I dumped my phone into my backpack and threw myself into the car

“Aspen Camilla,” Caddie scolded. “You moved my seat and made me type ‘You’re so ugly’ to my best friend and hit send! I mean, like, she sent a picture of her outfit for church tomorrow, and — ugh! She just responded to me!”

Ginny and I giggled. “Sorry,” I apologized, wanting to see Caddie’s best friend’s reaction. 

I tugged at my U.G.G.s to get my foot in. “Don’t you — ugh — love — ugh — Fridays, Ginny? One, two, NNNGGG!”

“For the love of shoes and heels, you’re going to break those!” Ginny exclaimed. “And, yes, I like Fridays.”

“Ok,” I nodded, taking up the other fuzzy chestnut boot. “Good. And a one, two, thhreeee — gasp! — pull!!!”

“I think I like Fridays especially,” Ginny continued. “Because there’s Sabbath on the next day.”

“You like every day of the week,” Cadenza retorted as Daddy pulled out of the garage.

“I so do not!” Ginny shot back. “I really hate Wednesdays because we do quizzes and I hate Tuesdays because we have speed drills.” 

“You’re lucky it’s a Friday, then,” I said after tackling my shoes.

“Yes.” Ginny responded.

It was Tuesday, and , once again, I concentrated hard on the sheet of music in front of me. The yellowing page presented a large variety of notes, dynamics and accidentals. 

Things went a little smoothly, maybe the worst that happened was when Saige had a meltdown.

“We’re not professionals!” Saige had cried last Thursday, although it was our first try.

But nevertheless, it was incredibly hard. Even Lilian tripped over her fingers.

Finally, the thirty minutes of practice passed and we all knelt down to pack up. 

Lilian raised her hand.

What does she need! I felt a pang of envy mixed with scorn. She has everything!

“Mrs. Talula,” Lilian began. “Well…”

What great idea does she have now, I thought a little more scornfully.

“So,” she continued. “Saige and Aspen had a great idea of having a name, so, uh, Saige texted me and asked if you would like it if we, uh, had a name!”

Mrs. Talula nodded. Saige winked at me and smiled crookedly as I watched incredulously.

“And their idea was to call our group…”

Saige was smiling from ear to ear. I was just pinching myself because the Lilian Wesley liked my — oops, no — our idea!

“Actually, I’ll give Aspen the honor of telling you.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words had disappeared. Saige shot me a knowing look, and slowly, the words rolled off my tongue.

“Vivaldi’s Girls,” I winked back at Saige.

Mrs. Talula laughed a deep belly laugh gleefully. “That’s just perfect!”

All three of us beamed as we pushed open the room door.

Lilian stopped us. “Any way you can show up to my house to practice?”

“Yes,” I answered, pulling out my phone. “What’s your phone number? I’ll text you.”

“OK,” Lilian nodded, pulling out a phone with a white phone case with kawaii cactuses. “Four-two-three…”

I typed down the numbers happily. Thanks, God, I breathed a silent prayer. This is great. And I know that You have a whole lot of good things in store for me ahead too.