Zara led Harry into the library and all the way to the back, where there were a couple of rooms that had used to be for people to listen to records in. They were sparsely furnished, and not terribly large, but enough to hold a group of people, at least.
"We meet after class hours because people won't need the library," Zara said. "These rooms are soundproofed, but it's old, so it leaks more than it really oughta." She opened up one of the doors and ushered Harry inside.
It was quite a crew packed inside the room. The drum set and keyboard were lightweight digital equipment, but it quarters were still a bit cramped. An otherwise-normal black girl with four arms waved from behind the drum set. "Hey, Zara!" she said. "Who's the new kid?"
Zara smiled. "This is Haru," she said. "She's kind of out of practice, but she's interested in joining."
A brawny young lion-man with a guitar slung around his neck extended a hand. Harry felt a bit shy at suddenly being the center of attention, but she accepted the handshake. "Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Zach, that's Naomi on the skins, and our keyboardist should be here any minute. What do you play?"
Harry tried to keep from flushing with embarassment. "I, uh, I used to play flute, a bit," she said. "I haven't in a while, though..."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Huh. Well, obviously your first step is to get back in practice...in the meantime, do you sing?"
"Uh, not much..." Now she really felt embarassed. Why had she come here? She was so far behind...but it would be awkward to just leave... "Um, do you need a flute?" she asked. "I mean, it looks like you're kind of more of a rock band..."
Naomi shrugged, which looked kind of strange with four arms. "Hey, there's rock bands with flautists out there," she said. "Besides, we really just play whatever we feel like. It's kind of a watchagot stew of our different interests."
"And we can use another vocalist," Zach said. "You wouldn't know it to hear her talk, but Zara's got kind of this throaty, deeper sound when she sings; you sound more high and clear. That way we've got both ends covered, plus my vocals, for what they're worth."
Zara chuckled. "Oh, don't be so hard on yourself; you sing better then you let on. Speaking of our interests, Haru, what kind of music do you like?"
"Um, I dunno..." Harry felt a flush beginning to creep up her neck towards her face. So many questions that she should have realized she didn't have good answers for! She almost wanted to bail out, but...no. No, she was going to at least stick around long enough to say she'd tried this.
They eyed her curiously. "Really?" Zara asked. There wasn't a hint of scorn in her voice, but she did sound somewhat incredulous.
Harry nodded. "I, uh, I'm trying to branch out, but I just don't know where to start..." She didn't want to dump her whole life story on them, and that seemed as good a summary as any.
To her surprise, far from any of them being disdainful, Naomi nodded knowingly, and Zach's eyes positively lit up. "Ohhh, a music education?" he said, flashing a fanged grin. "I thought you'd never ask." He nearly dragged the three-eyed girl out to the audio section of the library. It had dwindled in recent years, but there were stil a surprising number and variety of CDs on the shelves.
Zara followed them out. "Be warned," she said. "Get him started on classic rock, and he will talk your ear off. Both, actually."
Tail twitching, the lion-boy was grabbing CDs from all over. "We'll start you off with a little of the best of everything," he said. "Listen to these at least twice, and we can follow up on the stuff you like. You can develop an appreciation for other stuff later. As for the flute, you're not going to be playing at Ian Anderson levels without a lot of practice, but here's classic Genesis; you should be able to keep up with Peter Gabriel."
Harry was only keeping track of the conversation enough to be amazed at how things had developed; she didn't really know what he was talking about, but all of a sudden asking about joining the band had spawned listening homework!? Still...this was what she had been intending to do all along, wasn't it? Try something new and discover her tastes?
Zara dug out an instructional book from the sheet-music section, which was nearby. "Speaking of which," she said, "here. If you haven't played in that long, you're going to want to make sure you put some effort into catching up."
Harry accepted the book gratefully. Maybe...maybe what she needed wasn't so much things to do as encouragement to do them...?
They were interrupted by a figure walking past them to the practice room. "Ah," Zach said, "the man of the hour...as in 'hour late.' Come on, let's introduce you."
Harry followed them back to the back, carry the stack of CDs Zach had picked out. It felt weird clutching things against her breasts, but she forced herself to hold steady; picking up a dozen-plus dropped and broken jewel cases was not an appealing prospect.
They went inside, where a young man was busy setting up a small laptop on top of the keyboard. Harry suppressed a gasp; that build, plus the fox ears and tail, looked a lot like...
"Ken!" Zach laughed. "Where've you been!? You missed our new flautist. Haru, this is Ken."
He looked up at her, and she looked at him. There was confusion in his gaze, but...not malice. She could see that. "We've met," she said, trying not to sound icy when she said it. Harry didn't think she liked the "real girls" remark she'd overheard, but...she still wasn't sure what all he'd meant by it, and she didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusion...
"Oh, uh, hey," Ken said, looking as confused as she felt. "Good to see you; I didn't know you were into music."
She shook her head, setting the CDs down on a shelf in one corner of the room. "I, uh, I haven't been for a while...I'm trying to get back into it. I didn't know you were, either..." She looked at the laptop. "Um, what's that for?"
Ken's confusion faded away, and he grinned. "This?" he said. "This is the business end of my setup. A lot easier than carting a bunch of different keyboards around..."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Um, is that why there's no voice buttons on the keyboard?"
The fox-boy made a little scoffing noise in the back of his throat. "Yep," he said. "Built-in voices are crap, even on the good electric pianos. So you save money getting one that's a keyboard and only a keyboard, and you can use it to drive virtual instruments on a computer. It's more flexible and it sounds better."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Okay," Zara said. "Now that everyone" - she looked pointedly at Ken - "is here, we can get started. Haru, you can stay and listen if you like; I'll get you one of the spare flutes from the music room before we leave."
Harry did stay to listen. She was kind of relieved that they didn't seem to be musical wizards or anything; they were certainly more in-practice than her, and they seemed to be having fun, but they were hardly a professional band.
Maybe she could fit in here after all...
"I just don't get it!" Adora protested. She was suppressing her more...eccentric behavior for the sake of making her point; something told her the principal would not be moved by such tactics. "It's a double standard! How come Sarah doesn't have to wear clothes, but I do?"
The principal sighed. "Miss...we are trying to...keep things as they've always been...unless necessary. Sarah's exemption is...a disability consideration. You have no...such condition; there is...nothing that prevents you...from dressing."
The devil-girl frowned. "But it's not like it'd hurt anybody! It's not like I'm stealing a wheelchair that a handicapped student could be using, I'm just dressing differently!"
"Or...not dressing, rather," the principal said. "That is a fair point, but...I don't see how this is....a problem large enough to warrant...more drastic revisions to the dress code. It is still a...reasonable standard."
"But it's not a standard!" Adora huffed. "You demand one thing of most students, but then you let others off the hook when there are totally other solutions you could use that would have them fit the rules! Are you just-" She caught herself; she was getting worked up and beginning to put venom into her speech (not mention failing to suppress her mannerisms.)
"Look," she said. "Either you're not willing to put much effort into keeping the disabled students within the dress code, or you're just choosing to enforce it arbitrarily. Either way, you're not being fair to someone."
Principal Erin sighed. "I will...consider your argument," he said. "In the meantime, I...will expect you and the other students to...respect the rules as they are laid down. You...may go now."
The devil-girl paused briefly before heading out. "...yessir," she muttered.
