Chapter 9

Edmund

"Congratulations on making first chair, Aria!" Vanessa cheered when Aria told her.

Yesterday, during after school Band practice, they had a chair test and once again, Aria had made first chair. She just remembered to inform Vanessa of the good news this morning right before homeroom.

"Your parents sure picked out the right name for you," Vanessa went on. "Doesn't Aria mean something to do with music?"

"Actually an aria is a solo performed in an opera," Walter informed.

Vanessa looked at him exasperated. "Do you know everything?"

"Nobody knows everything, Vanessa."

"Oh, yeah. Tell me something you don't know," Vanessa demanded.

"Okay, lets see," Walter thought for a moment. "I don't know all the rules of physics, whether or not it is possible for there to be more than one dimension in our universe, or who that guy over there is."

Confused, Aria and Vanessa turned around to to who Walter was talking about. They spotted a boy about their age. He had to be the most beautiful boy Aria had ever seen in her life. He had golden, wavy, blonde hair that went to his ears, he was tall but not too tall, and when he smiled his teeth seemed to almost sparkle. Aria could not believe her eyes.

Once Aria snapped out of her trance she commented, "Great, more man candy for the girls here to drool over."

Sure enough, every single girl in the hall gazed at this boy as he walked. Karin's tongue looked like it was about to fall out of her month. She had to realize how ridiculous she looked though she didn't really stand out among the other girls. The odd thing about this situation was that the boy did not seem to pay these girls any attention. He did not even look at them. But when he reached Aria, he smiled and winked at her before moving on. Aria's heart seemed to jump a mile as he walked by.

"I wonder why he didn't come here at the in August when school started instead of waiting until the end of September," Vanessa commented.

Neither Aria or Walter could think of a reason. The three of them walked into homeroom where Mr. Stone, the new substitute, waited to take role. Mr. Stone made English the most boring class ever. He had absolutely no personality whatsoever. They may as well have a robot teach the class. Aria missed the discussions they had back with Mrs. Norbert and even the one with Ms. Malone. English just wasn't the same anymore. Aria still thought about Ms. Malone from time to time. It seems so odd that she would just show up for half a day and then just disappear. Too bad. Aria had really looked forward to Ms. Malone's teaching after that talk they had.

Just as Mr. Stone was about to take roll, Principal Whiteman came in and announced, "Class, we have a new student. This is Edmund Calloway. Please make him feel welcome."

With that he left the room as Edmund walked in. Once again, all the girl's eyes fell upon him. The boys, on the other hand, just appeared jealous. Derek even looked angry for some unknown reason. Edmund, just as before, paid no attention to any other girl, his gaze only on Aria.

As Edmund approached the empty desk on the other side of Aria he asked, "Excuse me, Miss. Is this seat occupied?"

Aria shook her head. She could not believe how polite he is being. That is an extremely rare quality for a high school boy, especially at Sheerwood.

"Do you have Latin, next?" Edmund inquired to Aria.

"Yes," Aria replied.

"Do you mind if I have a look at your schedule?"

"Um, sure." Aria fished around her backpack for it. By this time of the year, she didn't need it anymore, but she never threw away. "Here it is."

Edmund studied it. "Well, it appears that we have all of the same classes. Would you mind doing the honor of showing me where everything is?"

"No. Not at all." Aria could not believe they had every single class together. What were the odds? Her luck with boys finally seemed to turn around. Edmund seemed to be almost perfect.

Aria tried to snap herself back into reality. After all, she just met Edmund. This is not like a fairy tale when a man and woman meet and then a few moments later decide to get married. That kind of thing just did no happen in reality. Aria still could not help but hope for something to happen, especially since Edmund seemed to ignore every girl except her.

Since Aria and Edmund had every single class with each other they were together the whole day. Every other girl starred with jealousy at Aria, especially Kendal who would glare at them every time they came into her sight. Aria did not understand why. Did Kendal forget that she already has a boyfriend or did she simply just not want Aria to be happy? For once though, Aria was not concerned about Kendal. She could care less about what Kendal thought of her right now as well as the rest of the school. The only thing on Aria's mind at the moment is Edmund.

xXx

Once school let out, Derek headed to his locker to meet Ian when something caught his ears, music. It sounded like a flute. Normally Derek did not notice that kind of thing but for some reason, at this particular moment, he felt drawn to it. The sound was irresistible. After feeling annoyed the whole day over the new boy, it felt nice to hear something soothing. He began to walk toward the Band room. Derek opened to door just a crack to see that it was Aria who played so lovely. Derek knew she played the flute but had no idea she is this good.

"Dude, I've been looking for you. What are you doing by the Band room?"

Derek snapped out of his trance to see Ian standing there looking dumbfounded.

"Oh, I just uh…." when Derek was unable to come up with a reason, he just said, "Come on. We're going to be late for football practice."

xXx

"Beautiful! You really do have a gift," Edmund admired as Aria finished playing her solo for him.

"Thanks," Aria replied shyly. They had both stayed after Band because Edmund declared he wished to hear Aria play some more. Aria could not think of a reason to say no so she sent a quick text to Vanessa and stayed with Edmund.

Then Aria recalled, "Hey, I thought I heard the door open while I was playing. Did someone come in?"

"I heard no one," Edmund replied. "Though its likely because I was too busy admiring your exquisite music playing."

Aria smiled. "Would you like me to play something else?"

"How about this?" Edmund reached into his bag a pulled out some sheet music.

Aria picked it up and observed that it was the love theme to Romeo and Juliet. Funny. If this had been at the beginning of the school year, Aria would have been annoyed to see yet another long song, but now she didn't mind so much.

Once Aria finished playing, Edmund once again praised her. Aria looked over to him. She felt something, but she wasn't quite sure what. Could it be…?

Edmund leaned over towards Aria. Their lips almost met when…

"Ms. Rosenberg, Mr., uh, Calloway, right?" Mr. Spooner interjected. "I'm going to have to ask you two to leave now. I have a student coming in for a private lesson."

"Yes, sir," they replied in unison and left.

"Well, I better head home now anyway before my parents start to worry," Aria said as they walked out the building.

"How about I go with you? A young lady should not have to walk by herself," Edmund offered.

"Okay."

The two walked together towards Aria's house, holding hands. Aria's heart raced continuously. She could not believe what she felt for she truly believed for the first time in her life she was actually in love.