Work Text:
Charlie Brown was never exactly popular in his class, but everyone in it knew who he was. Be it the boy with weird dog, or the failure brother with a overly hyper little sister. They knew who he was, and they weren’t always nice to him. He learned to look past that fact. Because while he probably looked and acted weird to his classmates, he was quite happy just being himself.
Though lately he’s been getting a different idea in his head, a risky one: Maybe his classmates didn’t think him as much of a nuisance as he thought.
_________________________________
Of all the people Charlie Brown thought he would ever call, he never thought it would be one of his classmates. Let alone Schroeder of all people!
The guy was a prodigy at playing the toy piano. And had this very sophisticated air surrounding him, despite growing up in the middle of nowhere. In other words the guy was very intimidating. (Not to mention his “relationship” with Lucy was becoming more and more of a struggle to look at.)
But when Snoopy found a sheet of music note tucked in the folds of the arm chair. (In the midst of doing God knows what) Schroeder was the first person that popped in his mind. cause if the guy is able to play Beethoven on a piano with only 4 keys, then he should at least be able to read sheet music.
So after tucking his younger sister Sally into bed, (Which took 30 minutes thanks to weatherman who predicted thunderstorms in the future) he shoved his nervous thoughts down his throat and began dialing the prodigy’s number.
As he dialed the number, he wondered if the neighborhood kids gave him a fake phone book to avoid all contact with him. And although he told himself immediately after that they would never do something like that to him, it still made his chest hurt.
Besides he had never dialed these numbers before, so of course they wouldn’t look familiar to him! Yeah there we go, logic.
As the phone started to ring, he tried thinking of what he was going to say. Then he heard a voice, whisper in his ear.
“Hello?”
“Oh! Hey Schroeder, this is Charlie Brown!”
“Charlie Brown? Why are you calling me?”
Charlie deflated. “Oh I didn’t mean to bother you, I’m sorry! I-I could-“
“No wait!” Schroeder cut him off. “That came out rude. I’m sorry, you wanted to talk to me about something?”
“Oh! It’s okay, and yeah I do need to talk to you.” Charlie responded with a jittery jolt of his body. “About the music sheet.”
“. . . what music sheet?” The blonde asked after a moment, a curios lilt coating his speech.
Charlie sighed after a moment, knowing this story would sound extremely odd.
“Well my dog Snoopy, found a sheet of music noted tucked between the rocking chair. And I have no idea what they mean let alone the tempo of the song.”
“Hmm… An anonymous art piece?” The prodigy said mostly to himself, before speaking into the telephone again his insides stirring with eagerness. “Sounds mysterious”
“It is! And I was hoping to surprise my sister with it. Assuming it’s not some cult’s theme.”
Charlie’s dark humor, was surprising to the blonde, as he let loose a surprised chuckle.
“Only one way to find out!” A new excitement bubbling inside him, as his voice took on the anticipation. “Where do you want to meet?”
“How about tomorrow at the park? I’m sure the birds would be happy to help us out.”
“That sounds perfect! So I’ll see ya then?”
“Yep. Thanks Schroeder!”
“No problem Charlie!”
And with that perfect end to human interaction, Charlie set the phone back on its pedestal and rushed to his room and plopped into his bed, both exhausted and excited.
_________________________________
The next day, when Charlie and Schroeder met up, it really was the perfect day.
They sat it shade of one the park’s grandest trees, and slowly worked their way through the notes on the page.
Schroeder had brought a toy ukulele with him to play out the notes on. Which turned out to make one of the prettiest melodies that Charlie had ever heard.
And it turned out to be the prettiest that his sister had ever heard, give that it put her to sleep in minutes.
So when Schroeder had called him again that night, to remind him that it was Show & Tell was this week. He was thrilled to find out that Charlie was considering playing the song, so much so that he practically begged him to.
_________________________________
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vHotGkZdcyw
As the last notes of the song rang around the classroom, silence settled into the room.
Charlie shoulders began to bunch up again as his classmates stared at him, as a warm tingly feeling rushed him from head to toe.
“T-that was a melody put together by the notes on this sheet”
The class leaned forward to get a clear gaze at the rumpled sheet in his hand.
“M-my dog found it in between the cushions of a rocking chair.” He carefully worded to the group. “A-as odd as that probably sounds.”
“I called my granddad to tell him about it, and apparently he stuck it in there…? I don’t know why, but I think he meant to hide it from someone.”
Silence continued to echo as the students processed his words.
“I don’t know where this song came from but I hope I can find others like it.” He said with a semi-smile and blush adorning his face. “Especially since it got my sister asleep in less than a minute.”
There was a chuckle or two at his humor as he lowered the paper back into his lap, next to the instrument.
“Anyway, that’s it. Thank you!”
Applause erupted across the room as he collected his items and scurried back to his seat. Attempting to hand the ukulele back to Schroeder who grinned and just said to “keep it.”
As he slumped down onto his desk, he felt very proud of himself, even if a little exhausted.
Maybe he wasn’t such a nuisance after all.