Zest for Life!

by AppleJTZ

All for one

Three girls walked down the hallways of Crystal Prep Academy, straight towards the exit. The girl going ahead looked especially angry, clenching her fists and stomping with each step on the crystalline floor. Behind her the second one had her hands in her pocket, not really appearing angry, but rather annoyed. Besides those two a third girl was constantly talking to them, the ring in her voice somewhat desperate.

“Okay, maybe I should have told you guys about the gig” Lemon admitted, flashing a light smile at the two. “But come on, everybody makes mistakes! It doesn’t mean you two have to-”

In a swift motion Octavia turned to Lemon. Her furious expression send a shiver down her spine. “Listen to me, Miss ‘Let’s wing it and just have some fun’!” she shouted, pointing her finger right at Lemon. “I have played cello since I was six, and adored classic music before I could walk. The first word I ever spoke was ‘treble-key’ – granted, it sounded more like ‘triple bee’, but the point is, all my life was always about music! As long as I can think back, I wanted to be a professional musician.” Squinting her eyes, she leaned closer to Lemon, poking hard at her chest. “I have practiced for years, and managed to build up a solid reputation as a junior cellist! I am NOT intending to give up on that reputation and ruin any chance of a future career by making a fool out of myself in front of an audience – that will stick with me for YEARS!” she finished, throwing her arms up in the air.

Standing beside her, Aria nodded. “Yeah, I also don’t feel like being bombarded with tomatoes and getting booed off the stage. Again.”

Leaving their lead singer behind Lemon’s former bandmates continued to head for the exit. Panicked, the green-haired girl walked after them. “Come on, guys!” she begged them. “It’s not gonna be THAT bad!”

Both girls stopped again. “Not that bad?” Octavia repeated. Furiously she scowled at the Crystal Prep student. “Did you actually hear us play? We were terrible!”

“I was pretty good” Aria remarked, dry as ever. “But yeah, you guys sucked.”

Octavia took in a deep breath. “You know what?” she said, her voice calm, but with clear ring of suppressed anger in it. “Even if we actually were any good, I still wouldn’t want to stand on a stage with that… that… that bad-tempered, ill-meaning, soulless clod of a girl who makes me seethe with anger JUST BY BEING AROUND HER!!!” The last part she shouted right at the former siren, dropping all calmness and attempts at being polite. Huffing and panted, the cellist stared with grit teeth at the completely indifferent Aria.

“Anything else you want to get out of your system?” the keyboard player asked – if anything, she sounded even more bored than before. “Or did you fire all your shots?”

For a second, the girl from Canterlot High looked like she was about to explode. She kept herself under control however, and once she had regained her composure turned towards Lemon. “It was nice meeting you Lemon” she said, all calm and polite again. “Sadly, I am afraid won’t work out. I hope you don’t think too low of me, but I can not participate in your band. I am sorry.” Looking back at Aria she coldly told her: “And as for you, I hope to never see your face again.” She made a slight bow towards each of them, before turning back to the exit. “Have a nice day.”

Holding her head up in dignity, she began walking down the corridor. “Wait!” Lemon shouted, reaching out her arm. A hand on her shoulder stopped her, the sudden halt nearly making her stumble on the crystalline floor. Looking over her shoulder she stared right into Aria’s dour face.

“Sorry, rebel.” Aria spoke in the same “I-don’t-care”-manner as usual, but listening closely and looking at her face, Lemon believed to notice some traces of sadness in them. “As much as I hate to follow around orders, there’s gotta be someone to call the shots. And let’s face it: You’re not cut to do this, and neither of us two will let the other one be boss.” Letting go of Lemon’s shoulder she followed Octavia down the hallway. “See ya” she said without turning around, raising a hand with the other being in her pocket. “And get a comb – your hair’s a mess.”

Without haste, but steadily both girl moved away from Lemon, towards the end of the corridor. The exit of the school was waiting there, the afternoon light shining through the glass doors. Her mouth open, but unable to say anything Lemon watched as the girls she had called her bandmates a few minutes ago were about to leave her behind.

But she wouldn’t let them.

Without thinking the green-haired dashed forward. It only took her a moment to catch up with Aria, bushing her shoulder as she passed by and jumped ahead of Octavia. Both girls stared in surprise as Lemon positioned herself in front of them, holding out her arms to block their path. The determinate look on her face made caused them to stand still on the spot, even making them feel a little uneasy. Suddenly, Lemon’s expression turned into a nervous one, her stance relaxing as she rubbed the back of her head. “Guys, I know things haven’t been going very sweet, and I admit I’m kind of a mess sometimes…” Lemon’s voice was meek and shallow, but abruptly become louder as she yelled: “But come on – we all love music! We can’t be that different! So please, isn’t there anything I can do to convince you to stay?”

Almost simultaneously, both girl pointed a thumb at their chest. “We play my song!” they shouted in unison.

A slight smirk appeared on Lemon’s face. “Great! You two agree on the something! Now can we practice again?”

Massaging the bridge of her nose Aria groaned. “Why must life torture me with loud and annoying idiots?” she mumbled.

“I should have known this was a bad idea the moment she dashed out of the music store and left me behind” Octavia sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“And I should have known the moment I heard the awful noise from her headphones” Aria added, rolling her eyes.

Octavia nodded. “I try to be open to any form of music, but how anyone can like this mash-up of guitars, drums and people screaming gibberish is beyond me.”

Amused, Aria chuckled. “Well at least something so wild and chaotic kind of fits our little rebel.”

Octavia glanced at Aria. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk too bad about punk rock.” Her tone was mocking, but not seriously offending. “If you have a chance at getting back into the music business, I’d say background screaming for some metal band would be a good start with your voice.”

For a second Aria glared at Octavia, before cracking a smile. “He, that was almost funny.”

Octavia smirked back. A very bright chortle caused them to turn their head their former lead singer. “Um, why are you giggling?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow at Lemon.

“Yeah” Aria said, giving the giddy school girl a look as if she was crazy. “If you haven’t noticed – we are making fun of your jam.”

Lemon’s lips had curled up into a large, wide smile. “You two are finally getting along!” she almost screamed in joy, raising both arms into the air.

Shocked, Octavia and Aria first looked in disgust at each other, then angrily at Lemon. “We are not!” they said in unison. Both girls blushed, Lemon grinning even wider.

“W-we are just both hating you and your music, tis all!” Aria mumbled, turning her red face away.

“That’s a start” Lemon replied with a shrug. She waved towards the music room, urging them to follow her. “Now come on, we’ve got a band to form!”

The colour of Octavia’s face changed from red of embarrassment to red of anger. “You are so…” A vein on her forehead twitched, and she had to take in a deep breath to calm herself. “I will say it one last time: As long as we don’t play classic music, I’m out of this!”

“And as long as we don’t play pop music, I am out” Aria added, crossing her arms.

Turning up her mouth Lemon looked at the two girls, both seeming set on their positions. “Come on, would it kill you guys to try out a sumthin’ new?” She stemmed her hands against her sides, her face radiating determination. “Tell you what: We’ll try out ALL of our styles – classic, pop, and punk rock – one after another. We will try our best, and if you guys still don’t wanna play, I’ll let it go.”

Aria looked curiously at her. “And if we refuse?”

Raising a finger Lemon was about to say something, only to end up standing around with an open mouth. “Er… I’ll be sad?” she finally bought out.

Octavia glared at Lemon with knitted eyebrows. “Tell me one good reason why I should walk back into that room with you and that witch!”

Lemon pondered for a moment, before her gaze went to Octavia’s empty hands. “Because you forget your cello?” she suggested.

Startled Octavia looked down at her empty. “Okay, that is actually a good reason” she admitted, blushing slightly. “But give me one good reason why I should go along on your silly idea!”

Lemon put a finger on her chin, staring up at the ceiling while humming thoughtfully. “Because… please?” she said, smiling with big begging eyes at Octavia. “Pretty please?”

Octavia glared at Lemon. Though still seeming rather angry, she let out a sigh. “We give it ONE try” she said, putting a great emphasis on ‘one’ “And if it doesn’t work out, I will leave – with my cello.”

Lemon leaned a little closer to her. “But if it works, we’ll play the gig?” she asked hopefully.

The Canterlot student harrumphed. “We’ll see about that.” Her head held high she walked past Lemon, who watched in glee as she headed for the music room. Then, with that same cheerful smirk she turned towards Aria. The former siren rolled her eyes.

“Fine” she moaned, avoiding to look into Lemon’s overly joyous face. “I guess I should be grateful for any minute I don’t have to spend with the dorks that wait at home.”

Content Lemon turned around, following Octavia back to the music room, with Aria behind her. As they approached the door, Lemon having it left open in her haste, Aria stepped to her side.

“Hey rebel, just out of curiosity: Have you ever thought about a name for our band?”

Author's Note:

So sorry for the long wait - I got stuck on what Lemon should say to convince Octavia and Aria to return. Next chapters should be up sooner

Comments

[SonicAKG]

Great Job! Take as long as you need. As long as this story's still great, I can wait as long as I need to. I love the chemistry between Lemon, Aria, and Octavia!

[Regreme]

Welcome back.^^ A few more proofread errors than normal, but that's forgivable because: You're back! *celebrates!* XD

[BenRG]

Something tells me that Octavia and Aria are both actually quite well suited for the job of keeping Lemon grounded and non-humiliated; Octavia has to ride herd on Vinyl and Aria has to do broadly the same thing for Sonata.

[Csquared08]

Lemon sure is determined.