Ethan Wong, an ex-prodigy violinist, thinks it's not meant to be.
After his latest mental breakdown at his last violin competition, where he placed tenth out of ten contestants, he's not sure why his music professor appointed him the soloist for th...
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Kelly approached me backstage, where we stored all our instrument cases. "You ready?"
I scoffed. "You think?"
She placed a hand on my shoulder. "We believe in you. You're brilliant, Ethan. You've got this. Just like we practiced, alright?"
I rolled my eyes. "I sucked yesterday; what makes you think I'll figure it out today?"
Reid, our second chair cello player, turned around from behind Kelly. "Come on, Eth, you gotta believe in yourself. Hiroshi believes in you."
"His mistake," I muttered. "I just want to get this over with."
Kelly pursed her lips and motioned to the stage. "If it makes it easier, you can look to me if the crowd gets too stifling to look at."
"Thanks," I said, though I didn't think her encouraging smile would help. I knew she and the others meant well, but it was hard to accept.
Luckily, the hall staff member directed us to take our seats before any of the guests arrived as we set up our music scores. Mr. Hiroshi probably would've allowed me to bring mine, but as a soloist, it's expected to recite a piece by memory.
The brass and woodwinds ran through some scales as the string section rosined their bows and got ready to practice. The nerves hit full force once the doors opened and the ushers were helping guests to their seats. I needed to tune my violin, but all I could see were more and more faces entering the space that would surely be disappointed by my playing.
At least if it had been a free performance, I wouldn't have felt so bad, but this was a paid event. People paid to see us perform, expecting this money to go directly into the music program. Kelly noticed my distress and tapped my shoulder with the tip of her bow.
"I'll help you tune," she said. I nodded numbly, going through the motions, unsure if I was tuning it correctly. Such a simple task and I couldn't even handle that. At some point, Kelly must've been fed up, so she helped turn the pegs on my violin, fine-tuning it without the aid of a tuner or pianist. Truly, a prodigy.
With a nervous laugh, I turned back to her. "You sure you don't wanna switch places?"
She shook her head. "I believe in you."
I sighed, running through a few bars I knew I'd struggle with as the remaining guests trickled in. I hadn't seen Cameron enter the building yet, but the warm stage lights made it impossible to see everyone's faces. It was for the best that I didn't see his face and most definitely his smile in the crowd.
Alan introduced us to the crowd once the doors shut, the lights going dim in the house. I tried to focus on one spot in the music hall, hoping that would keep me grounded and focused on the task at hand. It was a short piece that wasn't deemed very difficult, either. A few parts were repetitive, often having similar bow directions and vibrato.
