Chapter Text
"What do you mean you can't play guitar?"
Leonora's voice cut through the hum of chatter that engulfed the room. Her sharp blue eyes stared intently into Clarissa's dark brown.
"I mean, I can't play, I don't know how..," Clarissa's volume dropped significantly at Leonora's harsh tone.
It was true, she didn't know a thing about guitar, Clarissa one day had just decided that she needed an extra-curricular activity in her schedule. When she brought it up with the school, they informed her there was an opening in the band and suggested she give it a try. What a mistake that was.
Standing awkwardly in front of the lead guitarist, who looked as if she were trying to set Clarissa on fire with her eyes, was probably the last thing she wanted. Eventually, Leonora just sighed, her eye twitched, and Clarissa flinched slightly as if the girl were about to attack her.
"Do you know any musical instruments?" Leonora finally asked her. Clarissa pursed her lips and looked at Leonora; she quickly regretted that, however, as Leonora stared straight back, her gaze unwavering.
"No," she quickly averted her eyes to a poster of a band she'd never heard of.
"God, save me," Leonora muttered, Clarissa chose to ignore it. "Do you know anything about playing music?" The girl's voice was strained, almost a plea for Clarissa to say yes, yet she only found herself shaking her head. "Great, just great," Leonora got up off the chair she was lounging on prior to their conversation and started walking to a room off to the side of the main room.
"Wait, where are you going? We are not done talking!" Clarissa exclaimed confusion etched onto her face.
"You said you wanted to play guitar?" Leonora turned around to face Clarissa, which was decidedly much worse.
'All because of that damn stare!' Clarissa thought. Leonora leaned into the doorframe, her weight shifted to her left side. Clarissa nodded at the question, almost forgetting it in her wandering thoughts.
"Well, it's your lucky day, we're looking for another guitarist," Leonora said unenthusiastically, slipping into the next room. Clarissa followed at a brisk pace in an attempt to catch up.
"I don't believe I've given a proper introduction, My name's Clarissa Do-" the other girl cut her off, pressing a finger to her lips.
"I know who you are...unfortunately," Leonora muttered that last part, and Clarissa pretended not to hear her once again. "Just about everyone in the school knows who you are," she added.
"Well, I don't believe I recall your name..," Clarissa started, but the taller girl either didn't hear her or ignored her as she just continued to look through the guitars. Clarissa huffed, sure, she had faced her fair share of unsavoury interactions, but never this much blatant rudeness. She had only met this girl ten minutes ago, and yet, every sentence felt frustratingly difficult.
"What is your name?" Clarissa asked through gritted teeth, by her standards, it was very rude to ask for a name this way, but her patience was wearing thin.
"No need to get so angry," Leonora smirked, the corners of her mouth quirked up to form a Cheshire grin. "I'm Elle, though if we're doing formalities, I'm Elle Lesso,"
"Elle? Is that short for anything?" Clarissa tilted her head to the side. Leonora pressed her lips into a line, her mind seeming to work behind her eyes.
"No," she said after a moment, Leonora reached up to grab an electric guitar before pausing. "Left or right?"
"Excuse me?" Clarissa was extremely confused, but Leonora just sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Are you left or right-handed?" Oh. It made Clarissa feel ridiculous how Leonora talked to her. How she didn't know anything, a feeling she rarely felt.
"Right," her voice was tight as she crossed her arms across her chest with a huff. Leonora's eyes wandered to the movement before flicking back up to her eyes with that shit-eating grin, then back to the guitars. Clarissa was beginning to dislike the lead guitarist less and less.
"You might want to start with electric," Leonora passed her an electric guitar. The neck was white, and the base had a teal sheen to it. "It's a lot less bulky, especially good for someone of your size," there it was, that same smirk, the same mischievous glint in her eyes, blue that bore directly into Clarissa's brown.
"How dare you! I'll have you know I am older than you!" Clarissa's face morphed into one of shock and offence, her hands moved down to rest on her hips, though it was much harder with a guitar in her hands.
"Careful, Dovey, wouldn't want to get frown lines," Leonora teased, a chuckle erupting from her throat. It only made Clarissa frown deeper; she hated that the other girl was right, and she hated it when she used her last name. Instead, she just huffed.
"Are you going to teach me how to play guitar or not?" She snapped, it came out about twice as harsh as she had meant it to. Clearly, Leonora was just as surprised as she was as the laughter came to a stop. "I um...sorry, but I do wish we could move on to actually playing guitar?" Leonora quirked up an eyebrow at the apology. 'Wait, apology?! Why was she apologising?!' Clarissa thought, not having an answer.
Leonora took a cherry red guitar off of the wall, except it was...off...the strings were on backward? Clarissa reached out to touch it, only to be swatted away by Leonora.
"Don't touch it; this is my guitar, got it? No one touches it,"
"Alright, alright! I won't!" Clarissa put a hand up in surrender, the other clutching the blue guitar's neck. "I won't touch your guitar," Leonora's eyes flicker from her guitar to Clarissa, and a brief look of understanding flashed across her face.
“I'm left-handed, it's been restrung backwards,”
‘Oh, so that's why it looks strange’, Clarissa thought. She noticed the initials L. L on the base, so her name wasn’t just Elle, but the letter L. Clarissa scrunched up her face, furrowing her eyebrows. “Are you sure your name isn't short for anything?”
“Quite sure, princess,” Leonora said, an unimpressed look on her face. Clarissa decided to just let it go as they both walked into the main band room. The two girls took a seat on a large, worn, but comfortable couch. “So, we’ll start with the basic chords before working on switching between them,” Leonora held her guitar, resting it on her thigh, it looked strange on the left side.
“We’ll start with one of the easiest chords you could do, E minor,” Leonora looked more relaxed, Clarissa thought, a bit softer while playing guitar. “Place your first and second finger on the second fret on the second and third string,” Leonora explained in an almost bored tone.
“Place what where?” Clarissa was already lost, and it was only the first chord. Leonora gave an exasperated sigh before grasping Clarissa's two fingers, firm but not hurting.
“Like this,” she said, placing her two fingers on the metal wire strings. “And you need to press down hard, or the sound won’t play clean,” Clarissa pushed the two strings up against the wood of the guitar, only for her fingers to feel like they were being sliced open. She bit her cheek but kept her hold strong. Leonora raised an eyebrow, her smirk never leaving her face. “It's gonna hurt to start with, and you'll definitely get blisters on your perfect hands,”
Clarissa huffed but didn’t say anything more. She could sacrifice her perfect skin just to prove she wasn't that vain. “And now you just strum,” Leonora said, vaguely gesturing to her other hand.
“Is there like a certain way or..?” Clarissa trailed off, confusion clear in her voice.
“Don’t overthink it, princess, it’s really not that hard,” Clarissa frowned at the nickname but decided to move past it. She strummed her hand down on the guitar strings; they made a sort of strangled sound, and Leonora shook her head. “No, you got to press harder and strum harder as well,” she added. Leonora pushed Clarissa's fingers into the strings with her own, the other hand coming up to cover Clarissa's.
It made her stomach flutter for a reason Clarissa couldn't pin. “Just like that,” Leonora said under her breath, her gaze entirely locked onto the other girl's hands as she moved their hands in sync to strum. The metal vibrated against Clarissa’s fingertips, a sort of buzz that travelled up her arm.
“Now try a different chord,” Leonora said, passing her a sheet of guitar chords. “It's just the basics, but it's good to learn,” Clarissa ran her eyes over the page. None look too hard, aside from the odd few.
“Do I have to learn F?” Clarissa groaned, slumping back onto the couch.
“Yes, you do,” Leonora caught the guitar that looked like it was about to fall from the precarious lean it was positioned on and moved it to the side. “And I suggest you learn them all-” Leonora was cut off by the sharp knock on the open door. There stood Emma Anemone, Clarissa's best friend, ‘and probably the most annoying girl in school, ’ Leonora thought as she scoffed. The girl was a magnet for gossip, no one's secrets were safe, well…almost no one’s.
“Emma!” Clarissa flung up from the couch (completely forgetting about Leonora) and ran up to hug her friend. Leonora just stared unimpressed at the two, her cold blue eyes returning to Clarissa as the two of them exited.
“Wait,” Leonora's voice was surprisingly lower than she intended.
“Hm?” Clarissa spun around on her heels back to face Leonora.
“You can take this guitar for practice,” Leonora handed her the teal electric guitar and sheet music.
“Thanks, Elle,” Clarissa smiled, it was much too cheery for Leonora, and she continued her walk back home with Emma. Leonora turned back to the main room and sat down next to the bassist. She could barely hear her thoughts over the Amp, yet there was one that wouldn't go away: Clarissa Dovey.