Taking the Leap

Chapter 2

~Xander~

In the following days I found myself driven to distraction, my mind thinking of wolves more than it should have. Even as the class I taught was wrapping up, my mind was somewhere else.

The auditorium was dome- like with the stage being the lowest part of the theatre and the stairs ascending towards the doors. The seats were a deep luxurious red and the stage was a waxed gleaming hardwood. The circular walls made the acoustics fantastic. If only my class could play like a well oiled machine instead of the clumsy gobble of a geriatric man. This was only our fourth class of the year but I could already see the slacking setting in for a few of them.

"May I have a word with you, Brandon?" I asked, while closing my binder. I folded my conductors scores neatly The rest of my students were putting their instruments in their cases and slinging their backpacks on. Most of them were first years, still shy like lambs. A few  said bye and I waved absently.

Brandon took his time to put his things away, and I watched his hands shaking slightly as he took his mouthpiece out of his Bb trumpet and put them both in his case. Soon, everyone had left the dark auditorium except for us. He looked embarrassed when he finally came up to me. "Listen. Professor Knight-"

"No." I interrupted softly. "You need to listen to me, Mr. Hartwell. Your performance as of late in this class has been less than satisfactory." I looked down at the young man while speaking quickly.

Brandon glared at me for a second before realizing who he was glaring at. "Everything's just tough right now." He began shifting in place, circling a sneaker into the floor.

"Huntington University is one of the most prestigious performing arts universities in the country. What exactly made you think things would be easy?" I shook my head in exasperation. "Just because your father is on the admissions board doesn't mean you get a free pass. If this doesn't mean something to you then why exactly are you here?"

"Because I'm talented." He seethed, fingers clenched around the handle of his case. "I've just been trying to get into Beta Theta Gamma and the pledging is taking up a lot of my-"

I looked down at Brandon. This kid who clearly had been given things on a silver spoon his entire life. And he was definitely talented, but his arrogance extended past his ability. "Your flutter tongue is weak, your sight reading is sloppy, and your articulation is somehow getting worse. If I don't see improvement in the next week I'm moving you to an easier class. There are students who actually deserve to be here." He opened his mouth but I shook my head. "Make sure you're one of them."

Brandon looked like he had murder in his eyes before he bit his lip, clearly restraining himself and leaving the auditorium hall hurriedly. Once I was alone, my shoulders sagged and I started putting everything away into my briefcase.

A vampire being a music professor felt pretty ridiculous somedays. Being an educator was backbreaking, thankless work. But, music was my everything and this is what I wanted. As a vampire I had been afforded the luxury of time to pursue my passions. The past fifteen years I'd been pursuing classical music with the piano and trumpet with a focus on composition.

Being a new professor was also more taxing than I expected it to be. So much competition just to get this spot. I'd been through a four round, month long interview process and it seemed like having had a seat with the London philharmonic and having composed a few movie pieces is what landed me the position.