When the Music Ends (The Winter Rose Chronicles) by Simone Beaudelaire Read Free Book Online Page B

conversation
turned.
                "All
right, Erin," Dr. Louise Chen said gently, "do you have a piece
prepared?"
                "I
do," Erin replied.
                "You
may begin when you’re ready."
                Erin wet her reed again. She experienced the faintest flutter as she raised the oboe to her
lips, but as the first notes of her piece washed over her, she forgot
completely where she was. The music was everything. Erin James ceased to exist
and all was notes, tempo crescendo and diminuendo, and emotion, until conscious
thought was no longer necessary. Every choice was the only one possible for
that moment, done without reflection, based on pure instinct. The terrible
grief she felt for her friend’s continuing suffering wound itself into
her playing. The oboe raged and wept. It was transcendent.
    As the final notes faded away, Erin returned to consciousness and
glanced at the recruiter. The older woman looked absolutely stunned. She sat in
silence for a very long time. Erin didn’t mind though. She was trying to
reassemble her composure.
    Finally Dr. Chen said, "That was very good." She
swallowed hard, drew a deep breath, and continued, "It will take some
time for us to process our applications, but we will contact you one way or the
other around Christmas. Thank you."
    Erin nodded, shook hands with the woman again, and
left the room. She had done her best, and it had been very good. That was all
she wanted. The rest was out of her hands.
    During that time Erin also auditioned for, and was accepted into the
all-region band. This was hardly novel. She had made region each year of high
school, but it was an important first step. The more difficult audition for
all-state would not come until later in the year.
    ******
    A couple of weeks later, Erin was sitting, bored senseless, in
health class. She had slipped in silently as always, and taken her seat in the
corner closest to the teacher’s desk. She preferred to hide because it
was embarrassing to be here. She was the only senior amongst these giggling
freshmen, but she had forgotten to take it back then, wrapped up as she was in
music electives. She listened to the whispers from the back of the room. Two
little girls were comparing their Saturday evening at a party, deciding who had
been more drunk. Erin rolled her eyes. Had she ever been that young? She
supposed she must have been, but even at fifteen, she had been more interested
in band than beer.
    "Listen, kids," Mrs. Heath told them earnestly,
"it’s really not necessary for you to have sex in high school. I
have never heard of anyone who regretted waiting. Your mental and physical
health will be much better overall if you wait. Remember, I’m not
encouraging any of you to go this route. However, I am aware that some of you will
ignore my advice. If you feel you must be intimate with someone, please be
monogamous, and please use protection. Condoms are available free in the
nurse’s office, and can also be purchased cheaply from any convenience or
grocery store. Aside from the risk of getting pregnant, there are several
sexually transmitted diseases circulating, yes even in this school. Some are
permanent and others are deadly. Protect yourselves with abstinence if you can,
but please protect yourselves somehow."
    Erin could have recited this speech by heart. She
had heard it at assemblies for years. Her own mother talked to her about caution
with distressing frequency. It had become even more pointed of late, and Erin
supposed even someone as obtuse as Valerie must have realized it was a boy she
was talking to on the phone most evenings. Or maybe it was the late nights. She
had never had a curfew, but she had usually brought herself home much earlier
on weekends.
    Well, she and Sean were certainly monogamous. However, the
couple’s actual condom use had been rather hit or miss. At Sean’s
apartment, where the little box lived, they used them, most of the time,