Da Capo

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It was almost strange for Stephanie to think that she would be playing her violin with only 3 fine tuners from now on. She wondered how much her playing was going to change... there was a chance one less fine tuner would make no difference, but a part of her was afraid it would make a world of difference. All she could do right now was hope for the best and try not to think about it too much.

As promised, Stephanie stopped by Lancaster's the following morning to pick up her violin and bow, as well as some extra rosin since she had been running low. She paid George and thanked him for his services, but before she could head to the Academy to try out her violin, George stopped her:

"Why not try out your violin right here?" George asked, smiling kindly at her. "Just to be sure everything is sounding correct."

Stephanie hesitated, glancing down at her violin case in her hand. "I don't know. I was just going to go to the Academy to try it out in one of the practice rooms there..."

"You can still do that. Just take a moment to try it out right now, though, so I know everything's in order," George encouraged her. "Come on now, I'd love to hear you play."

Stephanie smiled at him, feeling flattered. "Alright, if you insist."

She wasn't really keen on playing in a public place like the music shop, but right now she didn't mind since it happened to be empty this early in the morning. She set her case down on the counter and took out her violin, perching it on her shoulder before picking up her newly rehaired bow.

After taking a deep steadying breath, she set her bow against the G string and slid it down before sliding it back up to A, twisting the pegs slightly as she went and tuning it. She didn't notice any change in the tone as she played, which was a huge relief.

"Excellent," George smiled after Stephanie played a perfect scale for him. "Your violin sounds wonderful, Stephanie. Just remember to tune it, and if you ever have any issues, feel free to reach out to me."

Stephanie thanked him sincerely before packing up her violin and heading out the door. Suddenly, she felt eager to get to the Academy and start practicing with her new violin.

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Unfortunately, when Stephanie got to the Academy and went to find a practice room, all of them were filled up. Students were even crowding around the doors and lining up behind each other in order to get the next free practice room; Stephanie heard some of them chatting with each other as she walked along:

"...First performance of the semester, and I've only practiced three hours this week! Walton's so going to fail me," a boy groaned to his friends.

"Well I'm going to be sight-reading the music, for sure," a girl clutching a flute case said to him. "I really hate performance days..."

Stephanie walked past them, figuring there must have been a performance of some sort happening today. She wended her way through the crowded corridor before making her way upstairs, deciding not to use one of the practice rooms since they were so obviously needed by all the students today. It would have been selfish of her to take one.

She headed up toward the third floor, where she knew some classrooms and small performance halls were. She passed by several classrooms that were occupied before finding an empty performance hall, similar to the one she had been practicing in when Kyle Lancaster happened upon her several weeks ago.

As much as Stephanie didn't want to relive that awkward moment again, she figured it was unlikely to happen twice in a row. Kyle was probably having his masterclass in another performance hall right now, so Stephanie felt confident she wouldn't get interrupted. She walked to the front of the hall where an empty music stand sat, and she set down her violin case on a nearby chair. However, a thought came to mind.