It was almost strange for Stephanie to think that she would be playing her violin with only 3 fine tuners from now on. She wondered how much her playing was going to change... there was a chance one less fine tuner would make no difference, but a part of her was afraid it would make a world of difference. All she could do right now was hope for the best and try not to think about it too much.

As promised, Stephanie stopped by Lancaster's the following morning to pick up her violin and bow, as well as some extra rosin since she had been running low. She paid George and thanked him for his services, but before she could head to the Academy to try out her violin, George stopped her:

"Why not try out your violin right here?" George asked, smiling kindly at her. "Just to be sure everything is sounding correct."

Stephanie hesitated, glancing down at her violin case in her hand. "I don't know. I was just going to go to the Academy to try it out in one of the practice rooms there..."

"You can still do that. Just take a moment to try it out right now, though, so I know everything's in order," George encouraged her. "Come on now, I'd love to hear you play."

Stephanie smiled at him, feeling flattered. "Alright, if you insist."

She wasn't really keen on playing in a public place like the music shop, but right now she didn't mind since it happened to be empty this early in the morning. She set her case down on the counter and took out her violin, perching it on her shoulder before picking up her newly rehaired bow.

After taking a deep steadying breath, she set her bow against the G string and slid it down before sliding it back up to A, twisting the pegs slightly as she went and tuning it. She didn't notice any change in the tone as she played, which was a huge relief.

"Excellent," George smiled after Stephanie played a perfect scale for him. "Your violin sounds wonderful, Stephanie. Just remember to tune it, and if you ever have any issues, feel free to reach out to me."

Stephanie thanked him sincerely before packing up her violin and heading out the door. Suddenly, she felt eager to get to the Academy and start practicing with her new violin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, when Stephanie got to the Academy and went to find a practice room, all of them were filled up. Students were even crowding around the doors and lining up behind each other in order to get the next free practice room; Stephanie heard some of them chatting with each other as she walked along:

"...First performance of the semester, and I've only practiced three hours this week! Walton's so going to fail me," a boy groaned to his friends.

"Well I'm going to be sight-reading the music, for sure," a girl clutching a flute case said to him. "I really hate performance days..."

Stephanie walked past them, figuring there must have been a performance of some sort happening today. She wended her way through the crowded corridor before making her way upstairs, deciding not to use one of the practice rooms since they were so obviously needed by all the students today. It would have been selfish of her to take one.

She headed up toward the third floor, where she knew some classrooms and small performance halls were. She passed by several classrooms that were occupied before finding an empty performance hall, similar to the one she had been practicing in when Kyle Lancaster happened upon her several weeks ago.

As much as Stephanie didn't want to relive that awkward moment again, she figured it was unlikely to happen twice in a row. Kyle was probably having his masterclass in another performance hall right now, so Stephanie felt confident she wouldn't get interrupted. She walked to the front of the hall where an empty music stand sat, and she set down her violin case on a nearby chair. However, a thought came to mind.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Kyle walked in on me playing? He might be happy to see I got one of my fine tuners taken out.

Stephanie remembered how Kyle had followed her out of his uncle's music shop yesterday, clearly wanting to make her feel better about her fine tuners. She felt a burn of guilt in her stomach when she remembered how she snapped at him: she had been feeling insecure about her musical abilities, and she unfairly took it out on him. It was wrong of her, and she resolved herself to apologize to him the next time she saw him.

Stephanie got her sheet music out before picking up her violin, setting it on her shoulder and getting into the correct position. She was going to be practicing Mozart's Concerto No. 5 today - a tricky piece that she needed the utmost concentration on.

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major (at 0:40)

Stephanie played the piece, messing up here and there, but quickly correcting herself. She felt elated to notice very little difference in her playing - it seemed as if her worries about removing one of her fine tuners was groundless, and she had the ability to play just as well with three fine tuners as she had been with four.

Stephanie played until she was able to play most of the piece with little to no errors. She was so absorbed in her music that she didn't notice someone had stopped at the doorway and was listening to her as she played.

"Wow. You're pretty good."

Stephanie glanced up to see Chloe Alistair herself walking up to her at the front of the performance hall. Stephanie blinked bemusedly for a moment or two before quickly clearing her throat.

"Um... thank you," she stammered out before going red. She had never spoken to Chloe Alistair face-to-face before, and Stephanie couldn't help but feel intimidated standing in the presence of a virtuoso like her.

"So are you in orchestra?" Chloe asked, stopping in front of the dais Stephanie was standing on. "I know a lot of the students are performing today."

"Um, no," Stephanie said, clearing her throat. "No, that's why I didn't want to take one of the practice rooms today."

"I see. You know, I think I've seen you around here lately," Chloe said, gazing at Stephanie appraisingly. "Would you consider attending one of my masterclasses?"

Stephanie hesitated, blushing again. She was unsure what she should say to that. "Oh, well..."

"I really think you have what it takes," Chloe went on, placing her hands on her hips as she gave Stephanie a onceover. "Based on what I heard just now, you sound quite good, though perhaps some fine tuning could be in order. I think I could really offer my insight and help you get even better."

Stephanie said nothing, unsure of how to respond. Normally she would have been thrilled at the offer of attending a masterclass, but she technically wasn't a student here at the Royal Academy, and she wasn't sure what the protocol was for her situation. Before Stephanie could say anything, however, another person appeared at the doorway.

"Stephanie?"

Kyle had walked into the performance hall, clearly having noticed her standing there with her violin. He clearly didn't see Chloe, but a moment later his eyes landed on her, and he stopped in his tracks.

For several lingering seconds, an awkward pause reigned amongst the three of them. Stephanie glanced down at her feet, not wanting to look at either Kyle or Chloe.

"Kyle," Chloe greeted him after a moment, a friendly smile on her beautiful face. "I was just speaking to this young woman about her taking one of my masterclasses. How are yours going?"

"Pretty well," Kyle said, walking up to the two of them. He was clearly trying to hide his annoyance as offered her a polite smile. "I had just finished up my class this morning when I walked by here."

"How fortunate," Chloe smirked at him, her eyes glinting flirtatiously. Feeling very uncomfortable now, Stephanie moved to put her violin and bow back into her case, ready to make a quick getaway.

"Stephanie," Kyle said, and Stephanie looked up at him. "My uncle told me you got your violin back from him this morning. How is it playing?"

Stephanie smiled, her cheeks going a bit pink as she realized Kyle found out she had gotten one of her fine tuners removed and tactfully didn't say anything in front of Chloe. "It's playing really well, thank you. Practically good as new."

Kyle smiled sincerely at her, and Stephanie couldn't help but feel pleased. "I'm happy to hear it."

"Oh, I've taken my violin to Kyle's uncle's shop before," Chloe said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "George is pretty good, but I have to recommend Liav Pacavich's music shop over in Greenwich. He does remarkable work on stringed instruments. I can give you their number if you'd like, Stephanie"

Stephanie frowned, unsure what to say to that. She had essentially just insulted Kyle's own family to his face, a fact that was clearly not lost on him.

"Since her violin has already been properly fixed by my uncle, I don't think she needs another luthier at the moment," Kyle said to Chloe coldly.

"Whatever," Chloe shrugged, looking unaffected. "I just thought I would offer."

Stephanie didn't want to be in here anymore, so she picked up her violin case. "If either of you need to use this room right now, I can go and find another room to practice in."

"Oh no, it's alright," Chloe insisted. "You can practice in here."

"Also, I doubt you'd be able to find another practice room," Kyle pointed out, walking closer to her on the dais. "From what I understand, all of them seem to be occupied this morning in preparation for an orchestra performance."

"I think you're right. I would hate to take away one of the practice rooms from a student who really needed it," Stephanie agreed. "I can't exactly play in Lydia's apartment though, since apparently the neighbors will complain about the noise."

"Really?" Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow interestedly. "I would think since your friend is a music teacher, her neighbors would be a bit more understanding about that sort of thing."

"You'd think," Stephanie smiled back. "But apparently not."

"Are you sure it's the noise they will complain about though?" Kyle went on, smiling in a teasing way, and Stephanie couldn't help but feel amused. "Are you certain it's not the quality of the music they hear that's objectionable?"

"Oh, you're saying I play really badly?" Stephanie asked with a smirk, and Kyle raised his eyebrows with a grin. "I see. I guess since neither Lydia nor I are world-famous concert pianists, our music will always be subpar. Someone like you can play as loudly as he wants, and no one will say a word."

"I suppose it does all come down to talent," Kyle joked.

"Or just how much the listener likes the musician in question," Stephanie lobbed right back.

"So you think a musician is what makes music sound good to people?" Kyle asked, crossing his arms with a thoughtful smirk. "Are all the worst musicians unattractive and single, then?"

"If that's true, then it makes sense why my playing is so good," Stephanie grinned, but then realized a moment too late what she had said.

Kyle didn't respond as he looked at her with his eyebrows raised, and Stephanie felt her cheeks burn. She had just insinuated that she wasn't single (which definitely wasn't the truth), and she wasn't sure why she had said that. And she also wasn't sure why she cared whether or not Kyle knew about her relationship status. Her heart pounded in her chest and the seconds ticked on.

Someone nearby cleared their throat, and Kyle and Stephanie quickly turned to see Chloe still standing there.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, an annoyed frown on her face. Stephanie felt her face burn all over again when she realized she'd forgotten Chloe was in the room with them.

"Um, no," Stephanie said, clutching her violin case before picking up her sheet music from the stand. "No, sorry. I was heading out anyway... I'll see you later."

"Bye Stephanie," Kyle said. Stephanie couldn't quite get a read on his voice, but thought it sounded a bit flat.

Without a glance back, Stephanie hustled out of the performance hall, silently vowing to herself that she would only use practice rooms to practice her violin from now on.