Andante

III

It was the longest school day in the history of mankind, it really was. 
Eddy sat and tried to pay attention, but man, was it boring. It wasn't like he needed any of these subjects for his future anyway. He was going to be a violinist. Short and simple. Why did he need French? Did any of the teachers actually have any idea how fucking far away France was from Australia anyway? He just wanted to go and practice violin, do something useful with his time. 

Or play video games with Brett. Playing video games with Brett would also be useful. 
He shook his head. He was getting way ahead of himself here. He didn't even know the guy yet, for all he knew he could turn out to be an absolute arsehole, or the most boring kid in the world. 
He didn't think he would be, though. 
God, why wasn't it 3 p.m. yet?

When the last bell rang its merciful A flat, he grabbed his stuff on the double and walked out of the building as quickly as he could without running. Running would be lame. 
Also, he was being lame anyway because him being home faster would not get Brett there faster, obviously.
He didn't slow his pace though, and he was breathless when he came to his door. 

As expected his mum was blocking his path upstairs. 
¨Hi Eddy, how was school?¨
¨Fine.¨ he shrugged. 
¨What time will your friend be here?¨she asked, her face friendly enough. 
¨In half an hour.¨
His mum nodded. 
¨Your homework is all done?¨
The fact that he didn't roll his eyes at this point really meant that he had superpowers, he swore.
¨Yes, mum.¨
She nodded again. 
¨Okay. I want to meet him down here first. Does he speak Chinese?¨
¨Yep!¨ he said, almost triumphantly. He knew how much she'd like the fact that Brett could speak Chinese. ¨Can I go to my room now?¨
She nodded, and he fled up the stairs. 

He made sure his room was tidy, not that it was ever a mess as his mum would have his head, and then he went downstairs to make tea.
Ten minutes left, and he felt nervous. What if Brett turned out to be lame? Or what if Brett was great but would think that he was lame?
As he walked upstairs with the the tray of tea the bell rang and his heart jumped. Brett was early! 
He put the tray down on the wide stair and jumped over to the door, opening it to reveal a beaming Brett, who had his violin on his back and a linnen bag in his hand.  

¨Hi!¨ he said, and he sounded breathless. Had he run here?
¨Hi!¨ Eddy replied, and he knew he had a stupid smile on his face. ¨Come in! My mum would like to say hello as well.¨
The look on his face would tell Brett everything he needed to know about Eddy's opinion on this matter, but Brett just smiled. 
¨Sure!¨

Brett walked over to Eddy's mum, who was stood in the door opening to the living room, his right hand extended. 
¨Hello mrs Chen¨, he said in a polite and soft tone. ¨I'm Brett Yang.¨
¨Hello Brett. My son tells me you are from Taiwan and that you play the violin as well?¨ she asked in Chinese. 
¨Yes ma'am, I do¨, he replied in Chinese. ¨I was born in Taiwan and lived there until I was five.¨
His mum's eyes lit up, he swore. Ha. He knew she'd like him!
¨Come on, let's go to my room!¨ Eddy said, willing his mum to let them go now. 
He picked up the tray of tea as he went, and Brett followed him up the stairs. 

¨Sorry about that¨, Eddy said as soon as he'd closed the door behind them. 
Brett put his violin case down carefully and said:
¨Don't worry about it. My parents would be exactly the same.¨
¨Asians!¨ they said, in unison, and then they burst out laughing. 
¨Come on¨, Eddy said, ¨Do you want to play Mario Kart?¨
¨Yeah!¨ Brett replied, his eyes shooting to the linnen bag he had put with his violin case. 
¨What's in the bag?¨ Eddy asked. 
Brett hesitated. ¨Errr, I just brought some duets in case you want to play as well.¨ he said, so softly that Eddy could barely hear him. 
¨Yeah! Absolutely! Let's do that first then?¨ Eddy said with a stupid amount of enthusiasm, but Brett just beamed as he picked up the bag. 

Eddy grabbed the stand and took out his own violin. They quickly tuned. 
¨Do you want to play first?¨ Brett offered.
¨Sure, we'll just swap every time, okay?¨ 
The music looked fine, but not ridiculously easy either. Cool. 
He looked at Brett and grinned, and then they both lifted their bows to their violins, breathed in sharply and played their very first note together.