Angel classes begin and friendships are started.

Angel Marquez-The Angel Blossoms Chapter 2
by
Paula Dillon

School really began on Thursday. Angel liked the way the classes were run. Two thirds of the periods were lectures accompanied by a Power Point presentation. The rest of the class time they used individual computers at their desk to do practical course work. Each teacher had their own Intranet site, which worked just like the Internet. Students could log on a teacher’s site to check on assignments, the syllabus or even check their grades.

The teachers stressed the importance of class participation to the students, and a significant number of the students actually got involved. This was so unlike the schools that Angel had gone to before. It actually helped make the classes less boring. The teachers were even more interesting. They came on strong first, with a lecture on how a grade of a C was unacceptable at this school and that they KNEW that all the students in this class were more than capable of maintaining an A average.

At lunch, Angel met up with her roommates and Janice’s roommates. The cafeteria was much more crowded, as the rest of upperclassmen finally started their classes. There was plenty of room, however, for the seven freshmen to stake their claim to a table.

They talked about what they thought about this school, amongst other things that girls talk about. Janice’s friends were really interested in Madeline and Natsuko. These girls were the first real foreigners that they had ever talked with and seemed exotic. They wanted to know what the countries they came from were like. When they found out that Angel had just come back from Spain, she had to tell them all about the old country.

Lunchtime seemed to fly by. This was a new feeling to Angel. At her other schools, the boy Angel had pretty much been a loner, but here Angel was actually part of a group of girls, who looked up to HER. The summer she had spent as a girl made things go smoother than she had figured.

After lunch, Angel and her roommates headed to the music building, after making a stop by the cottage to pick up their instruments.

Angel’s first music class was piano with Mrs. Bloomington. The teacher gave her a smile, when she saw her student.

“Hello Ms. Marquez,”

“Hello Mrs. Bloomington.”

Mrs. Bloomington then began to give Angel her first real piano test. They were able to proceed a little faster, because Angel already knew what all the keys were, so she didn’t need all those dots that some instructors use with beginners. What she learned was how to sit, how to strike the keys and how to move from key to key. It was all accomplished by repetition. Angel played the simple scales as directed. She already had a high degree of manual dexterity; she just had to train her fingers to make music on the piano. It was different, but more of the same.

Angel made fewer mistakes than most beginners make, especially fewer of those ear shattering, soul wrenching, discordant notes. Still, it was apparent that Angel had a lot of work ahead of her. Mrs. Bloomington finished up the class by teaching Angel how to play a simple child’s song with one hand.

“Well, I am not going to sign you up for the Cliburn competition yet, but you did very well for your first lesson.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Bloomington. I sometimes used the piano to figure out a new piece of music which I was trying to learn. I would poke out the notes with one finger and visualize how I would play them.”

“How did you learn to play the guitar?”

“My Uncles and grandfather did and then taught me how to play. I guess it was like follow the leader. They didn’t use books or prepared lessons. Two of my other teachers, Pedro Aguilar and Ricky Montez, taught me how to work out the chords on a piece of music and then how to play the piece on the guitar. Now when I hear a piece, I just figure it out in my head.”

“Do Mr. Aguilar and Mr. Montez read music?”

“Probably a little better than I do.”

“That says a lot. Many rock musicians were like that. They learned how to play their instruments in their garages and got good at it and then got famous. There are many though, who were also very accomplished musicians. Learning to read music can only help you Ms. Marquez.”

“I know it will and I will always give you my best effort.”

“That is all that I can ask from you.”

In orchestra, Mrs. Grogan made an announcement.

“Students, I have made a couple of changes to our repertoire. You can look at the changes on my Intranet site. Ms. Marquez, this affects you. We have picked out your first two solos. You already know them. The first is Spanish Romance and the second is Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Mrs. Bloomington and Ms. Spencer will see that you get to know the arrangements we will be playing. Just listen for now, Ms. Marquez, so I can get the rest of the orchestra up to speed. Section leaders; pass out the new music please.”

This was the first time Angel heard the orchestra play as Ms. Jones directed them. She paid rapt attention to the music and knew she would have to relearn her parts as she tried to follow it along. She knew it wouldn’t be too hard though. It would just take practice.

They worked on four pieces that day. They would play one piece and Mrs. Grogan, who was taking notes, would make some comments. Then they would play it again, stopping at points where they needed work.

They worked on Angel’s two solos and Amy’s solos, Beethoven’s, ‘Violin Concerto in D Major OP. 61 2nd movement’ and Lalo’s, ‘Norwegian Fantasy movements 1 and 2’.

At the end of the class, Mrs. Grogan announced that they would work on Bach’s, ‘Brandenburg Concerto’, Beethoven’s, ‘fifth’ and Vivaldi’s, ‘Winter’ on Monday, and with their sections on Wednesday. With that she dismissed the class.

“Ms. Marquez, do you think you can catch on?” Mrs. Grogan asked.

“The arrangements are a little different from what I usually play, but it shouldn’t be a problem. I will relearn my parts.”

“Good, I will see everybody on Tuesday then. Look over your music and be prepared. Practice, practice, practice ladies.”

Amy, Natsuko and Madeline actually corralled Angel in a practice room and went over them a couple of times before they headed back to their cottage. Amy acted as their conductor, while Natsuko and Madeline played with Angel. Amy corrected Angel a couple of times. They were pretty confident after a half hour of practice. It was mostly a matter of timing, following the director and a few differences in a couple of measures.

After lunch on Friday, Angel met again with Mrs. Bloomington. For reading music, she took a stack of flash cards and went through them having Angel identify what was on the card. She went through the beginner cards and many of the intermediate cards. They spent an hour on various drills that taught the student how to read music.

For guitar class, Angel played her two solos and about a dozen other pieces across her many genres of music. She played many things she hadn’t performed recently and it showed.

“Let me guess, you haven’t played some of those pieces in the past few months?”

“No ma’am, but I have resolved to work through and expand my repertoire. I have been neglecting some really good pieces that weren’t among my favorites.”

“That is really good, Ms. Marquez. I have seen your music list; there is a lot of good music there.”

As Angel left her last class for the day, she stopped by the school’s shop and picked up some movies for the weekend. She and her roommates were stuck at school this weekend. They had talked about what movies they liked this morning, at breakfast. She also picked up several bags of microwave popcorn, while she was there.

When she got to the dorm, several girls were already being picked up by their parents. Natsuko and Madeline were already in their room, changing into more comfortable clothes. Angel showed them the movies she had picked up.

Madeline had Angel sit down at her keyboard and practice her simple scales for half an hour before dinner. Madeline, Angel found out, could be a harsher taskmaster than Mrs. Bloomington, but she also found Madeline’s sense of humor refreshing. The last thing they did on the keyboard, was Madeline playing the left hand to Angel’s right hand on a simple song. Angel did alright, but when Madeline joined her, the music she listened to on the headphones, sounded really good. The chords and other notes she played gave the music some depth and elegance.

There were three other girls spending the weekend at the dorm, Angel found out when she and her roommates came out for their evening meal. Mrs. Westfall said that they could stay up till midnight if they wanted. The girls were enthusiastic when Angel asked the girls if they wanted to watch movies together.

They all headed to bed after watching three movies. Mrs. Westfall even sat out there with them and watched the movies. They all had a good time and enjoyed the popcorn.

Angel, Madeline and Natsuko talked for a while before they went to sleep.

Madeline was the first girl up the next morning. Angel and Natsuko were still zonked out when she went out to the commons.

She was surprised to see a bunch of people sitting there talking with Mrs. Westfall. She knew from the pictures on Angel’s desk just who they were.

“Just a minute, Angel is still asleep.”

She went back into the room, “Angel wake up, time for breakfast.”

“Go away its Saturday,” Angel said, falling back to sleep.

Madeline smiled and went beside Angel’s bed. She pulled the sheets from under the mattress and securely grabbed them at two points.

“Last chance Angel.”

“Go away, let me sleep.”

Madeline then pulled up on the sheets, dumping Angel on the floor. Angel jumped up and chased Madeline out the door into the commons. She stopped when she saw all her family out in the lobby.

“Mom!” Angel said, as she ran into her mother’s arms.

“Angel,” Margarita said excitedly, and hugged her daughter.

“Angel,” Mrs. Westfall said. Her brow was raised in mock sternness, but she could hardly suppress a smile, when she saw Angel come out in her sleep shirt. “Please put some clothes on.”

“Madeline, you are so bad, I am going to get even with you,” Angel said, as she rushed into her room.

Natsuko had gotten up and was brushing her teeth when Angel came back.

“I see you got up.” Angel stated.

“I didn’t want Madeline dumping me on the floor. What got into her panties, this morning?”

“My family is here. Hurry up and get dressed, I want to introduce you to them.”

Angel and Natsuko came out ten minutes later.

“Hi Mom, Aunt Carmine, Sierra and Nevada, these are my roomies. This is Natsuko Takahashi, and this no good person is Madeline Boucher. This is my mom, Margarita Marquez, my Aunt Carmine Santiago and my cousins, Sierra Santiago in Yellow and red and Nevada Santiago in green and brown.”

“What was that noise we heard before you ran out here?” Margarita said snickering.

“That was me waking Angel up, Mrs. Marquez,” Madeline said, in her defense.

“Waking me up, you dumped me out of my bed and onto the floor! I would have gotten up if you would have told me my family was here.”

“I figured they were here to surprise you, so I let it surprise you,” Madeline said.

“Yeah, why did you all come down this weekend? I thought you were in Europe, Mom?”

“We were doing something I haven’t been able to do in the past. I wanted to surprise you for your birthday.”

“That isn’t till Wednesday.”

“At which time I will be in London. I wasn’t going to miss my daughter’s birthday. Get packed girl!”

“Can Madeline and Natsuko come with us? They are stuck here.”

Margarita turned towards Mrs. Westfall.

“It’s up to you Mrs. Marquez. Both of their parents gave me permission to decide on their after school activities. I can give you temporary guardianship.”

“How fast can you three get packed?” Margarita asked to the backs of three girls making a mad dash to their room. “Pack light, we will have a full car.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Marquez. Madeline and Natsuko both might be stuck here most weekends.”

“Where are their parents?”

“They are both out of the country, Natsuko’s parents are diplomats in Spain. They can’t make it back before June. Madeline’s mother is a superstar model. She is getting ready for the winter show and then there will be the spring show and the summer show. I doubt if she will be back here before June.”

“No they won’t be,” Carmine said. “If it is okay, they can come home with Angel anytime I pick up Angel.”

“I was hoping you would say that when I roomed them together, Mrs. Santiago. I just hate to have the girls stuck at this place all year long. I wasn’t going to suggest it just yet, but I hoped you would do this.”

Three happy girls came out of their room, each carrying their bags.

“Follow me,” Mrs. Marquez said.

Outside they met Janice sitting on her suitcase. She jumped up and hugged Angel.

“Did you know about this Janice?”

“Yes, my mom called me Thursday; she told me I couldn’t tell you.”

“You are so bad too, Janice, don’t expect mercy on any guitar lessons I give you.”

“All I can say is that it is a good thing I bought a van,” Carmen said.

“Oh wow,” Angel said, as they saw the new van. It was a large eight passenger van, with cargo room and two rows of seats in the back.

The kids put their cases in the back and climbed in.

“Your cousins are identical twins. How do you tell them apart?”

“Besides Sierra dressing in bright colors, while Nevada likes earth tones, they are mirror image twins. Sierra is right-handed and Nevada is left-handed. They also have birthmarks on the opposite shoulders, Sierra on her left and Nevada on her right.”

“Don’t give,” Sierra said.

“All our secrets away,”

“Angel.”

That exchange had everyone in the van laughing.

“How old are you Madeline?” Sierra asked.

“I am fifteen.”

“How did you get so big?” Nevada asked.

“Nevada, don’t be so rude.”

“I don’t mind Mrs. Santiago.”

“It’s Carmine, girls. You don’t have to be so formal.”

“I started puberty when I was between nine and ten. I was a 65B, what you guys call a 30A cup by eleven. When I hit thirteen I had a growth spurt, height wise that is. I jumped from five foot two, I believe, I was one hundred fifty eight centimeters, to about five foot seven, or about one hundred and seventy centimeters. I was still an A cup. I started modeling, my mom is an international model. Mom had me start birth control pills back then. I am a virgin, but modeling is a different kind of business. Some of the men that work in fashion are not so nice, you see. Over the next two years I sprouted. The doctors were confused. My Mom is a 70B cup and one seventy eight centimeters tall. Anyway, I grew so fast, I have some stretch marks on my breasts, I lost baby fat around my chest and now I am a 70F, or a 32DD. The doctors don’t know why I grew so fast. That is why I go to a girls’ school now. The boys I was around, got to be a problem.”

“You had a problem with boys?” Margarita asked.

“Yes, older boys want to have sex with me. I am not ready. It got really bad.”

Madeline then began talking in French and was surprised when Margarita responded back in French. They talked a bit, Angel could pick out bits, but she couldn’t understand much.

“Sorry, I was just telling your Mom some things. Boys think I am sexy and older than I am; they just want to have sex with me. I just want to be a young girl right now.”

Angel and Natsuko just hugged their roommate.

“My parents are in Madrid, because they will travel so much all over Europe, with their duties to the Consular staff, I wanted to go to a girls school, this school has an excellent music program. That is why I came here,” Natsuko said. “I used to live in Kobe.”

“That is the city that was devastated by an earthquake wasn’t it.” Margarita asked.

“Yes, that was in January of 1995. I was born a couple of months after that, but they taught us about that in school. They teach us a lot about earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan.”

“I imagine so,” Carmine said.

“Tsunamis are giant ocean waves, right?” Sierra asked.

“Yes, they are caused by off shore earthquakes and volcanic activity. A massive earthquake caused the tsunami that did so much damage in Indonesia and other parts surrounding the Indian Ocean.”

“Mom, you have got to hear these girls play. Madeline is great on the piano and Natsuko is awesome on the violin. They are better than I am.”

“Not better, just different,” Madeline said. “We each are very good at what we do.”

“Do we have time to go by Leo’s?”

“Just for a few minutes. I want to check on your guitar. Then we have appointments for fills for your nails. We have family coming over for dinner.”

“Is your guitar broken?” Natsuko asked.

“No, my other guitar is too valuable for me to carry around. It was made by Antonio Torres. He is like the Stradivari of classical guitar makers.”

“Oh really,” Madeline said.

“Yeah, it has been in the family like forever.”

“If forever is a hundred and fifty years,” Margarita said.

They got to the house and quickly unloaded. Mrs. Fletcher was there to pick up Janice.

“Don’t forget, the party is at seven,” Margarita said.

“We will be there,” Janice said.

After the car was unloaded the girls made a trip to the mall. Carmine stayed home to get ready for the party, while Margarita took the girls to the salon at the mall. Angel got a fill and another layer of fiberglass, while Natsuko and Madeline had simple manicures. Then Angel led them to Leo’s.

“Hello Leo,”

“Hey there Angel, I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Hello Mrs. Santiago, Mrs. Marquez.”

“Mom surprised me and picked me up. These girls are my roommates at school. This is Madeline Boucher, and this is Natsuko Takahashi. Girl’s this is Leo Granger.”

“Bonjour Monsieur Granger.”

“Bonjour Mademoiselle Boucher. Vous áªtes trá¨s charmante ma chá¨re. ”

“Et vous áªtes trá¨s gallant.”

Not to be outdone Natsuko said, “Kon'nichiwa shi Granger-sama.”

“Kon'nichiwa Takahashi-chan misu. Mata, hijō ni kireidesu. I know a little more French, but I am burnt out on Japanese, and please just call me Leo, everybody calls me Leo around here.” He said laughing.

“Are you here to check out your guitar?”

“No we are here to check on it and to show my friends.”

“Okay, this way girls.” Leo said.

Angel got her guitar case out of the locker and took it back into the store. She took it out of the case and inspected it. She then tuned it up and began playing on it.

“It sounds wonderful,” Natsuko said.

“Yes is does,” Madeline added.

“Leo, would it be possible to lend Natsuko a violin and can Madeline play that keyboard?”

“Sure thing, Angel.”

Leo got his best violin down and handed it to Natsuko. It was a used violin he had bought at an estate sale. While not a Stradivarius it was quite nice. Natsuko rosined up the bow and then tuned up the violin. It was a very nice violin she thought, not as good as hers, but quite adequate.

Madeline was quite satisfied with the Roland keyboard as she played with it.

Angel and the girls got their heads together and picked out three pieces to play. One of the pieces was Classical Gas. All three girls had room for a solo the way they played it. After Classical Gas they played Spanish Romance and Recuerdos de la Alhambra like Angel’s solo.

Leo got excited by what he heard, “You girls are hot. You have got to let me know when you come back to town. I would like to set up a show.”

All too soon, Margarita had to put a stop to it.

Natsuko bowed to and handed Leo back his violin, “It is a very nice violin. Thank you Leo.”

Madeline air kissed both Leo’s cheeks and Angel gave the bear of a man a huge hug.

Angel took care of her guitar and then placed it back in its locker.

Margarita had a few stops to make before they headed back to Aunt Carmine’s home. She picked up a few things they needed for the party.

The ‘Old Men’ were already there when Margarita pulled into the drive. Angel raced to their arms to get her hug. She then took time to introduce her grandfather, Fernando and her uncles Javier and Rolando. Her roommates poured on their charms for the ‘Old Men’, almost as much as the ‘Old Men’ did for them.

Inside were a few other relatives and friends. Angel, her cousins and her roommates mingled a bit and then headed to Sierra’s and Nevada’s. The twins grilled the girls, they wanted to know so much. They also bragged to the girls about Angel.

“Angel has some music on You Tube that has hit the rafters,” Sierra said.

“Yeah, some of her pieces have a couple of hundred thousand hits and thousands of comments,” Nevada added.

“You’re kidding, girls,” Angel said.

“No, it’s true, Angel,” Nevada said, logging on to her computer. After a minute she was on You Tube and showing the girls Angel’s videos.

Angel panned down the comments as the video played. Words like fantastic, brilliant, a true virtuoso popped out at her. She had gone back about five or six pages in the comments when she saw one in Spanish that caught her eye from Servando Morales.

“Oh, my gosh,” she said as she read the comment.

“What does it say,” Natsuko asked.

“Ms. Marquez is a brilliant guitarist, who has a maturity to her play far beyond her age. I met this young lady playing in a park in Madrid. I listened with joy as she played many selections from Spain’s great guitar music. She allowed me the honor of playing with her. Not only can she play well as a soloist but in our duets, she showed that she could blend and weave the music that our guitars were playing. Her name says it all; her play can bring tears to an Angel’s eyes. I have played in many of the great concert halls in Europe and yet I found that I enjoyed playing with this young lady more than some of the greatest musicians in the world. Watch this young Lady; I am sure that you will be hearing more from her. Bravo Angel. Servando Morales”

“Who is Servando Morales?” Madeline asked.

Angel shifted over to Wikipedia and entered his name. She allowed the girls time to read part of his bio and then she went to his homepage and played some of his music for them.

“He is amazing,” Madeline said.

“I had a hard time just keeping up with him. He doesn’t play like he’s eighty something.”

“Your videos were very good to Angel,” Natsuko said. “Were those done at school?”

“Yes, the school wanted to do some videos to use in recruitment. One of the girls, Vanessa Hall, got excited about them and posted them without permission. But enough about me, I think you and Madeline are better than I am. Madeline I love the way you can play the piano and Natsuko you play your violin so brilliantly.”

Madeline made motions with her hands and said, “Keep going with the adjectives, Angel. Don’t stop there, but I meant what I said. We are not better, just different. Each of our disciplines requires a lot of work to be excellent at them and while there are some people who can play several instruments well, they are very few. None of them that I know of reach the level of brilliant. There is just too much work on each instrument to play several extremely well. You are learning piano, I doubt you will ever play in the Cliburn Competition. I can play the guitar a little, but I am not destined to solo for a renowned orchestra on a classical guitar. Natsuko is fabulous on the violin; she is destined to play whatever venue she chooses. We are each very good, but I love to play with both of you. I think we sound smashing together.”

Angel gave what her roommate said a lot of thought.

The party was bigger than any other birthday Angel ever had. She was quite surprised at the number of people that had come; there were over thirty people there. Leo, Jeffery, Wee Willy, Joyce Drummond, and Janice and her Mom were amongst the guests there.

There was a lot of music. Angel played Javier’s guitar for much of the night. Madeline rued that there was no piano and Natsuko missed not having her violin. Natsuko was fascinated watching the twins dance with the adults. The girls did the Flamingo, Tango, Samba and the Mambo. She mentally played the violin to some of their movements. The twins got Madeline and Natsuko out on the floor and danced with them, also. It was strange seeing Sierra leading a much taller Madeline as they tangoed. Madeline had been taught how to dance by her mother, but she wasn’t quite as good as Sierra, but Sierra led her partner off well.

Angel’s birthday cake was shaped like a guitar and about as big. She had fifteen candles on her cake and would have had no problem blowing them out except for the fact that someone had switched candles to those trick candles that relight after being blown out.

The party broke up shortly after Angel opened up her birthday presents. One of the presents was something that was more fitting for the boy Angel; it was an extra-large Grave Digger Monster Truck T Shirt, autographed by Dennis Anderson. Angel had never been to a monster truck show in her life, and wondered what the third cousin twice removed was thinking. She didn’t make a big deal of it and handed it off to her mom before she hurried onto the next gift.

Sunday the girls went to church, Natsuko wasn’t Catholic, but went along anyway. Her parents taught her to study what other people believe and to make up her own mind. Afterward, they picked up Janice and had a leisurely drive back to school. They stopped a couple of times, to catch a site and to have a picnic lunch.

Natsuko and Madeline both received a bunch of hugs from Angel’s clan as the troop left with Margarita. They thanked them for letting them spend the weekend with them.

(to be continued)