Welcome to Café Luxe

"Well, it is weird..." Frances posed detective-like as she sat on the piano seat. After keeping it as a secret for almost a week, I couldn't help but tell the girls the whole story of what happened last Sunday. Of course, at first, everyone was really irritating because they kept asking me.

The usual Saturday afternoon at Montgomery's Studio. It was a humid afternoon, actually and the clock just passed 5 minutes from 1 pm. He was late and we were pretty much happy about it because everyone knew that Saturday lessons meant longer hours with him...not that we don't want to be with him.

"Isn't it?" I jumped off the closed piano where I sat, "and not only that, he was furious when he continued driving." We formed a "circle of friends" around the piano. I leaned against the piano; Frances was sitting on the piano bench; the twins were Indian-sitting in front of me; Mara sat still on the closed piano; while Jeanne stood against the window beside the piano.

Fab sat up, "well, Teacher Vance never acted that way even if Ange and I would mess up his hair." Angela, who sat comfortably beside her older twin sister, just had to agree.

"Maybe Vance was just tired, you know?" Mara smiled sweetly as usual, "besides, you can't blame him. He really hates when he's being ignored by his student. Believe me, he would strangle the person who steals away our attention."

Jeanne nodded, agreeing to her friend, "Anyway," she pushed herself away from the wall, "he is pretty late. Should I call?" she brought out her cellphone. Everyone nodded. Lately, I've been suspecting Jeanne to be Vance's secret wife. Of course, if I told this to her, she would defend herself--she IS a lawyer.

She pushed her glasses up her nose, "Hey! Where are you, idiot?" she shouted on the phone. Everyone had to snicker but I didn't. All I did was frown. If she was trying to be funny, well, let me tell her: lawyers are NOT the funniest people in the world. Sure, some of them may have the humor...but not all.

"What? Where are you anyway?" she asked over the phone. Everyone listened intently. "Oh, then you better hurry up or else we'll- uh, hello?" she snapped her phone shut, "damn, he hung up on me," she muttered.

Suddenly, the door burst open and we all jumped a mile. "Good afternoon, my dear students!!!" Vance sang as he closed the door with his foot. He turned to me and smiled, "good afternoon, Maddie!"

"Why does she have a special greeting?" The twins asked. Unfortunately, they were ignored. They both sighed at the same time and sometimes I wonder how they do those moves...do they rehearse or something? But aside from that, I noticed Vance carrying something on his back. His hand seemed to be hooking something up. A jacket?

Mara smiled, "so, whatcha got there?" she took a peek.
"Oh, this?" Vance laughed--his laugh is adorably annoying, "I found him right outside a few minutes ago." He put down something--or should I say someone-- from his hooked finger on the floor.
"Heh?!" we all exclaimed, except Vance and Jeanne--who I think really is a cyborg.

"So that's why you hung up," Jeanne folded her arms.
"Marvin, what are you doing here?" I asked. All heads turned to me, while Vance just simply smiled. I couldn't believe it. My nerdy little brother's nerdiness is now exposed and I'm the one to blame for not teaching him how to socialize.

I mentally kicked myself. If only he could have at least dress up--but no, he was wearing his "I'm a Nerd" shirt. Great, that adds to his weirdness.

Marvin trotted to my side and hid behind me, "that guy brought me here!" he pointed at the feminine guy in front of me. I stared at him with one eyebrow up.

Vance laughed, "I found this twirp outside the studio, you see. Maybe he just misses his big sister," he skipped towards me and gave me a bear-hug, "how cute is that?"

Marvin pushed him away, "hey, don't call me a twirp!" he stomped his feet.
"Anyway," Vance smiled victoriously as he let go of me. Has he forgotten what happened last Sunday? "I have some big news for you girls," he scooped Marvin up and practically swung him to the old couch. "Sit," he ordered my brother.

We all gathered around him. "Well, as you all know, starting this coming Monday, there won't be any school, right?"
We all nodded. Next week is suppose to be a free-week to students--even the college students because we'll be celebrating the anniversary of Luxe, all sister-schools and Luxe line of schools declared a holiday for her students. Lucky for me, I thought that I'll finally have a quick break from school.

...today's not my lucky day.

"so I wanted to invite you girls to accompany me to my villa from Monday to Friday," he smiled, "it'll be like a field trip for us!"
"Wow, a field trip!" Ange exclaimed happily.
Fab smiled, "that's wonderful, Teacher Vance."

"Yes," he nodded, "and so, with this plan, you all get to spent 5 days in my villa and of course, you''l do nothing but practice the pieces I'll be assigning to you," he grinned.

"Whoa! Hold up!" my eyes widened, "you mean we still have to study for 5 whole days?"
"Not really," Vance replied, "Friday will be performance day and the half of that day will be a celebration."
Mara laughed, "very evil scheme, Vance."
Jeanne nodded, "true. If that's the case, I'd rather stay here."

I pouted. It's true. If I'll be asked to choose between practicing violin for 5 whole days or to chew my arm off, I'll definitely be chewing my arm off right now. It wasn't fair and I knew it'll be a bad idea. I looked around and aside from my squirming little nerd brother, I spotted Frances over the piano again, practically running her light fingers on the keys. I wonder maybe she really is one talented person.

"If you girls don't go--" he stared at me. I knew he knows about my 'cutting-classes' scheme, "--I have no choice but to drag you from Monday TO Saturday--the whole 6 days-- to practice."

"no fair!" I exclaimed.

"I can't leave you girls doing nothing this week!" Vance walked over and sat beside my brother, "besides, Marvin will come with us!" he grinned.

"WHAT?!" Marvin and I both exclaimed, "WHY?!"

"Because," Vance winked, "it'll be fun with him around, messing with you girls."
I sighed and turned to the girl over at the piano, "Frances, do something! As our concert master?" I begged.

Frances smiled, "well, would you rather practice the whole day from Monday to Saturday...? or Monday to Friday only...?" she asked.

"Of course, if you chose the second, there won't be any classes on Saturday," Vance smiled.
I grunted, "so, in short, you're giving us a threat rather than inviting us?"
He nodded, "you could say that."

Mara sighed, "fine, we'll go." Jeanne simply nodded; the twins made high-fives to each other; Marvin frowned at me, waiting on my reply. Finally, I couldn't do anything and so, I nodded as well. I suppose Marvin will probably be telling on me tonight.

"That's settled then," Frances smiled.
Vance smiled proudly, "that's my concert master! She always fix my problems oh-so quickly!" he turned to us, "pieces will be assign to each one of you on Monday morning. We'll meet here 7 in the morning SHARP. Late comers will have to cook dinner for 5 nights."

"What?!" Frances exclaimed, "unfair!"
I grinned, half-evil, "we'll," I pat her back, "good luck being on time, Frances."
* *
After 3 hours of lessons (and I was scolded again for not completing my piece), the girls left quickly, getting all excited about the trip. Marvin, however, was kicked out of the class an hour ago because he kept kicking Vance's violin case.

Because of that, we grew more curious of what he looks like when he plays. No one really saw him play until now , and yet, we have been seeing his violin case open frequently now. I've seen his instrument just once--a glimpse, actually-- and it has an amazing color. Uncle Ben probably gave him his violin.

"Maddie, c'mere for a sec," he called just before I left. We're the only ones left and he's about to leave as well. I guess we'll be taking the same route to our apartments, considering we're a door away from each other. Now that i think about it, no one in the class knows about that fact.

"What's up?" I stopped on my tracks and turned to him. He walked towards me and gave me a green-covered book. It was about as thick as a Harry-Potter book. "What's this?"

He smiled, "scan over that and I'll give you a short oral test on Monday. If you fail that test, I'll give you a hard piece to practice."
"But I have homework to do," I whined.
He pat my head lightly, "you're a scholar. Scholars are good at time-management, right?"

Where did he get that information? Anyway, after that, we went to the apartment together. At first, I thought it'll be awkward and all, but since his gayness couldn't be hidden no longer than 10 seconds, it wasn't an awkward as I've imagined.

A few hours later, I found myself lying on my tummy--on the floor, apparently--flipping the few pages of the Vance's "Idiot's Guide to Music". I really have no idea why, but I'm actually enjoyed reading it. Everything about music was there: the era, the profiles of composers, the songs they composed, and of course, the instruments.

But as I was reading, I could hear Vance's piano playing. At first, it was a soothing piano-playing but suddenly, there was a loud noise coming from the other room. I couldn't handle it anymore. If he wanted me to study hard, he should really learn to play softer.

I stood up. I looked down on what I was wearing: black top and gray shorts...I knew it didn't matter anyway, how I looked in front of him, I mean. I swung my door open and stomped my way to his door. I knocked a couple of times, hearing my knock echoing through the empty halls.

"Hey! Maddie, what are you--"
"--shut up...," I mumbled, grinding my teeth in irritation. How could he be cheerful in this time of night? "don't you know what time it is?" I huffed, blowing my bangs away from my eyes.
He glanced down on his watch, which definitely told him that it was already 10 in the evening and he should really shut up, "oh, I was disturbing your studies?" he smiled.

I glared at him and I knew that he knew what I meant. "Dude, if you want me to read your book--" which I just realized that I was still holding, so I held it up anyway, "--you need to stop playing that noise."

"That wasn't noise, Maddie," he simply smiled. He pulled me into his room, shutting the door behind me. I let him drag me to where he was playing since I knew I didn't have the energy to fight him off. As he dragged me into a room, my eyes widened.

The room, aside from having a chandelier centered right above the black grand piano, was walled with white foam and as I stared from left to right, I realized that the room was to be sound-proof. The worst part of me being really good at analyzing things, is that I just figured out that the room extended onto the room between us! So that simply meant that he's actually playing a wall away from me.

"I bought the old couple's apartment room and renovated it," he skipped his way around the white room, "pretty roomy in here, huh?" he grinned at me.

"Mrs Land-Lady allowed you?" I asked, breathless.
He nodded, "as long as I pay my rent, she said. I don't really have any problems with money so she's okay with that."
Considering his family is in Europe, being the Concert Masters! Of course, he didn't have any problem with money. But I didn't say this out loud.

He pulled a chair to me and sat me there, "sit here and listen if this is really some noise, you're talking about."
I looked around and also noticed that the windows were open...no wonder i could hear him. Suddenly, he started playing the noisy piece again...

...but this time, it was loud but soft at the same time. It made my hair stand up. He played THAT good, imagine how he plays the violin! I bet he's really REALLY good. As his fingers swiftly scanned the keys, he smiled at me, "this is Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2," he had his eyes close, absorbing the sound.

It was beautiful. It felt as if the piece was dragging me to another dimension. Although there was a part of me who thought, "hey, maybe I can make this into rock or something!" but another me told myself that the piece was just simply beautiful in it's own way.

"Did you read about him, Madiie?" he asked me.
I nodded, "Sergei Rachmaninoff is the composer who fell into depression after the critics criticized his work, Symphony No. 1. He consulted a therapist and after he was cured, he dedicated a piece to that therapist and later, he married his cousin and had daughters."

He smiled, "that's a lot of reading you did," he nodded, "this piece was the one dedicated to the therapist who cured him out of depression. I guess you could say this piece has romantic values in it." He lightly faded, not finishing the piece itself, "so, you're gonna sleep here, or what?"

I stood up, "I'm going, I'm going!" He accompanied me to the door.
"Are you sure you don't want to sleep with daddy?" he asked, pouting.
I stared at him with half-lidded eyes, "no, thank you."

Heading to my room, I shut the door close. I walked to the wall right beside my study table and sat on the floor, leaning against it. I could feel the light vibration coming from the other room, somehow, I didn't want to sleep.

* * * * *
Sunday was rest day and so, I'll have to skip that since all I did was stay in my room, do my weekly assignment and finish off with Vance's book.

Although time passed too quickly and Monday came too soon. I never knew that studying something aside from school works can make time fly so fast. Well, I was partly thankful that Vance closed his window when he was practicing so, yeah, I didn't get too much distraction...bust still, the vibrating wall between us did disturb me.

The car ride to Vance's villa wasn't that long but the 2-hour ride was like a decade to me. With Marvin kicking the back of my seat, I couldn't help but look grumpy. But what disturbed me the most is that while Vance drove the car, all of the girls were at the back, with Marvin, and having a good time.

Guess where I sat?

He told me that as his "daughter", I should sit closer to "daddy" and that's where I sat-- in the passenger seat which he called "The Special Seat for Maddie". I never knew there was such a seat. Still, it was pretty comfortable with him, having my own seat next to him while the girls crowded the back area.

I felt as if, for once, I'm ahead of them...ahead of Frances, and ahead of Vance's secret wife, Jeanne.

* *
As soon as we reached his villa, a couple of maids took our luggage while we sat at the living room. The room was a typical "Victorian" style...even the scent smelled "Victorian-ish", lavender smell. Plus, the room had a fire-place! I never see fire-places too often in our street.

We all sat in the red-bedded couch as the twins sat at either the armchair. Marvin sat of the floor while Vance stood in front of us, as usual, grinning at us like an idiot. In his arms, he clutched some folders with our names on it.

"These are the pieces you'll be practicing starting today. Remember, the performance would be on Friday so I don't want anyone slacking off!" He walked towards us and handed as the folders. We quickly opened it, comparing pieces and this is what it turned out to be:

Maddie(who is, well, me...)--- "Long, Long Ago by T.H. Bayly
Fabiana and Angela--- "The Happy Farmer"
Frances--- "Gavotte in D Major" by J.S. Bach
Jeanne--- "Minuet in G" by Beethoven
Mara--- "Waltz" by J.Brahms

It was a bit unfair that Fab and Ange will be having the same piece...it was bad enough that I didn't have anyone to teach me how to play mine. "But the twins ALWAYS play the same piece," Frances smiled, "it's because Vance wanted them to build a strong sibling-bond with each other so he acts unfair to us."

"I have no idea if he's the bad guy or the good guy," Mara winked.

Vance clapped for our attention, "now, there are exactly 5 practice rooms here so all of you have your own rooms. The twins will practice in the same room, of course," he smiled, "the rooms are located in the basement so you can use the stair beside this room to go down."

"Where do we stay?" Jeanne suddenly asked, looking up from her piece.
"Oh, all of you will be staying in the same room. It's big enough for all of you," he stared at me and then, to Marvin, "of course, little Marvin will be staying with me in my room so you girls can have your ritual girl stuff."

Marvin snorted, "I doubt Maddie is even a girl." I elbowed him in which he yelped.

With pieces and our instruments in our hands, we headed straight upstairs
* *
"Forget the test," Vance said without looking up at me. He sat on that kind of chair where you can spin it until you barf. He sat crossed-leg, flipping some pages and scanning a music book. Although I'm still surprised that this villa had a library and I'm standing in right now, I still can't believe he said that.

I hung my mouth open, "I studied and you say to forget what I'VE BEEN STUDYING FOR TWO DAYS STRAIGHT?" I took one step forward.

He simply raise his head to me, "uh-huh," he smiled. I couldn't believe it. This gay-and-freakishly-irritating-dude wants me to forget all I've studied for. "It's no big deal, Maddie. At least you studied and learned something, right?" He adjusted his glasses up to his eye-level.

"The only thing I've learned is not to trust you, you idiot--" ah, wait.. since when did he started wearing glasses. And the frame-less one too. "Are those reading spectacles?" I leaned forward to him and observed it, "not bad."

"Ah," he turned red, I could tell. He spun his chair a little so not to be too close to me, "t-these are NOT reading spectacles. Don't make me sound like an old man."

"You are old," I sneered, "you're 20,right?"
"That's three years older than you...ONLY THREE," he stood up, "anyway, just go practice your piece, Maddie."
I turned away and slowly towards the door, "fine."

"Oh, and Maddie? Good luck."