Although the first classes didn't start until 8am, the music lounge was already filled to capacity when Legolas arrived at a quarter till. He wasn't even all the way down the stairs when he heard a welcoming "Leggy!" and suddenly found himself in a warm embrace.
"It's good to see you, too," Legolas said, glancing at the large "XXX" stretched tight across Arwen's chest and smiling at the irony.
"My, your hair has gotten long," she said, fluffing the ends of his chest-length hair before taking off his baseball cap, "and BLONDE! It almost looks natural."
"That's 'cuz it is," he replied, self-consciously taking his cap back and putting it on.
"I envy you -- if only my father's side hadn't been cursed with brown hair." She led Legolas over to the couches, looking him up and down. "Flannel, Leggy?" Arwen said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly as they sat down. "Grunge is SO over, or didn't you get the memo? And no one will take your environmental concerns seriously if you wear that -- you want people to support your causes, not be distracted by your lack of fashion sense."
"So is Aragorn back yet?"
He knew how to distract her. A warm smile lit up her face as she said, "You haven't seen him yet? He's back -- and he even had dinner with me and Daddy last night."
Legolas smiled, shaking his head -- he couldn't wait to hear Aragorn's version of the dinner.
"So have you heard from Glorry at all?" Arwen asked casually, causing Legolas to roll his eyes. That was one advantage of having Gimli as a roomamte -- at least he wouldn't be snogging elves till all hours while Legolas tried to study.
Arwen suddenly remembered, "That's right, I totally forgot -- you must have a new roommate this year! What's he like?" She winked at Legolas as she teasingly added, "Is he cute?"
Legolas laughed as he thought of how Gimli looked last night, his long hair and beard drenched with rain. "No, I don't think he's really your type."
But Lindir, who was tuning his guitar on the floor, added, "I heard you got paired with a dwarf."
There were numerous gasps from the assembled elves.
"A dwarf in Rivendell Hall? Is that even LEGAL?" Arwen asked, her mind clearly trying to recall the Housing Board regulations.
Legolas hadn't thought so when he'd first seen Gimli's decorating style. But now he wasn't so sure. After all, Gimli had seemed very grateful when Legolas had helped towel him off and get him into dry clothes last night. And Gimli HAD hung up an elf poster for him -- Legolas appreciated the gesture, even though the girl on the motorcycle wasn't really his type.
So Legolas didn't want to say anything now that might come back to haunt him later. Therefore, instead of answering, Legolas looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh, I better get to class. Don't want to be late the first day," he said, standing and picking up his skateboard from where he'd propped it against the ottoman.
"I'm so glad you're back, Leggy," Arwen said sincerely, smiling up at him. "We'll have to get together later -- we have a lot of catching up to do. But of course I'll see you in choir."
Legolas nodded. "Choir," he repeated as he headed off towards the classrooms.
"And Leggy," Arwen called after him, "we need to talk about Swing Choir. We could really use some more tall males in there to help balance out the choreography, and we're short on tenors, too. So when am I going to convince you to join us?"
"Never," Legolas mumbled under his breath as he entered the music theory room, sighing with relief that he'd escaped. It was a small classroom, with a piano at one end and walls covered with musical staff chalkboards. Legolas went to the back of the room, where the larger desks were, and sat down. Unlike choir, where the majority of the students were elves, the theory classes had a more even balance of races -- however, the music department still seemed to favour the elves, placing only a few hobbit-sized desks in each classroom. Legolas watched as his fellow classmates came in and sat down, slowly filling all the desks till there were only a few large desks empty nearby.
Professor Galadin soon entered, placing her books on the piano and greeting some of the students who were close by. Legolas liked the professor, which is one of the reasons he'd decided to take another year of music theory even though it wasn't required for his Music Minor.
Legolas glanced at his watch -- 8:01am. I can't believe it -- my first class as a sophomore, Legolas mused. It makes me feel so old.
Professor Galadin began by reviewing what they'd learned last year in freshman theory: the language of music, the chordal structure of cadences, the strict rules of counterpoint. She was just explaining why parallel octaves weren't allowed when Pippin suddenly ran into the classroom, looking disheveled and out-of-breath. He glanced around, quickly seeing that all the small desks were taken, and hurried to take a seat in the back next to Legolas before Professor Galadin yelled at him for interrupting.
"What'd I miss?" Pippin whispered as he climbed up into the big desk.
"Just a review," Legolas whispered back, amused at the hobbit's appearance. "Let me guess -- you overslept?"
"Uh...yes. That's it. I overslept." Pippin grinned back impishly at Legolas.
Legolas knew what the REAL reason for his lateness was, but he was enjoying teasing the hobbit. "Maybe you need a new alarm clock."
Pippin smiled, and Legolas could only imagine what wicked thoughts were going through his mind. "Yes," the hobbit said dreamily, "I may need a new alarm clock."
"And you may need to zip up your fly."
And Legolas calmly returned his attention back to Professor Galadin and her parallel octaves as Pippin hastily finished getting dressed.
***
Click here to return to the index page.
Click here to go back to the previous story.
Click here to continue to the next story.