Andante

CXCI

Oh man, how Eddy wished that he had just a tiny little bit of Brett's easy suaveness. He was standing to one side in the cafeteria with a crappy cup of coffee in his hand and watched on as Brett happily chatted to some of the guys that he had just met. It didn't matter though that he wasn't chatting, because he was actually having fun anyway, mostly because he was still floating somewhere high up cloud nine after his lesson with Mr. Petti and what had just happened in the bathroom. No one had noticed them at all as they walked back in here, but could the rest of them see how flushed he still was? And if they could, would they suspect anything? Probably not. They would probably just think he was flushed from his lesson just now, right?
'You've come on a long way, Eddy.' Mr. Petti had said. 'I think your lines are very good.'
Had his favourite Australian soloist really said that to him? It was almost like he was dreaming.

"Hi."
He looked up from his coffee to see that girl that had played first, was her name Veronica? She was standing by his side, smiling sweetly.
"Eddy, is it? I loved your playing. And the Sibelius is so hard, you managed super well. Are you going to the con?"
"Oh, hi! You're Veronica, right? Thanks!" he said automatically. "Erm, I have one more year of school to go first. You were great, though! I loved your Tchaik. Are you studying violin?"
"Call me Ronnie, please." she said with a slight smirk. "Only my mum calls me Veronica. And no, not yet, but I want to. I'm thinking probably Queensland con. I'm also a senior next year, in Cairns."
Eddy's eyebrows raised of their own accord and before he knew it he was gushing. "For real? You'll be where we will be! Brett's already been accepted. We live in Brisbane."
"Cool!" she said, with a small smile that seemed to say something he didn't quite understand. "Maybe we can hang some point."
"Absolutely!" he enthused. Veronica was nice! Or 'Ronnie'. He wondered idly how she had managed to get that nickname, but somehow it suited her. He was also acutely aware that he had kind of told her he'd be going to the con, but she lived all the way over in Cairns, right? And wasn't everyone here planning a career in music anyway?
He was always much happier in any group once he had made a friend, and she seemed to be okay with just talking to him as well. So he stood and happily chatted to his new friend Ronnie as they stood together in one corner of the cafeteria.
"You wanna grab some food?" she asked after a while, pointing to the table in the other corner, where bread rolls with what looked like cheese and ham were stacked on serving trays. 
"Sure." He smirked a little as he eyed the food. "Good job that's there, right? I would have hated to be eaten by Mr. Petti."
Veronica giggled again. She had a lovely giggle, actually, like drops of water falling out of the sky on a sunny day. It was a bit like Lily's.
"Well, to be honest he would have been much more likely to eat me. There's no meat on you guys."

After lunch Veronica sat down on his right side, and some of the guys Brett had been chatting to sat on the other side of Brett. It was cool, because suddenly they weren't just some kids waiting on red chairs anymore, but they were a group, sitting in a row of ten, looking expectantly at the stage. He thanked his lucky stars he had been one of the first up, because now he would simply get to sit here quietly, watch the others and learn. He leaned slightly closer to Brett and settled in.

At the end of Emma's lesson, at five, they all applauded their teacher louder than they had any peer, picked up their stuff and filed out of the auditorium into the hallway, easily chatting and laughing among the group now. Emma, this cute chubby brunette with a great open smile who looked to be about sixteen and had played Mendelssohn, was leaning against the rough concrete wall and wiping her brow dramatically.
"God, I thought 4.30 would never come." she sighed to her friend. "I hope I'm up earlier tomorrow!"
"This concert's gonna be epic!" Brett's new friend Alex roared as he slapped his friend Stanley on the back, hard. "This is a bit different from my dorky high school orchestra!"
Everyone laughed, because he was right, of course. They were suddenly in the big league, here, weren't they? 
"Eddy, are we going straight to Mr. Davids?" Brett said softly by his side, and Eddy nodded. But then... there was something nagging at him. Kids were clearly already making plans to go have dinner together. Did Brett...
"Are... are you still good with that, Brett? Or do you want to go out with them?" he said just as quietly. He pointed towards Alex and his friend, who were to one side, talking about pizza places in the neighbourhood.
Brett's eyes opened wide.
"What? No, of course not! Of course we'll go see the conductor. We'll all have dinner together tomorrow anyway, right?"
Eddy nodded again.
"Okay... if you're sure."
"Of course I'm sure, come on."
Brett rapped Alex on the back as he started walking down the corridor.
"Hey guys, we're off somewhere, see you tomorrow!"