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Jules took the warm, soft hand, callouses rubbing against her palm, and felt her heart skip a beat. The excitement of getting what she wanted. “Deal,” she said with a grin.
Chapter Ten
Billie was still wondering why she’d really agreed to help Jules on Monday morning when she rolled up at school.
Okay, okay, the money was good. Who would say no to a thousand pounds? But still, this was going to be no walk in the park. The song Jules wanted to learn was simple enough, but for someone with no experience at all, it was going to be a rough few weeks.
It wasn’t as though Billie believed in true love either. As far as she was concerned, love could go take a long hike and jump off a pier. Besides, unless this girl Jules was interested in was actually tone deaf, Jules’s plan left a lot to be desired.
No, it had to be the money, she decided, as she laid out rhythm sticks for the reception class. A thousand pounds in the bank would definitely give her more options. Which got her wondering where exactly Jules had got a thousand pounds from. She didn’t look like she was rich. She worked in a pub. Her tips must be amazing for her to have money like that lying around.
It was none of Billie’s business though. Jules would pay her the money, Billie would teach her the song. That simple. Well, perhaps not simple, but at least not having to teach Jules the fundamentals of music theory would be a weight off Billie’s back.
“Ms. Brooke, Ms. Brooke, Daniel said that his dad’s got a lawnmower that mows the lawn without even a person on it and that’s not how lawnmowers work, is it, Ms. Brooke?”
Billie took a deep breath and smiled as she turned to face the children streaming into her classroom. “I only know about music,” she said. “Nothing about lawnmowers, I’m afraid. Now everyone take a seat and pick up the sticks that are on the floor next to you. No banging them yet!”
Which was a pointless thing to say because the instant the kids picked up the sticks they were hitting things with them. Billie groaned and made a mental note not to give the reception class sticks early in the morning.
It was about half way through the class when she noticed something different.
Most of the children were happily banging away in rhythm to the nursery rhyme playing through the speaker. One child was not.
“Agatha?”
“Yes miss?” Ag said, curls bouncing as she clicked her two sticks together.
Billie opened her mouth to say something, but then couldn’t think of anything to say, so she closed it. Agatha was not just beating a rhythm with her right stick, she was beating a counterpoint with the left one. It took a second for Billie to understand it, but when she did, the beat fit perfectly.
“Should I read again, miss?” Ag asked, looking slightly harried and anxious as she kept banging the little wooden sticks.
“No,” Billie said. “No, well done, keep going.”
She moved on to help the rest of the class, keeping half an eye on Agatha for the rest of the hour.
Finally, the little school bell rang and Billie dismissed the children to go back to the classroom, all except one.
“Agatha, can you stay here for a moment please?”
“Am I in trouble?” Ag asked, bouncing from one leg to the other. “My mum says that trouble follows me around and that I fall into it all by accident so whatever it is, it’s probably not my fault.”
“Not exactly,” said Billie. She took a breath, wondering whether to say anything at all, wondering whether or not she should just let this go. But she couldn’t help herself. “Last lesson when you were reading, do you remember?”
Ag nodded. “I always read though so I’m sorry but I think it was just habit and I shouldn’t do it in lessons and even my mum said that I should be more polite and she thinks reading is the best thing ever.”
“Right,” said Billie uncertainly. “It’s just that… well, were you bored?”
Agatha twisted her face in thought, then shrugged. “A little bit. Playing tambourines and triangles was a bit easy.”
Right. Billie turned away for a second, opening the lid of the little upright piano and beckoning Agatha over. “You know what this is, don’t you?”
“Piano,” began Agatha.
“It is,” Billie interrupted before Ag got further. “And it’s very simple. You press the key and the note sounds. The further up this way you go, the higher the notes go, and further down this way, the lower they go. Like this.” She demonstrated.
Agatha watched her thoughtfully.
This really could be opening up a can of worms, Billie thought. But she did it anyway. “Do you know Three Blind Mice?”
