Andante con Brio

LXXIII

He had been here before, of course, in fact he had watched this very orchestra play Mahler here just before the summer holiday, but he was looking at it with new eyes now. Brett had been in the second violin section then, just over there on the right of the stage. Would he be there again this year? He guessed not. I mean, obviously Brett was a great violinist. The conductor must have noticed that as well, right? 
He looked around him at the large auditorium, as he followed Brett to the little group of students that where standing by some pieces of A4 paper, tacked to the wooden wall. Everything seemed to be made of wood here. The stage, most of the walls, the backs of the seats... wood everywhere, that seemed to resonate somehow with all of the notes that had been played here in all of the years, all of the passion that had been poured out from that stage. Okay, so it wasn't the newest, but still it was nice. Real nice. And quite big too, with the chairs stretching out and up behind him. It seemed like a great place to perform. 
This year it would be him on the stage, and his mum would be in one of the chairs looking at him. A thrill raced through him as they got to the seating charts. 
"I'm first! Fourth desk!"
Brett had made his way to the front of the waiting students. He turned around, beaming from ear to ear. It made him happy too, seeing Brett so happy, even when his eyes scanned the pages in turn and he saw he was second. 
Look, it wasn't like he hadn't expected that. Someone had to play second, right? Might as well be the newbies. He would just have to prove he was first violin material as quickly as possible. 
"Second desk."  he told Brett as they turned around and started for the stage. "Could be a lot worse, I guess."
Brett gave him a slightly squinty look that he didn't quite understand as they put down their cases at the front of the auditorium, taking out their violins quickly and fitting the shoulder rests. Then Eddy followed as Brett hopped up the stairs to the stage. Students were starting to take their places everywhere, but Eddy stood still for a long moment, following his boyfriend with his eyes as he sat down at the fourth desk. Then he smiled at him and quickly walked over to the second violin section. 

The conductor was a friendly looking guy with thin, dark, greying curly hair and a glint of something in his eye. His name was Mr. Heart, Brett had told him. Apparently Mr. Heart was very funny, and held degrees in conducting, music theory, organ and for some reason Eddy couldn't really fathom, math. 
I mean, there wasn't much call for math around here, was there?
"Welcome, everyone!" Mr. Heart called in a jovial tone. "My name is Theo and feel free to call me that. And I've been told I'm conducting you bunch again this year. Those of you that haven't run away screaming after last year, that is."
There was a scattering of laughter around the orchestra. 
"Right. There is sheet music on your stands, the first thing we'll be rehearsing is Mendelssohn Italian. I'm sure most of you have seen it before."
Eddy smiled. Yeah, he had seen it before, with AYO, only he had been first then... oh well. He looked at Mr. Heart expectantly. 
"Let's just play through it today, and next time I expect everyone will have practised it fully."
There was something about the grins around the orchestra that made Eddy wonder if this was actually going to be true.