Even though Aunt Christina had been hostile to Frank from the first second, he had been really helpful, showed us where my dorm was and gave me a pamphlet with everything that I would need to know for the first day. They had given us until the end of the second period to settle in, so that should be plenty of time.

Aunt Christina and I made our way back to the car and both of us took one of the suitcases before making our way to the Cecilia dorm, which was on the second floor. The Cecilia dorm was a hallway of rooms reserved for me and the top 10 of the students. We all got our own rooms, so we could practice in peace, but we would have to share all the other facilities.

While searching our way, I was relieved that they had put indicators everywhere, because I was pretty sure we would get lost in this maze otherwise.

Since everyone was moving in today, there was a big line in front of the elevator, and since we were only going to the first floor, we decided to just take the stairs. When I opened the door to the floor a loud cry was the first thing I heard.

“She’s finally here!” Sara ran toward me and jumped on me to give me a hug.  She smiled happily at me and said, “From now on we will be living under the same roof,” with that typical broad smile of hers. I patted her head to calm her down and gave her a kiss on the cheek to greet her. I had only exchanged texts with Sara during summer break since she had been on holiday with her parents, but she had become without a doubt my best friend.

“She sure isn’t wasting any time. It’s almost like she was lying in wait for you.” Lise said in my head. “She is just being a good friend,” I answered in my mind. For some reason, Lise always got jealous of Sara. Sara told me some stories about how Lise used to refuse to bring the two of us into contact with each other. But seeing the extent of Lise’s jealousy, I could not help but wonder if there wasn’t even more to it.

“If that is how you see it. Hmph!” Lise scoffed.

“It’s good to see you again Sara," Aunt Christina said, changing Sara’s focus to Aunt Christina. Those two got along really well. Sara had been the only friend that I ever brought home to Aunt Christina's place and she had often stayed for dinner.

The other students came also out of their rooms to see what the ruckus was about, so I uncomfortably put up my hand and gave everyone a little wave. I hadn’t seen most of these people since the entrance exam and hadn’t even exchanged words with most of them so most of them just shrugged and went on with getting settled. Time was limited after all.

The next one to approach me was Axelle, the French-Dutch tomboyish pianist who came in third on the exam. “It’s good to see you again. I noticed you listened to me and started to let your hair grow.” The fact that she was the spitting image of Lise always made me waver a little. I had to stay focused and not subconsciously mistake her for Lise.

She tried to caress my hair, but I instantly stopped her by grabbing her wrist. I could not risk her removing my bangs and revealing the scar on my forehead.

“Tsk, still feisty. But that makes the chase even more worth it,” she said with a smug smile on her face like she was close to conquering me. She had this whole Casanova act going on and acted like every girl was just about to fall for her charms. Then she gave a head pat to Sara who immediately indulged in the attention turning her bright smile to Axelle. Due to her blonde hair, the image that she was a bit like a golden retriever that enjoyed nothing more than pats and playing sprang to mind.

“See, I mean no harm with it. It’s just a bit of affection”

“It’s like seeing someone else walking around in my body. I want to like her, but she is giving me hard time to do so...” Lise commented on Axelle. “She is different from you. She says outrageous stuff, but I noticed she has an observant empathic side too.”

“Oh, so you are defending her already…”

“If these two are here, that means the other one should be here too, you know the dangerous one,” Rosalinde then said.

I looked around and my eyes immediately met with the tall dark-haired beauty with 2 deep dark eyes who were looking at me from a distance. My heart instantly started to beat faster. “Nastya,” I whispered to myself.

Axelle noticed my change in demeanor and when she noticed Nastya, she said “Come, Sara, we’ll have plenty of time to talk to her later.”

She then gave me a wink and whispered “I see you like to play on hard mode. Well, if you need some practice in the meantime, you know where to find me.” I felt myself about to explode but she just stuck out her tongue before disappearing with Sara. Even though in a way she was attentive, Axelle always seemed to find a way to get under my skin.

I had continued my lessons at Aleksei’s during the summer break, but for some reason, Nastya had been avoiding me ever since the exam. I wondered what I did to make her mad at me. I had often thought about that improvised duet we had played at Flagey. I had tried to put it on paper, but I could never create the exact same atmosphere. It felt like something was eluding me. I had wanted to play something like that again with her, to explore this sort of music more. I felt like we connected back then, but maybe that sentiment had been one-sided. I had no idea since she would not talk to me.

I touched my hairclip to charge myself up with courage and walked up to Nastya to greet her, but that seemed to have triggered something in her. Her cheeks turned red, and she turned around and entered back inside her room, almost slapping the door in my face. For some reason, she seemed to hate me now. I really wondered what I had done wrong. She had helped me and defended me so valiantly at the exam in Flagey, that I hardly understood where this was coming from. I felt we had gotten closer back then, but watching the result afterward, the effect seemed to have been quite the opposite.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I looked back to see Aunt Christina. “Just give her some time. She still needs to work things out for herself. It’s clearly not so easy for her.”

I looked at Aunt Christina and felt like I had been caught in the act. Wait, the act of what? Why did I feel like this? I just tried to say hi to a friend…Work what out? What on earth was she talking about?

“God, this is so you... This reminds me of my confession.” Lise said before she and Rosalinde started to giggle.

Those two were getting along really well. Even though Lise was back and did her best to support me whenever I had it difficult, I often felt jealous that it was Rosalinde who was locked up with Lise. I had not had a second chance to get face-to-face with Lise, since Rosalinde had told us that it was dangerous for me to come to limbo and that the spell to bring me over, took a lot out of her. If she used it too much, there would be no contact at all between the three of us for months. So, this kind of contact, and playing music together was as close as we could get for now.

Don’t get me wrong, I was glad that Lise and I were reunited, and that Rosalinde had helped us. I admit that I also felt a little guilty for feeling so jealous.

Aunt Christina and I dragged my suitcases to my room which was next to Nastya’s. It was a small room, but it had everything I would need. A bed a closet and a chair to play the cello.

“I guess this is it.” Aunt Christina said. I could hear by the tone of her voice that she was becoming a little emotional. I turned around and gave her a final hug. This would be goodbye for quite a while.

“If there is anything wrong, just call me. I can be here in 30 minutes.” Aunt Christina started fussing. “And I expect you to call me at least every week.” I would be 18 this school year for crying out loud, I did not need to be pampered that much. She was way too kind to me considering the way I had treated her after the accident, but I was glad that I found a way to open my heart again to her.

“Of course. And I will visit you whenever I can. We are the only family we have, so we should stick together.” I replied. It was something she often said to me, so I found it very fitting. Aunt Christina became even more emotional and intensified the hug.

I walked her back up to the elevator before saying our final goodbyes. From now on I would have to take care of myself.