This is my first story and I'm not much of a writer so please bear with me :)

I don't own anything except Annabelle and the ideas

Annabelle POV

"Almost there" I think while pushing my fingers to the limits. "Just finish this run a tempo and you can take a break". I'm practicing Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila overture for orchestra rehearsal and seating auditions but I just can't get the fast passages up to speed without tripping up the chromatic run. I decrease the metronome speed by one and try again, this time closing my eyes and concentrating on the notes.

I'm practicing now because after waiting 10 minutes in my dorm after I arrived, I realized my roommate would probably not be here in a while so I decided to wait on unpacking and start practicing. The dorm room was rather small but we each had a bed and a desk with a little bit of closet space. There was a bathroom down the hall but we had a fully functioning bathroom with a shower and sink in the room, to the right of the entrance.

Emily POV

My mother and I walked down the wide hallway looking for dorm room number 10. About halfway down, we heard someone vigorously practicing violin.

"Looks like someone has already settled in and has gotten to work", my mother comments.

"mhm" I agree.

This dorm building is the newest one at Vanderbilt. It has a nice café and socializing area and apparently the dorm rooms themselves are very nice too except for, as we now figured out, the walls and doors are thin and do nothing to block out sound.

"here it is" I say as I put the lock in the key. I assume that my new roommate is the one practicing as I can hear her quite clearly from outside.

I opened the door and, as I thought, was greeted by the girl practicing. Not wanting to interrupt her, my mom and I stood at threshold and used this time to study our surroundings. To my right was appeared to be a fully functioning bathroom. To the right and left side, there were loft beds with desks underneath. The girl was playing through a fast passage with a slightly annoying device flashing and clicking rhythmically. We can only see her backside but she's wearing blue jeans and a white cami top…I wonder why she's only wearing that. Her case is on the floor next to her with a pile of music books and the music on her stand seems complicated.

nabelle POV

I finish the passage slightly under tempo with no mess ups so I take a second to breathe and shake the tension out of my hand. I turn around to get my rosin, when I see two people standing in the doorway and yelp.

"uhh…hi, sorry about that. You must be my roommate," I smile and continue "I'm Annabelle." I take in my new roommate. She's kinda tan with a toned body. She has black hair, perfect skin, and is very pretty. Her mom is probably the woman behind her.

I realize she's looking at me funnily and I realize I'm only wearing my undershirt. "Oh" I exclaim and put my shirt back on.

"Hi, I'm Pam and this is my daughter Emily" the woman in the back introduces herself.

"nice to meet you" I say and shake her hand. "I wasn't sure if you had a preference for side so I just started practicing. Do you have a preference?"

"uhh…no, not really" Emily says.

"uhh, ok, I guess I'll take this side" I say, sliding my bags and violin to the bed on the left.

Pam starts to get Emily settled in when she starts asking me questions. "Are you a music major? Where are your parents? You're a freshman right?"

Emily and I look at each other for a few moments when I realize she's talking to me.

"uhh, no I'm actually not a music major. I'm majoring in chemical engineering but the music program here lets you audition for ensembles without taking any music courses. My parents left about half an hour ago to catch their plane and yes, I am a freshman"

"oh, that's cool then. How long have you been playing violin?"

"most of my life…uhh I'm 18 now so….13 years?"

"that's impressive" Emily says. "I only started to swim in high school"

"I bet you're good. You have the body for it". Wow, I can't believe I said that.

Emily POV

Wow, my roommate turned around and I was surprised. She has brown hair; thick, dark eyebrows; rimless glasses; and a sincere smile. My mom of course had to start pestering her with questions but I felt a connection with her as soon as we met eyes.

"Mom, I think I can handle it from here now. I'll get settled in and I'll call you when I go talk to the swimming coaches"

"ok, have funs girls" my mom waved as she left.

I watch Annabelle as she opens up her suitcase and starts unpacking. She laughs as she takes out a pink comforter with flowers, sheets, matching pillow case, and a small, kid sized blanket with a blue character on it.

"I know this is kinda a weird question to start our first conversation but why were you only wearing a white cami on top when you have a shirt already out?"

Annabelle laughs "I have this weird habit of practicing like that. It started when I was in middle school because I'd be practicing so hard I would start to sweat but then it turned in to me just feeling more comfortable with my violin directly on my shoulder instead of having a piece of cloth between us. Don't worry, for concerts and lessons, I wear more clothes. Also, I won't practice when you're home. I mean, there are practice rooms."

"oh, I don't mind that much."

"are you here for swimming?" She asks

"yeah, got a swimming scholarship."

"that's great! My dad had a full cross country scholarship when he went to college but lost it when his lung collapsed and he couldn't run anymore"

We were silent for a while longer. I started taking out pictures of Aria, Hanna, Spencer, me, and sometimes Alison and set them on my desk. I wondered how Spence was doing at Yale, Hanna at designing school, and Aria at Hollis. I wish we had time to relax with each other after A was caught. We didn't have a lot of fun while we were being psychologically tortured. Maybe they will come to my swim meets…

"so you have anyone special back home?" I ask as I put a framed picture of Paige and me on my desk.

"what do you mean? Like a boyfriend?"

"yeah"

"haha…uhh…no boyfriend…erm…ok this is kinda awkward and always hard to do but…well, I had a girlfriend. Her name is Kathleen and we broke up before I got here." Annabelle says, her eyes misting up a little bit.

"Oh" I say, surprised. "uhh well, that's cool! Not that you guys broke up of course but well, I'm gay too so…that works. My girlfriend Paige and I also broke up. Long distance relationships right? Won't work at our age I guess.."

Annabelle looks over at me and sees the picture. "Is this Paige?" she asks "Is she a swimmer too?"

I nod at both questions and sit down in my chair. Annabelle does the same on the other side of the room and faces me.

Annabelle POV

Gosh, telling her I am gay happened really quickly and was rather smooth…I feel really comfortable with Emily. I like her name too.

"soo…."

"I think I'm gonna go talk to the swim coaches now. I'll probably be back in an hour or so. Do you want to have lunch together?"

"sure! I guess I'll get back to practicing in the meantime"

After Emily left, I couldn't get her out of my head. Something about her really intrigued me and made me feel….different….

Emily POV

Wow…Annabelle…strikes something in me…I really like her. I notice a buzzing in my pocket, it's Aria.

"Hey Aria!"

"Hey Em! How's Vanderbilt? Make any friends?"

"I just met my roommate"

"ooh is she cute?" another voice asks

"Hanna?"

"yeah, who else would ask?"

"ok..yeah she's cute. Maybe you can meet her when you guys come up here"

"send us pics!" hanna excitedly says

"ok guys, I have to go talk to the swim coach so talk to you later!"

"Bye Em!" I heard the both of them say together.