Fantasia

XXIII

July, twelve years ago

"Brett! Wait up!"
"Yo, Eddy."
Eddy ran the last few meters to catch up to his best mate walking to school, the violin on his back bobbing up and down and his breathing leaving little clouds in the cold winter air.
"Have you pracitised?", Brett winked and gestured his head towards Eddy's purple case, which showed dents and little scratches here and there. Markings of the countless times it had been carried around, and Eddy actually loved that it was visible.

He had his violin lesson at Brett's school right after noon, so he normally met Brett when the other was on the way from his house to his classes.
"You bet I have! Got that competition coming up! Can't fuck up!"
"You won't! I'm sure. Your Prok sounded great the last time I heard it."
"Have you?", Eddy asked back.
"Practised you mean?"
"Nah, played games. Of course practised!", Eddy quipped, jabbing Brett in his ribs.
"Bro! I need lungs to breathe! Thank you very much!"
"Are you stalling?", Eddy laughed.
Brett glanced at him with a tortured expression. "It's just so much stuff I have to do!"
"Ah, yeah! You have that French test right?"
"Yeah. Right this afternoon, second period. Was learning those damn vocabularies till late yesterday so I couldn't play the violin. You're familiar with my spelling, so imagine me trying French words, for god's sake! And tomorrow morning there is a math exam too! Kill me now!"
"Ouch!", Eddy made emphatetically. He knew for a fact that Brett would have rather practised fourty hours instead of memorising French idioms and complicated verb forms.
"There is just too freakin' little time! And I need to prepare for the entrance audition too!"
Eddy looked at him from the side, but it took them crossing a main street before he asked carefully, "Have you told your parents yet?"
Brett needed another street crossing and a visible gulp before he answered, "Nah."
"Have you planned on when?" Eddy's voice nearly got drowned by the noise of the passing cars.
"I gotta send in the application next week. So, I guess then."
"You want me to be around?"
Brett carried an amused expression when he looked at Eddy. They were almost at Brett's school now.
"I'm not five anymore. I can handle my parents."
"I know, I know... it's just..."

It was fucking scary, that's what it was. For Eddy at least. He seemed more freaked out than Brett, even though technically, he had nothing to do with all this. But the mere thought of his best friend telling his parents that he wanted to audition for the conservatory and study music instead of something more Asian parent approved gave Eddy sleepless nights.

"It's my future!", Brett exclaimed, his tone more determined than Eddy had ever heard. There was no hint of fear or doubt in Brett's features anymore and Eddy felt a wave of admiration wash over him.
"Wow..."
"What?", Brett chuckled, "You gotta fight for yourself in life sometimes, even if it means standing up against people you love."
"I could never do that!", Eddy stated and knew immediately that it was true. He wasn't like Brett, wasn't someone who could ever start an argument with his parents over something he desired. It wasn't worth the trouble. Also, it was useless to argue against his mother, he knew that too well.
Yeah, useless...

"Bro!"
They reached the stairs leading up to the main entrance.
"You have to at some point, no? Why else are you practising like crazy for this national competition? Why all this hours you spending with your violin?"
"You make it sound like it's my girlfriend or something", Eddy chuckled nervously. He didn't like the direction he thought Brett was going. Didn't like it one bit. Had been pushing it to the furthest corner of his burdened mind himself for the longest time...
"Eddy", Brett said sternly, his hand already on the door handle, "you have one year left, so you still have time. But if I were you, I'd think about what I want and pursue that. You can't always please your parents, you know."
Eddy wanted to say something back, maybe even disagree on Brett, but his best friend was already through the door and on the way to his classroom, waving goodbye.

Eddy's steps were heavy and his thoughts even more so as he slowly climbed up the stairs to his violin lesson.