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Description
I hurried down the creaky stairs, dripping with rain and clutching a heavy black case.  Glancing through window after dirty window I silently stumbled along the familiar path before finding what I was looking for.
A warm yellow light emerged from the room, and a blast of noise reached my ears.
“You’re late!” Anna’s face appeared in front of me. Dark eyeliner and slightly crooked teeth, a spindly silver dragon was suspended from her right ear.
Quickly, I discarded my drenched clothes, whilst apologising to the rest of the group.

“You look slightly…” Jono paused, “wet” he teased.
Tall and skinny, he was wearing faded jeans and a tattered navy polyprop with several rips at the elbow.  His golden curls were slightly wilder than normal, and his sunken blue eyes smiled out at me, laughing at my deranged sodden hair and flushed cheeks.  Next to him a tall white coffin stood proudly. On the inside I knew that it was lined with rich luxurious red velvet, waiting to be reunited once again with the slender dark body which rested in Jono’s hands.  Rosining his bow, he sat down and started to tune.
Tonight we were rehearsing Shostakovich.
My favourite.

It started quietly- just the viola and cello- rumbling softly on the C string.  On my right, Jiwon entered.  Her sweet face relaxed into a frown as the heart wrenching melody became faster and faster.  Her fingers raced up and down the slender neck of the violin in a race with the now jagged spiccato bowing.  I barged in, disturbing the other three with a flourish of angry chords, clashing in a fusion of colour.  In vain, my distraught chords fought with the heavy drone of the cello. If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em.  My chords became less aggressive, and we became slower and sleepier, as if wading through a river of mud.  Out of the mist a bird fluttered.  I answered to Jiwon’s call, shrill and sweet.  Up and up we went, flying higher and higher, always reaching for that top B flat…
I shrieked.
Jiwon laughed.
Anna’s face screwed up in disgust.
“That was terrible! Bar 109, just me and Ji” I laughed.
Slowly we retraced our steps, one note at a time, moving only to the next when we both felt it was in tune.

Anna and Jono waited patiently, this was, after all what we came here for. It was important that we used our time to get it right.
Jiwon and I played it over and over again, those same eight bars, faster and faster each time before bringing Anna and Jono back in.
After an hour and a half we left our instruments and wandered upstairs.  In the staff room we found a tin of Milo and half a packet of instant coffee.  Waiting for the jug to boil I watched my friends as they laughed and chattered, oblivious to the steady patter of rain on the dark windows.  Jiwon perched on the table, huddled up in a polarfleece ten times too big for her tiny frame.  Anna’s black skinny leg jeans sprawled out from under a heavy black coat, as she took a whole couch for herself.  Multiple studs and rings gleamed in the light from her ears and nose.

Jono noticed me watching, and beckoned me over with puppy-dog eyes.  I poked my tongue out at him and brought the coffee over, slumping onto the couch next to him.  He took a sip. Strong, just the way he liked it.  We all survived on coffee, and would never lose the bags from under our strained, heavy eyes.  It was tough being a musician and we all knew it would only get harder.
I snuggled into Jono, his warm arm around me.  It all paid off in the end.
Jiwon hurried us all downstairs.  It was going to be a long night.
If music be the food of love, play on.

Description
I hurried down the creaky stairs, dripping with rain and clutching a heavy black case.  Glancing through window after dirty window I silently stumbled along the familiar path before finding what I was looking for.
A warm yellow light emerged from the room, and a blast of noise reached my ears.
“You’re late!” Anna’s face appeared in front of me. Dark eyeliner and slightly crooked teeth, a spindly silver dragon was suspended from her right ear.
Quickly, I discarded my drenched clothes, whilst apologising to the rest of the group.

“You look slightly…” Jono paused, “wet” he teased.
Tall and skinny, he was wearing faded jeans and a tattered navy polyprop with several rips at the elbow.  His golden curls were slightly wilder than normal, and his sunken blue eyes smiled out at me, laughing at my deranged sodden hair and flushed cheeks.  Next to him a tall white coffin stood proudly. On the inside I knew that it was lined with rich luxurious red velvet, waiting to be reunited once again with the slender dark body which rested in Jono’s hands.  Rosining his bow, he sat down and started to tune.
Tonight we were rehearsing Shostakovich.
My favourite.

It started quietly- just the viola and cello- rumbling softly on the C string.  On my right, Jiwon entered.  Her sweet face relaxed into a frown as the heart wrenching melody became faster and faster.  Her fingers raced up and down the slender neck of the violin in a race with the now jagged spiccato bowing.  I barged in, disturbing the other three with a flourish of angry chords, clashing in a fusion of colour.  In vain, my distraught chords fought with the heavy drone of the cello. If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em.  My chords became less aggressive, and we became slower and sleepier, as if wading through a river of mud.  Out of the mist a bird fluttered.  I answered to Jiwon’s call, shrill and sweet.  Up and up we went, flying higher and higher, always reaching for that top B flat…
I shrieked.
Jiwon laughed.
Anna’s face screwed up in disgust.
“That was terrible! Bar 109, just me and Ji” I laughed.
Slowly we retraced our steps, one note at a time, moving only to the next when we both felt it was in tune.

Anna and Jono waited patiently, this was, after all what we came here for. It was important that we used our time to get it right.
Jiwon and I played it over and over again, those same eight bars, faster and faster each time before bringing Anna and Jono back in.
After an hour and a half we left our instruments and wandered upstairs.  In the staff room we found a tin of Milo and half a packet of instant coffee.  Waiting for the jug to boil I watched my friends as they laughed and chattered, oblivious to the steady patter of rain on the dark windows.  Jiwon perched on the table, huddled up in a polarfleece ten times too big for her tiny frame.  Anna’s black skinny leg jeans sprawled out from under a heavy black coat, as she took a whole couch for herself.  Multiple studs and rings gleamed in the light from her ears and nose.

Jono noticed me watching, and beckoned me over with puppy-dog eyes.  I poked my tongue out at him and brought the coffee over, slumping onto the couch next to him.  He took a sip. Strong, just the way he liked it.  We all survived on coffee, and would never lose the bags from under our strained, heavy eyes.  It was tough being a musician and we all knew it would only get harder.
I snuggled into Jono, his warm arm around me.  It all paid off in the end.
Jiwon hurried us all downstairs.  It was going to be a long night.
If music be the food of love, play on.