"What is this?" I asked, picking up the giant delicate-looking book.
"Your book. We're going caroling tonight and Alice wants you to come with us. We go every year."
I nodded. "I guess so." I had been wondering what everybody was doing.
I gently took the old book and fluttered the pages open to the first one. It was old paper, the kind that felt thick between your fingers and looked more yellow than white. I struggled to read the elegant swirl at the top, immediately noticing this was not Edward's handwriting. I opened it to the first song, grateful that I knew this one.
"Jingle bells?" I asked skeptically.
Then I noticed something else. Besides all the elegant swirls that may've been doodles put there by Carlisle or whoever else had ever used these books or may have actually pertained to the music of the piece, there were too many lines. I knew enough about music that, if the song was written for girls and guys, there should be four staffs together. I counted them in my confusion. Seven staffs.
Edward noticed my fixation on the page. "Rose and I put these together a while back. You can sing any of the top three lines with the girls." Then I realized why there were seven staffs; seven Cullens. Each Cullen had there own staff. That seemed rough. Especially if you happened to be the musically impaired human girlfriend of one of those Cullen's.
As I paid closer attention, I noticed in a hand that was more familiar, part names and the names of the singers that matched were added to the left of the first staff. Just from the parts, I'd chosen the middle line, the "MEZZO SOPRANO" line, as Edward had marked it.
That is, until I noticed who had been assigned to sing that line. I couldn't stand the thought of singing with Rosalie, so I chose to try "SOPRANO" with Alice. I glanced quickly over the bottom four staffs, the two tenor parts and two baritone parts. That was odd; I'd never really thought of Jasper as the "BARITONE ONE", but that was what the page had said.
A small smear of white interrupted my thinking. "Bella!! We're ready for you!!" Alice's tiny but iron-hard hand was around her wrist as she dragged me over to where the others had formed a somewhat trapezoid shape. I was pushed into a slot open between Alice and Esme. I was ready.
Then Alice started singing.
Her part was high, but not in any way frail like I had expected it to be. Her tone stayed strong as she tripped up higher and higher, making me wince as her notes got so high they stung my ears. Jasper laughed from behind me.
I shot a nervous glance toward Esme. She seemed to understand, and smiled warmly. "Bella, would you prefer to sing my part?" She pointed an ice-cold finger to the line labeled "ALTO." I nodded in relief.
When Esme helped me figure out what I was singing, I was relieved that these were notes I could comfortably sing. Esme wasn't impatient as she attempted to show me how to follow the complexity of sheet music. I could see how she was the mother figure. She was very good with the teaching.
When I finally figured out how to read the music, I was a little freaked when Emmett gave a starting pitch so low I wondered how he was capable of producing it. Jasper matched that, to my amazement, without any difficulty. This was as effortless as everything the Cullens did.
Then Edward and Carlisle mysteriously produced another note. It wasn't that much higher, but still, I could tell it wasn't the same. They never even looked at each other, but there voices sounded almost as one, they were so tuned together.
I looked to Alice, and soon enough she produced an awful squeal-like pitch so incredibly high that would've done some permanent ear damage if produced within a few inches of my ear.
Rose rolled her eyes and pitched herself somewhat lower that Alice, but still much too high for me to comfortably sing. I was getting scared. I looked to Esme, who hummed our note in my ear before we actually sang it. I had to remember to thank her.
Carlisle snapped his fingers a few times, setting the metronome, I guess, then the guys started singing. I blinked a few times when they actually started singing to prove that they hadn't been replaced by angels of some sort. It was quite odd; they were singing, yet I didn't recognize there voices. It was like they were lip-syncing really well with voices that were so, so much better.
"Dashing through the snow,
In a one horse open sleigh.
O'er the fields we go,
Laughing all the way.
"Bells on bobtail ring,
Making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!"
I took a deep breath. If my score was marked correctly (meaning if I was capable of following sheet music), this would be the entrance of all the girl parts, the chorus. I was singing what seemed to be the melody, while Alice and Rosalie each had parts that altered the melody. Alice started a few beats ahead of me, one little bar line grouping.
She started singing some note so high I worried about cracking the windows. I shivered a little. Jasper laughed at me again, never letting his pitch or tone change as he kept right on singing.
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!"
I kept my voice down the whole chorus, trying to be drowned out by the angels I had to call family. I think it worked, since I didn't hear any animals dying or screeching amongst the beautiful song.
I looked back to the book. It said I was singing a line of oohs and ahhs that were marked with swirls. I didn't know what this meant, or if it meant anything at all. For all I could tell, it meant that someone had gotten bored and decided to draw pictures instead.
I timidly started oohing, glad to be drowned out by the guys who passed the solo around. Jasper started it out with all of the others humming something low and warm.
"A day or two ago,
I thought I'd take a ride"
Carlisle nodded a little and started his turn.
"And soon Ms. Fanny Bright,
Was seated by my side."
There was a little break, then Edward smiled my all-time favorite crooked smile and started singing.
"The horse was lean and lank,
Misfortune seemed his lot,"
Emmett got this gigantic grin as he finished the verse.
"We got into a drifted bank,
And we, we got upsot!"
I must've looked confused, since Jasper tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "It means they flipped the sleigh over," he explained in a big-brotherly way.
Oh. I saw why Emmett got that line.
The chorus was back, and I was ready to hide behind the others again this time.
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!"
Oh crap. This was the moment of truth. This verse was just the girls. According to my score half of this was Alice, and the other half was me and Esme. Rosalie didn't have a marked solo, and I didn't ask why.
"Now the ground is white,
Go it while you're young.
Take the boys tonight,
And sing this sleighing song!"
I breathed. My stalling time was up. I timidly started to sing, quivering and hiding under Esme's voice whenever I could. I think she purposefully sang quietly, the traitor.
"Just get a bobtail nag,
Two forty for his speed,
Then hitch him to an open sleigh and
Crack you'll take the lead!"
We were nearing the end of the song, and thankfully I could hide under the others pure voices again.
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!
"Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!"
Well, at least it's over. That a plus.
"You were great," Edward whispered in my ear, then pulled me around by the waist and kissed me.
That was another one.