded, nodding his head. As everyone began to pack away, he gave me a friendly wink. Kamil came over to me.
"You did great, Rose," he grinned.
"Thanks, you did too," I smiled shyly.
More people were called forwards, orchestra, choir - but no one was asked to take my place at the piano, so there I stayed, letting the score take me away, letting the music take over me.
At the end, Kamil came over to me again, as people began filing out of the classroom.
"You're ace at piano."
"Thanks," I smiled. I realized there was only a few people left in the classroom. Me, Kamil, Yves, Zed and four other choir singers talking quietly as they helped clear the classroom.
"Rose, meet Yves Benedict."
I smiled at Yves as he gave me a wide, friendly grin. "Hey," he nodded. "You're good."
"You too," I smiled, relaxing slightly.
"That's my idiot brother over there," Yves waved towards Zed, who was hanging back scowling, looking like he had no intention of staying long for introductions.
"Come on Yves," scowled the biker, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Yves paid no attention to him.
"Ignore him. He's always like this."
Kamil nodded and started walking out. "See you, Rose," he said, leaving me with Yves and Zed.
"So, which of you is older?" I asked, making conversation.
"Me," Yves said, only a little to my surprise. "I've got a year on him. He's the baby of the family."
Never had I seen anyone so unlike a baby.  My respect for Yves soared as I noticed how clearly unintimidated he was by his brother.
"Sheesh, thanks Yves, I bet she really wanted to know that." Zed tapped his foot impatiently, folded arms.
"See you at band practice," Yves smiled, dragging Zed away.
"Yeah." I smiled.