Royal Performer - Chapter 20

Princess Alexandria Alessi’s life has turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Only a few days ago, she was enjoying a clandestine summer shopping with her best friend at the local mall. Coming home, she was alarmed to discover her mom was there, and her secret of being transgender was suddenly no longer secret! Within a few short hours, her life became like a movie as she discovered that her long-lost father was the Crown Prince of Osané, a small, secluded island nation. Alexandria was immediately thrust into the spotlight in a whirlwind weekend that led to a Monday press conference to announce her royal lineage. Royal Performer is the second Tiffany Shar's 'Suddenly Royal' series.

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Chapter 20: Capricious

FORTUNATELY, MATH ENDED without any further theatrics from Lilou, just with a homework assignment that I wasn’t looking forward to doing! ‘It’s summer break!!!’ I whined to myself as I walked to Biology with the pair of girls. I noted that I was attracting quite a few stares as we traveled and just hoped to avoid problems and drama in the three weeks I would be there.

In Biology, an assigned seating system meant I was on the opposite side of the class from my friends, surrounded by several really tall boys who had nearly blocked my view of the other side of the room! There was a separate lab facility, but we were in a traditional classroom with desks for that class. An exceptionally tall guy sat directly in front of me, and I could hardly see the board around him. Worst of all, I couldn’t talk to or see Léa or Zoé either, as they were behind me and several rows over in the class of about twenty-five.

Madame Delorme was the biology teacher and noted the issue then. “Ioannis, would you be so kind as to swap desks with our new student?”

The big guy had a name I’d never heard of before, but he stood and turned to me. “I’m a bit of a walking wall,” he smiled.

I smiled back, even as I couldn’t believe how tall he was compared to me. I guessed it was probably nearly a two-foot difference in height! “Thanks,” I said, grabbing my things.

“She should just go back to primary school,” I heard a hiss behind me and realized the witch was also in this class.

“Mademoiselle Gatti, do you have something to say to the class?” our teacher asked.

“Non, Madame,” she answered.

“Keep it that way,” she was directed. She turned her attention to me, “I won’t have you do any introductions; I assume other teachers have put you through the wringer on that. Do you have any questions before we begin today’s lesson, though?”

I shook my head, “Non, Madame.”

The class reviewed the Krebs Cycle, and we were instructed to partner with one of the people beside us. Ioannis asked, “Partner?”

“Sure,” I told him.

I had to look way up to his face. I felt as if he had barely fit inside the desk. Meanwhile, my feet didn’t even touch the floor with these desks! After completing the review assignment, he said, “You seem much nicer than I’ve heard?”

I blushed, “Depending on who you’ve heard from, I’m not surprised?”

He laughed, “It was Lola… I believe she’s your cousin?” He shrugged, “I’m not surprised you’re a better person; she’s a bit of a bi…” He started to swear but froze.

“How is the review coming?” Madame Delorme asked.

“Good, we’d covered this back home,” I told her.

“Much better with her help,” Ioannis said.

“Make sure you’re on your best behavior, Ian,” she said.

“Ian?” I asked when she was gone.

He groaned, “Ioannis is too much of a mouthful for some people, so they shorten it to Ian.”

“That’s a shame. I like Ioannis as a name; it’s really unique!”

He smiled, “Thanks, Your Highness.”

We were about to talk more when we were told to turn the desks around. Madame Delorme finished class and said we would be in the lab for one final lab of the year on Wednesday. I was a little surprised by the excitement in the room, but Ioannis’s whisper, “Her labs are the best!” solved that question.

At the end of class, he asked, “So, what class do you have now?”

“Orchestra?” I told him.

“Oh… Yeah, I’m not able to do things like that. Give me a ball, and I’m your guy, though!”

I smiled and looked up at the giant, “I believe it! You’re so tall!”

“And you’re so short!” He said with a smile.

“Touché,” I told him. Léa and Zoé grabbed me by the arm and led me down the hallway to the orchestra room.

“Already taking the best boys?” Léa kidded me.

“She’s not here half a day, and she has them eating out of the palm of her hand,” Zoé added.

“I’m not…”

Léa smirked, hugged me, and left us at the door to go to her art class.

I tried to argue the point with Zoé a bit more. Still, the noise of a group warming up prevented it, especially as they delivered me to Maestro Fontaine, the orchestra teacher.

“Good morning,” he said, “I hear you’re an accomplished clarinetist?”

“Good morning,” I told him back. “I’m okay,” I responded. “Just who has been talking about me?”

“I had lunch with your clarinet teacher the other day,” he told me. “Gerald seems to think you could be the next Richard Stoltzman or Sabine Meyer?”

I shrugged, vaguely remembering the first name, “I just like playing?”

“Well, I look forward to hearing you! I had our student assistant add a chair in the woodwinds. Go sit next to that girl; her name is Lola.”

“Umm…”

“Oh, of course, you know her already, don’t you? I forgot she was your cousin?”

“That she is,” I responded. Looking forward to sitting beside the witch about as much as getting my nails individually yanked out with a rusty pair of pliers!

I walked to the chair I’d been told to sit in and barely kept from falling over as Lola pulled it out from under me! “What the hell are you doing here, brat?”

I looked up at her, at the chair that had moved, and said, “Sitting down to take over your chair, it seems. Can’t say I’ll feel bad about it at this point either!”

“Oh, Lola, thank you for helping your cousin out!” Maestro Fontaine said right then.

“It’s a pleasure,” she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. She pushed the chair back.

I had a seat, pulled my clarinet case out of my backpack, and started assembling it. The maestro stayed near for a few more minutes while I assembled the instrument and briefly warmed up. Another student then gave me a copy of the music and a music stand. “I’m Leto,” she said with a smile. I play cello and am the student assistant this year.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said as I took the folder from her.

“Do you need a shorter chair she asked me?” I looked down and saw I was far from being able to touch the ground.

“I doubt you have anything in her size here? Maybe if you go to the primary school and look in the year one classroom?” Lola snarked since Fontaine had walked away then.

“Stuff it, Lo,” she told her before looking at me, “Let me know if you want me to find something?”

I shrugged, “Probably not worth it for three weeks?”

She smiled, “Probably not.”

She walked away, and Maestro Fontaine took the podium before Lola could say anything. He ran the group through a few warm-ups before calling out Capriccio Espagnole as a piece. I smiled at that, having worked through excerpts of the solo, but deferred to Lola at the beginning of the solo. I noticed it called for a different key of clarinet! I groaned, but mentally worked my way through the excerpts I had learned it in my own key.

The orchestra began with a fantastic sound, in tune, accurate, and with vigor!

Then she butchered the solo.

It wasn’t even recognizable!

Notes were crying in pain!

All my friends in the clarinet section back home could have played it better!

Maestro Fontaine stopped then, “We have a concert Thursday, Mademoiselle Montalvo?”

“I…” she started to argue.

“Your H… Mademoiselle Alessi, I know you just sat down in here, but would you be willing to give it a try?”

I looked at Lola, who looked ready to hit me, but I responded, “I’ll do my best?”

A moment later, he began the piece again. I took over with one of the best solo clarinet lines in orchestral music! I mentally scolded myself when I lost focus and tried reading one of the notes instead of playing from memory and missed a note; I went back to playing, though, and refused to miss any more.

On the whole, though, I did far better than Lola.

I also realized part of her problem as I looked at her clarinet and noticed she had the wrong type of clarinet! Right then, I was distracted as the orchestra applauded for me.

I blushed, “Sorry about the missed note, I have the wrong key of clarinet for this piece.”

“Huh?” I heard Lola ask beside me.

“I don’t think anyone noticed,” a girl beside me playing oboe said. “Wow, you can play!”

“I think that’s decided it,” Maestro Fontaine said, “Mademoiselle Alessi will play the solos! Mademoiselle Montalvo, please double the second part on everything for this concert instead?”

I looked at the girl beside me and would have felt bad if she wasn’t the worst human being I’d met in a long time.

Throughout the rest of the rehearsal, I was feeling her glare!

I learned this was a rather ambitious program for a school orchestra there, with the Overture from Barber of Seville, a string-only piece, and a fantastic arrangement of movie themes on the program list. What really amazed me was the level of talent the group had. I noted a wider age range of students in this class than any other I’d seen so far. It was obvious some kids in the string section were only the age of middle schoolers, and clearly went up to the final-year kids.

Sadly, I was sure I would not find anyone shorter than me since Léa wasn’t in the orchestra!

After class, I watched Lola practically slam her instrument into its case and dragged her friend Léna from the room. I could hear her complaining about me as they left, and I narrowly missed her knocking my stand into my new instrument.

To say I had no desire to feel sorry for her was an understatement!

“Did you lay it on a little thick with her?” Lanie asked from beside me, then with her horn case.

I shrugged, “I’d say I felt bad, but she doesn’t make that easy, does she?”

She shook her head, “Not at all!”

Zoé arrived then, “Wow, Allie, you blew them out of the water there!”

I blushed, “I just played what I could. I’ve worked on the excerpts for Capriccio before,” I told her.

Maestro Fontaine arrived then, “Your Highness, wow! You are every bit the clarinetist that Gerard said you were!”

“Thanks,” I replied. I’ll have to see if I can get an A clarinet, though. I think part of why Lola was struggling was that she had the wrong instrument?”

“She never said anything,” he said, concerned.

“She may not have known?” I said. “I’ll see what I can do; maybe Monsieur Dubois can help me out there.”

“Let me know if you need anything; I’m looking forward to the concert now!”

“Well, someone’s got a crush on you,” Lanie said as we left the room.

I blushed.

“She has one on Ian already, too!” She smirked.

“Wha…?” I tried to argue as I turned even redder and was dragged out with the masses to the school’s main entrance. Léa met us outside, along with Noémi and a girl they introduced me to, Élise.

Apparently, it was common to go to neighboring cafés for food instead of eating at the school for the Year 10s and older. I verified with Giuseppe that it was okay to do so before we left. Mom mentioned that her high school had something like that in her teenage years, but that wasn’t a regular thing in American schools anymore. As we ordered some sandwiches at a café frequented by other students, I couldn’t help but notice stares from the other students in line and had to ask Léa, “I don’t have anything on me or something, right?”

She laughed, “No, you’re just you.”

Seated around a table together, I was happy to have five girls to hang out with who didn’t hate my guts like Lola did!

“You should have seen it!” Lanie said to the group. “Lola was staring at her while she was playing; her mouth was open, and she looked absolutely shocked!”

“Unfortunately, I think she was using the wrong kind of clarinet and didn’t realize it,” I told them even as I texted Geneva to see if they could find me the right kind of clarinet for the piece. I felt sort of guilty for asking, but I quickly learned that instruments wouldn’t even put a dent in expenses around the castle.

“So? She’s always saying she’s so amazing,” Zoé said, “I don’t mind her getting knocked down a peg.”

“She probably thinks that’s all I do,” I told them.

“Huh?” Léa said.

“Look, I have no doubt that she’s a witch, but she’s kind of had a hard month too. I’m sure she thought she was the next Queen of Osané when my father died, but then I appeared. Now I’ve taken her solos…”

“You feel sorry for her?” Élise asked.

I shrugged, “She doesn’t exactly endear herself to me feeling that way, but I will say I can see where she probably feels robbed by me right now?”

“Is she real?” Noémie asked Léa. “I don’t think I’ve met someone this sweet since I was in year one?”

I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Careful,” Léa said, “Madame Lavigne might not approve?”

I groaned, “I just want to be a regular kid.”

“Well, you do look like a kid,” Lanie told me with a smirk. “You and Léa can probably get the kid’s prices for everything? You can do that now together?”

Élise got in on the fun, “Just say they’re our baby sisters?”

A chip was thrown at her from Léa, “Not all of us can be giants!”

Overall, as I walked back to the school with the girls, I was really impressed with how quickly they accepted me! As we waited for Geography class to begin, several other orchestra members approached me to say they were impressed and to talk. After a morning of feeling like only a few people were willing to speak to me, it was really nice for the ice to be broken!

Unfortunately, Madame Ponce, our geography teacher, quickly extinguished any feelings of grandeur! She gave us an assignment that was supposed to be a review for the end-of-term exams, which required us to fill out a map of Europe with names of countries and capitals from memory.

Even with Madame Lavigne’s tutoring, I was horrible at it, even as I noted that almost every student was done in half the allotted time. She picked them all up and asked me to stick around at the end of the class. “Mademoiselle Alessi, I know you are from America, but you really should know this?”

I blushed, “Believe me, I’m feeling very foolish right now. I don’t think any of my fellow students would do any better. We don’t really cover much of this subject until I think it’s junior year?”

She nodded, “I guess I could see that being a problem. In the meantime, here are a couple more blank worksheets and a completed one. See if you can’t study and learn this?”

I nodded, “I’ll do my best, Madame.”

“Very well, I’m sure your friends are waiting outside, off with you,” she told me.

I indeed found them outside as they consoled me about my awful geography knowledge. Zoé said, “It’s nice to know there’s one thing you’re bad at.”

I groaned but followed them to the form room to gather our PE kits. I was shown the locker room with private changing stalls, which I used, and then joined the others for a lacrosse game. “I’ve never played this before,” I told the coach, Madame Langlois.

“No worries. We’re not competing this week. If you compete in the tournaments next week, we’ll ensure you’re just a sub for the teams.”

I nodded.

Soon, I found another thing I was just as bad at as geography, but fortunately, I wasn’t the only girl who was horrible at it. Some didn’t even seem to be trying, so at least I wasn’t seen as helpless compared to them!

By the end of the class, I was sweaty and ready for a shower. Not wanting to risk exposure, I changed into my uniform and walked to meet the security team at the front to return home.

When I arrived, I walked straight to the private residence and into the shower to get clean! I was dressed and beginning to think about doing something less school-like when Madame Lavigne came in and said, “I heard geography wasn’t your strength today?”

‘So much for relaxing after school…’ I complained in my head while saying, “Oui, Madame.”

Eventually, after dinner, Ellie and I traded text messages about the uniform and my day before the other girls chimed in, too. All of my new Osané friends were giving me a hard time about ‘Ian’ being my boyfriend. ‘His real name is better,’ I said by mistake, leading to more teasing!

‘One day down, fourteen more to go?’ I thought as I lay on the bed and quickly conked out that night!