“What do you think I’d have to do to get kicked out of this class?”

A hint of playfulness can be detected in the young girl’s voice. Her dirty blonde hair cascades down her chest, messily tumbling on the bout of her cello. Her chin is leaning on her instrument casually, while her arm grips the neck. She’s grinning widely, even as her companion whips her head in her direction with agape.

“What?! How can you say that? Do you want to get in trouble?” The companion, a short, brunette girl, uttered quickly. “Seriously, Momo. Is there anything in that head of yours?”

Momo grins wider, if that’s even possible, and the other girl’s motherly tone begins to fade. “No offense of course, it’s a pretty head.” The brunette finishes with humor and throws in an impish wink, as she realizes that Momo was just trying to get a rise out of her.

“You’re really dedicated to this whole orchestra thing, huh?” Momo continues the conversation, having no idea why she began it in the first place. Her best friend seemed already occupied staring down fresh meat.
The other girl however, replied with no hesitation whatsoever, “Uh, duh. Someone has to make up for our failure of a first chair.”

Momo’s beaming grin dulled into a pout, the light escaping her eyes. “Sana...”

“What? It’s true. The es in the back have been fighting by using their bows as lightsabers for the past 10 minutes and you haven’t even noticed.” Sana finishes with a light chuckle, making a glance at the two boys. “Huh, you’d think that this being a chamber orchestra, full of the most musically talented students in the school, that these types of things wouldn’t happen…” Sana suddenly places her instrument down to her side and escapes from her chair.

As she makes her move to break up the battle, she leaves a shaken Momo with some words of wisdom. “Momo, I’m your best friend, you know. I’m not trying to deliberately bring you down, but… Just being skilled doesn’t always secure your place at the top. First chairs are supposed to be the leaders and… well, you know.” With that, she disappeared, although not at all stealthily, in that she was now yelling at the two clowns (Who by the way, are so regretting provoking Minatozaki Sana).

Momo on the other hand, went back to practicing her instrument, seeing as the conductor was not present yet. It was a relatively simple piece, no weird key signature or accidentals, but for some reason her mind and fingers were not cooperating today (Great, first I’m a severely inept leader, and now I can’t even play a piece that middle schoolers could probably ace. I don’t deserve this chair, Momo thought).

She missed countless notes and was even playing out of tune, so she decided to take a break. Sana had still not returned, but Momo could hear Sana’s scolding in the back of the room from her seat in the front. It goes without saying that those boys are not going to have a good day. That thought alone, makes Momo smirk.

Sana may be brutally honest, but Momo appreciates and has mass amounts of pride in her best friend. Although, Momo can’t shake the feeling of guilt. Sana should be the first chair.

Momo decides to take a break, so she carefully places her instrument to her side and slips out her phone.

“Hey, you see those guys fighting with their bows like they’re in some awful remake of Star Wars? Pretty funny, if you ask me.” A pink-haired Im Nayeon, second chair first violin, initiated conversation with her superior.

The black-haired girl on the other side of the conversation just nodded in response and continued to warm-up with scales.

“You’re kind of quiet, you know that? It’s actually quite unnerving.” Nayeon tried again to get a response, but to no avail. Her presence was not even acknowledged.

Nayeon, with wide eyes, tried once more. In a more rushed tone, seeing as she was being blatantly ignored and was starting to get irritated, she began, “Myoui Mina. I’m trying to have a conversation here.” Nayeon began to snap her fingers in front of the entranced Mina. “We’re the first stand, so it