Andante

CXXVII

Once again he found himself running home, his backpack bobbing up and down on his back with every step he took. At this rate he might as well start packing running gear to school and call it exercise?
"Mum!" he called the second he got in, skidding to a stop by the coat rack. Then he breathed deeply, his right hand steadying himself on the rack. 
Calm down, mate. Your mum has good eyes. She does not need to see you're quite this excited about a simple party with friends. Calm it. 
"Everything okay, Eddy?" 
His mum had appeared in the doorway to the kitchen and cocked her head slightly, looking at him questioningly. He swallowed quickly. 
"Yes, I'm fine, mum. But I wanted to ask you, Lily has invited me over for homework and movies next Saturday. Her parents are away and we can stay the night."
Then, from nowhere, a genius idea formed in his head. He almost smirked as he kept talking smoothly. 
"You really don't have to worry, mum, Brett's also coming and I would share a room with him, certainly not with Lily or anything."

He could see her expression changing ever so subly and he could have whooped, he was so impressed with his own quick thinking. It was also approximately the most ironic thing in the world, of course. And he saw her assent now, he saw it in her eyes before she gave it to him.
"It's next weekend?"
Her tone was strict, but he knew he had this now. 
"Yes mum, this weekend I'll just be doing homework and practising. And busking with Brett."
"Well, I guess it's alright, then. But under the condition that I can speak to Lily's parents before they leave."
"Of course, mum!" he hastened to say, all the while keeping his expression as neutral as he could. "Thanks so much, mum!"
The exhilaration flooded him completely, and he spontaneously hugged her and thanked her again. He picked up his things and walked up the stairs lithely, but suddenly there was that little stab of guilt beside the triumph. 
Look, it was simple. He was going because of what he'd said about Brett. If his mum knew the truth, if she'd had any inkling at all, she would never have let him go. He was lying by omission all the time, and he severely hated lying. Especially to his mum. 
But what other option did he have? He simply had to stick it out, didn't he? He'd tried so hard to stay away from Brett for so long, and that had hurt them so much. He could never do that, ever again, could he? If there was one thing in life he knew, it was that.
He sighed once and shrugged his shoulders.
Yeah. He knew that. So he allowed the smile to spread again as he closed the door of his bedroom behind him, dropping himself down on his bed and staring at the ceiling in delight. 
He was going. He was spending the night with Brett! 
Abruptly he got up again to grab his phone. Let's not forget, he was only spending the night with Brett on Saturday if he had gotten the okay, too. He typed quickly. 

    'Hey mate! Know anything yet?'

 Brett had managed to call him earlier, in the break, from a corner of the school yard where he wouldn't be overheard, and the happiness that Eddy had heard overflowing in his tone like it was in his own, had made him happier still. He smiled fondly, as he lay on his back, stared at the ceiling and waited for Brett's message to come in. 
Actually, you know what? He should go and practice a bit. His lesson was in an hour and of course he had not done a thing this morning. He got up quickly and took his violin out of its case just as his phone buzzed. 

    'I can go! You?'

That was it. He put his violin down on his bed and jumped up and down like an eight year old girl. 
This was happening! 

     'Me too! Awesome! Gotta practise. Later!'

He didn't run to his violin lesson, because running with a violin case was very awkward. But he did feel like he could take on the world. And as he went into the teacher's house and unpacked his violin again he knew it already. This was the lesson he would be able to show it all, because what could possibly hurt him now? 
They worked on the Mazas etude and then they went through the rest of the repertoire, every bow stroke feeling like he was on fire. And when he put the violin back in the case his teacher smiled at him. 
"Well done, Eddy. You're nicely on track."

He smiled calmly and kept it together. 
"Thank you, sir."