Professor Lyndon got in touch with Stephanie the following day, letting her know that auditions for the string quartet were going to be happening the following Thursday at 8:30 AM in the main auditorium. The violinists trying out were expected to play alongside the other members of the string quartet, and they were going to play Beethoven's String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, Allegro ma non tanto. That was a piece that Stephanie had never played before and wasn't familiar with, so she spent the entire week leading up to the auditions practicing that piece at the Royal Academy, and when she was back at Lydia's apartment, she was listening to recordings of the piece on YouTube.

Beethoven's Allegro ma non tanto in C Minor

By the following week, Stephanie had listened to the Beethoven piece so much that she probably could have hummed the whole thing from memory. She also felt that she finally had the violin part down perfectly, but that thought didn't comfort her much as she made her way into the Royal Academy auditorium the morning of the audition.

"Don't worry, Steph. You'll do great," Lydia said assuredly from her side. Lydia didn't have to teach until the afternoon, so she decided to come to Stephanie's audition for moral support. "It'll be a piece of cake for you. You know this piece backwards and forwards."

"I know, but I also tend to get a shaky bow whenever I get nervous," Stephanie muttered anxiously, clutching the handle of her violin case tightly as she watched the other three members of the string quartet get set up on the stage. About a dozen or so violinists stood around the front of the auditorium, chatting with each other while they waited for the auditions to start. "This feels like the workshops at music school all over again."

"Now you know what my students have to go through," Lydia smirked, placing her hands on her hips. "If they can do it, you sure as hell can."

Stephanie smiled tremulously. "Thanks."

Finally, Professor Lyndon appeared at the front of the auditorium, motioning for the other three members of the quartet to get into their seats on the stage before gesturing to everyone else in the auditorium to quiet down. The chatter that had filled the large room soon muted down into nothing.

"Everybody – thank you all so much for coming to audition for the Royal Academy string quartet," Professor Lyndon smiled widely at all the violinists who had arrived. "As you all likely know already, our wonderful second violinist Reginald recently left the Royal Academy, and we are now in need of a second violinist for our quartet. We have Reina as our first violinist..."

She gestured to the violinist of the quartet sitting onstage. Reina was a young Asian woman, probably only about twenty years old, with large black-frame glasses and her hair in conservative ponytail. She nodded politely at Professor Lyndon.

"We also have Tanvir on the cello," Professor Lyndon went on. A young Indian man with a rather unfortunate-looking bowl haircut nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"And finally, we have Sarah on viola," Lyndon finished. Sarah had shoulder-length brown hair and was definitely the oldest in the group. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, but still smiled genuinely at all the violinists waiting to try out for the quartet. Stephanie couldn't help but feel a bit relieved to know she wouldn't be the oldest in the quartet if she did manage to make it.

"Now, I will call each of you up one-by-one to play Allegro ma non tanto with the others," Professor Lyndon explained to the violinists. "I will be critiquing you on tempo, tone, accuracy, and of course, overall musicality. Good luck to you all."

Everybody began murmuring amongst each other again as Professor Lyndon motioned for the nearest violinist (a mousy brunette girl with glasses) to come up on stage and sit in the empty chair beside Reina. Stephanie and Lydia both moved down the aisle and sat down in one of the empty rows near the front.

The next hour or so passed with each violinist auditioning with the quartet. Stephanie listened to each rendition of Allegro ma non tanto each time it was played; she had already felt like she had listened to this piece an endless amount of times already, but listening to the quartet playing it together onstage over and over again was an almost trippy experience. She tried to soak in the music and listen to the notes being played, but she still wished she could go into a practice room and play a little bit to soothe her nerves.

Please, please let me do well today...

"Stephanie Ryan?" Professor Lyndon called, and Stephanie opened her eyes. The older woman smiled at her and gestured for her to come onstage. "You're up."

"Good luck," Lydia whispered excitedly. Stephanie could only muster a grimace as she made her way toward the stage.

"Thank you for coming today dear," Professor Lyndon smiled warmly once Stephanie had approached. She placed a hand on Stephanie's arm before gesturing toward the empty chair in the quartet. "Please have a seat, and take a moment to warm up if you need."

"Alright. Thanks," Stephanie smiled gratefully. She made her way onto the stage, nodding to the others in the quartet. They all nodded at her too, none of them smiling, all of them clearly tired of playing the same piece over and over again for the past hour. Stephanie took out her violin and began to tune it, trying to take deep breaths as she soothed her nerves. The others in the quartet didn't bother tuning their instruments except for the violist Sarah, and she only did it for a few seconds.

"Whenever you're ready," Professor Lyndon said, jotting something down on the clipboard in her hand. "Reina, you can start."

Reina, as first violin, had to lead the group into the piece. Stephanie watched as Reina brought her violin to her shoulder and began to tap her foot to the tempo, mouthing 1, 2, 3, 4 before lifting her bow.

Everyone came in on the same beat, including Stephanie. She breathed a small sigh of relief as she played, focusing on the sheet music in front of her while listening to the other musicians. The music she had spent all week memorizing flowed out of her like a stream, and she allowed the beautiful melodies to take her away as she played alongside the other members of the quartet. All of them stayed perfectly synchronized as they played, and Stephanie had the same distinct feeling she had felt when playing with Kyle for the first time: that she was a better musician, and was able to focus more on the sound she was producing. It was a heady and wonderful feeling, and she barely even noticed that Professor Lyndon hadn't interrupted their playing for at least three minutes.

" ...Stop!" Professor Lyndon suddenly called halfway through the piece, during the allegretto section. They all quieted their instruments, and Professor Lyndon beamed at them. "Wonderful job! The four of you sound fantastic together, I must say. Stephanie, you're doing great, but I just have a few comments about your bowing..."

She helped Stephanie see the stiff upbow she was doing in one of the sections, and demonstrated a smoother transition. Stephanie listened and followed along, and was pleased to hear a definite improvement once they started playing again. They played together for about ten more minutes, with Professor Lyndon correcting her bowing or intonation every few measures, before finally ordering them to stop.

"Fantastic job, you guys. Stephanie, thank you so much for auditioning today," Professor Lyndon smiled at Stephanie once she was done. She checked her clipboard. "Alright, Michael Stradowski. You're up next..."

Stephanie stood up and walked off the stage as a young dark-haired man walked past her with his violin in hand. She allowed herself a deep breath, her nerves being soothed by the fact that the audition was finally over.

Lydia was grinning eagerly, and she hopped to her feet as Stephanie approached her. "Steph, you did fantastic!" she whispered excitedly, throwing her arms around her friend and squeezing her tightly. "Seriously, your playing has improved a lot since you first came to London. Were you nervous?"

"Yeah, a bit," Stephanie smiled, hugging her back before the two of them made their way out of the auditorium. "I expected Professor Lyndon to offer me advice and corrections, but I think she sounded pretty pleased with my audition overall."

"Definitely. I think you've got a real shot at making the quartet," Lydia said honestly. They had stepped out into the corridor, but Lydia stopped to face Stephanie. "But you do know what that means, right?"

Stephanie stopped as well, frowning at Lydia. "What are you talking about?"

"If you get the second violinist spot in the quartet, then you've made a commitment to the Royal Academy," Lydia insisted. "The string quartet travels all over Great Britain and the EU to play at large performance halls all year. You're essentially starting a new job."

"Well, I could just extend my stay here," Stephanie said simply. "It's not like I have a job in America to get back to or anything, and I would get paid to be in the quartet, wouldn't I?"

"You would, but what about after that?" Lydia explained. "Would you be willing to continue extending your stay here in London if you wanted to continue playing in the quartet? Not to mention, your friend's wedding in the States is next month, and your schedule would likely conflict with that. Don't get me wrong – I do want you to make it in the quartet and for you to fulfill all your musical dreams, but I just think you should fully understand what you're getting into and you know the commitment you're making."

Stephanie went silent, thinking. Obviously, she had thought a bit about what it would mean to make it in the Royal Academy string quartet, but she supposed she hadn't thought about the big picture. Would she be willing to dedicate all her time and attention to this opportunity if she were to get it? Would she also have to turn her back on other commitments she'd made, like being a bridesmaid for Morgan's wedding? She wasn't sure how she felt about that, and Lydia noticed her thoughtful silence.

"Of course, we don't know anything as of yet," she said fairly, hooking her arm through Stephanie's as the two of them made their way down the corridor. "Once we find out if you made the cut, we can figure out what you'll do next."

Stephanie smiled tremulously. "Yeah, you're right."

But confused thoughts still plagued Stephanie's mind as they walked away, and the initial pride she had felt after nailing the audition soon faded away entirely.