The next three books nearly flew by. Every memory became clearer and clearer with each word. It was astounding how happy I was with her. It was to a point where I couldn't remember a time of happiness before Cara. She was my one true happiness. My best friend. I came to one entry towards the middle of the book. It was only a short sentence but it described a life-changing moment of my life.

17 August 1912,

I think I'm in love with her.

The ink was dark at the period. I must've kept my pen there for a while before understanding the reality of my statement. I turned to the book and pulled out a thick violin string. It was tied into a neat coil with a piece of old twine. I untied the twine and smoothed the string on a pillow. I turned it a few times until I smelled something odd. I looked closely and found some dried blood stuck on the end of the string. I was at a loss for a few moments. I couldn't remember this night. I studied the blood then looked at the other end. It was old and broken, the fibers would have been simply too weak to hold the string to the instrument. After a little thought, it came back to me.

Since she was about six, Cara wanted to play the violin. She loved the sound of it and the emotion that it tended to bring out of people. But since the Vivas moved away from New York, it was tougher to meet with her violin teacher, Miss Mary Anne Harper. She was an eccentric woman who wore glasses too big for her face and spoke in a screechy bird-like voice. But she knew the violin and she knew Cara was special. They met every other weekend at a mid-way point between Chicago and New York at a music lounge called 'Ohio Sound'. At night, it was a lounge catering to the music appreciators and enthusiasts of Ohio, but in the mornings and afternoons, it was Cara's musical haven. Ms. Harper knew the owner. He was a tall, slender man called Terry who was originally from Detroit. Cara believed Ms. Harper caught his eye which would explain the reason why he always stopped by to offer a compliment or a cold drink. Mrs. Vivas sat in the back of the room quietly gleaming with pride during their long rehearsals. Ms. Harper put everything she had into those rehearsals and Cara soaked everything in. One rehearsal day, Ms. Harper came in happier than usual.

"That's right, there is a music school in Chicago, its all-girls and the Head Mistress wants to see you perform in the 'Music in the Court' concert they hold in their courtyard on the 17th!"

"That's phenomenal, Ms. Harper, but will she be ready?" Ms. Harper made a fart sound with her mouth.

"Allegra!" another fart sound, "Ally!" She sounded insulted, "You and I both know that Cara was born ready! She could out play everyone there with a hand tied to her side and an apple in her mouth!" Cara looked back and forth as the other responded. She was at a loss for words so stayed silent. All she wanted was to finish the lesson and get home to tell Edward.

"And-"

"Wait! I haven't told you the best part! If-" fart sound, "When they fall in love with her, she'll be asked to study with them as a Student of Honour, so she'll stay there for free!" Ms. Harper clapped her hands together with glee.

"For how long?" Mrs. Vivas narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Only about two weeks unfortunately. I couldn't get any more because she's so young. But still, it is an amazing opportunity that some can only dream of." Mrs. Vivas looked at Cara who had been so excited she nearly forgot to breathe.

"Then I suppose you ought to practice." Mrs. Vivas cooed as she handed Cara's violin to her.

...

"Oh, you'll come won't you?" Cara pleaded the night before the concert. "Say you will." Cara fanned herself with her sheet music as she stretched out on Edward's bed. Since both their fathers worked late that night, both their mothers decided to go dress shopping. They were given specific instructions to watch each other and not to burn the building to the ground.

"I will, Cara. I told you I would." Edward said happily as he rearranged the books on his bookshelf. Cara looked up at him and studied the order.

"Year of publication?"

"Close, year read." Cara sucked her teeth and stared at the ceiling. I know, I know, I just want to make sure you won't forget. This has been a dream of mine for half my life Eddie!" She folded the corners of her sheet music, suddenly looking solemn. Edward looked back at her.

"What troubles you?"

"Nothing..."

"Liar." He smiled playfully and turned to face her.

"Well..." she sat up on the bed, looking down at the floor, "what if they do not care for me...?" She sighed and smoothed out the sheet music. When she looked up, Edward was kneeling in front of her.

"If they know anything... anything at all... they will know that you're amazing." Edward smiled and took the sheet music from her hands and studied it. He looked puzzled after a moment. "What song is this?" He looked through the sheets, "It has no name."

"I wrote it... I wrote it for them." She nervously bit her lip and played with her nails, "Should I perform something else? I know most of the Concertos by heart, I can-"

"No..." Edward looked up from the sheet, "this is perfect." It was the first time Edward ever used the word 'perfect' to describe anything of Cara's, and never again would he think any other word would be sufficient.

...

The courtyard was full of Chicago's elite. Woman and men dressed in their finest attire, eating tiny bits of food that probably cost the same as a new car. Edward Sr. and Elizabeth sat next to each other in the second row, holding hands tight. Neither of them cared very much for classical music but both considered the concert to be a date, even though Edward sat in front of them in the first row. Edward combed his hair back and wore a white shirt without any dirt or stain present on it. Before long, a middle-aged woman with tall hair walked onto the small stage they built on the grounds.

"Hellloooo... and welcome to the annual 'Music in the Court' concert celebration. I am the Head Miss-tress of this fine establishment, Miss-tress Giuliana Henrietta Antoinette Jacqueline Maria Françoise-DeForte but to-night... my young pu-pills... I will be your host. To-night... we honour our graduates, alumni and incoming students. Please applaud, if you will, for all our guests here to-night." She touched her fingers together repeatedly, barely making any sound. The others in the audience did the same, creating a hushed applause. "Yes... settle, settle..." it ceased, "love-lay... now. Our first pre-former graduated..." Edward tuned out quickly. He knew that Cara would be the very last one since the addition was made so last minute.

Edward looked around at the crowd after about fifteen minutes of music that he didn't pay attention to. He noticed that many of the audience members watched with pursed lips and squinted eyes. He looked towards the back to see Mrs. Vivas sitting at the edge of her seat next to a sleeping Mr. Vivas. He looked around towards the stage. He thought he saw the back of Cara's head but he wasn't sure. Cara looked everywhere for her peculiar teacher but found no sign of her. Finally, a figure that seemed to match hers was hovered over a corner of the backstage area.

"Ms. Harper?" Cara whispered as loud as possible. Ms. Harper looked up from the snack table. "Ms. Harper, where were you?"

"Oh, my dearest, I've been here of course!" She stuffed a handful of items into her small purse.

"Ms. Harper, it's not polite to take so much food if you won't eat it yet."

"Oh, don't be absurd, darling, I'm simply taking some toothpicks!" She opened her hand, revealing a small heap of rounded toothpicks. "The food is well below my personal standards but these toothpicks are brilliant! So luxurious! And there's so many!" She plucked them off the hors d'oeuvres one by one and shoved them into her pockets, "you never know!" She let out a strange giggle. Cara shook her head, changing the subject to the more important matter.

"Well, Ms. Harper, have you seen my violin?"

"Your what, dear?"

"My violin, Ms. Harper"

"Oh..." she made a perfect lower case 'o' with her lips.

"You told me to leave it with you so you can polish it..."

"Oh! Dearie dovey do, yes yes yes yes, I do believe it is... under my bag... backstage, best to scurry, loves, you're almost up."

Cara said a quick 'thank you' and hurried along, finding Ms. Harper's tinsel-covered music bag with ease. She lifted it to find a beaten up violin case. She opened it quickly to find...

"This is not my violin..." Cara plucked at the string and cut her finger slightly, "ow..." she sucked in a breath, immediately putting her finger in her mouth, sucking out the blood to make it stop. The strings were sharp and too tight. She looked around for her case but couldn't find it. "Damn..." she knew immediately that Ms. Harper took the wrong one but had no time to do anything about it. She had to work with this one. She tested the violin, it was properly tuned already, no need to tune it at all. She held the violin tight and made herself ready to walk to the stage. A hushed clapping gave her a signal to begin making her way to the stage. This was her dream coming true.

"Pretty girls first." The previous performer, a snooty red haired girl, scoffed as she walked down the stairs of the stage, pushing Cara's shoulder back slightly. Cara took a step back but the strap of the girls shoe caught with the hem of Cara's dress and within an instant, ripped off the last tier of her skirt, shortening it up to her mid-thigh. The two froze as the Head Mistress announced the piece Cara was meant to perform.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," Edward sat up in his chair but then felt something in his shoe so bent over to get it out. Mrs. Vivas pushed her husband's shoulder which made him produce a loud snore before sitting up straight at attention. "Here is one of our pro-spective students who will pre-form a Concerto, I'm sure you aallll remember… Vieuxtemps' Concerto No. 5 in A minor… please applaud." Another muffled applause, but between the Masens, Vivas and Ms. Harper, it was much louder than the others. The six of them received annoyed glares from audience members.

The last streaks of sunlight stretched along the stage as Cara stepped onto it. She felt a warm breeze hit her knees, she enjoyed it. The audience simultaneously let out a small gasp and a few whispers were heard from the crowd. The Head Mistress raised her eyebrows and put a hand over her mouth. Cara noticed the reaction but it didn't matter to her, she accepted her misfortunes and refused to let them get the better of her. The sun inched lower in the sky as a few streetlights began to turn on. Edward looked up on the stage as the burnt orange light illuminated Cara's face and she began to play. Edward's breath caught in his throat.

The piece Cara wrote had the same beginning as the aforementioned piece; however a few more flourishes were added along with a slower waltz-style rhythm and a more romantic melody. Edward was enchanted and overwhelmed. His heart steadily pumped faster and faster. The shorter skirt drew the attention to her tiny waist and then to her elegant legs. Her hair was straight then spiraled into curls at the ends. He swayed to the sound like a charmed snake, not once taking his eyes off of her. He knew her for years; yet he was just seeing her for the first time. The piece came to an end and when the music stopped, Edward stood up quickly and clapped loudly. He was joined by his parents, Cara's parents and Ms. Harper, nobody else made a sound. Cara smiled sweetly at Edward and lowered her violin from her shoulder in preparation for a polite curtsy. As it descended towards the ground, her finger put a little too much pressure on the third string, snapping it off and lashing her side. Cara froze. The Head Mistress made her way onto the middle of the stage.

"Thank you… Goodnight." She said stiffly and pulled Cara by the arm off the stage. In a few moments, people resumed light, pompous conversations and the Head Mistress stood in front of Ms. Harper.

"Mary… Anne! How in God's great name could you allow this petulant child to stroll onto my stage of class and elegance looking like one of those mangy sall-ooon girls and positively ruining one of our greatest pre-formed masterpieces! How could you?" Cara was shoved over to Ms. Harper, holding onto her side, beginning to feel the pain. "And did you happen to no-tice that diss-gusting pile of wood that she calls a violin? This is a diss-grace!" Mr. and Mrs. Vivas walked over with Mr. and Mrs. Masen, Edward following behind them. "Mary-Anne, you have diss-graced me, you have diss-graced this institution, AND you have diss-graced your-self by bringing this horr-ible child to us!" Mr. and were taken aback with offense. Ms. Harper was fuming. Mr. and Mrs. Masen were horrified. Edward looked at Cara who was ominously quiet and still. A volcano moments away from eruption.

"Head. Mistress!" Cara nearly shouted, turning to her to give her a terrible glare, "If I am not at all mistaken, the only thing that has disgraced you tonight was the performances. Every single one was littered with missed chords and inappropriate pauses. Every piece was either ill-prepared for or entirely too simple for the reputation of this institution. In fact, I was the only one who had any sort of passion for the music. Now my dress is torn, and my violin is old, but I should not be the source of your shame tonight." Cara walked off, feeling the full pain of the lash, realizing that the string still stayed at her side. The Vivas and Masens followed her as Edward rushed to her and held her waist, letting her lean on him.

"I don't even want your stupid toothpicks anyway." Ms. Harper threw a handful of toothpicks at the Head Mistress' feet; she stumbled back in pure disgust as little bits of food splattered on the end of her cream-coloured dress.

"I will have your teaching license revoked!" she screamed after Ms. Harper as she turned to leave. "You will never be allowed to teach any-one... any-thing... ever!"

"What license?" Ms. Harper snorted, pushing up her large glasses and strutting away.

...

I kind of like this whole thing of doing the little blurb after the actual story... it's good just in case there's any sort of spoilers and stuff. But I think I may do it regular next time. This chapter was like the impossible chapter, last night around 1 in the morning, I decided to go half-way through the chapter and since I hand-write them before hand, I still had to type it on the phone and it just turned into a big mess. But it's good now and I really like how it turned out. It's longer which I really wanted, I thought the others were a bit too Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am, but this is good. It's a very important chapter since he falls in love and everything like that. Also you see a bit of Cara's backbone which is good. She's not a push-over, she's a very sweet girl but holds her own. If anyone has ever seen the series Firefly, I see Cara as a young Inara-Kaylee, very alluring and strong but sweet and happy-go-lucky. In fact, when I picture this whole thing, it reminds me of the party in the episode "Shin-dig". Especially with the whole mean girls aspect and nice guys (just Edward, I guess) swooping in to make her feel better. So ya... that's where that is... oh, if you notice, names are incredibly important to me. I finally found a good name for Cara's mother (Allegra) which in Italian directly translates to "happy" which I'm aiming for as her personality type... also she is Italian which is great. After I think of a name for Cara's father I'll drop the 'Mr. and Mrs.' all together because we don't need all those formalities. I chose The Mary Anne Harper name because I was inspired by the SNL skit with Neil Patrick Harris when he did the "Two-First-Names" talk show. It was so strange and awkward that I immediately thought of her. As for the pompous head mistress, I kept adding names and last names so when she said it all together she'd need another breath (hence the dots). The snooty girl who ripped Cara's dress I didn't give her a name since she was directly based on a girl I went to high school with who actually said that to one of my friends. So just in case she reads this, no names. Terry was used because it's a nice-guy type of name. I've never heard of anyone having problems with a "Terry" (if you have, don't tell me, I don't want to ruin the illusion). Anyway, keep reading and commenting, it really makes my day when I see the views going up and up and the followers and reviews, I'm just so happy that you guys are reading. But, stay tuned for next week, maybe possibly an appearance from our favorite doctor ever, Doctor Cullen? Hmm? yes? okay! I'm trying to add in characters that are actually in Stephanie Meyer's books but I haven't read in a while and I'm lazy. But I've done some crazy stuff for you guys already so you never know. But enough of my ramblings. Just thank you and keep reading, commenting and following, more to come later on!