Beat of the Guitar

Ryan was talented on the guitar and was also blessed with vocal talents. His voice was smooth and came out great when he sang, but he almost never had an audience. Not that he was nervous about singing in front of others, he though that no one deserved to hear his sweet voice. He usually sang along with his brother or his grandmother, both of them had sweet voices that fit perfectly with Ryan's. His voice was already perfect, they just added onto the perfection. He looked around the empty hall, no one was in sight, so he slipped into the Melodic Studies classroom. He was surprised that the lights were on, maybe someone had just been there. Or someone was coming back. Ryan didn't care about either option, he just wanted to do whatever he wanted.

He picked up an old guitar that looked like it had been through some tough times and sat at an empty desk. He held the guitar in his lap, but in a way that was different from the normal way. He sat it flat on his lap with the string side facing up. He checked to see if the guitar was in tune and once he tested he smacked his hands against the strings in a beat. "I'm gonna break your little heart, watch you take the fall.." His voice came out smoothly and the beat was fast paced and catchy. He thought he was doing an amazing job, people would be jealous of his great skills.

Christine's intentions were to go into the Student Commons but just as she passed the Melodic Studies classroom she paused and strained her ears. The first year wasn't overly musical herself with a merely average singing voice but she knew good singing when she heard it. She held an ear against the door and smiled. It wasn't her type of music. That being rather being on the old side but it was catchy.

She stepped back again and glanced up and down the corridor before gently pushing the door open a small way. There, through the crack in the door, she spotted a boy she recognised from her year and her school house. As far as she could tell he was the only one there and Christine knew it wasn't class time. If it was she would have been in the same class. Thus she pushed the door open all the way and stepped into the room to watch until the boy had finished his song.

When the song was over, Ryan looked up at the door. He had heard the door open while he was singing but he chose to ignore it until he was done. "You know if you come closer you could hear better," he smirked then looked back down at the guitar. He had seen the girl before but never talked to her until today. Usually people weren't his time of day, but this girl must know what good music was if she had stopped to listen to him. He knew he had a great voice, no one had to tell him that.

"Do you have any requests?" He fixed the guitar so he was holding it the right way. "I can play fast songs, slow songs, and I can just make up songs too." He strummed out a slow melody and hummed along. "What would you like to hear?" He looked back up at the girl.

"I was capable of hearing perfectly from here," came the reply. "You are good. Almost as good as my sister. She has a wonderful singing voice." His voice was good and Christine would have loved to hear him sing a voice with Stephanie. Her sister possibly would not appreciate such a suggestion since this boy was younger. And older students could be strange when it came to spending time around younger ones.

She moved further forward and sat. "I do wonder if you know of any older songs," she queried. "Something from say a few centuries ago." Christine tilted her head to one side as she gave thought to some of the songs she had heard her sister sing but unfortunately could not place a name upon them. "If you are unable to then I would love to hear something slow."

"Almost as good as your sister, huh? I bet she's not as good as my brother." Ryan thought his brother was the best and always talked highly of him to others. His brother was a great singer, at least Ryan thought so. His brother's voice was soothing and nice to listen to. "But then again I don't know what your sister sounds like." He had to be somewhat nice so she would think that he was a nice guy. He didn't believe anyone was better than his brother.

"Older songs?" He repeated. Older songs were boring and long, they seemed to last forever. He didn't know how to play any old songs so he would just have to do something else. "I'll play you something slow then." His hand moved slowly against the chords, strumming a new song. "How can you be free if you're locked inside a cage?" He sang the words softly. "The world is a cage and you must learn to fly." He was proud of himself to come up with a soothing song on the spot like that. He began to hum the rest because he couldn't think of anything else to say. It was still a work in progress, still not done and not ready for others, besides the girl, to hear.

After he finished, he looked back up at the girl. "Pretty good for something I made up, huh?"

"She would be better than your brother," Christine declared with an upward tilt of her head. She had no clue who this boy's brother was but it was impossible for someone else to be a better singer than her sister. "No you do not know my sister. She has the voice of an angel." And nothing at all would induce her to admit she did not know his brother any more than he knew her sister.

"Yes. Older songs. Older than our grandparents. They, I believe are the mark of a true musician." For all her lack of knowledge of music Christine was a musical snob. She was rather snobbish about all the performing arts in general.

Despite his ignorance of the higher order of music she chose to stay and listen to what he had to sing. "The words were rather interesting. They give me something to think about." She paused. "The music needs work." Most certainly not on a par with the old classics but he was only a boy and modern songs did lack a little a little something in general.

"How can you be so sure if you've never heard my brother sing? You're sounded a bit cocky," Ryan played, a smirk spread across his face. "If you don't know then you can't say she's better nor can I say my brother is better." He still thought his brother better, no one was better than his brother. His brother was way cooler than any of the people he had met.

"I didn't say it was going to be perfect," he stated after she had said her comments about his song. "I'd like to see you try to come up with something on the spot like that, it's harder than it looks." You had to have inspiration and you had to be skilled, not everyone had those. "Make the net verse," he challenged. "If you love music so much, you must be great at coming up with original songs." He doubted she could do it or do it well.

Christine wrinkled her nose at his awful slang. "I may not have heard your brother but I have never heard anyone who is able to sing as wonderfully at her." Perhaps her mother but Christine can barely remember her singing. This boy though was sounding like he was being much more reasonable than herself but Christine would not take back her statement. Why should she when she truly believed her claim?

"I know you did not but if you wish to play something you came up with as you played you have to expect some criticism." She shook her head at his ignorance. "I do not have to be able to make or write music to know good music when I hear it. It is the audience which determines the greatness of a singer. Not the singer themselves." And he did not understand that then there was no way he would ever get better.

"If you keep saying that she's better, I'm going to keep thinking my brother is better." He grinned, there was no way her sister was better if she kept arguing that she was. If she was, she would have said it once and moved on from the subject. Stark was a wonderful singer and Ryan still doubted that anyone was better than him. "I stand by what I say, my brother must be better."

"So, you're saying my music isn't good? Who died and made you the master of music?" If she thought she knew everything about music, she was wrong. Just because her sister sang and she knew old music didn't mean she knew everything. "You know, there's different types of music, right? Not everything is an old song and not everything is sung by your 'musical' sister."

"It appears we have reached an impasse," Christine returned and smiled though possibly for the same reason he was grinning.  It was that word.  Impasse.  She loved that word and finally had the perfect opportunity to use it.  Now that perhaps they came to an agreement that they believed their sibling was the better singer perhaps this sorry discussion could end.

She shook her head.  "I was not saying that at all.  You were not listening properly.  And of course I know there are all different kinds of music.  Now this discussion must come to an end.  I will live you to work on your song."  Christine stood and straightened out her skirt before walking out the room.  There was only so much disagreement that Christine could withstand before she was ready to explode.  And she could not afford to do that.  Not when she had a reputation to maintain.  She wasn't quite sure what that reputation was but it needed to be a good one.