When the Violin Sings

Chapter 35

A/N: We're heading into the last 10 chapters!!!

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Piper woke up with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Dawn had only just settled over the campus. Julia was still sleeping soundly in bed, no doubt exhausted after a long talk with her mother the night before. Piper was glad to hear that Julia's mother, though initially upset, cared only now about Julia's happiness, though she knew that it would take time before Julia and her mother's relationship mended. Still, she was glad to listen to the slow breathing of Julia, hoping that she could rest more peacefully now.

Piper grumbled slightly and reached for her phone beside her bed. Six-thirty in the morning. She let out a sigh. She knew she wasn't going to be able to get back to bed anytime soon. Piper supposed it would be better to just get up and start preparing her notes for her meeting with Professor Murphy and Lucy later today. She knew that had to be why her stomach was twisted in pain, but there was no way around it. They were getting closer to the trial, and meetings were becoming more frequent.

Stop beating yourself up about this case for real, okay?

The words Lucy had shared with her the day before caused a chill to run down her spine. Lucy was foolish for thinking Piper could just forget about the trial. It hadn't just become about proving herself to Murphy anymore. She genuinely wanted to make sure she was still able to see Lucy's smiling face next semester.

Piper got ready quickly. She threw on a winter coat, wondering when the day would come that the snow would fall. It didn't seem long now, not with the way that the sky was clouded and how cold the mornings were becoming. She walked slowly on her way to the library, kicking spare pebbles on the path. The campus was fogged over slightly with a morning mist. She was one of the few that got to witness such a beautiful phenomenon. Everyone else was still tucked warmly in their beds before their alarms inevitably woke them for classes.

Piper, meanwhile, grabbed a warm coffee and took a seat in the library. She tried to focus on final assignments, but her eyes kept lingering to her notebook where she kept details about the case. She glanced it over three, four times, knowing there were no magic points she could pull out to show Murphy. She would tell him that they were still investigating the route, they still had no video evidence, and that was that. Her limbs trembled slightly at the thought of it.

You've done more than enough work, Lucy's voice repeated in her head.

I haven't done anything. I still haven't sorted out this case, Piper thought hopelessly. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes as she sighed hopelessly down at her notes. A spare tear rolled down her cheek and onto the page below, staining some of the ink. Piper cursed to herself silently and shut the notebook, not wanting to ruin any more of the pages. Thankfully, her tears subsided when she became distracted. Piper was still embarrassed for the way she had acted in front of Lucy the other day. She rarely let Julia see her cry, and yet her cheeks grew warm when she thought of yesterday morning when she had put her thoughts out in the open about the trial. She had gone to apologize and had only made it about herself.

Piper let out a quiet groan. She reached up, ready to run her fingers through her hair, until she was reminded of the fact that it was up in a ponytail. It usually was, for the sole sake of her not messing with her hair as she worked. She couldn't stand it when a few strands got in her face.

Piper sighed, seeing that her first class of the day was approaching. She drained the remaining bits of her coffee and headed off to class. She tried to distract herself with schoolwork until her last class got out, but she still found her mind wandering every now and then to the upcoming meeting with Murphy. She knew she shouldn't care anymore his thoughts about her job performance, but it was impossible. She hopelessly wanted to live up to, no, exceed his expectations, and it saddened her to know that he would never give her the acknowledgment she wanted.