What A Dream Wants

The bell rang.

Steven finished taking meticulous notes.

"No homework, but we have a lab experiment next Thursday." Mr. Corporis said. "Class is dismissed."

Steven walked out of the classroom.

"Hey Steven," Zero called out, walking up to him.

"Hey."

Steven walked really fast to the auditorium.

Zero followed him at the same pace.

Steven sat down at a seat.

Zero sat down next to him.

'(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻' Steven thought.

"What instrument are you gonna play?" Zero asked.

"Hmm... I guess, not piano since there's only one pianist, maybe two at most, in an orc.h.e.s.tra. Not harp, because there's also only a few per orc.h.e.s.tra. Same with drums. Guitars, on the other hand, aren't common in an orc.h.e.s.tra setting. So I guess violin or flute. I don't wanna stand out too much in a crowd..."

"Okay," Zero said. "So violin or flute?"

"It's a difficult choice." Steven sighed.

Zero thought to himself, that choosing between two amazing instruments was a difficult decision.

'Would I rather have puffy cheeks or a sore shoulder?' Steven thought to himself.

Steven decided to let the gods of fate decide.

'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe.

If he hollers, let him go,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.'

Violin it was.

. . .

"Settle down, everyone!" Mrs. Muse said into the microphone. She and Mrs. Song were standing on the stage.

"We're gonna have everyone sign up on this sheet. Write down your name, the instrument, and the song being played. You can audition as a pair, or whatever, but if one member of the group isn't qualified, then that person will not pass." She said, pointing at a sign-out sheet. They walked off the stage and sat down.

Everyone crowded around the sheet.

Steven hadn't decided on a song yet.

"Hey, what song will you play?" He asked Zero.

"I'm singing."

"Singing?"

"Yeah, the song: Siren's Lament."

"I haven't chosen a song yet," Steven revealed. "I don't know what to pick..."

"Then... do you know how to play Siren's Lament?"

"Yes. Isn't it one of those old ballads that most classical artists attempt to play? It's not too hard, but in the third movement, there's an extremely fast portion, similar to the 'Flight of the Bumblebee', that's extremely difficult."

"Do you think you could play it?"

"Maybe..."

"How about a duet?" Zero requested.

"Uhh..." Steven faltered. "It'll be quite hard. We haven't even played together before."

"I'll follow along."

"..." He acquiesced, "then, don't blame me if I mess up."

"I'm sure that when we play together, we won't."

"Deal."

They signed up.

. . .

A lot of music went down.

. . .

"Alright, next up is Zero." Mrs. Muse announced.

Zero and Steven walked onto the stage.

"We're doing a duet of the song 'Siren's lament'. I'm singing. He's playing the violin."

Uncertainty and doubt peppered the faces of the many (salty) students in the room. Even Mrs. Muse raised an eyebrow.

"This song is for a soprano and a baritone singer." Mrs. Song mentioned. "That's why two people usually sing it together. Are you singing it by yourself?"

"Yes." Zero replied.

"So no duets. That's fine." Mrs. Song remarked.

"Also,' Mrs. Muse added on, "Siren's Lament, which is needlessly hard on piano, is even more difficult on violin."

Steven wanted to crawl into a hole.

"Just to be more specific, it requires a Soubrette Soprano." Mrs. Song emphasized, staring blankly.

"That's a voice with a very sweet, light timbre. Male sopranos often cannot achieve that quality."

"Watch our performance then." Zero responded curtly.

"Very well."