The Phonecall

Part 2

"Hey," Barcode smiled half heartedly to his music teacher early that morning when they met for another piano class. Barcode signed up for more piano and guitar class to improve his skills. His mother told him that he could do that for the time being before he applied for university. Joe, his music teacher was someone from the tuition centre that he always frequented before. He worked as a free-lance and with the money he obtained from the show he could afford paying for the class himself. His mother was not happy about this because she still felt Barcode was too young to be paying for his own class.

He pouted to his mother when she told him that.

I'm not a little kid anymore, ma.

People treat me like a little kid all the time.

I'm 18.

I'm not a baby.

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs all the time, but he kept it all in. He was polite, he was lovable. He was kind and childish, sweet and thoughtful.

Joe sat beside Barcode on the piano chair. They were only two of them in the early morning class. He would train with Joe for a while before the cast woke up. All the other adults slept in late and almost all of them woke up at noon. Then, they will start to work.

Barcode tried to brush the memories of last night.

He didn't remember falling asleep after discovering his little man stood up proudly. He might had done something while he was asleep though. But there weren't any leak or semen on the bed. It was dry and warm when he woke up annoyed to his own alarm clock.

"You're somewhere else, today," Joe started playing the piano. It sounded difficult. Barcode was not liking it.

"Yeah...sorry," Barcode shook his head.

"Focus,"

"Alright," Barcode listened to Joe's instructions and started to play. He made quite a few mistakes, careless and not.

"Are you okay?" Joe asked.

"Yeah..."

"You're everywhere," Joe folded his arms in front of his chest. "I can't teach you like this,"

"Sorry," Barcode bowed down.

"Do you want to rest for today? We can always make up another time,"

"Ah, it's okay," Barcode shook his head. "I don't have anything to do this morning anyway,"

Joe watched Barcode for a moment before he shrugged.

"Alright, whatever suits you boss,"

"Stop calling me boss,"

"Baby?"

"No." Barcode grunted, why was everyone calling him baby? He's just young, but it doesn't mean that he's not matured enough.

"Alright," Joe grinned sheepishly. The foul mood today definitely brought the house down. There were so many mistakes in Barcode's notes today, there were the abundant swearing by both him and Barcode.

Barcode was clearly disturbed and was throwing tantrums in his own way.

He was trashing the piano, he swore and he screamed.

Barcode was a very calm person who only talked when he needed to. There were people who are close to him but Joe wasn't one.

"Calm down, Barcode." Joe tried to talk him out of their misery. He wasn't feeling it when Barcode was clearly not in the mood. He was rubbing his eyes multiple times like he was sleepy but denied it every time Joe offered him rest. He sighed a lot, and stomped his feet when he got the wrong note and Joe had to correct him. "Calm down and we can try again later,"