Andante

I

He sighed deeply as he stuffed his books into his backpack. 
Why, oh why did he have to do this? Seriously, the woman was off her rocker! 
He had an A- for maths. He was one of the top students of the class. Why did he have to go to tutoring, of all things?

He knew why, of course. A- wasn't good enough to ¨become doctor¨. Become doctor was her whole world, everything she wanted for him.
Shame it wasn't what he wanted, hey? 
Oh well. He had a few years left before he'd have to break that particular piece of bad news. 

He sighed again and slung his backpack on his back, picking up his violin case on the way out. His violin lesson would be right after tutoring.

¨Heading off, mum!¨ he yelled in passing. 
She stuck her face around the corner of the kitchen. Yum, he smelled kung pao chicken! 
¨Smells good, mum¨ he said in Mandarin, knowing it would appease her. 
¨A special treat for today.¨ she replied. ¨You work hard, now!¨
¨Yes mum¨, he said, rolling his eyes as he turned his back. 
He knew this would be torture. 

It wasn't far to the place and he was still fuming when he walked in. 
He was willing to bet there were only stupid, annoying kids there as well. 
Walking into the classroom he walked to the last desk, throwing himself down on the seat by the window as if the chair could help it, and looked out of the window.

After a minute he heard someone sliding into the seat next to him. Great. Just what he needed, some stupid kid taking the space next to him when there were plenty of open chairs around. 
He shrugged slightly. Oh well, it's not like he could stop them. He looked sideways carefully, and stopped in his tracks. 
The boy next to him was about the same age, maybe slightly older. He was Asian too, and he had a very friendly, open face. His teeth were in braces and he had wire glasses on. But it was the eyes behind the glasses that made him stop. They were deep, like there was an ocean of stuff behind them he wasn't allowed to know about. They were kind, though. A bit like a koala's. 
The boy extended his hand and spoke in a shy voice. 
¨Hi, I'm Brett Yang.¨
He took the hand, and it was warm and soft. It felt nice.
Huh? What a strange thing to notice. 
And by now he was taking too long to reply, of course. Idiot. 
¨Hi! I'm Eddy Chen.¨
¨I noticed your violin case¨, Brett spoke in his soft voice. ¨I play as well.¨
Eddy raised his eyebrows a bit. An Asian guy who played the violin?
¨Do you speak Mandarin?¨ he asked in Mandarin. 
That made Brett smile as he replied in Chinese as well. ¨Yes, I do. Where are you from though?¨
Eddy found himself smiling widely as he continued in English.
¨Originally from Taiwan but I've been here since I was little.¨
¨Me too!¨, Brett said, and then he added: ¨Awesome!¨
Eddy got the feeling he was saying that more to himself than to Eddy. 
¨Do you play well?¨ he asked, brashly. ¨I got my LMus this year.¨
Brett smiled again and then he grinned. ¨Me too!¨

The lesson started then and they had no more chance to talk. But Eddy was very aware of this boy, sitting next to him. He kept thinking about how warm and soft his hand had been, and how nice his eyes were. 
What the fuck, Eddy? he said to himself, shaking his head. 
But maybe Brett could be a nice friend. He didn't have that many, after all. And a friend who was also from Taiwan, who also played the violin? He found he suddenly hated math tutoring a lot less.

After the class was dismissed he'd made up his mind. 
¨Hey Brett!¨ he called as he was walking off. ¨Wanna hang tomorrow after school and play video games?¨
He could swear Brett's cheeks coloured a little bit. The guy was definitely shy, just like he was. 
¨Sure!¨ he said then. ¨I have to practice as well though.¨
¨Just bring the violin!¨ Eddy offered. ¨Maybe we can play some duets or something.¨
He knew it was lame as soon as he said it. Fuck, Brett was gonna think he was some weirdo or something. 
But Brett smiled. ¨Sounds good! Here, I'll give you my number and you can text me the address.¨

A minute later Eddy was walking to his violin lesson with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. He'd made a friend! And as for the strange thoughts, those he was going to put away and not think about ever again.