"Did I ever tell you how much I just love classical music?" grumbled Emmett sarcastically as he sat down in the school auditorium to the right of Rosalie.
"Only about a thousand times," replied Alice, rolling her eyes as she sat down on Rosalie's left. Jasper snickered and sat himself down next to Alice.
"The things I do for my baby sister," he sighed dramatically, fanning himself with a programme. Rosalie smacked him on the head.
"Behave, Emmett," she warned. Carlisle and Esme shook their heads in amusement and scanned the programme. They had been home for a week and had vowed that there would be no more overnight trips until after Amelia's change. They had missed her too much.
It was the night of the much anticipated Spring Concert. The previous week, Amelia had come home from school with a flyer and stuck it on the refrigerator door, firmly informing her family that come hell or high water, they would be at her concert. Unsurprisingly, she had narrowed her focus on her bearlike big brother and handed him some earplugs, with the promise that he could wear them for the entire concert, except for when she was playing. She expected him to listen then. Emmett had nodded solemnly at his baby sister, listening to her with rapt attention while she lectured him, while the rest of the family had nearly collapsed with silent laughter.
"Hello Carlisle, Esme, kids," greeted Richard Westsmythe and he sat down next to them, with Caroline and their two young sons in tow.
"Good evening everyone," chorused the Cullens. Rosalie stuck her tongue out at Dr Westsmythe when his back was turned - she still hadn't forgiven him for being nasty to her beloved little sister at the last doctor's appointment. Alice and Emmett giggled silently. It was Monday, and Amelia's birthday was on Friday. If Alice's prediction held out, Amelia was going to be hospitalised sometime this week and the family was unnaturally tense as a result. The thought of Amelia going back into hospital again, when she had only just come out, was unpleasant.
A giggling group of teenagers entered the auditorium. After them, Amy and Narcisse entered the auditorium with their parents and came to say hello to them when they caught sight of their friends' families. They quickly left to sit with some of their classmates. Minutes before the concert started, Steven Smith entered the auditorium and nodded at the Cullens as he walked past them. Rosalie smiled sweetly at him, enjoying the slight panic that suddenly took over his expression. A few teachers walked past and stopped to speak to their former students.
"How are you all?" asked Mr Mason, surprised to see the Cullen children sitting in the auditorium. Edward and Bella arrived with Renesmee, Jacob, Leah and Seth and sat in the row behind them.
"Oh hello, Edward, Bella," he continued, smiling at the others.
"We are well thank you, Mr Mason. Our midyear exams have just finished so we wanted to come home and surprise Amelia for her concert. That did not work unfortunately," Edward lied smoothly, "However we were fortunate enough to spend some time here during our study leave to welcome Amelia to the family but naturally we had to leave quite soon so that we could write exams."
"I see. Well it is lovely to see you all again but I think the concert is about to begin. Take care." With that, he walked away.
Not too far away, an oboist played an A note and the sound of various instruments tuning could be heard. Esme grinned and squeezed Carlisle's hand gently. She was terribly excited to hear her daughter play tonight. The evening was structured such that solo pieces were to be played before the interlude. The small wind band that the school had was also to play, then there would be a 20 minute interval, whereupon the chairs would be set up for the orchestra. They would be seated while the choir sang a few pieces and then the orchestra would conclude the evening with their recitals.
A round of applause suddenly broke the babble of noise in the auditorium as the music students filed in and took their seats at the front of the auditorium. Esme could see Amelia and Blythe walking in, Blythe subtly supporting Amelia as they did so. Daniella walked in behind them carrying Amelia's violin and Ms Monteverdi brought up the rear, seeing that her star pupils were settled in the front row. Carlisle frowned and exchanged glances with Esme. Amelia was looking paler than usual and he could hear her heart hammering away. She locked eyes with Edward and nodded once.
"She's nervous," muttered Jasper, without looking up from the programme that he was studying with military scrutiny.
"She didn't look this bad earlier," remarked Carlisle, concerned.
"She's telling me to tell you guys that she is ok. She's just nervous and had a coughing fit about 5 minutes ago," confirmed Edward.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, students, family and friends, and welcome to the Forks High School Spring Concert. We would like to thank you for joining us this evening. Our students have been practising long and hard for this event, so we invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy tonight's programme. We will start off with some of the freshman students. Please welcome Matthew Picard, who will be playing Beethoven's Für Elise," said Ms Monteverdi.
After Matthew, few more freshman students played, and then the sophomores had their chance. Daniella played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano, which was warmly received by the audience. Her family and friends cheered loudly for her as she ended off with a flourish and bowed excitedly. Blythe played after that, a cheerful Mozart piece that had her fingers practically flying over the piano keys.
"And our sophomore programme will end with Amelia Theodore playing a piece that she composed herself. She has yet to give it a name, but had requested that I inform you that the piece is dedicated to her parents and siblings. We are very proud of this exceptional young girl and her endless talent. Please give a hand for Amelia," said Ms Monteverdi. A few 'aw's' were heard in the audience and Carlisle and Esme exchanged a look of pure delight, before sharing a brief kiss. Amelia slowly made her way to the front of the auditorium, taking a seat where the previous player, a cellist, had sat.
A buzz sounded in the hall as various people made comments about her ill health, wondering who she was and the unsurprised murmur of realisation that she was actually Dr and Mrs Cullen's latest adopted child. A few nasty comments were whispered and it took a lot of restraint on Esme's part not to give everyone a piece of her mind. Instead, the entire family turned around to glare at the people who were being rude and made them feel exceptionally awkward.
They turned back and watched their beloved human family member blush a very pale shade of red and cough once, before taking as deep a breath as she could and lifting her violin up. She began to play, a low and sad melody that gradually picked up to a lighter, more joyful melody. If her family did not know any better, it appeared to be a narrative of her life. Her eyes were shut and she immersed herself in the music, swaying gently as she played. It was the first time that they had heard it, this piece was one that she had kept to herself and blocked from Edward, practising it only at school and Daniella's house. Her classmates however were familiar with the piece, as were the Westsmythes, who had heard it several times over the past week.
By the time the piece ended, Esme's eyes had filled with venomous tears, as had Rosalie's and Alice's. Amelia stood up and bowed to a thunderous applause. Emmett and Jasper whooped loudly, Jacob and Seth wolf whistled and the others cheered as well, standing as they did so. Amelia's face lit up and she smiled from ear to ear. She walked back to the rest of the music students and sat down between Daniella and Blythe, who both engulfed her in a hug.
The rest of the first half of the programme passed quickly, and soon it was interval. The students quickly set up the chairs for the orchestra and went to raid the refreshments table. After interval, the choir and orchestra got seated. Amelia couldn't be prouder of Amy, Narcisse and Daniella who were part of the choir and stood proudly, singing their hearts out.
Most of the choir went to sit down in the audience when they were done performing, except for the handful of students who made their way into the orchestra to take up their seats. Amelia smiled at Daniella as she handed her friend her violin when she sat down. For the second time that evening, the air was filled with the sounds of a variety of instruments being tuned by their players. Emmett spied Daniella and Amelia in Violin I, and Blythe was sitting in the woodwind section with the other clarinet players. In spite of his moaning, Emmett was very proud of his baby sister and would be at any and every concert of hers for eternity, that he promised. Both Daniella and Blythe played the piano, along with a second instrument. Amelia hoped to one day play the flute and viola as well.
The students readied themselves for the conductor's signal. Violins were lifted up and rested on shoulders, bows at the ready. Flutes and trumpets were held a little tighter. The violinists launched into the second movement of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2, followed two beats later by the woodwind section. They moved onto the fourth and final movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony, followed by Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet, before going more modern and playing the orchestral version of Europe's The Final Countdown and Survivor's Eye of the Tiger. Unsurprisingly, it was a hit and had the audience cheering and clapping their hands and tapping their feet in time to the beat.
"Our final two pieces for the evening involve a little trip to the movies. I am sure you are all familiar with these pieces, so I think they need no introduction. They were both composed by Sir John Williams," said Ms Monteverdi, before turning back to conduct the orchestra.
The students cheered loudly as the main theme from Harry Potter was played perfectly. It ended and the orchestra members grinned as their music teacher quickly put on some brown robes before the last piece of the programme was played. The strings players attached small neon lights to their bows and all of the players turned on the small battery-operated lights that they had clipped onto their music stands. Ms Monteverdi turned on a neon light that was doubling as her baton for this specific piece. She nodded at the audio-visual team who, with the flick of a switch, plunged the auditorium into darkness. A few gasps were heard from members of the audience. The orchestra giggled and launched into the main theme from the Star Wars movies, the neon lights doubling as light sabres. The audience burst into laughter at this and enjoyed the piece.
"Do you remember watching the premier of Episode IV?" whispered Carlisle, snaking an arm around Esme's shoulders.
"Mmm," agreed Esme, recalling it only too well.
"I remember Emmett and Jasper fashioning themselves fake light sabres and trying to kill each other with them," muttered Edward.
"My beautiful chandelier in the hall fell victim to that duel," huffed Esme, shaking her head at the memory of finding the chandelier in pieces on the floor.
"Aw Esme, you could have followed my advice and pretended that we were in the Paris Opera House and the chandelier fell as the Phantom did his thing and ran off with Christine," moaned Emmett playfully. Jasper nodded in agreement.
"Hush you guys, I'm trying to listen," broke in Bella. Emmett turned in his seat and stuck his tongue out at her. Renesmee giggled.
"I can take you nowhere," groaned Rosalie, clamping her hand firmly over Emmett's mouth. He twisted in his seat and glared at her, before turning back around to watch the end of the performance. The lights were switched back on just as the orchestra finished playing and those with 'light sabres' had duels with their partners. Their Jedi conductor bowed and gestured to the orchestra, who stood up and bowed as well, smiling and laughing as they did so. Carlisle and Esme had witnessed their daughter play her heart out, and they were proud of her. They didn't need to ask her if she had had fun that night, one look at the enormous smile and shaking shoulders told them all that they needed to know.