Da Capo

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Monday

The entire weekend had passed without Kyle having heard a word from Stephanie, and he felt like he was going crazy.

Kyle was under no delusions about the fact that he had messed up big time, and that he kind of deserved to get the silent treatment from Stephanie. However, that didn't stop him from being pretty upset about it, and he still couldn't bring himself to try to talk to her. A more stubborn, angry part of him felt vindicated in what he had said to her; perhaps he could have been nicer about it, but his point still stood. A lack of proper funding was a reality classical musicians had to deal with, whether Stephanie liked it or not. It was ridiculous of her to snub her nose at such an amazing opportunity over something as stupid as money.

I wish she had more confidence in herself and her own abilities.

Kyle knew that, deep down, Stephanie was just afraid she wasn't good enough as a musician, and that that was at least part of the reason why she turned down the violinist spot in the quartet. Her anger at Professor Lyndon may have been justified because of what she said, but part of it was probably deeper than that.

However, Kyle knew he didn't have to throw it in her face like that. He wished he could apologize to her, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to.

It was Monday today, and Kyle had a masterclass to teach at the Academy. He felt that the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was teach a whole class of students, an he debated with himself whether or not he should call in sick and cancel, but eventually decided to go through with teaching the class today. It would likely serve as a good distraction from his thoughts of Stephanie, at the very least.

Kyle walked into the small performance hall about a minute before class began, and all the students were already in their respective seats chatting with each other. As Kyle walked toward the front of the room, one of the girls sitting in front hopped to her feet, clutching her music in her hands while gazing at him eagerly.

"Good morning everyone," Kyle said, gesturing for everyone to quiet down. He looked at the girl, nodding at her, and she hurried toward the piano. "It appears as if we're ready to begin. Let's listen to what this young lady has prepared for us."

The girl announced her name and her piece to the class before sitting down at the piano bench. Kyle settled into a nearby chair, but was hardly paying attention – this girl, though not a redhead, and definitely not as pretty, sort of reminded him of Stephanie. Her manner of concentration on her playing reminded him of the look on Stephanie's face whenever she played violin; the furrow in her brow, the straightening of her shoulders, and the shifting of her head were all pretty similar. Kyle was suddenly lost in a daydream of his weekend with Stephanie, when they were both happy – she stood in his living room wearing nothing but his shirt, playing her violin, while Kyle just sat on his couch and watched her, realizing that he had never felt this way about anyone before...

"...Mr. Lancaster?"

Kyle startled slightly, realizing the girl had stopped playing and all the students were looking at him. Kyle quickly cleared his throat and straightened up in his seat.

"Yes, erm... thank you," Kyle said, realizing too late that he had forgotten this girl's name. "You did an excellent job playing that piece by... er... Prokofiev."

The girl blinked. "Rachmaninoff," she corrected, frowning at him in confusion.

"Right," Kyle said, feeling his face heat in embarrassment. He quickly shook his head. "Yes, of course. My apologies. I'm sorry to ask, but would you mind playing again? I didn't get a lot of sleep last night – my brain's still catching up with the rest of my body today, I'm afraid."