The next day, Lili greeted me as I arrived at school, which was five minutes later than when I normally would have gotten there due to the heavy luggage I was pulling along.
“Hey! How are you enjoying it?” Lili sang.
“Well, it’s nice to play, I can do so much with it, but, ugh, it is so heavy!” I grimaced.
Lili laughed, “Just think how strong you’ll be!”
“Hey, you’re magic, can’t you make it pocket sized for transportation or something?” I groaned.
“Don’t you think that would be hard to explain to others?” asked Lili.
“But it’s so heavy,” I complained, “Whenever I take it anywhere, I’m too winded to play!”
“Keep at it, you’ll get use to it,” Lili encouraged, “This magic instrument is like training wheels for playing, it will help you with the technicalities of playing to help you express what is in your heart. So as you work your muscles by moving it, it will improve those muscles so you can play better!”
My face turned dark, “So I’m stuck with big, heavy thing?”
“Oh, you’re not supposed to complain!” Lili whined and pulled out some handmade drawings of us with the harp, “See? I’m supposed to give you an instrument that you can play, you’re suppose to be happy and shout with joy, then you play music and bring happiness to the world!”
“It’s hard to be happy when my arms feel like they’re going to fall off,” I moaned.
“Ah, Refi! I’m ready for that interview!” Nami said behind me.
My heart jumped, how long was she there? Did she see me talking to myself? Lili had disappeared, leaving nothing solved. There must be some easier way to get a hold of that little guy.
“Oh okay,” I smiled through my sweat, “Is it alright if we go while I’m getting my harp all the way to the school?”
She nodded. Another problem, I didn’t really know where I was going to keep my harp all day. It was awkward enough bringing it into seminary and keeping it at the back of the room. I didn’t really want to drag it with me to all my classes, and my classmates would stare at me too because it would take up so much room. Nami got out her notebook as I continued to pull.
“How long have you been playing?” she started.
Honesty is the best policy, but nothing wrong with giving my credentials, so I explained how I played trombone in elementary school, viola in middle school, and had just started the harp.
“Wow, really?” she said as she noted down the instruments, “Why do you keep changing what you play?”
I answered “Well, I’d like to learn all sorts of instruments; I think it would be cool.”
“So you want to be able to play every instrument one day?” Nami interpreted, “What instrument do you plan on playing next?”
“Um, the mandolin?” I wagered, “I’m kind of playing it by ear.”
She continued asking me questions, it turned out not to be as hard as I anticipated. There was no need to mention the fairy or that I had no idea what I was doing. It was kind of exciting to think that I’d be in the school paper.
When we were inside the building, I tried to excuse myself so I could find what I was going to do with my harp. Nami informed me of the office where I could check out a locker to store it in as well as sign up for practice times. She continued her questioning as she led the way for me.
Her attitude towards me was cheerful and inviting, and here she was helping me. People don’t usually help me out like that, but I guess that would be rude of me to say after that one guy helped me carry stuff yesterday. With how things were turning out, maybe I would actually make some friends this year.
