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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
We missed brunch, which Cameron was bummed about. I would've been too, but he had found a cute coffee shop a few streets over with sandwiches that looked straight out of a magazine.
"I followed them on Instagram for years," Cameron told me, practically skipping all the way there. "Even considered coming here one spring break to try out their spring menu."
"You're like a kid at Disneyland for this place."
He scoffed. "You'll understand the hype, I promise."
While hyperaware of the pedestrians around us, I tried to tune them out to focus on what Cameron was saying, ranting about the fancy sweets they carried throughout the year. I hated busy sidewalks like this, always worried about what others thought of me, what they assumed. I was no stranger to strangers' stares, but one guy, in particular, stood out as we made it down the block.
He scowled as soon as I looked in his direction, his hood up and hands in his pockets. He walked with a cockiness that I almost couldn't believe he'd have the nerve to show off. It wasn't until I realized I had pressed myself into Cameron's side that, as he approached us, I felt more and more uncomfortable. An unsettling lump sat in my stomach as his angered expression became clearer.
I tried not to make eye contact, but every inch of my being was screaming at me to be on alert, watching every subtle movement this guy made, especially with his hands in his pocket.
"They even have macarons in the shape of animals," Cameron explained. "One with a corgi—"
It happened so fast that I nearly knocked Cameron to the ground from the impact of this guy's shoulder ramming into me.
"Watch it," the guy snarled, lunging forward as if to hit us though he clearly rammed into me first. "Better yet, go back to your country where you belong."
My body froze, his words icing my chest over. Had he really just said that? I blinked as it dawned on me how blatantly racist he was. There was so much space on the sidewalk for him that there was no way it could have been an accident, either. Even if he hadn't been glaring since he was in view, there was no other way around it.
"Woah, what the fuck is your problem?" Cameron stepped in front of me.
The man jabbed his finger in Cameron's face. "You heard me."
Cameron scoffed. "Yeah, I did. And I asked what is your fucking problem? You rammed into him first."
"My problem?" My anxiety spiked, watching the man get closer to Cameron's face. "His people gave us Covid. People died because of him."
Cameron didn't back down, and I feared this would escalate more and more. "Cam," I tried to warn him, aware that other pedestrians were watching the scene.
