Sing It Out Loud

by The Princess Rarity


You're grappling with that grey & rainy weather - and you're living on a latte and a prayer...

-- CONTINUANCE --

Music Lessons
Offered to All Ages

Must bring your own instrument.
Will work seven days a week.
$20.00 per hour

Instructor: Octavia Philharmonica
Contact: 346-984-5754

It was a crazy spur-of-the-moment decision. Probably one of the craziest things Octavia had ever done, but she was willing to do it and she wasn't going to back out now. This had to work, or else. It was the only back-up plan she could think up, and to be honest, doing a full eight hours at the bakery was extremely tiring.

Only four full days in, and Octavia already wanted to quit.

But she couldn't - not now, and her rent was due in a week.

Life was rough.

She let out an exaggerated sigh and collapsed into a booth, tired. The lunch crowd was gone, and the shop was empty, for now.

Rubbing her temples, Octavia released a sigh.

This job was nice and all, but sharing her love of music right now would have been better...

"How're you holding up?" Lyra spoke up, with a laugh. "Did Bonnie run you into the ground yet?"

Octavia's smile was weary at the tease, and she rubbed her eyes. "Not yet she hasn't," she muttered. She eyed the newspaper that someone had left behind on the seat and she flipped to the ad section. Maybe she was just thinking stupid for believing someone would respond to her offer. After all, who had time and money to waste on music?

Then again, the ad had been up for only a few days...

"That was a good idea, y'know," Lyra added.

"I can only hope," Octavia mused.

She gently tore at the corner of the paper and pursed her lips, thinking hard-

-however, her thoughts were interrupted as the bell on the door rang, alerting that someone else had entered.

Octavia got up from her seat, and took the notepad out of her pocket, walking back to her spot behind the counter. She looked up, and gave the customer a small smile.

"Welcome to Sweetstrings, what can I do you for?" she asked.

The patron was a young woman - tall, lanky and pale as a ghost. Her eyes were covered by bulky purple glasses, and overall, her appearance was resembling to that of a member in a punk rock band. Octavia wasn't surprised, though, most of the people in the city dressed that way.

Bobbing her head to the music that played in the headphones she wore, the young woman gave a grin. "Can I get a black coffee, half a dozen chocolate muffins and a plain bagel to go?" she asked.

The young woman spoke quickly, and her voice was definitely feminine, but it had a bit of a husky tone to it. Her tone could pass off for a city regular, but not quite.

"Certainly," Octavia said, as she scrawled down the order.

She then turned around, and began working on the order, filling a box with the treats and brewing a new pot of coffee... but it was hard to pay attention when the customer behind her was screeching at the top of her lungs and imitating the noises of an electric guitar.

It was the longest two minutes of Octavia's life as she made that order.

"Ma'am?" she said.

But the customer was too busy pulling an air guitar and doing the Moonwalk - in the middle of the store, no less. Octavia figured that this was one of the city's crazies.

"Ma'am!" Octavia repeated, slapping her hand on the counter to get the other woman's attention.

Luckily, the patron turned around just at that moment.

Surprisingly, she didn't show a speck of embarrassment as she pulled out her wallet and handed a five dollar bill to Octavia. "Keep the change," she said as she took her order. Then, she began humming her music loudly and left the shop.

Octavia shook her head as she placed the money in the register.

"You should've offered her some music lessons," Lyra laughed.

A smirk wove it's way across Octavia's expression. "Yes, and while I'm at it, I'll pierce my nose, get some tattoos and join a rock band," she said, with a chuckle.

"You'd look pretty badass in leather," Lyra joked.

Octavia rolled her eyes, about to reply when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it, and looked at the screen. She didn't recognize the number but she answered it anyway.

"Hello?" she said.

"Yo, am I speaking to a Octave Philharmonica?"

"I think you mean Octavia?"

"Yeah, that's it!" the voice on the other end of the line said.

Octavia paused for a second. This voice sounded vaguely familiar...

"Anyway, I was wondering, are you still doing the whole music lesson thing? 'Cause I saw your notice in the paper and I kinda wanna brush on my skills, y'know?"

"Yes, of course!" Octavia replied. "I'm definitely offering the lesson, I-"

"-sweet! When do you wanna meet up?"

She could literally feel her eyes go wide and a stupid smile made it's way across her expression. This had gone faster than expected, and she was proud of it!

Octavia stammered over her words for a moment. "How about Friday night?" she said.

"What - this Friday?" the other voice said, with a laugh. "As in today?"

"I -" Octavia looked at the calender and felt stupid. "I suppose, if you want, but-"

"Hell yeah!"

Octavia winced at the scream.

"The sooner the better," the other person said. "Where do you do the whole lesson thing?"

"At the recreational center, right next door to City Hall," Octavia explained. "I'm out of work at six in the evening, so-"

"-I'll meet you there then, around six thirty!" the voice said, and promptly hung up.

For a moment, Octavia was perplexed. That went easy - far too easy. And the person seemed more than eager, it was almost baffling. She didn't really expect for anyone to be so upbeat about music. Then again, she certainly wasn't complaining.

"What was that all about?" Lyra inquired.

"I... think I just got hired to do my first music lesson," Octavia smiled.