Andante con Brio

XXVIII

Life was looking up. Oh, yeah, life was looking up!
He had taken the med school test last week and he was still waiting for the results, but he already knew he had aced it. 
Of course he had. He was good at science. And he had done the work, so why wouldn't he?
It was weird though, since, having so much freedom. School was out of course, and he had nothing to do but practise. Especially since Brett was still at the con full time. He had spent a bit of time there, sitting in on things. Nobody seemed to mind, and the place was already starting to feel more like it was his, too. No one noticed one more Asian guy in the halls, just one more guy with a violin case on his back. 
Even if his violin lessons were still somewhere else. For now. 
His teacher was treating him differently too, almost reverently, for some reason. He was about to have to say goodbye to him for ever. Was that why? 

And today? Well... today was Graduation Day. Also known as the last day he would walk to the  school building he had seen every day for years. The last day he would walk into the large auditorium like he belonged there. 
The last day, in fact, he would ever belong there. 
Lily was really nervous, because she was leaving for a dance camp the very next day. She had been blowing his phone up all day, and he had promised her he would be at school very much on time. Not usually his biggest talent, being on time, but what the fuck else did he have to do anyway? 

There was only one thing now, one thing between him and a completely carefree summer and a shining future. One thing. 
The second the letter came with his grade for med school, he would have to let his mum down and tell her her hopes of him becoming doctor where gone, for good. 
Yeah, that was very much not one to look forward to. 
But hey, tonight she would be proud. Tonight he would receive his highschool diploma, with honours. She could take that piece of cake and eat it at her own leasure. 

"Mum, I'm heading out already, okay? I promised Lily I would be there early."
She turned around from where she had been baking something. There was a smile on her face. 
"Okay, Eddy. I will see you tonight."
He smiled back and headed out quickly. 

The school building looked the same as it always had, which was weird. He had been a fixed part of this place, he knew every stone, every corner. And now he would be gone and it would just carry on existing like it had before, like he had never even been here. Like all of his dramas and joys where only a tiny blip in the history of the place, a blip no one would even remember by next year. 
He blinked at the heavy wooden door and walked through. 
Dirty white stone floors, red lockers. Yeah. Just the same. Just a blip. 
"Eddy!" 
He turned around just in time to catch his best girl-friend, who flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. 
"Hey, Lils. You okay?"
She nodded into his neck and let go. 
"Yeah. Can you believe this is our last time here?"
Eddy grinned. 
"Yeah, I was just being stupidly melancholy about that. As if our presence here changed anything at all."
She looked at him for a moment with her eyes wide, making them even bigger in her delicate face. Then she shrugged. 
"Well. Your presence here changed something for me."
She suddenly took off in the direction of the aula. 
"Come on. I want to show you my dance for the camp, okay?"
Eddy smiled at her back and took off after her at a light jog. Look. It was simple. He would go to the aula, see Lily dance and he would tell her how much she rocked. And tonight he would walk on to the little stage in the large auditorium proudly, and sign his name on the piece of paper that said he was officially a highschool graduate. Then he would find his mum's eyes in the crowd and smile as she watched him proudly. 
And it would be a good moment.