Thanks for all the faves, follows, and reviews! Here's a link to all the music, including stuff from chapters I haven't posted yet - 8tracks dot com/reachforthesky/capriccio (. instead of dot)

It was raining the next day, and I had the misfortune of having to cross pretty much the whole campus on my way to class. With my hood pulled up and my book bag huddled to my chest, I hurried out into the rain.

It seemed to get worse and worse as the minutes ticked by, so it was practically a downpour by the time I was halfway to class. I should have really brought an umbrella, but I'd lost mine in the sewers last semester (long story, don't ask). Consoling myself that I was almost there, I hunkered down and prepared for the final stretch.

And then I was lying face-down in the mud.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes and realized I had been walking too close to the grass and had slipped. That explained the lack of fervent apologies, then. Sighing to myself, I tried to stand up, only to fall right back down with a plunk. I staggered to my feet once more, took about half a step, and fell on my face.

There was a small crowd watching me now, and I swore I could hear someone giggle,

"Wait, don't help him. Let's see how long it takes before he gets on his feet."

I wanted to die right then and there. I thought I'd escaped routine embarrassment after graduating, but I guess I was still subject to the same old torture. Be it in school, college, or wherever, a dork is treated like a dork. If I could become the mud, maybe I'd blend in so well that they'd eventually leave.

"What are you doing? Lying in the mud like it's your bed?" a vaguely familiar voice said from above me.

I lifted my head and found myself staring right into Annie Leonhart's face. The crowd behind her was frowning, like she'd ruined their joke (which she had) but the stoic blonde paid no heed.

"Let's go," she said, and offered me a hand.

Still kind of stunned, I took it, and she hauled me up with surprising strength.

"You look disgusting," she informed me, looking me up and down.

"Don't I always?" I answered, offering a half-smile and almost breaking into tears in the process. It's a good thing it was raining, because I was prone to crying and Annie Leonhart was the last person I wanted to embarrass myself in front of. Then again, I'd just face-planted in the mud - there probably wasn't much worse to do than that.

"I don't think you want to go to class like that," she continued. My heart sank - today there was a lecture I had been especially looking forward to.

"I'll just head back to my dorm and change. I'll miss some class, but better late than never, right?"

Annie looked at me for a long while, like she was appraising me, and I swear I started to quiver under the force of that icy stare. Finally, she spoke up,

"I'll come with you."

I kind of just spluttered around for a while, still dazed from eating mud and not really knowing what benefit Annie Leonhart would have from skipping class for me.

Come to think of it, did she even know my name?

"I don't have class for a couple hours, I was just going to meet up with Reiner and Bertholdt, but that doesn't really matter."

I actually pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Wh-why?" I stammered.

"Because you look like you might just break down and dissolve into a puddle of mortification - understandable, given your little stunt back there - and I try my best to stop people from dissolving."

"Is that code for 'because I'm nice'?"

"Absolutely not," she contradicted me. "If I'm nice, you're a tall, graceful, masterpiece of a human being."

I ignored the jibe. "Then, why?"

"I already told you," she said. "Now hurry up."

I didn't really have a choice.

And so we set off, two strangers sloshing through the rain together like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Twenty minutes later, I was somehow sitting at across from Annie at Starbucks, sipping a caramel latte and marveling at the brand-new umbrella on the chair beside me.

"First off, don't thank me," she said as she twirled the stirrer in her espresso. "It was an extra. So why do you still look like you're going to dissolve?"

"I've never cut class before," I admitted sheepishly.

"Never?" she said with a hint of incredulity. "Not even in high school?"

"No," I mumbled. "If you haven't noticed by now, I'm kind of studious."

She grunted in assent. "GPA?"

"Oh, um, 4.0." It was always awkward for me to talk about grades, because I invariably ended up making whoever I was talking to feel bad. But I supposed I didn't have to worry now, after I'd just made such a fool out of myself.

She whistled softly. "Unless your major is a pushover, that's pretty damn good."

I laughed, trying to seem modest. "Well, what's your major? I'm guessing something about music, considering your skill, right?"

Her face immediately darkened. "Business."

"O-oh," I said. "Then music is just a hobby."

She made another grunting noise. "Whatever."

Annie was apathetic on the best of days, from what I could tell, but this was a whole new level. Afraid that I'd touched a nerve, I switched the subject.

"I want to audition for the string quartet."

Oh, wow. Wow. Nice going, Armin. You awkward little shit.

It seemed to have done the job, though, because Annie was sufficiently distracted. "Sure," she said, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen seemingly out of nowhere. I couldn't help but notice how many other names were written in tiny black letters.

"Your name?" she asked.

"Oh. Um." How had we gone a whole conversation without so much as exchanging names? "Armin Arlert."

"Could you spell that for me?" she continued, professional all of a sudden.

I couldn't help but watch her face for any sign of interest or recognition as I spelled out my name, but it seemed like I was just another face in the crowd to her.

"Thanks," she finished, clicking her pen. "I'm holding private auditions, since everyone has different schedules and I never really expected that many auditions for a student-run thing anyway. Can you come to practice room 14 at 6 PM? Reiner, Bertholdt, and I will be there."

"Sounds good," I answered, making a mental note. "Just asking - how many auditions have you gotten, exactly?"

"Twenty-four. Auditions close in four days."

My heart nearly stopped. How did I even stand a chance?

"Although, to be honest, I'd rather be a three-person quartet than accept some of them," she snorted. "How they even managed to get into the orchestra is beyond me."

I gulped. Maybe I shouldn't have signed up after all - I'd probably just end up on Annie's shit list.

"I've never heard you play, but Mikasa says you're worth considering," Annie said offhandedly, glancing up at me.

"Wait, wait. You know Mikasa?"

I'd gotten introduced to Mikasa through Eren, who were adoptive siblings, and we'd somehow all ended up hanging out together. She had an unflappable personality to rival Annie's, but was a gooey mess when it came to Eren. Whenever he got into trouble (which was a lot) she was right there to beat up whoever so much as pointed a finger in his direction. Heck, she had even followed him to college. They were so close, it sometimes left me feeling a bit like a third wheel. Mikasa really was only friends with me through Eren, but it was better than nothing.

Annie sipped her espresso. "Yeah, we're roomies. She never told you?"

"No…"

"Well, anyway, she says you're really good. I just didn't have a face for the name until you planted it the mud for me to look at."

I chuckled. "Good thing I did, then."

And I could swear I saw a smile flit across her face before she sucked out the last of her coffee and stood up.

"6 PM, then. Don't disappoint." She raised her hand in a fleeting wave and stepped out into the rain like it didn't bother her one bit.

I pressed the button on the umbrella's handle and watched it spring open. As I twirled it around in circles, I almost hoped that Annie would turn around and chide me for being so immature.

I paced up and down the length of our dorm at five-thirty that evening, rambling on to Eren, who was checking his texts and half-listening to my endless talking.

"So I can either play the Caprice 24 by Paganini, which is really hard but will definitely please her, but I might mess up. Do you think I should do Mendelssohn instead? I played Tchaikovsky for my orchestra auditions, should I play that again?"

I wasn't really expecting him to answer, but saying my problems out loud helped me solve them, and annoying Eren wasn't really a big deal after a year and two months of sharing a room.

"Do the Schindler's List," Eren spoke up unexpectedly. "I like it better than all those concertios and sonotos you brag about."

"Schindler's List?" I asked. "Are you sure you're thinking of the right one?"

He looked up from his phone. "The theme from the Nazi movie, right? You liked the song so much that you went and learned it."

I frowned. "That was just for fun, It doesn't even count as classical music."

Eren shrugged. "It's not really a formal audition, and besides, it sure as hell sounds classical."

I bit my lip. Eren, Mikasa and I had seen Schindler's List one Friday night a month or so ago, when they finally relented to my supposedly nerdy movie pick. As soon as the main theme had started playing, all I could hear was how it would sound on my violin. And so I had procured sheets early the next morning and practiced until people started yelling at me to play something else.

"I guess I could," I said slowly. "Are you sure it sounds good?"

"Positive," he assured me. "Just, don't mention that the movie's TV-MA to Bertholdt. He'll probably sweat all over the judgement notes or something."

"Alright, alright," I laughed. "Look, I better get going, okay?"

"Good luck," Eren said as he took out his phone. "Make that Annie Leonhart feel something for once."

"Don't know if that's possible, but I'll try," I said, picking up my violin case. "See you then."

"Bye," he called out as I shut the door.

The music building was right next to our dorm building, so a lot of the students living here were either music majors or just really loved music. There were practice rooms in the dorms, but the music building rooms were soundproof and much better quality.

I tried to distract myself as I shoved myself against the door, thinking about whether I could persuade Eren to go out to dinner with me or if we'd be stuck with ramen again. Apparently I was pretty good at diverting my thoughts, because I didn't even realize I'd walked right past room 14 and was now standing in front of 23.

Of course, at that exact moment, Annie decided to walk in the building, carrying a clipboard. I sidled over to room 14 and got there just before her, and although she gave me a quizzical look, she didn't ask me what I was doing all the way down the hall. Maybe she thought I couldn't read. No, that's stupid. I'm stupid.

"What are you waiting for?" Annie's soft voice brought me out of my mental conversation. "Let's go."

I followed her into the practice room, which was hardly big enough for the four of us. Reiner and Bertholdt were nowhere to be seen, but then again, it was still only 5:50.

Annie leaned against the wall and clicked her pen. "Reiner and Bertholdt will be here soon; get ready and tune while you're waiting."

"Okay," I said, and fumbled to click open the lock on my case. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely fit the key in, and when it finally snapped open - just my luck - the D string lay limp and detached.

"My D string's broken," I told her anxiously.

"Well, then restring it," she said crossly. "Don't you have any spares?"

"Um-"

She didn't even give me a chance to finish my sentence. "Alright, give me a few minutes," she said, and marched out of the room.

"I was going to buy new spares tomorrow," I told my violin dolefully. "You just had to break, didn't you? This basically ruined my chances of getting in. She probably wrote me off as irresponsible already."

There was nothing I could do about it. Resignedly, I took out my bow and began applying rosin, half-expecting all the hair to fall out.

Just as I finished, Annie returned with a small plastic bag in her right hand. "Here," she said, tossing it towards me. "It's almost six, and tuning a new string will take a while."

"I'll be quick," I mumbled, and set about restringing my violin.

I'd done this countless times before, but there was something different about having Annie watching me over the top of her clipboard. For all knew, she could be taking notes about how well I restrung my violin.

Reiner and Bertholdt arrived just as I began tuning, and I swear Bertholdt had to stop himself from covering his ears. As it was, both of them winced at the sound of my out-of-tune violin, and gave Annie looks like, you think this kid even has a chance?

As you might guess, that didn't exactly quell my nervousness.

Somehow, though, I managed to tune with three pairs of eyes noting my every move and darting up to the clock - 6:02, 6:04 (whatever happened to 6:03?).

"O-okay, I'm ready," I announced, setting my violin on my shoulder.

"What're you playing?" Reiner asked.

"Ah - uh-"

No going back now.

"The theme from the 1993 movie Schindler's List, composed by John Williams."

Contrary to what Eren had said, Bertholdt did not start sweating. "Oh, I like that movie," he said. "Go for it."

Annie tapped her pen on the clipboard and gave me a piercing stare, like she expected nothing less than perfection from me.

I inhaled, exhaled, and began to play.

I haven't watched Schindler's List, but the theme is beautiful. For all you musicians out there, is there any piece in particular you'd recommend/want featured for solo violin, orchestra, or a string quartet? I need a lot more songs and I'm only well versed in piano pieces, so it'd be great to get some suggestions. Any and all reviews, faves, and follows are much appreciated!