Andante

VII

 First period was torture. His head actually was hurting now, like some sort of weird self-fulfilling prophecy, and he just couldn't seem to get the images of the dream out of his head. 
He tried his best to pay attention. He needed to keep his grades up, or there was no way he was going to be allowed to hang out with Brett anymore. 
Yeah, that was one thing he was quite sure of. No way was he going to stop spending time with Brett. They would be best friends, who knew each other inside and out. 
That's all he wanted, anyway. A best friend. And soon there would be a nice girl that he liked and then he would have his first kiss. 
He looked around at the girls in his class. 
Amanda, with the long blonde hair. She was a popular kid, and he knew a lot of the boys would love to kiss her. He willed himself to feel the same thing he felt last night. Wouldn't it be nice to kiss Amanda? Winning himself the envy of all the other boys in the process?
'No deal', his head seemed to say. 'Sorry, bud'. 
Christine, then? She was a pretty girl too, with nice long auburn hair. She was also an absolute airhead who spent every break in the girls' bathroom re-applying her make up. 
Yeah, no, thanks. 
How about Lily? She was Asian, as well. She had the same background as he did. He'd heard her complain before about how pushy and strict her parents were. Plus he knew she could speak Chinese, he'd heard her do it on the phone. She'd get him more than any of the other girls.
But his head stubbornly said 'no'. 

In the first break he sat alone on a bench in a corner of the square, earphones in his ears, listening to the iPod nano he'd managed to buy for the money he got for his birthday. He scrolled through the tracks, looking for the Sibelius violin concerto by Kavakos. He'd only recently heard of it, but he liked it. And it seemed fitting for his mood. Maybe some day soon he'd be able to play it like this. 
He didn't get long to himself though. When he looked up, Andrew had appeared, flanked by some other boys who were smirking in anticipation. 
¨Hey, sissy boy! Kiss any girls yet?¨
He felt his cheeks flooding before he could stop it. Fuck. Here he went again. 
He knew everyone was looking at them now, and he wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole. Boiling hot molten stone didn't seem so bad, compared to this grilling. 
But then he heard Brett's voice in his mind, so clearly that it was like he was standing right next to him. 'Did you tell him to fuck off?' 'It doesn't matter if you kissed no one or twenty girls.'

¨Fuck off, Andrew¨, he heard himself calmly say. ¨None of your business who I kiss and who I don't.¨
Andrew's eyes opened wide and he started to laugh. Well, cackle, more like. 
¨Well, well, well! Look who's trying to grow a spine!¨ 
He turned around and walked off, still cackling, his posse following him like he was Mozes parting the Red Sea. 

Wow. Eddy sat in shock, breathing deeply to try and calm himself down. Did that really just happen? Had he really just said that so calmly? And had Andrew really walked away? 
Wow. 
¨Hey, Eddy.¨ he heard a small voice beside him. When he looked up Lily was standing in front of him, a sweet little smile on her lips. 
¨I heard what he said. Nice going, telling him that. Serves him right!¨
He smiled at her. ¨Thanks, Lily. Hopefully he'll have had enough now!¨
¨I hope so too. Don't let him get to you, he's just saying it to get a rise out of you.¨ she smiled again.
¨I won't¨, Eddy said. ¨I got some good advice recently on how to deal with him.¨
The bell rang then, and he walked back to class with Lily, talking about their upcoming tests on their way. 
Lily was nice. 
He still didn't want to kiss her, though.