Gloria’s brow furrowed. “Elliot, why are you taking this so seriously? It’s just something stuck, no big deal. If the instrument sounds a little off, I’ll just find someone to fix it.
Elliot retorted, “Mom, she made a mistake and now she’s still making excuses. Why are you protecting her?
“This harp isn’t something anyone can just tune, and the only technician who can handle it has already gone abroad. Who knows how long before he’s back?”
He continued, “She has to be held ountable. She wants to check the surveince? Fine, let’s do it. But Alicia, let’s make one thing clear.
“If I’m right about you, you’re done with music for good. People like you have no ce messing with music; you just disgrace it.”
Gloria shot Elliot a re. “What nonsense are you spouting? I asked Alicia toe help out here today. Whatever happened is on me. How could you ruin someone’s future over such a trivial thing?”
Alicia looked at Gloria and said, “Mrs. Clifford, I’m fine with what Elliot suggested.”
She turned to Elliot, determination in her eyes. “But if you’re just ming me for nothing, you’d better be ready to apologize in front of everyone.”
Elliot smirked, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
They both turned to Gloria, who sighed, clearly exasperated.
“Mom, I’ll go check the cameras,” Elliot called out as he dashed off toward the school’s security room.
Gloria sighed and nced at Alicia. “Come on, let’s go take a look together.”
Alicia fell in step beside Gloria as they headed toward the security room.
As they made their way toward the security room, Gloria chatted, “Alicia, you know, today’s little incident really isn’t worth all this fuss.
“Calling up surveince footage, staking your whole music future–none of it’s necessary for something so trivial.”
Alicia nced up at Gloria, her tone calm, “So, Mrs. Clifford, do you think I did it, too?”
Gloria shook her head. “Who did it isn’t the point. What really matters is, why are you treating your future so casually?”
Alicia
gave
a lightugh. “If it wasn’t me, then my future isn’t affected whatsoever. How does that count as being careless? Wouldn’t you agree?”
Gloria found herself stumped by her reasoning, not sure what to say next.
<b>19:13 </b>Wed, <b>Oct </b><b>1 </b>
They reached the security room hot on Elliot’s heels.
???
55 vouchers
Elliot was already at the counter, speaking quickly to the security guy. “Sir, can you pull up the footage from the music room, everything between 1 and 3 o’clock today?”
Alicia kept silent as the footage started rolling. <fnd4db> This text is hosted at find~novel</fnd4db>
They watched from the moment she entered the music room right up until the argument started–at no point did she go near the harp’s tuning pegs or put anything on them.
Elliot frowned, looping the footage again and again, but nothing showed up.
He muttered to himself, “No way, Mom checks these instruments every single day. Even if she’s not cleaning them, she’s always inspecting for problems.
“If there was something jammed in the pegs, the sound would’ve been off. No way Mom would miss that.”
Gloria pursed her lips. “Sir, could you also pull up the footage from yesterday and this morning?”
Yesterday had been packed with sses, so she hadn’t even gotten a chance to check the instruments. Whatever got lodged in those tuning pegs must’ve happened either yesterday or earlier today.
It was just a tiny thing, not a huge deal, but she still wanted to see who’d done it. If it ended up being her own slip–up, she’d know to watch herself even more in the future.
That way, she wouldn’t risk messing up the instruments the same way again.
The security guy pulled up yesterday’s footage for them.
Gloria sat down and started watching closely.
Since the security room had been locked all morning, Gloria started reviewing the footage from the afternoon onward.
At minute thirty–six, Tiffany dropped by the music room looking for Elliot, her arms loaded with snacks. On the footage, Elliot was plucking away at the harp, jotting things down in his notebook.
Tiffany sat down beside him, shelling pistachios and passing them to Elliot. By the third pistachio, a little piece of shell slipped and fell onto the harp. She reached out to grab it, but couldn’t get hold of it.
Elliot didn’t catch on, but Tiffany did. She tried again to retrieve the shell, only to identally shove it in deeper. After fumbling with it, she just let it be and didn’t bother anymore.
Gloria’s face fell, and for a moment, she looked downright furious as the truth came out.
Elliot looked pale; he really hadn’t seen thating. “Tiffany? Seriously?‘ he wondered.
But Gloria kept her cool in the security room, simply turning to the staff and saying, “That’s all, thank you.”
The staff member, knowing Gloria was the school board chairman’s wife, was especially courteous. “Do you want to take a copy of this footage?
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“We only keep recordings for three months, so if you need it, it’s best to make a backup”
Gloria waved her hand. “No need, thank you”
After expressing their thanks, the three left the security room together.
56 vouchers
Back in the music room, Gloria finally lost it. “Elliot, have I ever told you not to eat around the instruments? Are you just not listening, or do you think my words don’t matter?”
Elliot hung his head. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Sorry to me doesn’t cut it. You owe an apology to Alicia. You wronged her today,” Gloria snapped, clearly furious.
Elliot looked reluctant, but eventually looked up at Alicia. “I’m sorry, Alicia. I was wrong about you.”
When Gloria told Elliot to apologize, Alicia immediately understood that Gloria was just shielding her son, not really wanting him to lose face in front of everyone.
This really was no big deal, just a trivial incident, hardly worth making an enemy out of Gloria.
Alicia curved her lips and teased Elliot lightly, “Elliot, next time you want to use someone, make sure to check the security cameras first, unless you want to embarrass yourself again.”
Elliot’s face burned with embarrassment, and he clenched his jaw. “I wasn’t trying to frame you or anything. I didn’t actually see it happen.
“I just saw you by the tuning pegs today and jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
Alicia didn’t bother responding to his excuses. She simply turned to Gloria with a calm smile. “Mrs. Clifford, since I agreed to help tidy up the music room, I’ll finish what I started. Let me handle this and clean it up for you.”
Without a second thought, Alicia picked up the tuning wrench from the box and just twisted the peg, no hesitation at all.
Elliot practically shouted, “Alicia, are you crazy? You can’t just twist it like that. The pitch is totally shot–that harp might be done for now.
“Do you have any clue? My mom’s been working on restoring that unfinished piece, and this harp is the key to it. You seriously don’t know what <i>you </i>just did?”
Gloria’s face went pale as she watched Alicia turn the peg so carelessly; her heart nearly stopped, terrified Alicia might snap the string right on the spot.
Still calm as ever, Alicia gave the peg a twist, and the pistachio shell slipped right out.
Alicia grabbed it with a pair of tweezers, then looked up and said, “If the pitch is off, just tune it—no big deal.”
Elliot was seriously losing his cool at how chill she was about it. “I’ve already told you. This harp isn’t something just anyone can tune.
O
<b>19:13 </b><b>Wed</b><b>, </b><b>Oct </b><b>1 </b>
:
“Only the original tuner, the one who designed and built it when he worked in Havaria, knows how to <b>fix </b>it properly. He’s back in Meridia now and barely visits anymore.
“Before you did that, at least it was still yable. Now? You’ve messed up the sound, and God knows when that tuner wille back to fix it.”
AD