It was already 8:43 and here I stood with my cello in the hallway. Two more minutes and the academic 15 minutes would be over. For crying out, it was Frank that told me to come here and now I felt weary if this was even the right place. I did not even know what class I had right now since I did not yet get my personal roster due to my trip to the nurse's office. Maybe Frank had been mistaken… The thought that he probably sent me somewhere wrong since there were no other students here was having a battle with the thought that I should stay and wait for at least 15 minutes. Those were the rules after all. If a teacher is 15 minutes late, the students can go. But if I was in the wrong place, it meant I was missing my class.

 “Ahum!” In the meantime, I could recognize that throat scrape anywhere. I saw Frank walking at a hurried pace toward me from the other side of the building. He looked nervous. The thought that he probably realized he sent me to the wrong place entered my head again.

“I’m sorry, I got held up by the principal.” He said while he took out a key and opened the classroom.”

“Where are the other students?” I asked.

“You are the only student in this class.” Frank immediately replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I have to be honest. I was a bit weary to enter a classroom alone with Frank. Who wouldn’t after all the warnings Aunt Christina gave me about him, and that scene with Annie yesterday?

So, once we were in the classroom, I made sure to put myself at a safe distance from him.

“First of all, let me explain a little more why I was late since it has to do with you.”

“With me? Did I do something wrong?” Did I already get on the wrong page in the principal’s book? If they got involved, that didn’t sound good, now did it?

“No nothing like that. Unfortunately, it has to do with your teacher, Aleksei.”

I looked at him questioningly. Aleksei probably offended the wrong person again.

“I’m afraid Aleksei had a mild stroke last night and won’t be back for at least a few months. It’s even uncertain at this point if he will ever play the cello again.”

“What? But I just spoke to him yesterday. He was his usual self. How is this possible?

I immediately continued my question barrage.

“And how did Nastya take it? It’s not life-threatening, is it?” To my knowledge, Aleksei was Nastya’s only living relative so this must be pretty hard on her.

“So, your teacher is in the hospital, and you first think of her? Hmph!” Lise reacted in my head.

I could not react to Lise’s jealous outburst since Frank was still talking and I couldn’t just suddenly space out without looking weird.

“She’s with him now. But let me assure you, considering the situation, they told me the prospects are favorable. He’s already back awake. It will just take some time for him to recover all his motoric functions.”

I felt relieved to hear that at least his life wasn’t in any immediate danger.

“But that brings us to the matter of your education. We have no cello teacher capable to teach someone of your level at the moment.”

“That is no problem. He gave me enough homework that will keep me busy for quite a while.”

“The principal told me that Aleksei asked me to take over supervising you for the time being.”

“But aren’t you a trumpet player?”

Frank laughed. “Your task is about scores. I am very well qualified to read and interpret scores. As a matter of fact, that brings us to the real contents of this class.”

With the bad news about Aleksei, I had forgotten that I was here for a class.

“Yes, explain to me why I am here alone,” I answered Frank.

“Ahum, I will be teaching you everything you need to know to become a conductor.”

“You are the specialist they hired for that?” He got a smile on his face and nodded proudly. It seemed there was more to Frank than met the eye. Well, he was a friend of Aleksei, and Aleksei even bothered remembering his name so I knew that musically, I should not take him lightly. But I had no idea that he was such a good conductor.

“As a matter of fact, I suggested this role for you myself.”

Finally, I got someone to blame for this whole conductor debacle.

“I wanted to play the cello you know. I really do not think conducting is for me. I am not my dad.”

“Although your name helped me convince some of the other board members, you are not in this class because of your dad. I really think this could be something for you and even Aleksei agreed with me when I explained my reasoning.”

That surprised me. I was 100% sure they just put me into this role because my dad was a famous conductor. With surprise still showing on my face, I asked “Then what?”

“You are here because of the scores you wrote for the entrance exam. They are some of the best solo adaptations I’ve ever come across. It would be a real shame to waste such talent. We want you to develop that talent for orchestra work.”

“My scores? But I did nothing special. In fact, I am brushing up on my notation because I found it lacking.”

“And I believe that that kind of diligence is what makes a good conductor. You already realized the importance of correct notation after just one little nudge from Aleksei.”

“But…”

Frank sighed. “Listen. Because of Aleksei, you have already been doing a lot of the practice necessary. Like reading scores. Do you really think anyone can read orchestra scores with up to 20 simultaneous lines? It would really be a shame not to delve deeper into this.”

He took out the scores to Mozart’s 40^th symphony. When he opened it, I could see immediately that it was my own copy with all the little notes that I made myself in order to make it sound in my head like I wanted it to sound. Every little change had implications for all the other instruments, so I had taken my time to get it right like that. But it was still just my own copy for reading. It wasn’t meant for other people to look at.

“How did you get that?”

“I asked Christina to give me one of your books so I could see what you were doing. That way I could see what pieces I should pick for you and order new ones for your bundles. But what I got was completely beyond my expectations. You really have a talent here. Have you ever tried composing something yourself?”

I shook my head.

“Well, I think you should. And I would not say that to anyone.”

I remembered Aunt Christina telling me something about the fact that Frank did not easily compliment musicians.

Then with a smack, he closed the book with the scores again.

“Let’s get to business.”

He started explaining the trajectory he prepared for me. To start out, he wanted me to conduct a small ensemble in preparation for the real thing. During the rehearsals of the school orchestra, I would have to take notes and from time to time he would let me take over. After the November break I would take over as the main conductor, so my first performance as the school orchestra's conductor would be at the new year’s concert. He then went on toward stuff for the next year, but the information overload was already so big that it was a bit much to remember everything already.

“But when will I play the cello?” I complained.

“Ahum! Like all the Saint Cecilia students, Aleksei was supposed to prepare you for various international cello competitions. Did he not talk to you about it? Since this school is new, we have a lot riding on our top students performing well in the international scene.”

 I gulped. International competitions were on a whole other level than anything I had done so far. Any performance in that scene could make or break a musician’s future.

“He didn’t say a word.” I realized things just got serious. It was time to take my practice back to the extreme. Every free moment should be devoted to practice from now on. It suddenly became a big problem that Aleksei was not here…

Frank could see my eyes processing the data that he had just given me and noticed that I got a lot more serious.

“As my first homework for this class, I want you to create a smaller ensemble to conduct with a mix of instruments this month. Once you know the instruments, I want you to pick a piece and adapt the music to the composition of the ensemble.”

“You are expecting me to create an ensemble?” I wasn’t a social butterfly… This seemed like a much more troublesome task than preparing for a competition. Just the idea of going around asking people to join my ensemble made me shiver. I did not like talking to strangers.

Frank nodded. “And make sure to pick out musicians that pique your interest. It will teach you a lot to work with those people. Laying contacts is an important part of becoming a professional musician.” Frank reasoned. “A lot of talented musicians don’t make it because they fail in this respect.”

“I’ve never seen Aleksei make a social effort though…”

Frank started laughing. “He’s different.”

“How so?”

“For starters, he’s rich. He isn’t really dependent on an income from his music. He might be famous, but he isn’t really your typical professional musician either. And if that wasn’t all, he was able to ride the road to fame because he had a famous teacher. He could have been a lot bigger if he did not blow up so many bridges.”

Aleksei was indeed one of Rostropovich’s students. I could see how that fact alone could boost someone’s career. And him being rich… No matter how rich he is, would you even call someone like him a professional musician if you are not dependent on the money you make from it? I did not like to admit it, but Frank had a point. If I wanted to get into music professionally, I would need to learn how to create bridges with other people. I needed to become more socially adept. It’s just that Lise used to be my bridge toward other people, and I used to hide behind that. I never had to do stuff like this.

“You’ve changed since then though. Just look at all the friends you made. You’re a lot stronger than you used to be.” Lise said inside my head. She was trying to give me the courage to do this. I felt a smile form on my face. What would I ever do without her?

“Why do you always do that? You don’t need Lise for this. Stop doubting yourself so much. For crying out loud, you were so stubborn that you brought someone back from the dead. You can talk to a couple of strangers!” Rosalinde entered the conversation in my head. She sounded ticked off.

Lise tried to say something, but Rosalinde cut her off. “You stay out of this. You know this needs to happen. She can’t keep on relying on you for every little thing. You know that!”

“I guess you’re right,” Lise said a bit somber.

I wanted to say that I did not mind. That I loved depending on Lise but I could feel they were no longer listening. I did not like being cut from their conversation like that.