SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

V E N T I C I N Q U E

Hurriedly flew her pencil over the notebook next to her laptop. For the past seven days, she'd forgotten all about her homework and now, looking at her schedule, she realised she'd lost her lead of two weeks. It wouldn't really matter if not for the fact that her family would arrive tomorrow, which meant that they would be thoroughly disappointed if they found out she'd let her schoolwork slip. Never mind the endless teasing she would get from Emmett's end.

Blowing an escaped lock of hair out of her face, she stared at the gardens longingly. Today more than ever they seemed to invite them, as if the flowers had gotten more colourful and the sun brighter. With the corners of her mouth hanging low, she turned back to the chemistry she had laying in front of her.

When she finished the last of her exercises, she walked across the room, grabbing the case of her violin and opening the locks. She'd barely touched the violin her parents had given her almost a month ago already and she knew would die of embarrassment once Edward got here and she hadn't even worked in the strings.

Letting out a soft sigh, she placed the violin on her shoulder and rested her chin on the stand. Not a second later the first couple of notes of Beethoven's Sonata No. 9 echoed throughout the room. It was a piece of which she could dream the music, but with which she'd been struggling with for a long time. It didn't really surprise her that after not really practising for almost a month, that the piece sounded even more horrible from her strings than it usually did, but it did frustrate.

She looked up as she noticed the door to Demetri's room open, only for Alec to be revealed. Feeling her mood drop even further, she stared at the young vampire for a moment, wondering why on earth he was here. When she'd been staring at him for a good moment and he'd still said nothing, she let out an exasperated sigh. "What is that you want?"

"No need to be rude, sunshine," Alec grinned, a smug smirk appearing on his mouth. He pretended to observe Demetri's room as if he hadn't been there a million times before already, before his eyes landed on Cecilia's figure again. "Just wondering where that awful whining was coming from. I should have known of course."

Cecilia rolled her eyes, lowering the violin from her shoulder. She knew she wasn't in her best form, but hearing Alec tease her about it didn't do much to better her temper. "Why don't you shut up and let me practise then, huh?"

"All the practice in the world isn't going to make that better, you just suck," Alec countered.

Cecilia observed the glint of fun in his eyes and she bit on the inside of her lip to prevent a particularly nasty comment from slipping out. "You suck," she said, placing the violin on her shoulder again. "Now go away."

"No, I think I will enjoy the show from right here," he said as he plopped on one of the setteés loudly. He was wearing an amused expression on his face, one the complete and total opposite of Cecilia's.

She rolled her eyes and turned her back on the vampire. She didn't think she could bring up the concentration to actually practice with the vampire's piercing eyes burning holes in the small of her back, but soon enough, the music flowed through the room again. Cecilia even thought she could manage one particular nasty piece of the music, but as soon as she hit the strings wrong and Alec burst out laughing, she knew she was done for the day.

With a facial expression that predicted nothing other than a thunderstorm, she turned around. She was able to hold her tongue for a total count of two seconds, but then she exploded. Laying the violin carefully on the bed, she grabbed a heavy book from her nightstand and walked to Alec with it raised high in her hand. With a satisfying blow, it hit the said vampire in the head. Cecilia almost deemed the incredulous expression on his face worth all of the drama and soon she was the one laughing, while Alec stared at her as if she'd just insulted his great grandmother.