A Musical Mayhem

11 - Arielle

I was walking down the halls to get my lunch when I met Claude for the first time.

At first, I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings, but I suddenly spotted a guy with messy dark hair at his locker, digging around in his backpack for something. I spotted a cello beside his locker, so I immediately thought about the guy Bree had mentioned - the cellist. Claude. I hesitated for a moment but decided to take the risk.

"Hey, is your name Claude?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

The guy turned around and saw me standing behind him. He was silent for a moment, and I couldn't help thinking how cute he was. His messy dark brown hair and warm brown eyes were so strangely . . . attractive.

"H-hi," he stammered. He seemed to be getting nervous for some reason. "Yeah, my name's Claude. Um . . . have we met before?"

I smiled. "I'm Arielle. I play the flute, and Bree told me that you're a cellist. I suppose you know her, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I know Bree. Cool, you play the flute? Are you, by any chance, auditioning for the Eiffel Tower Summer Camp Program?" he said curiously. Other than the fact that he was cute in a clumsy kind of way, I was glad that I had finally found someone else who was maybe interested in auditioning for the program.

"In fact, I am. It's got me really excited, but the competition's really fierce to get in," I said, biting my lip.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Do you, um, know anyone else who's interested in auditioning?"

"Well, Bree definitely is, but I'm not really sure about anybody else. You?" I said, looking at Claude. Gosh, those eyes were like warm embers I could fall into.

"I know Flynn from my string quartet," he said. "He's a violinist, and I'm pretty sure he's going to get accepted. He's really talented."

"Flynn. Interesting. Does Bree know him?" I said.

"Well, they know each other quite well now, actually," Claude said. He seemed to be hiding a smile.

"Quite well, huh?" I questioned, a mischievous smile spreading across my face. I was a very quick learner. "I'll have to interrogate Bree about that later."

"So, um . . . do you want to talk more some other time?" he said cautiously. He really seemed to be waiting for my answer, for whatever reason.

"Sure," I smiled again. "And tell me more about Bree and Flynn and . . . what they're up to, I guess. You should introduce Flynn to me some time."

I winked and walked away. Was something going on between Bree and whoever this Flynn guy was? Bree and I weren't exactly friends yet, but I was still curious about their apparent new "relationship". And Claude had seemed like he was hiding something he knew about them but didn't want to say out loud.

As I walked to the cafeteria, I couldn't help thinking about Claude and how I was, strangely enough, really looking forward to talking to him again.