chapter 1: century child

A Chapter by NObodyFreAK

tuomas and tarja in high school! :D

To: Tarja

I remember the first time I met Tarja Turnen. It was my first year in high school the very first day. I walked into the music room 3rd period after my math class which annoyingly took up two periods on A days. The music room was far away from the science and math wing so I had to walk allot and I ended up nearly on time without getting lost. I walked in and a women who looked like my teacher greeted me warmly. She looked like one of those teachers you’d love right away.

She introduced herself and then marked me off as present when she heard my name “Toumas Holopainen” I said shyly, “What instrument did you sign for?” she asked looking up from her clipboard. “Um..... keyboards I think.... oh wait wait no I mean the uh .. piano” I said laughing at myself I forgot that I was only starting my keyboard lessons so I should stick with piano so I wouldn’t have to be babied. She nodded her head and directed me towards the piano a few other student were there taking out their instruments and setting up their music sheets. She handed me a booklet and flipped it to the 3rd page “let’s just se where your at in sight reading” she said. I slipped onto the wooden bench and moved some of my long hair behind my ear. I rolled up my sleeves showing off my many wristbands and bracelets not very manly but I liked them.

My fingers slid over the keys as I read how the tempo went and started on the first few notes reading it perfectly. The music radiated from my fingers to my ears and tingled into my feet where I could feel the beat echoing in it’s invisibility. I played until I reached the end of the 2nd page. I glanced up at the teacher, she smiled “perfect! That’s a great head start on being so good at sight reading” she exclaimed. I smiled and set my bag that was on the bench to the top of the piano and retrieved a thin yellow bent up note book with scribbles and ink blots on the cover made by yours truly.

I flipped threw all the doodled on pages covered in cross outs of lines I didn’t like and poetry and songs ect... I came to a clean sheet and took out a new pen from my dark jeans and clicked it to life. I pressed it to the lined paper and waited for inspiration to hit me. I sat there for a few minutes taping my foot and clicking the pen until I had a beat going I found it silly, but I didn’t want to stop it was comforting. 5 girls walked in each holding a different sized instrument the last one had only a black backpack and a folder which said “Music” on it in nice crisp hand writing with a black sharpie. She immediately caught my attention she looked like me, she had a black tight shirt black jeans a wristband on her left arm and a bored shitless look.

Long Dark chestnut hair longer then my wavy black hair shaped her face perfectly as it hung down. The most amazing feature was her eyes a beautiful green that made her almost look unreal. I smiled at her as she went to her seat. “Wait” I thought, “But this is band practice...... and she doesn't have an instrument.... so what is she doing here?” I thought to myself. The teacher seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as she approached her.

“Um hi.... do you have an instrument or are you a piano player like that boy over there?” she asked noticing towards me. “Um .. actually I just come here for lunch the other teacher said I could I’m in chorus though” she said in a very beautiful voice. The teacher nodded “Ok, nice to meet you then” the teacher said smiling. “I’m Tarja” the girl said smiling back. The teacher nodded and went up to the other girls assigning them their seats. Tarja had to move after a while from her seat, because it was someone else's seat. She therefore got to sit at the teachers desk in a comfortable chair. The desk was right next to the piano only 3 or 4 feet apart.

I warmed up and did some scales when the class officially began as did everyone else. Tarja never really looked at me she was reading a book and her hair draped over the left side of her face hiding me from her eyes unintentionally. I sighed and hoped that maybe we could be friends or something she seemed really nice and someone I’d definitely become friends with. Practice began as the teacher went over sight reading, seating arrangements and lesson arrangements. I zoned out not really caring that much and secretly doodled trying to write some decent poetry underneath the keys so no one would see.