WC: Day Fifteen < | Challenge Home Page | > WC: Day Seventeen

By the time school ended on Friday, Jaz was a nervous wreck. They tried their best not to be, but knowing that later was their first violin lesson was giving them considerable anxiety. What if the teacher didn't like them? What if they couldn't understand how to play the instrument? There were so many what ifs... Jaz tried to ignore it, but sometimes the mind has a way of running off on its' own.

At least school was over for the week. Jaz joined the Judd house homework party after school, but was barely able to concentrate enough to get their math homework done. The rest of it was easy, but the math teacher had thrown some new concepts at them today, and Jaz's brain just wasn't in the right place to learn it yet.

Consequently, by the time Jaz finished their homework, the rest of the Judd kids had scattered to the other ends of the house. Apparently, while they had been at school, there had been some furniture re-arranging. Layla had agreed to share a bedroom with Timika, who would very soon be a teen. Which meant that Carlo had a room to himself. He had also been gifted a late birthday present of a new laptop of his own for his schoolwork. Judging by the sounds coming from his room, however, Jaz guessed it was being used more for Blickblok than homework at the moment.

Giggling to themselves, Jaz headed past his room towards their room, only to hear some very strange grunting sounds coming from the attic. Curious, and with a few minutes to spare, Jaz peeked up the ladder. Aha. So that's where Layla's practice mat had gone. Apparently Matt had gotten his old weights machine fixed for Layla, too. Quietly retreating down the ladder without distracting Layla, Jaz slipped into their room, stowed their homework in their backpack, and picked up their violin with a nervous little sigh.

The bus ride with Wendy to Windenburg felt like it took forever. Wendy seemed pre-occupied, and didn't notice Jaz's unease, and Jaz wasn't willing to talk about it just then, so the whole trip was agonizing.

The bus stopped at a rural-looking neighborhood, and Wendy, without a word, turned up the street, expecting Jaz to follow. They did, but not without some trepidation. After a short walk (that would have been lovely had Jaz not been so nervous), Wendy turned and walked up a quaint little driveway to an adorable little house. Jaz hurried to catch up, and, despite themself, they started really looking around at the house. There was a cute little bird feeder in the garden, and some gnomes in the flowerbeds. Jaz smiled, and started to feel less nervous. Surely someone who planted Gnomes in their garden couldn't be terrible?

Wendy knocked at the door, and Jaz stood behind her, worrying her lips with her teeth, holding tightly to the loaner violin. In moments, a smiling woman in a grey skirt and green blazer opened the door with a wide smile.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Judd! This must be Jaz! Please, you two, come in!!" the woman gushed, and held the door wide open with a big smile.

Taking a nervous breath, Jaz followed Wendy inside, and was introduced to Maaike Haas. She had, until recently, apparently been with the Windenburg Symphony Orchestra, but had needed to take time off to be with their new toddler. So, giving lessons had seemed like the logical next step, Maaike explained, never leaving a moment for Jaz to get a word in edgewise. The house seemed cozy, but sparsely furnished, and Mrs. Haas showed Wendy to the living room, where there was a plate of lemonade and cookies for her to occupy herself with. Jaz then followed the woman to a back room, that was lushly furnished and brightly lit. Clearly this was a beloved room in the house. A tiny cat cactus planter sat on the side table, and several violins were propped up next to a music stand.

With a smile, Maaike helped Jaz set up their violin for the first time, and explained some simple exercises to practice to help get her technique just right. Jaz only had to correct Maaike's use of pronouns once. After an quick apology, Maaike seemed to have no issues remembering to use they/them.

The lesson continued, and slowly Jaz's nerves faded in the wake of the thrill of feeling like they were actually learning something new, and finding it easy.

Of course, there were the occasional sour notes, and Jaz giggled nervously at the disappointed cringe on Maaike's face, but she quickly reassured Jaz that those sour notes would pass before they knew it.

At the end of the lesson- which passed amazingly quickly, Maaike reach down to hug Jaz.

"It was so lovely to meet you, sweetie. I look forward to seeing how much your progress next week! Don't forget - if you have trouble, you can call me anytime! And practice every day. That's the important part!"

Jaz smiled, hugged the friendly woman back, and snatched up her now-packed-up violin, practically running out of the room to tell Wendy how much fun they'd had.

Wendy smiled along with Jaz's rapid-fire monologue about her lesson, and the bus ride back to Willow Creek seemed to take less than half the time that the outgoing trip had taken. Still, it was starting to get dark by the time they arrived back, and Jaz hurried into their room to stow their violin.

Since Penny wasn't there, Jaz quickly put their PJ's on, pulled out their phone, and tried, once again, to call Phoenix. This time, they managed to get Phoenix's voice mail, and left a cheery message, asking for him to call them back later.

With a sigh, Jaz then stowed their phone in the bedside table drawer, and headed to get the rest of the way ready for bed.

On their way back to bed, Jaz again paused at Carlo's door, and giggled silently as she heard him talking to himself about some girl in a chat room. Guessing that it was probably Sophia, Jaz snuck past an almost-sleeping Penny and crawled into bed.

By the time Wendy came in to tuck them in, the two were soundly asleep, and Wendy smiled lovingly, and pulled the blankets up to their chins, planting a soft kiss on their foreheads.

WC: Day Fifteen < | Challenge Home Page | > WC: Day Seventeen