Vol 2 ~ What if I ain't no Violinist?

8. Twoset Tutoring IV (Brett's voice? 3)

Eddy screamed into his phone.

"Belle!! I can't ! My teacher from maths tutoring is gonna call mum and then mum is either gonna kill me or put me in a mental institution!!"

"Oh for god sake neither is gonna happen!! Lemme talk to mum and warn her in advance. Leave it with me okay? Trust me?"

"Okay.. okay.. I do trust you Belle. Thanks sis."

"And Eddy, whatever you do, don't blame Brett."

Eddy was taken aback by what Belle said.

"What? No, of course not!"

He saw Belle smile on his screen.

"That a good boy. I'm glad you guys have become good friends. He's also a violinist, right? Sounds like you two have a lot in common."

"Yeah he is and we do. Argh, it's such a pain in the backside that the teacher thinks I've made this all up in my head!!"

Belle chuckled.

"Y'know, this is actually quite funny.. sorry Eddy, I know it's not funny to you but.. y'know."

Eddy sighed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean.. it's not haha funny but crazy sh*t funny, I get it."

"Okay Eddy, leave it with your big sis, I'm gonna sort it out for ya, okay? Love ya."

"Thanks, Belle, love you, too. Bye."

There are moments in the day when all sounds seem to disappear. It's a bit eery when it happens, a place that is usually filled with noise would suddenly go silent as if everyone had simultaneously decided not to utter a word or make any sounds. In many cultures, they say this occurs because an angel had passed or a ghost floated by. Brett was an expert in picking these moments of the day to sneak in a conversation with Eddy. At Saturday orchestral practice, he turned to his desky and parted his lips with furrowed brows of concern;

"Eddy, is everything okay?"

Eddy gave Brett a wry smile.

"Yeah, just a bit tired I guess."

"You were quiet since you got called into the office at tutoring school yesterday. Are you sure everything is okay?"

Oh my god he is so observant...!

Eddy managed a smile.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks."

Eddy was grateful of Brett's concern but he couldn't bring himself to tell Brett what was wrong.

"Hello. My name is Belle, I'm Eddy Chen's older sister and I'm calling you back on behalf of our mother."

It was Monday afternoon. Eddy sat nervously on the floor of his sister's bedroom. He was glad his sister managed to convince their mother that she would sort out this mess on behalf of the family.

"Mr Richardson, I've spoken at length with my brother and I can assure you that his friend Brett Yang is indeed a violinist and plays at the same youth orchestra as my brother. I can also vouch that my brother has very well trained ears and he has been able to hear what Brett says. Me? No, I have not met Brett myself personally. Well, I have never seen my brother talk to himself and we are very close. Our mother is very attentive and she would have noticed as well if my brother showed such behaviour."

Eddy bit his lower lip.

"Mr Richardson, my mother and I, both appreciate the time you have taken to call us and let us know about Eddy's behaviour. I understand he is only chatting during break times and I will talk to him again to ensure he doesn't disrupt the class. And yes I promise I will keep an eye on him and monitor his stress levels and get him the appropriate care should we believe he needs any. Thank you so much for your time talking to me."

Belle hung up her phone and looked at her brother.

"You heard that? Just make sure you guys don't chat during class, yeah?"

"We never do. We only ever chat during our break or before or after class."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's the case. Look, don't worry about it. Mum couldn't care less when I told her. Never seen you talking to yourself so she thinks your teacher is imagining things.

Eddy let out a sigh of relief.

Belle stuck the tip of her tongue out.

"Well actually it probably helped I told her first that you're at the top of the class."

"Uhuh."

"But y'know, she's so observant of her baby..."

Eddy exclaimed;

"Who? Me?!"

"Yes, you Eddy,  she's observant enough to know that you don't talk to yourself.  And so by the time I told her that your new friend Brett's from Taiwan like us and that he also plays the violin? Oh my god, she was sold.  A nice older Taiwanese boy, a good role model for her baby..  She's so chill about Brett, don't worry about it, okay?"

Eddy let out a sigh of relief, he didn't even have time to pout about the "baby" remarks.

"Thanks Belle."

To be continued...