God Only Knows

God Only Knows

Today was the the day. Today was the first day of high school for millions of youths across the country. Today was the day they entered the world of regrettable music, self discovery, unfortunate hairstyles, and overrated parties. And that was if you were in a "normal" high school. If you were a student at the Ramus Chandler Gifted Musician's School it meant far more.
It was 7:30 in the morning, the air was cool but humid. The sun came up just enough to give the city light while not roasting the inhabitants, like it would later in the day. Tensions were high when the students arrived. The students left their limousines, public buses, and parent's cars, all dressed in a similar fashion. Each one was dressed in a clean, plain dress shirt, mostly white though there were some different colors, black dress pants and either black or brown shoes. Very few of the students talked to one another as they walked past the front gate and into the school.
The mood was not pleasant among the students. These poor kids were nervous enough starting high school; all the baggage that entailed. Their bodies were changing, becoming influenced by fluxing moods and hormones, leaving what friends they may have in middle school behind, some were even leaving their families for large stretches of the year. The fact that they were attending one of the nation's top musical programs was just icing; thick, teeth rotting, toothbrush ruining, icing on top of a freshly baked anxiety cake; lovingly hand crafted by dear, sweet, Mrs. Nervous Breakdown. These kids weren't having a good time.
There was one room in the whole school free of nerves. Lethargic was more like it. The school's teacher's lounge was fully of groggy instructors who had to get up bright and early for the first time in months. Multiple pots of coffee had been brewed, diluted with copious amounts of dairy and non-dairy creamer and sugar, and consumed. One of the instructors, a black wolf professor Doc Rollins, was sitting off to the side on one of the oak tables, a white cup sat in front of his with a spoon sticking out of it. Doc usually started his morning off with a cup of cheesecake flavored yogurt. As he ate, another canine, this one with varied fur colors; black, brown, white, even a little red and gray, stood over him, looking at his food.
"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Mallory?" Doc droned out, not even looking at the other canine as he brought a spoon full of his breakfast to his mouth.
"Just checking in to see what mood you're in," Patches joked, putting his hands on Doc's back to get a better look. "Let's see....oh! You got some chocolate chunks in there today."
"And what, pray tell, does that mean?" Doc inquired.
Before Patches could give his answer a short snapping turtle came into the room. He looked particularly rough, even compared to the other teachers. The bags under his eyes seem to just go on for miles. He smelled like cheap dollar store cologne and his clothes were wrinkled. This was Jaime Gallagher, the school's math teacher. Despite being a musically inclined school, numerous instructors on the payroll had never picked up an instrument in their lives. These were the core subjects; English, algebra, biology, etc.   With a raspy, gravely, two-pack-a-day voice he asked "What's he got in there today Patches?"
"Chocolate!" Patches answered.
"Chunked or shaved?" Jaime asked.
"Chunked!"
"Ooo, he's snippy today." Jaime joked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"I hate all of you." Doc groaned.
As if the universe had a personal vendetta against poor professor Rollins a third canine came from the left. This one was a dark blue wolf woman. The was Dr. Reese. She slipped into the chair next to Doc, acting as Patches's partner in crime. She added "Normally you'd be right but this is Doc's second yogurt."
"Dear God..." Patches hammed. "The scandal!
"Careful Patches, he may try to get stab-happy with that spoon." Reese humorously warned.
"It's funny you say that," Doc replied, mouth full of yogurt. "I have that sudden urge."
There was not a better example of "frenemies" to be found. Despite Doc's apparent dislike of Reese and Patches the three were often seen together. Doc and Reese became teachers at the program around the same time, with Reese being there only a few months before him. Reese would delight in figuratively poking and prodding Doc, getting his flustered and livid. Patches was a recent addition to the school only being there three years now but he too found himself giving Doc grief in a good natured way. Whether or not Doc actually liked them or not, they were the closest thing to friends he had.
Reese and Patches's antic came to an end when a familiar sound hit their ears. Coming from down came the "tap, tap, tap" sound of a can being swung from side to side, hitting the ground. A short aardwolf woman walked into the room. On her face were a pair of black sunglasses, signifying she was blind. She had gray fur mostly with streaks of black throughout. She was dressed in black slacks, a white undershirt and a gray suit jacket. This was Neferti Draper, the principal of the school.
Accompanying her was the vice princial and Neferti's close friend, Arthur Henley. He was an average height gentleman. He had a jolly air about him much like Santa Claus...if he were a rat. He was black and white. His face was mostly white except for a spot of black on his right eye. He was dressed in a pair of brown slacks and a vest. He had a clean white dress shirt and and black tie. He looked very old timey, like he had just hopped out of the 40s. He even had a pocket watch, which had a visible bronze chain leading out of his pocket.
Neferti stopped toward the front of the room and faced her faculty.
"Good morning, everyone." She said stoically. "Arthur, are our instructors looked bright-eyed and bushy tailed today?"
"I must say, they are looking quite ragged this morning." Arthur said, smiling.
"That's too bad because we have work to do, people!" She punctuated her statement with slapping the back of her hand down onto her palm. "Now, I have an announcement to make. Ramus Chandler will stopping by and sitting in on orientation."
"What the hell?" Mr. Gallagher objected with a doughnut in his mouth. "I thought he only came to end of the year stuff?"
"Usually that is the case, Mr. Gallagher." Neferti agreed. "I don't know exactly what spurred this sudden change but Mr. Chandler insisted on making an appearance today."
Ramus Chandler was the founder on the program and he personally hired everyone currently teacher there. He was a large, Bernese mountain dog. He rarely spoke, often using one or two words or a hand gesture to communicate. He didn't look his faculty in the eye, most of the time gazing slightly away or at a different part of their face. Because of this his few visits caused a sense of unease with the instructors. He was difficult to read and his employees tried their best to keep their interactions with him short and sweet for both their comforts.
Ramus Chandler founded the program in 1985. Before that he was a recording artist. His band in the 60s rode the popular wave that was the surf music craze and were one of the most successful acts of the decade. Ramus's success took a nose dive in the late 60s when he checked himself into rehab. At the time he had been seeing a psychologist by the name of Dr. Avery Leonard. Dr. Leonard was a manipulative man who kept Ramus pumped with drugs to make him dumb and complacent while he took all his money and ran his life. Eventually when Ramus recovered he took Dr. Leonard to court and got his money back, and then some. Most assumed that Ramus's demeanor was some side effect caused by years of drug use and mental abuse at the hands of his doctor.
"Look," Neferti continued. "He's just going sit quietly like he usually does and oversee things. You've been through this time and again. This changes nothing."
Neferti's words did little alleviate the faculty's worries. Ramus never broke from this schedule. Nearly everyone in the room, excluding Neferti and Arthur, thought someone was going to get canned. People were looking at Doc and Leona, mostly Leona. While all the instructors could be harsh with the students during auditions, it was usually one of them that made tears start flowing.
Leona Lynch stood toward the back of the room, silently stirring a cup a cup of coffee. She was an average height tiger woman with a fierce expression on her face. She was the the conducting professor at the school. Students described her as more of a drill sergeant than a music teacher. She was hard, cold, vindictive, and antisocial. Even Doc, a man only slightly more tolerable, couldn't stand being around her. According to him, when she was around he couldn't shake the feeling that he was seconds away from being punched in the throat.
"Arthur. The time if you will?" Neferti asked.
"It looks to be about 7:45, everyone!" Arthur announced, checking his pocket watch. "Orientation begins in fifteen minutes!"

While it is true that most students were keeping to themselves on this imposing day, two students in particular were happily chatting it up. Emile Powalski and Michael Kayhill, a chameleon and husky respectively, had been dropped off right at 7:40 and were making their way toward the school's main gate. Both boys were dressed similarly; black pants and shoes, dress shirts. The only differences between the two, aside from their species of course, was that Emile's shirt was black and Michael's was white, he wore a dark blue tie with it.
"You and your dad are the only people I know that voluntarily wear ties." Emile commented.
"What? I feel weird dressing up like this without a tie," Michael explained. "It brings everything together."
"It also chokes you and makes you chafe."
"Speak for yourself! I got fur to deal with that."
Emile hopped up the short staircase that lead to the front door while Michael went up the normal way. The husky pulled out a slip of paper and read it while they walked down the main hall, relaying the contents to his friend. Unbeknownst to them, they were not alone in the hallway. A lizard girl stood a few feet ahead, hiding behind a wall. This was Lillian Ray.

Lillian Ray was the daughter of two politicians. These parents were Nigel Ray, a New York senator and Tabitha Ray, a member of the House of Representatives. These two were just as likely to tie someone to train tracks as they were to do actual political work. They were lying, scheming people and had no qualms with passing their ways to their daughter, Lillian. During the audition process she had sabotaged dozens of instruments, thrown away sign in sheets, and even tried to get a fellow student to work along side her. There we few lines Lillian Ray wouldn't cross if it meant getting ahead and making herself look good.
She looked at Emile and Michael as they came up the hall. She flipped through her mental notepad, trying to remember if she had anything one them. Emilio Ramone Powalski. He came from a middle class family, good singer, guitar player, wow'd Professor Rollin at the auditions, which was hard to do. Michael Andre Kayhill. Son of actress Samantha Monroe and some washed up rapper she didn't bother learning the name of, drummer; so he wouldn't be that much of a threat, decent reception at the auditions despite an argument with Professor Rollins.
Lillian smirked to herself as she schemed. She ducked into a nearby closet, peeking herself out just enough so that she could keep and eye on them. She watched them take a right turn and walk toward the auditorium, where orientation was going on. She slipped out and made a break for the instrument room which resided on a few doors down the hall. The door was locked but that was no big deal to her. She pulled out a bobby pin and screw driver from her bag and picked the lock. After Joel Henry suddenly grew a conscience and decided not to help her out, she had to learn how to do her own dirty work.
She noiselessly entered the room and took note of something; there were very few instruments in this room. There were barely enough to go around for the thirty students here today. This perplexed Lillian but she didn't wasted any time. She went over to the sole drum kit the school had and pulled out a knife she had tucked into the lining of her bag. She stabbed into the tops of all the drums and cut them out. She lined all the cut out tops and stabbed into them for good measure before tossing them onto the ground. She walked over to the guitars and clipped the strings on each one with a pair of scissors.
Lillian was careful. She knew if she sabotaged too many instruments and only left ones for herself to use she could be found out. It annoyed her having to play on an equal field with the other student but she decided to leave the rest alone. She slithered out of the instrument room, just as stealthily as when she entered. She made her way to the auditorium.

The auditorium was huge. The three floors of seats it could easily fit a few hundred. The house lights were on, keeping everything well lit. The thirty students barely took up any room in the massive performance space. Michael and Emile initially stood off to the side, feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the people they didn't know.
"Do you see anyone from our group?" Michael asked, scanning the crowd.
"Uh...not really. I don't see....dude!" Emile jumped.
"What?"
"Looks at that dude over there! He's got like a mask on!" Emile pointed out.
The student in question was a blue gecko. Because of the bright yellow rubber gloves that covered up his hands to his forearms and a white cloth mask on his face, he stuck out like a sore thumb covered in Christmas lights. He too was standing off from the crowd as much as possible and would even back away if anyone got close to him. He was talking with a short opossum girl but even she was kept at a distance. Michael stared curiously.
"They picked some weird people, man." Michael said, shaking his head.
"Hello." A heavily accented greeted.
A familiar wolf was standing off to the left. Guy Egorov had approached the two boys while they were gawking at the gecko. Neither of them had to be reminded who this kid was, his thick Russian accent had left quite the impression last time. They walked up to him, adding him to their little shy group.
"Hey, man! It's good to see ya!" Emile greeted Guy.
"Da. You too." Guy responded shyly.
"So...did that badger guy make the cut?" Michael asked up, noting the absence of Thomas.
"Badger?" Emile asked before remembering who they were referring to. "Oh! Thomas! Yeah, I don't see him. I guess he didn't make the cut. Guy, you see him at all?"
"No. You are only people I am knowink here." Guy answered, giving the crowd a courtesy scan.
"I had a feeling that was gonna happen." Michael admitted. "He wasn't very cooperative during the Q&A."
"Man...that sucks. Yo, Guy. You want to sit with us?" Emile offered.
"Oh! Uh, da. I would be likink that very much." Guy answered.
"Cool! Let's find our seats."
The students sat in the first three rows of the center section of seats. By this point the students had relaxed with each other, grouped up, and even started conversing. All of that came to an sudden halt when the metal doors toward the back of the auditorium, the entrance, opened. The students got quiet as assorted faculty crossed through  the door and walked down the aisle, toward the stage. No one made much of a sound until someone gasped. A tall Bernese mountain dog came in followed by Neferti and Arthur.
This was Ramus Chandler, the founder. He was old, had to be at least seventy at this point. He slowly proceeded down the aisle with the assistance of a cane. That being said he was in good shape. He wasn't gaunt, his body had an average build with a healthy amount of weight on him. Though his fur had faded over the years he was nowhere near sickly looking. He was a perfectly normal old man.
The instructors and Ramus approached the stage where a line of chairs had been set out for them. All of them took a seat except for Neferti and Arthur. Neferti stood at the center of the stage with her rat companion by her side, looking out to the students. Well, looking as much as a blind woman could look.
"Good morning, students!" She projected out to them. "We have a lot to get through today. So, how many of you know who I am?"
Most of the students raised their hands, including Guy, Emile and Michael since she was a judge for their group.
"...Arthur?" Neferti asked.
"Yes?" He replied with a smile.
"How many of these students are raising their hands to a blind woman?" She joked.
"Oh, almost all of them." He chuckled.
Most of the students who raised their hands yanked them down out of embarrassment. There was some mild laughter from them as well, the ones who had a sense of humor at least.  Even the instructors got a laugh out of that. She pulled this joke all the time. The only person who didn't laugh or have much of a reaction at all was Ramus. He sat there, neutral faced with his cane across his lap.
"Now that we're loosened up let's get down to..." Neferti stopped, her left ear twitched. "Oh! Sounds like someone else is joining us."
The click of the auditorium's metal doors opening and closing could be heard followed by footfalls and the rustling of a backpack. This person had the attention of every student and faculty member in the room. This person was a stocky, slightly chubby, badger child. He wasn't dressed even remotely similar to the others. He wore black jeans, the cuffs scuffed up and torn due to years of use. Instead of a neat, plain dress shirt he had a yellow flannel button up shirt. He walked in a pair of black work boots that were caked with dirt. He left small dirt foot prints as he traveled.  He also wore a faded, slightly stained, green hat that covered his eyes with the bill.
"Is that you, Mr. Abernathy? Or is someone else walking around with messy boots?" Neferti asked.
"Me." Thomas answered succinctly.
"You do know you're late, correct? On the first day of school." Arthur commented, crossing his arms.
"Mhm." He answered bluntly. "Sorry."
"Just don't make a habit out of it, Mr. Abernathy." Neferti said, laying down the law.
Thomas Abernathy nodded and walked down the aisle. He took an available seat toward the back of the group. His demeanor caused the student body to go into intrigued whispers. The instructors exchanged confused glances among themselves. They had heard about the savant badger student that Neferti insisted on bringing into the program. They each had their own wildly different expectations of what this child would look and act like but most of them assumed he would at least dress appropriately.
"Well, now that we are all here. Let me be the first to welcome you to the Ramus Chandler Gifted Musician's Program." Neferti said. "For now, I will give our esteemed founder, Ramus Chandler, the floor."
Neferti took a few steps back with Arthur's assistance. The students and faculty gave a courtesy clap for Mr. Chandler. He stood up from his seat in silence and walked over to center stage, the only sound to be heard was the "tap, tap, tap" of his cane hitting the wooden stage floor. He stopped and scanned the students. There was a prolonged silence. Every few seconds Ramus looked like he was about to start talking only to trail off and look around.
"Welcome." He said, finally speaking. "I hope you all enjoy your time here."
And just like that he was walking back to his seat. The students exchanged confused glances. The faculty didn't seem phased at all, they were used to Ramus not being one for words. Neferti and Arthur walked back up center stage and thanked Ramus for his words.
"You are all about to embark on a rigorous journey." Neferti began. "For the next four years you will be trained in all aspects of music. If you're an singer, we'll teach you an instrument. If you're an instrumentalist, you bet we're going to whip your voice into shape. It is ultimately up to you what you pursue outside this school but we will not leave you to sit in your comfort zone while you're here. We create well rounded artists here. We firmly believe in creating jacks of all trades. Now, let me introduce you to your instructors."
Neferti and Arthur introduced themselves as Principal and Vice Principal before moving on to the others. Some instructors gave a small speech and voiced how they were looking forward to working with the students. While others plainly stated their names and subjects before sitting down. It was a standard introduction. After everyone was done attention turned back to Neferti.
"Well now that introductions are out of the way, let's give you your first assignment!" Neferti announced, much to the distress of her students. "It's the first day so I feel like being lenient. Down the hall you will find the instrument room. You are tasked with performing a piece, any piece. It can be something preexisting or something you made up.  You can work alone or together. You will be let go to work on your own and at 2 o'clock we will meet back here so you can perform what you have come up with. Any questions."
"Uh, I have a question!" A young panther boy by the name of Joel Henry spoke up, raiding his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Henry. Miscellaneous objects are allowed."
His hand went back down.
"If that's it, I'll let you go. Good luck!"
A few of the students bolted out of their seat post haste while others stayed seated. Guy, Emile, Thomas and Michael took their sweet time getting up and even then, they stood around to chat.
"Hey! Good to see ya! We were afraid you didn't make it." Emile greeted the badger.
Thomas shrugged.
"So what are you guys thinking of doing for your piece?" Michael asked, cutting to the chase.
"Uh.....shit. I'll probably do some Prince song." Emile decided.
"Not gonna shake it up at all, are ya?" Michael pointed out.
"Lemme guess, you're gonna do a jazz rendition of a popular song." Emile quipped.
"No! I....sh-shut up!" Michael stuttered.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Emile chided. He turned his attention to the other two boys. "What about you guys?"
"Benny and Jets!" Guy declared.
"Oh yeah? You a big Elton John fan." Michael inquired.
"Da! He is very good man." Guy confirmed.
"You say that like you know him." Michael laughed.
"I...I do." Guy mumbled, causing Michael's eyes to go wide. "He came to father's Birthday last year..."
"No way!" Michael said excitedly. "That's awesome!"
Thomas gave another shrug prompting Emile to ask him if anything was wrong. All he got from his was another gesture, this time shaking his head "no." Emile didn't see this conversation going anywhere soon so he suggested they all head down to the instrument room and snag their instruments. They took their sweet time getting to the room. After all, it was only nine in the morning and they had until two to produce something. They came to the door just as another student, an Ibex, was rolling out a harp and going his own way.
The found boys open the door and their collective hearts sank. Nearly everything in the instrument room was gone. They all stood there, blinking as they collectively tried to process this. Emile walked inside and noticeably brightened up when he saw a rack of guitars off to the side. The desperately hopeful chameleon ran over to inspect them only to loudly curse in anger. The strings had been cut, all of them. As Emile started to anxiously pace around Michael took a crack at searching the room. The husky slipped and fell as he approached the lone drum set in the room. He looked to his feet to see hat had caused his fall. It was a round,  white plastic sheet that had been crudely cut and stabbed. It was the tops of the drums.
"What the fuck?!" Michael yelled in shock. He ran to the drum set out of dumb hope that it could be salvaged but there was no saving it. All the tops had been sliced out.
"No! No, no, no no!" Emile hissed out before kicking one of the now useless guitars.
Guy wasn't given the short end of the stick quite like he thought. The flustered wolf gave a sigh of relief after seeing a piano tucked away in the corner of the room. However, he was still suffering secondhand anxiety from Emile and Michael. Guy approached the two frustrated students, trying to calm them down as Thomas just stood there. He slipped his backpack off and unzipped it.
"You need to be calmink down!" Guy said, trying to mediate.
"What are we supposed to do, Guy?!" Emile yelled, escalating the situation. "First assignment of the year and we're gonna blow it!"
"These kinds of school are harsh about this kind of thing. If you aren't prepared they will leave you by the wayside!" Michael informed.
"Yes, yes, I am knowink this but.." Guy was cut off by a brown paper bag being held in front of his face. The bag was held by Thomas.
Thomas opened up the bag and dug around. An aroma of salt and fried food started to fill their nostrils. The silent badger pulled out a three sandwiches and handed them off to the three panicking student. They were wrapped in tin foil and the outside was slightly wet due to the steam coming from them being trapped in the bag. After pulling out the last one, which was for him he balled up the bag and put it back in his pack. He unwrapped the tin foil revealing a fresh, hot fried chicken sandwich and said "Eat."
"You got us food?" Emile asked in disbelief.
Thomas nodded, staying silent. This time it was more because his mouth was full of bread and fried chicken. After a few seconds of staring at Thomas, comprehending this unexpected act of kindness each of them unwrapped their sandwiches and started chowing down. You could feel the tension in the room lessen as they ate. Emile had a bad habit of skipping breakfast in the morning so this was doing wonders for his mood. The was an almost literally foreign experience for Guy. His mother usually forbade American food in the house. She also didn't allow take out. This was one of the few times he had eaten something not prepared by their hired cook, Terence. Michael usually hated mayonnaise but the crunchy skin, crispy lettuce and juicy meat had won him over. His ears twitched with pleasure as he ate.
They each finished their food and passed the tin foil back to Thomas, who got rid of it. With their stomachs full they were able to think much clearer. This situation was still serious and needed to be dealt with but they were now better equipped to handle it.
"Okay...Okay!" Emile began. "We have no drums and no guitars. Maybe we could just sing?"
"That sounds like our best option honestly." Michael begrudgingly admitted.
"Well," Guy interjected, getting Emile and Michael's attention. "They said we could be workink together."
There was that. It was clear from the way Neferti laid down the rules that students working together was not what typically happened. Emile pondered this for a bit and said "I'm cool with that if you guys are."
"Yeah, same." Michael agreed.
"Thomas?" Guy asked, pronouncing it as "toe-mas", revealing the french part of his accent.
Thomas shrugged.
"Dude," Emile began, put his face in his hands. "Just give me one word. Pity me."
"Sure." Thomas answered.
"...Sure to working together or pitying me?" Emile asked.
"Both."
"Wow, he has jokes!" Michael exclaimed. "Now that that's out of the way, what do we play? It has to be something we all know or simple enough that we can learn."
The four of them took a moment to think. Something they all knew or was easy to learn that they could play on a piano. There was the obvious choices: Piano Man, Imagine, Your Song. There was no shortage of choices but those were all made for just one singer and they had four. Michael suggested some songs by The Temptations but Guy and Thomas's voice weren't a very good match for that soulful, old school R&B sound. Guy brought up the possibility of doing a Queen song but Michael and Emile weren't as familiar with them. That's when Thomas spoke up.
"God Only Knows." Thomas suggested.
"Hm? Oh. You mean that old Beach Boys song?" Michael asked. "If you should ever leave me, though would still go on believe me."
"The world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me?" Emile picked up the next line, singing a little.
"Da! I know song! Father is big Beach Boys admirer." Guy chimed in, agreeing with the choice.
The four got to work. Guy sat at the keys, him being the piano player and all while the other three stood around. Michael pulled up the sheet music on his phone and placed it on the music stand. It wasn't perfect but it would have to do. They went through the song once straight through with all of them singing at the same time. It was bare bones but it worked and anyone else would call it a day right then and there. Thomas was not anyone else. He was Thomas. He objected and tried something different. He asked each of them sing a few bars of the song by themselves.
"God only knows what I'd be without you." Emile sang. His voice was high, suited for falsetto.
"God only knows what I'd be without you." Guy sang. Hi voice was good by his accent made it sound off.
"God only knows what I'd be without you." Michael sang. He put all this vibrato and soul into his voice.
"Stop that." Thomas pleaded.
"That's how I always sing..." Michael explained.
"Don't do anything to it. Just sing it straight. Please?"
Michael shrugged and did what Thomas asked. They took the song from the top and had the husky boy do it solo. When Michael sang straight his voice sounded boyish and innocent. Thomas almost jumped when he heard it. He slapped his on the should as a way of saying "Good job! Do that!" Unfortunately something was still bothering Thomas the more they practiced. The instrumentation was too bare for his liking. All they had was this piano and didn't even sound that great. Thomas stopped the music.
"Something is missing. We're just standing around doing nothing." Thomas complained.
"Did you just say two sentences with more than two words?" Emile commented.
"Start it from the top again, please."
Guy sighed and did just that. Thomas glared at the piano from up under his hat, watching the strings get hit and creating sound. He started tapping on the instrument in a simple rhythm. Thomas ears twitched hearing his tapping and the piano resonate. Thomas jolted up right and asked "Does anyone have a plastic bottle?"
"I do." Michael said raising his hand.
"May I have it?"
"Sure." He shrugged.
Michael handed off an empty water bottle that he had in his bag. Thomas pulled out a pocket knife and cut it in half. He tossed the top half in the garbage and kept the bottom. The inside of the bottle was still wet so Thomas wiped down the inside with his shirt. He pulled out a sharpie pen from his bag and nodded at Guy, motioning for him to take it from the top. Shortly after Michael began singing the obsessive badger tapped the side of the cut up bottle.
It was hard to explain but the simple tapping of the plastic bottle added something to the song. They performed the whole song for what felt like the tenth time. Now they were getting curious. They agreed to search around for anything else they could use. The room was still very bare but it was not without its treasures. Emile found a  cloth strap that had sleigh bells sewn to it and Michael found a flute that was slightly broken but could still produce sound. The flute was handed off to Emile for him to have while the sleigh bells were wrapped around Michael's hand.
What followed was an hour of joyous experimentation. The four students went through God Only Knows at least a dozen more times trying to fit their recently discovered instruments into the mix. Yes, they weren't adding anything new the song, they were recreating the original composition. But they were doing it themselves, with good old fashioned trial and error and improvisation. They were having fun, so much so that they didn't notice they had an audience.
Two students had been having trouble of their own. Alissa Peters and Melissa Getty, a parrot and sheep student respectively, had been struggling for the last hour by themselves. They wanted to do something together but found their piece very plain. Neither of them were singers and felt like they needed some kind of voice. They decided to take a walk to clear their head and that when they heard Thomas, Guy, Michael, and Emile playing around in the instrument room. So far, they were having more fun that anyone else around here.

"Hey." Melissa spoke up, getting their attention. "Looks like you guys are making good progress.
"Yeah, I...I guess you could say that." Michael panted after singing so much. "I'm Michael by the way.
"Melissa." She greeted. "This is my friend Alissa."
"Hi!" The parrot spoke, waving her wing at them.
"Nice to meet you. These guys are Emilio or Emile, Guy and Thomas." Michael pointed out his partners, who waved back at them.
"It's nice to meet you guys too!" Alissa agreed. "So is that what you're performing? Or are you guys just messing around."
The boys explained the circumstances they were in. The broken instruments, last minute decisions, everything.
"What?? That sucks!" Melissa said shocked. "I can' believe someone would do that!"
"That's dirty!" Alissa added. "Well, it's good you guys aren't getting set back too badly."
Thomas had been staring at Alissa for a while. More accurately he was looking at the instrument in her hands. She had a violin with her. The ever-turning gears in his head went into overdrive. God Only Knows had a string section. Yes, it was a a quartet of violins and cello and Alissa's single violin wouldn't be able to produce the same result but it was better than nothing. He walked up and asked "Melissa, what do you play?"
"Oh. I play cello." She answered, earning a follow-up question from Thomas.
"Do you two want to play with us?" Thomas asked, cutting to the chase and earning surprised looks from everyone in the room.
Melissa and Alissa looked to each other, having a silent conversation before small smiles formed on both their faces. They turned to Thomas.
"Sure! If that's okay with you guys." Alissa agreed.
"What you guys are doing looks a lot more fun than what we've been doing anyway." Melissa admitted.
They had a string section! It wasn't a large one but nonetheless they had it. Melissa brought in her cello and the now six students began working their strings into the mix. Thomas knew exactly where he wanted them to start but the hard part was getting the timing without a conductor. Fittingly, Thomas stepped aside and began conducting with his sharpie marker. He wasn't keeping the time signature, more so he was just pointing at them when it was their turn.
"Okay, okay, let's take it back just a bit." Thomas said, rubbing his face. "Guy give me those keys again."
"Which keys?" Guy asked leaning on the piano.
"It's right before 'if you should ever leave me'. The bom bom-bom-bom." Thomas explained. "Alissa, Melissa? that's your cue, okay? Bom bom-bom-bom, wait and beat and come in as Michael sings the line."
"Got it!" Melissa chimed, Alissa opted for a thumbs up.
Guy played the keys Thomas instructed him too and the string section came in. Thomas groaned and told them to hold almost instantly.
"Oh my god, what??" Alissa asked, getting frustrated with all this starting and stopping.
"Sorry! It's just...you're too high."  Thomas informed. "Try it a couple octaves lower."
"Fine..." She sighed.
"How am I doing? Melissa asked.
"You're high too, just take it down a smidge." Thomas directed his attention to Michael now. "And slow down. You're waving your arm around too much."
"...Dude, it's sleigh bells. How much technique could there possibly be?!" Michael objected.
While performing with each other was fun Michael was starting to get irritated with Thomas. He had saddled him with singing lead vocals and ow here he was getting notes on his sleigh bell playing. He crossed his arms and sighed as Thomas informed him on proper form.
"The tempo is very important." Thomas stressed. "If we're going 1...2...3...4... and you're going 1, 2, 3, 4 it doesn't work!"
"Could I get some water?" Emile butted in, licking his dry lips.
"Yes! Go!" Thomas said getting snippy.
"Dude, settle down. You can't talk to people like that. Guy needs a break." Michael asserted.
"No, I am doink fine." Guy said, thinking Michael was referring to him.
"No! I meant guy as in....ugh.." Michael rubbed his temples.
"Did I say he couldn't take a break? No. I just told him to go. Now, back to business; ys, in the beginning it's faster but you can't do that at the tail end. Okay?"
"Fine! Fine...I get it." Michael conceded.
Once Emile came back they took it from the top again. They hit the spot where the strings came in...and nailed it. Thomas jumped up, actually messing up his own tempo he had with the soda bottle. "Yes! Yes! Perfect!!" He cheered, smiling big. However, despite their progress, there was still something missing. Thomas was pacing around the room trying to find anything else they could use. It was fruitless though. They had picked the instrument room clean of everything.
Guy's fingers were starting to hurt. He moved his wrist around and cracked his knuckles as everyone relaxed. It was a little past 11:39 am. They had under two and a half hours to present their piece to the faculty. Emile and Michael tried to appeal to Thomas's common sense. They had more than they needed, they could perform this with pride and get a good grade to start out the year. Thomas was not satisfied with just that.
"You could always ask around." Melissa suggested.
"Yeah," Alissa added. "I'm sure we're not the only ones having trouble,"
"Or not enjoying themselves,"
"That too!"
Thomas liked that idea. The other three boys didn't like it but saw no way to talk him out of it. The settled, acquiescing to his whim. They all split up, taking different sections of the school. Melissa and Alissa decided to stay in the instrument room to practice their parts. Even though they had over two hours time was of the essence.
Thomas headed down the hall to the A-wing practice rooms. He knocked on door after door. His requests for assistance were met with denial. Most wanted nothing to do with him, looking at the way he dressed and acting thinking "Why would I ever associate with you?" and closed the door in his face. A decent handful seemed a little more open to the idea but wanted to give a good solo performance where they were the focus. They didn't want to get lost in the back ground. Just as Thomas was about to head back the way he came he caught a voice. It was coming from the bathroom.
Not all the student were doom and gloom. One particular student felt more than comfortable with their work. Bruno Kelly was singing to himself as he washed his hands. He was a 6' tall Newfoundland. His fur was a mix rich black and brown colors and was kept finely brushed. He was dressed slightly from the other but still neatly. He had a red cardigan with a black undershirt and pair of black dress pants. The school kept the restrooms spotless so it was actually fairly relaxing.
He had been working for the last few hours. He was singing a classic Italian aria that killed at auditions. He was now unwinding and washing his face. While he was busy drying himself off, Thomas walked in, trying to find the source of the voice. Bruno stood up and started humming a song that came on his Spotify today. He put his hand on his hip and began to move it to a beat in his head.

Shawty, I don't mind
If you dance on a pole
That don't make you a hoe
Shawty, I don't mind
When you workin' til three
If you're leaving with me

"Hey," Thomas interrupted.
Bruno hopped int the air out of surprise. He turned his attention to the badger, who no doubt saw him dancing. Bruno's face was bright red. He hated dancing in front of people. Guys always gave him weird looks. According to them his way of dancing wasn't appropriate for men. The big dog steeled himself for the badger's laughter, side eyed looks or shitty comments.
"Lemme ask you something." Thomas began. "Do you mind helping us out?"
"Excuse me?" Bruno asked, not expecting that.
"Friends and I need more students for our piece. You got an instrument?"
"Oh...no, sorry. I know some guitar, and piano but that's about it. I'm a singer." Bruno explained.
Thomas nodded, thinking.
"You want to help out anyway?" Thomas asked.
"Sorry. I really want do this solo. I want to show the faculty how much I've improved."
Thomas nodded again. "Okay." He said.
"Sorry..."
"It's cool." Thomas started to leave and then stopped. "That's a nice cardigan."
Bruno thanked him hesitantly. He watched Thomas leave the bathroom. He peeked his head out of the bathroom and kept his eye on him as he jogged back down the hall toward the instrument room.
"Weird guy..." Bruno muttered to himself.

While Thomas didn't have much luck finding anyone to help them, Guy, Emile, and Michael more than made up for it. Michael found two student, Milo Cheski and Maggie Norton. Much to the surprise of every in attendance, Milo was primarily a comedic musician who played the accordion. This was so unprecedented that he couldn't even get one from the Instrument room. He had to bring his own everywhere he went. He was more than happy to help out with the piece because, according to him "it sounded like fun".
Maggie Norton was a small mouse girl who actually skipped a grade to attend the program. She primarily played french horn though you would be hard pressed to find any conventional instrument she didn't know something about. Michael had a fair amount of difficulty recruiting her. She was apprehensive about scrapping all the work she had put into her piece, even if it only meant putting off for another day. Eventually she did agree but only after she heard how unconventional the instrumentation was. She was curious and wanted to be a part of it.
Guy was only able to find one student, a Mr. Montgomery Willard, though he preferred to be called Monty. He was the blue gecko with the face mask and gloves. Guy's approach was unorthodox. Initially Guy and Monty couldn't understand a word either of them said. Guy had a thick Russian accent with some french flairs and Monty was from Ireland, born and raised for most of his life. After the two got into an incoherent screaming argument with each other Guy threatened to lick his timpani if he didn't agree to play. That was more than enough to convince poor Monty.
Emile's pick was the most eye catching. Gale Washington was a horse girl who stood at 5' 10". Her manner of dress was just like everyone else in attendance. The thing that was eye catching was her mane. It was dyed hot pink. She didn't looked as out of place and odd as Thomas and Monty but she was up there. She was a classically trained guitar player who had already had semi-success on Bandcamp. She didn't trust the school instruments to give her consistent results so she brought her own from home.
What started as a fun, loose jam session between friends soon devolved into a frustrating mess in a room full of people who were getting sick of each other. No mater how many times the troop performed the song was something wrong with in according to Thomas. Milo was dragging, Maggie was pitchy, Gale missed her cue, Michael got into a coughing fit due to hours of singing, Guy's hand got a cramp, et cetera, et cetera.
"No! What are you doing?!" Thomas groaned out at Milo.
"I'm playing! What other answer do you want??" Milo asked, exasperated.
"You're rushing. Breathe with it." Thomas explained. He took a deep breath, extending his hands and compressing them on  the exhale, like he was playing an accordion. Next on his list was Monty.
"You're doing great but you need to pay attention to Michael. He's your cue."
"I know my feckin' cue you, gobshite! The langer keeps movin' around!" Monty protest.
"What the hell is a langer?" Michael interjected.
"You're a feckin langer!"
"Someone google that so I know whether to be mad or not!" Michael demanded.
Thomas made Michael  stand in the center of the group of musicians and urged him to stay still and not wander.
"Hey Thomas." Gale spoke up.
"What?"
"You're aware this clown car has no brakes...right?" She asked.
Thomas gritted his teeth and stood back in place. They performed it again. And again. And again. They practiced that damn song until they were blue in the face and ready to start eating their instruments. They took a break around 1 pm to eat, get some air and relax. Guy, Thomas, Emile, and Michael were laying around in the instrument room. Thomas was noticeably twitchy. Something still wasn't right. Even after all these hours of toiling there was still something digging at him. He sat up and scrambled to his bag, earning a simultaneous grown from his companions.
"What now?!" Emile whined, covering his head with his hands.
"Guy. Piano." Thomas ordered.
"You can suck my big fat-"
"Whoa buddy!" Michael intervened covering Guy's mouth.
"Fine."
Thomas pulled out a roll of packing tape. His house unfortunately didn't have any plain scotch tape. He used the piano bench and leaned into the body of the instrument. He cut off a large strand of tape and fixed it to the strings.
"What the hell are you do?" Michael asked, walking over.
"It's called a Prepared Piano. You manipulate piano wire with objects to change the sound." Thomas explained.
Thomas sat at the keys and shook out his hands. He played the opening keys of the song and sure enough the sound did change. It was slight, you could barely tell but Thomas could tell and that's what mattered. This was for him. It may have been selfish to drag so many people into this, in fact it was selfish. They could have gone out there with just the piano and the four of them and made a fine grade but Thomas wouldn't have satisfied with it.

The time came. Two o'clock on the dot. All thirty students filed back into the auditorium. Mostly looked just fine, a little nervous, but a cursery glance could tell you which students had been busted their hides non-stop. Thomas and his cohorts looked like they had been put through a particularly harsh, sentient, wringer that had a personal, long held vendetta against each of them.
It was then that the faculty started to come in. The teachers went straight to their seats that they had taken before and sat down, waiting for this to be over with. Nefert was lagging behind with Arthur and Ramus. Ramus passed by Thomas and stopped. He turn his head to look down at the badger. He recognized that weariness all too well. During the height of his obsession he would actively sleep in the studio, not leaving for days at a time. He reached over and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Are you sure you're up to perform today?" He asked kindly. "You look like you're about to pass out."
"....I'm fine." Thomas answered.
"Very well. Break a leg." He concluded and made his way on stage.
"I trust you all used your time wisely." Neferti began as Ramus took a seat. "At least I hope so. Four hours is more than enough time to decide on a piece. Now, who would like to go first?
"May we go first please?" Thomas stood up slowly, showing how tired he was.
"Mr. Abernathy! I'm surprised to hear you speak up so soon! I certainly don't see why not. And did you say 'we'? You worked with a group?"
"Yes." Thomas answered bluntly.
The tired troop marched their way on stage. The piano was moved to the room and placed center stage after Neferti and Arthur move. Guy sat at the keys and cracked his knuckles. Michael stood in front of the piano, his sleigh bells wrapped around his hand. Emile was leaning on the piano, flute in hand. Melissa and Alissa sat off to the left of Michael with Gale who sat on the floor with her guitar. Monty and Thomas stood off to the left of Michael.  Just behind Michael, slightly in front of the piano stood Milo and Maggie who were inspecting their instruments. Thomas took a deep breath and shook his shoulders out.
"1...2...1, 2, 3, 4." Thomas said, waving his sharpie.
Milo, Maggie and Guy began the song. Maggie belted into her french horn giving a steady high note while Milo played his accordion. He did it just as Thomas had told him, like he was breathing with it. All the while Guy tapped the piano keys, creating the manipulated sound that Thomas was striving for. Then Michael came in, flicking his wrists to make the sleigh bells ring. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. The three initial players repeated there melodies before bowing out temporarily, leaving just sleigh bells, piano, and Thomas tapping away at the plastic bottle.
The entire faculty, everyone, tensed up as the song came on. They were playing one of Ramus's old songs. Ramus suddenly making an appearance threw things off a tick, it seems none of them told the students to avoid his songs. The students listened on, mostly impressed at what the were seeing, they didn't know how grave this was. As the faculty looked at the corners of their eyes, they saw Ramus sitting forward in his chair, both hands atop his cane. He had a focused looked on his face. He was paying close attention to them. Everyone made a silent agreement to not mention it and hope for the best.

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you

"Bum bum-bum-bum" went the piano as Alissa and Melissa joined in with their violin and cello, respectively. Ramus grimaced noticeably at that. There wasn't a full quartet for each one, it didn't sound right. He tightened the grip on his cane as Gale came in, plucking ascending and descending chords on her guitar, adding to the richness of the song's instrumentation.

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would livin' do me
God only knows what I'd be without you

Michael was finally able to rest his voice if only for a short while. Guy, Monty and Maggie had their own little segment all to themselves. Monty came in with a simple drum beat repeated eveyr few seconds while Guy and Maggie played the same notes in sync. The piano was supposed to be played alongside a clarinet but not clarinet players would bite. They had to improvise, make due. After a few seconds Michael started vocalizing, singing out wordless notes. Guy, Thomas and Emile joined in with him, adding "doo doo"s and "bah bah"s to the vocal mix before all four harmonized.

God only knows what I'd be without you
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me

Emile came in with the flute, letting out a quick burst of fluttering notes. It wasn't a whole lot but it really added something.

So what good would livin' do me
God only knows what I'd be without you

The four boys sang the line "God only knows what I'd be with you". The sang it in different pitches and tempos. They would overlap each other, creating a tapestry with this one line. It was beautiful. as the overlapping vocals progressed each instrument came back into the mix, guitar, timpani, french horn, accordion, piano, violin, cello, sleigh bell. All the instruments worked together as a team, fully becoming one and creating one of the most lush, powerful instrumentals in pop music history. The song came to an end, the singing and music faded out and the students were left sighing in relief, some panting.
"That was quite impressive!" Neferti praised. "Such a strong start. Does anyone have any questions?"
THUD!
Ramus was standing up. He walked over to them, the room silent as his cane hitting the wooden stage floor echoed. He stopped just in front of all of them and scanned across. The look on his face was hard to read, it was serious face but no one could tell if it was angry or not. Ramus let out a sigh and asked "Who's idea was this?" Everyone looked toward Thomas without realizing it, giving him away. Ramus stared down at Thomas as he tapped his cane down on the floor some more.
"No harpsicord?" He asked bluntly.
"...No." Thomas answered, not looking Ramus in the eye, in fact even Ramus wasn't trying ot make eye contact. They were each staring slightly off.
"No upright bass? No clarinet?" He asked again, neutrally.
"No..."
"What tape did you use? Duct tape? Packing?"
"Packing tape."
"Scotch tape works better."
"R-ramus? Maybe you should-" Arthur began.
"Sit down, Henley." Ramus commanded. Arthur sat down immediately. He turned his attention back to Thomas and asked. "Why not?"
"Short notice. And...some people couldn't help."
"Really? How long did this take to plan?"
"We...we spent about four house putting all of this together."
Ramus nodded. He move his jaw side to side as he collected his thoughts. He said "I'm not normally a fan of people touching my old work."
Thomas's ears twitched. He looked up, his eyes were slightly visible under the bill of his green hat. This was the first time these two made eye contact. Did he just said "his work"?
"Your work?" Thomas asked, confused.
"You go to my school and you don't even know who I am?" Ramus laughed, which was not something people heard very often. "I guess you knew me better when I was Randy."
Thomas took a step back and then another. Randy Chandler. THE Randy Chandler was only a few inches away from him. Thomas was a pretty collected guy all thing considered but now he was shaking slightly. He didn't even notice Ramus lift his hand up. No one in the room knew what the protocol for this was. Some thought was going to hit him. Instead he gave Thomas a firm pat on the the shoulder, and then a few more.
"You were all sloppy but it was good. You may be seated." He said. Once Thomas and his merry band had found their way back to their seats Ramus looked out to the crowd of students. "Do something for me; raise your hand if you have a solo piece planned."
Nearly every student there raised their hand at Ramus's request. He tightened the grip on his cane causing his knuckles to pop.
"Normally it is Ms. Draper that does this reveal but I assume she won't have any qualms with me doing it." Ramus began. "You may have noticed there were barely enough instruments to go around. That was deliberate. We were testing you, seeing if you would work together. Unfortunately it seems very few of you passed said test. You all realize you are in a classical music program, correct? You will perform in orchestras with your fellow students! You will have to work together! I hope this experience has shown you how much growing you have left to do. You will NOT get through this program constantly being locked up in your own head. Let's move on."
Ramus sat back down. The rest of the performance pieces were underwhelming after Ramus's outburst. The air in the auditorium just seemed to change. Student after student got up there, performed their solo piece, sometimes they were asked question and sometimes not, and then sat back down. It didn't take long, an hour and a half to get through all of them. Then they were all allowed to leave.
Class proper would start tomorrow. Textbooks, homework, seven periods a day, all of it. Everyone left the school, getting back in the parent's cars or on public transport. The only student left was Thomas who was sitting on the steps just outside. He was waiting. He was asked by every instructor if he needed a ride or if his parents were coming. He blew them off either with gestures or single word responses, now that he was back to normal. Eventually Ramus, Neferti and Arthur came out. Thomas stood up and faced them.
"You're still hear?" Ramus questioned him. "Is someone coming to pick you up?"
"I walk home." Thomas answered.
"Then I take it you're waiting for something?"
He nodded. He reached in a side pocket to his bag and pulled out a CD case, he carried quite a few on his person. He extended it out to Ramus. He asked "Could you sign this...please?"
An autograph? Ramus hadn't signed an autograph in decades. He looked down at the CD and held it in his hands. It  was Smiley Smile. He blinked a few times and then asked "You actually like this one?"
"It's my favorite." Thomas replied nervously.
"What's your favorite song on it?" He asked, flipping the case through his fingers.
"I like them all for different reasons. I like how you made music out of people biting into vegetables without it sounding gross. I like your harmonies on Good Vibrations....it's my favorite."
Thomas's ear perked up as he heard the pop of a sharpie pen coming off followed by the squeak of the tip on plastic.
"Thomas Abernathy. Correct?" Ramus paused from his writing.
"Yes!"
Ramus signed the CD and passed it back to Thomas. His jaw trembled a bit like he was going to start crying. He jumped a little in place out of sheer excitement. He then did something completely unexpected; Thomas hugged him. It was odd. Ramus hadn't been hugged in forever. He awkwardly patted Thomas on the back, feeling like hugging the boy back you be inappropriate. Thomas let go and apologized before running off. He passed the gate and took a right turn, no doubt heading home.
"I never would have guessed him for a hugger." Arthur chuckled.
"A hug? Of all the times to be blind." Neferti joked.
"Hm..." Ramus said, thinking to himself. "Neferti?"
"Yes, Ramus?"
"What exactly do you know about Mr. Abernathy?" He asked, looking out towards the front gate.