Pieces of Love

Chapter 1

I stood outside the room, hoping that this would do. Of course this would, what was I thinking? Taking a deep breath, I turned the knob and entered.

This felt like home. Instruments of all sorts lay around the room. Not surprisingly, I was the first one to be here. My eyes lit up at the sight of a violin. Why not play a tune? I picked it up and caressed it gently, my fingers touching its dark wooden frame. Picking up the bow, I recalled one of my favourite pieces, Beethoven's Romance No. 2 in F Major and played it, letting the music wash over me like soft velvet. My chest heaved with emotion and all the memories were gone in an instance. I was floating in the air, as if none of these losses were ever mine.

I finished the song with a flourish and smiled. Suddenly everything became much clearer and brighter and I wondered why I even stopped playing in the first place. Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped when I heard footsteps coming closer to me. Turning around, I saw a lean, yet muscular boy with dark brown hair and eyes smiling at me.

"You are a really good violin player," he complimented. I blushed. "Thank you," I replied, grateful for the compliment. There was a moment's silence. I was fidgeting nervously, a thing I did when I was nervous and the guy seemed to want to make things less awkward.

He asked, "I'm Jacob. What's your name?" holding out his hand. "Emma," I said, shaking it. He nodded and looked around the room, and moved towards a piano. I followed him curiously, wanting to see him play. He sat down, only to be surprised when I sat down beside him.

"Can you play something for me?" I asked sincerely. Jacob seemed hesitant, but thought the better of it and nodded his head. His fingers poised above the keys, he took a deep breath and pressed down gently, playing a soothing melody. I sat up straighter, recognising the piece. I stood up, grabbed the violin and closed my eyes. Once the theme came again, I started playing too, the piano and violin in harmony, moving as one. Wondering how Jacob felt about this, I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was smiling slightly, body bent over the piano.

But before we could finish the piece, a group of students entered, interrupting us. I lowered my violin, feeling embarrassed at the sudden new company. Jacob stopped playing too and looked at me sheepishly. There was a tall lanky boy wearing thick spectacles, a kind-faced girl with brown hair cascading down her back and an Asian boy, all three of which seemed embarrassed of interfering me and Jacob.

"We're so sorry for interrupting the two of you! But from what we heard, the two of you make a nice duo!" the girl exclaimed. Jacob walked over to me. "Thank you," he replied. "My name is Jacob and this is Emma."

"I'm Xavier, this is Isaac and she's Lily," the Asian boy spoke up in a deep and gravelly voice. I nodded my head in understanding, before asking, "What kind of instruments do you guys play?"

"I play the cello, so you and I have something in common," Lily said, grinning at me. "Xavier plays all sorts of guitar: classical, acoustic, electric, even the bass. Isaac plays the oboe. He is basically a magician with it." Isaac, silent all this while, blushed and mumbled, "It's nothing."

We were interrupted once again, this time by a middle-aged lady with a tight bun and a strict face. "Please take a seat," she said curtly. I placed the violin back where I found it and all was silence as we took our places, Jacob ending up seating on my left and Lily on my right.

"Welcome to the Music elective, an elective for musically gifted and talented students." I felt a surge of pride after this statement was announced for I had been one of the few who were chosen. My hard years of learning how to play the violin had paid off. I smiled to myself, glad that nobody saw it.

"My name is Mrs Schmidt and I will be the teacher overlooking all of you for this elective in your years at Clifford High. Over here at Clifford, we have nurtured a very prestigious education system, not only in this programme but also in academics, sports and the performing arts. You all are very lucky to be here with me today and I have before me five young gifted students whom I am sure will turn out to be outstanding musicians at the end of the day," the lady said, opening her arms and gesturing to all of us.

She continued, "You will be honing your performing, composing and listening skills. These skills take time and patience to perfect and master, so do not worry if you do not get the gist of it in the first few weeks or so." Mrs Schmidt gave a very small smile, which looked very out of place on her strict, lined face. "Just for your information, Clifford will only start school next week, so take time to know the school well before school starts," she added, turning around to prepare a set of slides for us. This was the unspoken cue for us to break into small chatters.

I turned around and whispered to Lily, "You, Xavier and Isaac seem to know each other pretty well. Do you guys go to the same school before?" Lily laughed, before whispering back, "Isaac and I are cousins. We stick together a lot back in middle school. Xavier is Isaac's good friend so we kind of know each other before we came here." She flashed me a smile, before turning around to talk to Isaac.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and whipped my head around to face Jacob, whose body was faced towards me. "Seems like we are the new ones here," he said. I laughed and nodded. He must have heard our conversation just now. Before he could say anything else, my attention was focused back on the slides now flashed on the screen.

For the rest of the lesson, Mrs Schmidt revised with us the basics of the elements of music. I was busy taking down notes, making a mental note to myself to revise these when I have the time to. Time passed by in a flash and soon lesson was over, tables were packed spotlessly and we were all getting ready to leave.

"I expect all of you to be punctual for our next lesson. See you then!" Mrs Schmidt exclaimed, packing up her documents into a folder. I stuffed all my notes into the small bag I brought with me and slung it on my shoulder, ready to leave. As I exited the room, Jacob appeared by my side. "Hey," I said, smiling. Jacob seemed like a really nice person and I hoped we would become good friends soon.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you come into this school by applying beforehand or by results?" Jacob asked shyly. "I applied beforehand. Why do you ask?" I replied curiously, looking at him.

"You see, the thing is I need somebody to coach me in my studies and I was thinking that maybe you would help me... I mean, only twenty people out of the entire year can have a successful application into this school beforehand..." his voice trailed off.

I pondered for a while, both of us walking together out of school. "You don't have to. I mean, we just met and you hardly know me," Jacob hastily said when there was silence. "But how do you know if what I'm teaching you is correct?" I finally said.

"You led your school team to second place in the California Inter School Debating Championships last year." Jacob said immediately, then blushed when he realised how creepy-stalker-guy he sounded. "I mean...I mean...I've watched it every year and it's pretty impressive that you came in second, and...," he stammered, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't see any reason why not to agree," I cut him off with a smile. Jacob seemed ecstatic at the idea and grinned at me brightly.