The Soundless Piano

~ Four years ago ~

Twelve year old Beca was sitting in front of a huge audience, playing the piano exactly the way her mother had taught her to. Her mom had chosen the difficult 3rd Movement of Moonlight Sonata from Beethoven for this competition and Beca had practiced and practiced until she could play the piece flawlessly.

The audience and especially Beca's best friend Stacie, were listening intently, captivated by the perfect sound that was escaping the piano under the little brunette's gentle ministrations.

Beca had loved playing the piano when she was younger and quickly found out that she had a real talent for playing the majestic instrument. When her mother started giving her piano lessons though, her love for the instrument and the fun she had while playing it, had started to dwindle with every new lesson she received.

Now, at the age of twelve, Beca was considered a piano prodigy. She was 'encouraged' to win every competition her mother would enter her in and a failure would only result in even harder lessons. Beca loved her mother and would do anything for her. She just wished that her mother would consider her wishes sometimes, instead of trying to fulfill her own dreams through her daughter.

Katherine Mitchell had been well on her way to becoming a world class pianist, when her health suddenly started declining rapidly shortly after Beca's third birthday. Knowing that she couldn't fulfill her dreams on her own, she started transferring those dreams to her little daughter, who had started showing tremendous potential the moment she had first touched a piano.

The phrase that defined Beca's childhood had been 'Giving your best doesn't mean anything unless you come in first'. Since she wanted to please her mother and could see how winning made her happy, Beca gave her all in every competition, practiced until exhaustion caused her to sleep on the piano bench more than one time and neglected her friends.

The difficult part of the song was coming up and Beca was starting to feel nervous, hands beginning to sweat lightly. She had worked hard for her current skill level, so it was like a kick in the gut when, shortly after the difficult part of the piece had started, the piano notes started sounding hollow and fade. Beca felt like she was underwater, trying to coax the crystal clear sounds out of the instrument and only getting muffled thumps. She started hitting the keys harder, trying to hear anything but the result stayed the same. Her agitation caused her to increase the tempo of the song; the loud and fast playing made it hard for the audience to enjoy the piece.

She noticed from the corner of her eyes, that the audience was starting to whisper to each other and tears of humiliation and helplessness were starting to fall from her cheeks.

When the sound of the piano didn't come back after another minute of hacking on the piano keys, Beca stopped playing altogether. She sat on the piano bench for a minute, steeling herself and wiping her tears off. The small brunette girl stood up, turned to the audience with a hard look on her face, bowed shortly and quickly walked off the stage, accompanied by the whispers of the people.

That had been the last time she had entered a competition. Her mother had died three months later.

~ Today ~

Beca was sitting at the piano in the music room of her school, headphones on her head and blindly playing a melody on the instrument she couldn't hear.

She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear her best friend Stacie entering the room. The taller brunette was saying something but she quickly noticed that Beca couldn't hear her. She huffed heavily and flung her bag in the corner of a cabinet, intend on grabbing Beca's attention immediately. The sound of breaking glass stopped her though and even caused Beca to turn her head, a questioning look on her face. She removed her headphones from her ears and stood up from the bench, walking over to Stacie's side.

"Hey Stace. What was that crash I heard?"

Stacie shrugged sheepishly. "Well.." she pointed to a broken glass vase on the floor, "I guess I flung my bag a little too harshly into the cabinet. It just fell down and splintered into a million pieces."

Beca rolled her eyes but smiled at her best friend. "Be more careful next time. Why don't you go and get a broom and a dustpan while I pick up the big shards."

The tiny brunette leaned down to start picking up the bigger shards of the vase when her hand was suddenly slapped away violently before she could make contact with the glass. She turned around to look at Stacie with confused but also annoyed eyes.

"What the hell? What's wrong with you?"

"Be careful Beca, that's dangerous. What if you slice a finger?"

Beca's annoyance grew. "So what if I did? It's none of your business."

"It is, Beca. Your fingers are worth more than anything I own."

Beca shook her head, not wanting to think about that. "Whatever. Did you want something or did you just come in here to annoy me?"

Stacie painted a small pout on her face for a second but couldn't contain the grin that was threatening to overwhelm her face. "Well, I wanted to see if you were ready to go home now or if I should wait a while for you. But then I heard what you were playing. It was 'Titanium', right?"

Beca went over to the piano and grabbed her bag. "I'm ready, we can go. And yes it was."

"But how did you play it? You don't have any music sheets here and you told me a hundred times that you can't hear the sound of your own playing anymore."

The small brunette pointed at her headphones that were resting comfortingly around her neck. "I listened to the song on my phone and played the notes. Just because I can't hear the notes anymore doesn't mean I can't remember what they should sound like."

"Since when could you do that? And why am I only hearing about this now?"

Beca shrugged. "I don't know, since I started playing I guess. And it never really came up? I don't know, why is this such a big deal?"

Stacie huffed, grabbed Beca's left hand to intertwine their fingers and started steering her best friend in the direction of the parking lot.

"Firstly, that is an awesome skill to have. Secondly, I could have made you play so many acoustic versions of my favorite songs! We're starting with that tomorrow. I'm coming over in the evening, don't pretend that you're not home. I live next to you, I will notice if you leave the house."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Stalker. And you know that I don't like playing the piano anymore. Why would you force me to play something for you? You've never done it before."

The girls arrived at the parking lot and climbed into Stacie's blue beat up convertible.

"Because I've been talking to a brick wall these last four years. You've told me countless times that you hate the piano, yet I find you in the schools music room every day after classes while you wait for me to finish with the Bellas. You say you hate it, but you can't manage to close that chapter in your life completely. It's time I do something about that. I've asked you why you won't just stop and you could never give me a real answer. So now I'm going to encourage you to play."

"I don't want to."

"And yet you do."

"I've never even touched the piano in my house these last four years."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "That's because you associate bad memories with that particular piano."

"Can you please let this go?"

"No. But if you don't want to talk about the piano, why don't we talk about love instead?"

Beca immediately mimicked throwing up and shot an incredulous glare in her best friend's direction. "Why would you want to talk about that?"

"Because Jessica said something today at practice. She said that if you're in love with somebody, everything starts looking colorful. I don't really know where she got that cheesy statement from, but it made me wonder and realize that we haven't talked about boys – or well, girls -", she shot Beca a meaningful look, "in like forever. It's time we talked about that again."

Beca turned her head and looked out of the window. She wished she could just drone out Stacie's blabbering with her headphones but she knew that Stacie would just take them from her and look at her with big sad eyes. Beca couldn't handle a sad Stacie, so she only looked out of the window to convey her annoyance.

"There is no way we are talking about this. And even if we were, there wouldn't be a point to it. There is no one who would ever fall in love with me."

Stacie groaned. "That is the wrong attitude, you know? We're sixteen, you should really be thinking about love a little more positively."

"What about you then? Did anyone catch your eye lately?"

The taller brunette blushed brightly and suddenly started concentrating really hard on the road. Safe driving and all that. "Um... no, of course not."

Beca glanced at her best friend, not really sure about the tone in her voice. When she saw the blush on the tall brunette's face, her own face quickly turned into a shit eating grin. "Well, well, well... what do we have here? Are you keeping secrets from me Miss Conrad?"

"Of course not. Why don't we drop this conversation and talk about the weekend? We should totally do something together. It's Friday afternoon, the whole weekend is only waiting for us to do something fun."

"You're not fooling me. Your eyes are sparkling and your blush is crazy bright. I bet you're seeing everything in bright colors, huh? I mean there must have been a reason Jessica's cheesy statement stayed with you and you even bothered to bring it up with me."

"Oh look, we're home. I'm really hungry, I'll text you soon, okay?" With that, Stacie hurriedly parked her car in front of the garage and hopped out of her blue convertible before Beca could even loosen her seat belt.

Beca chuckled a little to herself but decided to let her friend be for now. "Okay Stace. I'll see you tomorrow or something."

"Yeah, bye Becs!" Stacie shouted, already halfway through her front door.

The small brunette just smiled fondly at her friends antics. She was really glad to have her as a best friend. She didn't really know what she would do otherwise. Her father was never really home, only visiting occasionally to pay some bills. He said it was work but Beca doubted that a college professor had courses that lasted for two weeks on end. Without a break and without the opportunity to go home to sleep.

But it didn't really bother Beca anymore. If something were to happen, she could always go to Stacie and her parents. They've been helping her a lot these last four years.

Beca loved her dad, even though he acted so distant. It was a little hard at first, but twelve year old Beca had quickly realized that her father couldn't get over her mom's death. And since Beca had been raised to be mostly independent, he had started giving her stuff to do until she could do nearly everything herself. The more she learned, the longer her father stayed away at a time. It wasn't unusual for him to only show up once a month for a few hours.

The little brunette sighed and went to the kitchen to prepare some noodles for her to eat. She started heating some water and was about to go into the pantry to get a pack of noodles when the open door to the room her piano stayed in caught her attention.

Just looking at the old and dusty instrument caused Beca to be lost in memories of her mother teaching her the piano.

'Giving your best doesn't mean anything unless you come in first'

'You're going to be world famous one day'

'You don't have time for your friends, you need to practice.'

'Don't you want to make your mom happy? It makes me happy when you win competitions.'

'You have to fulfill my dream because it's your fault I can't do it myself anymore.'

Before Beca could get lost in her memories completely, the high pitched noise of the boiling water brought her back to reality.

She shook her head roughly, trying to get rid of the memories that had risen up from her subconscious. Beca quickly went into the pantry to get the noodles and tossed them into the boiling water after reducing the heat of the stove slightly.

The small brunette set the timer on her phone to beep in 10 minutes and made her way upstairs to change out of her clothes. Once in her room, she changed her jeans and flannel shirt for some sweats and a comfortable band t-shirt. She glanced at her desk where a keyboard and thousands of papers (all of them sheet music) were lying around, without order or direction. Beca sighed and resolved herself to at least put them into some binders so they won't rip or stain. Sheet music was expensive.

But not now, she told herself and made her way downstairs again, preparing to eat her measly meal of noodles with ketchup. It wasn't that she couldn't cook something better, or well, something with more nutrients, but she didn't want to. She couldn't be bothered to put in the work for something as unimportant as eating healthy. Stacie would disagree if she ever heard me talking like that...

While she was eating her noodles, Beca thought back to her conversation with Stacie in the car. Seeing everything in color, huh? How I wish that were true for me, all I am seeing is the world in monochrome. Just like music scores. Just like a keyboard.

She sighed and quickly put her plate into the dishwasher after she finished eating. She checked if every door was locked and went upstairs to her room again. She grabbed her laptop from the floor and put some music on while she laid down on her bed and grabbed a few white pieces of paper. The song that was playing was 'Bulletproof' from La Roux and Beca was gently humming the notes to herself as she started writing them down on her blank piece of paper.

This was what she was doing in her free time. She listened to music, transcribed the notes by ear and then changed the notes around until one or even several other songs fit into the notes perfectly. The mixes she created this way had never been played though. Beca could imagine the sounds in her mind and knew that they sounded good, but she never managed to find her resolve and play them on the piano. She was afraid that her inability to hear the notes would ruin her mixes for her, so she was only playing them in her mind.

If Stacie knew what she was doing, Beca was sure she would have dragged her into her little a Capella group already. Stacie loved Beca's voice but the little brunette had managed to convince Stacie that a club was not a place Beca would enjoy herself in. But if her best friend knew that she was creating mixes, she would try a lot harder to get her to join. The Bellas had a little trouble with their set list and something fresh and new like Beca's mixes would surely attract Stacie's attention. So Beca didn't tell her about her mixes and just created them for her own enjoyment.

After spending the next few hours creating mixes, Beca was starting to get tired and decided to call it a day. She changed into her sleep clothes, went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and then got ready to go to bed. Before she turned off the lights though, she turned to look at the picture of her mother that was standing on her dresser.

The picture of her mother was from about fifteen years ago. Beca loved it, because it reminded her of the kind and gentle woman her mother had been once. Before she had discovered that little Beca had a talent for playing the piano. Before she had started falling ill and giving her daughter lessons. Before she had changed and became the obsessed monster she was when she had died.

"Goodnight, mom." Beca whispered, shut off the lights and crawled into bed.

She was lying in the dark, thinking about her mother, her pretty much non-existent father and the piano.

I hate it. I hate playing the piano. It ruined everything.

Something Stacie had said today suddenly went to the forefront of Beca's mind. 'You've told me countless times that you hate the piano, yet I find you in the schools music room every day after classes while you wait for me to finish with the Bellas. You say you hate it, but you can't manage to close that chapter in your life completely.'

Beca sighed deeply and finally admitted to herself why she couldn't let go of the majestic instrument. I am still clinging on to it, because it feels like I have nothing else. Take away the piano and I'll be empty. Without a cause or a goal. Alone.

Beca spent the next morning sleeping in and tidying up the house. Stacie texted her to ask her if she wanted to watch a movie together in the evening and Beca happily agreed. Movies with Stacie were always fun, even if most of the movies Stacie forced her to watch were corny chick-flicks. But spending time with her best friend was something Beca loved to do, so she endured her horrible taste in movies.

After cleaning the house and eating lunch (she still had some leftover noodles from yesterday evening), she decided to enjoy the mild April weather and go for a walk. There was a park not far from her house and she decided to go there, music blasting loudly through her headphones.

She'd been walking peacefully for about half an hour when a pair of ballet flats lying under a huge oak tree caught her attention. Beca stopped walking, looked from left to right, trying to find somebody who those shoes could belong to but she came up short. Curiosity peeked, she decided to go over to the tree and investigate.

When she took her headphones off in case someone asked her why she was creepily walking around a tree in the middle of a public park, the most beautiful sound she had ever heard managed to sneak into her ears.

She looked around quickly, trying to find the cause of the noise but couldn't see anyone. Mindlessly picking up the shoes she had been investigating, she started walking in the direction the beautiful sound was coming from.

Behind some trees, a few meters away, Beca managed to find the cause of the noise.

It was a girl playing the violin. A beautiful redheaded girl with no shoes on. She was dancing around, smiling widely while she played a wonderful little melody that couldn't sound any happier.

The moment Beca laid eyes on her vibrant red hair and her sparkling bright blue eyes, the scenery around her started to take on color. She couldn't help but think about the cheesy statement Stacie had told her about yesterday. She knew that she had always been able to see just fine, but this moment - here in this park with this girl - seemed like the moment she saw the bright colors of the world for the first time in nearly thirteen years.

Already berating herself for even thinking about something that corny, she scoffed and was about to quietly walk away when the noise of her scoff caught the redheads attention and she stopped playing, turning around to look at Beca.

Beca stopped, staring wide eyed at the other girl, not knowing what to say. "Um..."

"Hi! Were you listening to me? And why are you having my shoes?" The redhead asked with a bright smile on her face.

"Um..." Beca stammered. "I found these abandoned shoes and heard you play, so I came to investigate."

The redheaded girl was still smiling and started putting her violin back in her case.

"Well then, thanks for picking up my shoes I guess. I'm Chloe by the way. Did you like my playing?"

"Um... I'm Beca. And no problem, here." She gave the shoes to Chloe who put them on quickly. "And yes, you are really good."

"Thanks!"

"So, why were you playing without shoes on? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't mind. I've just moved here earlier this week and I've always practiced in a park near my old house. I wanted to come and check this park out today. It's beautiful by the way. And I just feel more comfortable without my shoes on. It gives me the illusion of freedom and I always think my playing is better when I'm feeling free. So. I just left them over there and started playing."

"Huh. Well, your playing was beautiful. I'm impressed."

"Really? Oh, thank you, that really means a lot to me, especially coming from you..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Never mind. Just talking to myself. So, I have a performance over at Atlanta Symphony Orchestra today. You want to come and watch me?"

Beca furrowed her brows. "You've been living here for a week and already have a performance lined up?"

"I've lived in Atlanta all my life, we just moved houses. The performance was already settled before we moved. But since the Orchestra is only fifteen minutes away from my new house, I think it was a pretty good move. I had to change schools though, I'm not too happy about that."

"Oh? Which school are you going to attend?"

"Henry W. Grady High School or something like that."

"We're going to be classmates then. The school is pretty cool, don't worry too much. And most of the students are alright."

"Awesome. So, you still haven't answered me. Do you want to come and watch me? Otherwise I'll have to say goodbye now, I have to get going, I don't want to be late."

Beca thought about it for a moment but shook her head. "No, I'm sorry..."

Chloe grabbed her hands and looked at her with wide pleading eyes. "Please? It would really make me happy if you came."

The brunette sighed. "Alright then. Let's go."

"Awesome." Chloe replied happily and started dragging Beca in the direction of the concert hall, not bothering to let go of Beca's left hand.

Beca was staring at it helplessly, but couldn't quite bring herself to make the happy redhead sad so she didn't say anything.

They were just about to exit the park a few minutes later when a questioning "Beca?" sounded from behind them.

They turned around and saw Stacie standing behind them.

"Stacie, hey. What are you doing here?"

Immediately zeroing in on Beca's and Chloe's clasped hands, a bright grin appeared on Stacie's face.

"Oh, nothing really. I was hungry for some chocolate so I went to the store over there. And I got us some chips for this evening. Shall I assume you aren't going to make it?"

Beca blushed brightly, knowing what Stacie was getting at at once. "I'm going to make it. Don't worry."

A light squeeze on her left hand reminded Beca that she and Stacie weren't alone.

"Oh! Right, sorry Chloe. So this is my best friend Stacie and this here is Chloe, I met her in the park half an hour ago."

Stacie's eyebrows rose. "Half an hour ago, huh? My my, you are moving fast Mitchell."

"Stacie!"

"Anyway," Stacie said and turned around to Chloe who was watching them with amused eyes. "It's nice to meet you. Where are you two headed?"

"It's nice to meet you too, Stacie. I managed to talk Beca into watching my performance at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It'll start in about an hour."

Stacie was surprised Beca was going back to that place voluntarily but didn't comment on it. She was going to talk to her about that later.

"Oh, really? Can I come too? It's been a while since I attended such an event."

"Sure! Let's go."

The three of them walked to the concert hall together, with Chloe and Stacie talking almost the entire time. Chloe didn't let go of Beca's hand though, which made Stacie shoot Beca teasing grins every time the redhead was distracted. The answering eye roll almost came automatically by now.

When they arrived at the concert hall, Beca immediately felt the tension in the room. The tension before a competition is the same everywhere you go, huh? Beca thought to herself as Chloe told them goodbye because she had to go and change her outfit. Both Beca and Stacie wished her good luck.

The moment Chloe closed the door behind her, Beca began to feel nervous. She could hear the whispers around her. Something like 'Hey, isn't that Beca Mitchell? The pianist? She's all grown up now.' or 'You mean that young girl who won every competition a few years ago? I thought she moved away or something. What is she doing at a violin competition?'. She started to tremble, trying to suppress the whispered voice of her mother in her head – 'This is your work place. You must give better than your best and win this.'

Her trembling was getting worse until Stacie grabbed her hand and started pulling her in the direction of the seats. "Come on Becs. Ignore them. I haven't felt this kind of atmosphere in a while. Since sixth grade when I came to cheer you on."

Beca just managed a small "Hm" before a loud beep signaled them that the competition was about to start. Stacie and Beca quickly grabbed some empty seats and sat down.

The first contestant was walking up to the stage in a handsome suit and bowed to the audience before he took his violin, about to start playing. He was accompanied by a pianist.

After the first few notes were played, Beca knew which song it was.

"Beethoven... Violin Sonata No. 9, huh? The Kreutzer." she mumbled under her breath. "It's been a while since I've seen a live performance..."

When the guy finished playing, Beca had to admit that he had been good, but he hadn't been outstanding.

The next few contestants came onto the stage, in various different suits and fancy dresses, all playing the same song.

After about twenty minutes, Beca noticed Stacie trying to get her attention.

"Pssst, Beca?"

"What is it?" Beca whispered, half an ear still on the performance of the dark haired guy on stage.

"Why are all of them playing the same song? It's getting boring."

"Because that is the set piece for the competition."

"Huh."

Both of them turned back to the performance when Beca suddenly heard something... strange. He is off, she thought and silently encouraged him to get back on track.

"Becs? Is it just me or does he sound a little different than the others?"

Beca wasn't listening to Stacie, she was immersed in the performance, hoping that the guy would find his rhythm again.

Stacie was about to complain to her best friend when she noticed that her hands were tapping on the armrest in a rhythm that could not be mistaken for anything other than Beca playing the piece she was listening to on the wood.

Stacie smiled slightly to herself and let Beca be. Maybe it wasn't so bad that they went to this performance today. Maybe it would help Beca.

After the guy on stage had finished his piece, it was finally Chloe's turn.

She walked on stage in a stunning light blue dress with a big smile on her face and bowed to the audience. She took a deep breath, nodded to her pianist and started to play.

Beca immediately noticed that Chloe was playing the piece slower than the other contestants in the beginning. After a few notes though, she started playing faster, changing the pace and the dynamic seemingly randomly throughout the whole piece. She somehow managed to create a whole new song, even if the notes were the same, only through the use of slower and faster pacing and some changes in the dynamic.

After a few minutes, Stacie was trying to get her attention again.

"Becs, is this the same song?"

Beca nodded. "Yes. It is the set piece, the Kreutzer, but this piece is no longer Beethoven's. This piece... no one can deny that she owns it."

When Chloe finished the song, there were a few moments of silence. Then the audience broke into roaring applause.

Stacie was looking down at Chloe with surprised eyes. "Oh my god, that was awesome. She is totally going to win this, right?"

Beca shook her head. "Sadly not. I agree, it was an awesome performance. But the jury won't see it that way. Too many deductions. Not playing the way the score is written is a total taboo."

Stacie couldn't believe what Beca was saying. "But everybody loved it!"

Beca only shrugged. "That's true, and she would have a good chance if this were a recital but it is a competition. You need to play the set piece the way it is written, otherwise you'll lose a huge amount of points."

"That sucks."

Beca only nodded. True. That was a great performance. I wonder how she can be so happy while she is performing. It always seemed like such a chore for me.

The two best friends silently watched the rest of the performers and left the auditorium when it was over.

They waited for Chloe in front of the auditorium in some kind of waiting room. After a while, they spotted Chloe coming out of a door but she was immediately approached by a official looking guy who apparently wanted to talk to her.

Beca and Stacie started walking over to them, unintentionally listening in on the conversation.

"The results will be posted in about thirty minutes, Miss Beale."

Chloe's answer shocked Beca to the core. "Oh, don't worry about me, I don't care about stuff like that."

Beca's mind was instantly thrust back to a memory of her mother. 'Giving your best doesn't mean anything unless you come in first'

Before she could lose herself in that memory completely, Chloe reached them and started talking. "Hey guys. What did you think? Did you like it?"

Beca was about to answer that it had been great when she noticed that Chloe's hands were trembling with nerves.

I want to hear her again, yet I don't want to hear her again...

"You were great Chloe! It was totally different from everything else the others did, I liked it very much." Stacie interrupted Beca's thoughts.

Beca nodded. "Yes, it was a great performance. I enjoyed it very much."

Chloe smiled brightly. "Really? Thank you so much, that's a big compliment, especially coming from you."

Beca frowned. That was the second time Chloe had said something like that. "Especially coming from me?"

Stacie decided to interrupt. "You know who she is, right?"

Chloe nodded shyly. "Yes. I've known the second I saw you in the park. You were my role model when I was little. I've always wanted to become like you."

Beca was surprised. "What? Why would you want that? Nobody wants to be like me, trust me on that."

"No, really, Beca, you're great! I wish I had even half of the talent you have. Your playing is beautiful."

Beca scoffed. "Yeah right. I don't play anymore, so if that is why you approached me, we can all save us some trouble and end this here." She was about to turn around and walk away, when Chloe stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Please wait Beca, that wasn't why I approached you. You were looking lonely so I thought it wouldn't hurt to invite you to my performance. And I like you, you are nice. It's fun to talk to you."

"We haven't really talked all that much."

Chloe made a dismissing hand gesture. "The little we talked was enough for me to want to become your friend. And since we are going to go to the same school, I'm sure we'll have lots of other chances to talk. So I am sorry if you thought I approached you because of your skills, it really wasn't my intention. But your praise really does mean a lot to me."

Beca sighed deeply. "Okay then. I'm sorry for making such a big deal out of it. The piano belongs in my past and I'd like for it to stay there."

Chloe nodded hastily. "Yes, I won't bring it up again."

The tiny brunette nodded. "Good. Now, why don't we head on home? It's getting late and we still have a movie to watch Stace."

The other girls nodded and all of them started making their way back home. Stacie and Beca offered to take Chloe home, because it was already getting dark and the redhead happily agreed. When they stood in front of Chloe's house, they couldn't believe what they saw though.

"I can't believe it." Stacie managed to say without laughing. "I knew that somebody new was going to move into the house next to mine, but out of all the people in Atlanta, it had to be you?"

Chloe was sniggering silently. "Well, this is unexpected. You're both living here?"

Stacie nodded. "Yeah. The house next to yours on the left is my house and the one after that is Beca's."

"What a coincidence. Do you want to go to school together on Monday? So I won't look like the loser new kid who doesn't know where to go?"

Stacie nodded. "Sure! I have a car, so I'll pick you up? Becs and I are always driving together."

"Sounds great!" Chloe agreed and quickly said goodbye to Stacie who went over to her house after telling Beca that she was coming over in an hour.

"So..." Chloe started.

"Soo..." Beca continued. "I guess this is goodbye? I'll see you on Monday?"

Chloe nodded. "Yep. Listen, Beca, I'm really sorry about earlier. I really just want to be your friend."

The small brunette shook her head. "It's fine, Chloe. I'm just a little sensitive regarding that subject."

"I won't bring it up again."

"Thanks. So, have a nice weekend I guess. And your playing was really great."

The redhead's smile brightened by another few degrees and she hugged Beca tightly. "Thanks, Beca. See you on Monday!"

With that, she let go of Beca and quickly walked into her house.

Beca stayed standing in front of Chloe's house for a few more moments until she finally started the short walk home.

She walked into her kitchen and sat down heavily on the nearest chair.

What a day...

Being around classical music so much today had kinda managed to get Beca into the mood of playing. It would be a long while until she would even look at the dusty old piano in her music room with anything other than fear, but she had a keyboard in her room.

She made her way upstairs and sat down in front of it, staring at it for a while.

She took a deep breath and pressed down on the first key. When the high pitched clear sound of the keyboard greeted her, Beca couldn't help but grin. This had been the first note she had been able to hear clearly in the last four years. At least when it had been her that was playing.

Not wanting to be overconfident, she slowly started playing the first few notes of the song she had heard so much today, the Kreutzer. When only the crystal clear sound of the keyboard greeted her, a serene smile painted itself on Beca's lips. Maybe, just maybe I can finally start to enjoy playing the piano again.

~ The End ~

A/N: This is slightly based on the anime Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso and was just a little something I thought of when I watched it. I hope you guys like it :) Oh, and thanks to NinaR22 for reading it and giving me some pointers on how to improve it :D