“Hey, Scout,” I greeted Sophie as she walked down the street. She had a smile on her face; I was glad that she was in a good mood today. “Ready for today’s performance?” She nervously sighed before she answered me.
“Another performance, another chance to perfect this solo part in the piece,” Sophie said, adjusting the strap of her instrument case. Without even realizing, I take Sophie’s case off of her shoulder and put it on mine. To my surprise, Sophie doesn’t protest, allowing me to carry her case for her. The rest of the ensemble began to gather in front of the school, including Aaron. He didn’t say anything to anyone; he stood there on his phone, as usual. Shortly after, Mr. Harrison calls out to us, getting our attention.
“Alright everyone, quiet down,” Mr. Harrison shouts out. Everyone stops talking facing him now as they listened. “I want everyone on their best behavior before, during, and after our performance today. This isn’t a place where you should be messing around; this is Julliard, and some of you might even be students here in the future. So please, present yourself with dignity and class, as that’s always expected of you.” Once Mr. Harrison stops talking, the doors to the school bus open, and we begin to line up to get on. To my surprise, Sophie grabs me by my hand, guiding me with her toward the bus. We finally get on the bus and she picks a seat to sit in; it was second nature to just sit next to her at this point. Again, Sophie didn’t protest or react to me doing so.
For the majority of the bus ride, Sophie and I didn’t speak much. We both glanced out the window, watching the other cars and trucks pass us by on the highway. The leaves on the trees were starting to appear, indicating that Spring was starting soon. Normally, I didn’t notice these type of things happen. It was pretty, to say the least.
…
“Alright class, 30 minutes we are performing,” Mr. Harrison walked into the boys dressing room. “I need you guys dressed and lined up when it’s time, okay?” The boys responded, agreeing with Mr. Harrison’s instructions. I sit down in my seat as I finished tying my dress shoes and started to try to put on my bowtie. I was glad that my father told me early on that I needed to learn how to tie my own bowtie if I was going to get through performances at Waverly as smooth as possible. He showed me time and time again how to do it; sure it was annoying at first to have to learn something I didn’t need at that time, but in times like this, I’m glad that he did.
I looked up once I was done and immediately noticed Aaron at one of the mirrors, struggling with his bowtie. I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore him. For some strange reason, I couldn’t. I sighed as I walked up to Aaron. He immediately turned around and on guard.
“What do you want?” Aaron asked in an uninviting way.
“Your bowtie,” I pointed at it, which makes him look down at it. “You didn’t properly tie it. It’s going to come loose as soon as you adjust it on your neck.” He doesn’t say anything back to me, he just rolls his eyes at me as he yanked the bowtie off of his neck. “Yo, Mr. Harrison,” Aaron said as he walked away from me. I didn’t blame him for just walking away like that; why would he ever think I was helping him out in any way possible? A part of me wanted to be the bigger person. A part of me wanted to see the good in Aaron for Mollie’s sake. I wanted to understand what in the world did she see in this guy, but I know that it wasn’t realistic considering everything that happened up to this point. Maybe I just don’t care to hold on to the hate anymore.
The boys were now being told to go into the hallway to line up; to my surprise, I saw Sophie lined up with the rest of the girls in the ensemble. I couldn’t help but stare at Sophie; she was wearing this black dress with black flats. Her hair was clipped back away from her face. She looked so pretty.
She turned around and spotted me, smiling once she did. She kept looking at me, raising an eyebrow.
“Hi, James Bond,” she teased as she giggled. So cute. “You’re dressed ready to fight crime in London.”
“The bow tie makes it more official,” I said, wiggling the tie on my neck. “You look like you’re about to rip the craziest violin solo in a couple of minutes.”
“I’m no Niccolo Paganini,” she replied, sighing her nerves away. Niccolo Paganini is known as the world’s most famous violinist as I just recently learned from Sophie when she sent me a picture of a poster of him. Most girls my age have posters of boy bands on their wall; Sophie has dead musicians from the classical period.
“You’re gonna do great, Scout,” I reassured her, smiling. “You’ve performed this solo a bunch of times and could probably do it in your sleep.” Sophie laughed, appreciating the pep talk before the show. Mr. Harrison begins to walk us toward the backstage of the venue, lining us up in two rows. I stand next to Sophie as she looks towards the stage. She looks nervous, I can tell by the way she began to fidget with her fingers. I gently grabbed her left hand, squeezing it tight to let her know that she is going to be okay. She looked at me and smiled; she knew exactly what I was trying to tell her.
“Give a round of applause to The Waverly High Elite Ensemble,” the announcer presented as we began to walk on the stage. The audience clapped as we got on the stage and positioned in our spots. As I got adjusted in my spot, I looked at Sophie a couple of rows down towards the front. She turned around and smiled at me before she faced forward, sitting down with her violin in her hand. We all prepared ourselves for the first song; it as the easiest song out of the set we were doing and allowed me some time to really take in the experience. The lights were nearly blinding us the way they were pointed at the stage, but I was able to still see the rows of people watching us perform. I couldn’t help but watch Sophie for most of our performances; she was professional and focused in on her music. She didn’t even seem to be nervous at this point.
It was now time for the strings section to play their song; my eyes were immediately locked on Sophie. The piece starts off strong and turns whimsical in the middle, sounding like an opening to an epic movie adaption of a musical. The accompanying choir begins to sing in unison to the music being played. In the middle of the song, Sophie stands up to start her solo. I want to do nothing more but to shout her name and cheer her on. I hold myself back as much as possible, but once she plays the first measure of her solo, I find myself not being able to hold back. I shouted for Sophie as she played; I couldn’t see her face, but I saw the smile appear on her face as her cheek expanded across the base of the violin.
Unbiasedly, she was the best violinist in her section. She was always so quick to learning new music and she always found a way to play the notes the way they were meant to be played. Sophie told a story with her music, and sometimes it was the only way to see how she truly was feeling. Today, she played the piece in a melancholy way. She put more vibrato on the long notes, making them sound eerie in the minor key. It was haunting but too beautiful to look away. Too beautiful to not want to look at Sophie in her element.
Before I realized it, the rest of the ensemble was getting ready to continue with the end of the song. I quickly picked up my drum sticks, preparing for the big finale piece. Needless to say, our performance was one of the best we’ve had in a long time, and the strings section definitely outshined the rest of the us, which I credit to Sophie’s angelic solo.
Once we were exited off the stage after our performance, I waited for Sophie’s line to enter the backstage area. Once I spotted Sophie entering the area, I couldn’t help but give her a huge hug.
“You were amazing out here,” I said with the biggest smile on my face. Sophie let out a sigh of relief; I could relate.
“I felt like I hit every note on the nail,” Sophie recalled. She seemed happy. She was smiling as if she was happy with what she did up there. She deserves to be happy; she’s worked so hard to be here today.
“You really lead the strings to a victory today,” I said wholeheartedly. “Seriously, like I don’t think I ever heard so many people cheer for you guys the way they did out here. You’re turning heads, Sophiolo Leeganini.” Sophie was shocked, widening her eyes as she started to laugh.
“I’m sorry, what?” Sophie laughed as she asked. She knew exactly what I was playing at. “Did you just–“
“You act as if you’re so surprised,” I teased Sophie before she nudged me on my shoulder. I laughed and I smiled; something I felt like Sophie and I haven’t done in a while ever since my birthday. This trip was therapeutic in a way; it helped us put focus back on the things that enhanced our connection: music. For the first time in awhile, things didn’t feel complicated, despite the sacrifices that we made in order for us to have a moment like this. My dad would have a fit if he found out most of my day was spent with the person he wants me to avoid at all cost.
It was now dark once we both got back into Brooklyn. I knew I should’ve went straight home after the show considering my dad had my location on. I knew I should’ve went my separate way to make it home on time, but something in me refused to let Sophie walk home in the dark. I think she appreciated it as well; she held my hand as we walked slowly down the block.
“Today was super fun,” Sophie finally said out loud. “I needed a day like today.”
“I was thinking of the same thing,” I said. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that thought the same thing.
“Are you going to hear it from your dad when you get home?” she asked. Sophie always went straight to the point with things that were on her mind.
“Probably,” I began to say. “But this was something for my dual major, so he only ever cares about me doing that-” Sophie stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and let go of my hand. I looked down at her, wondering what was wrong. “What?”
“Why do you think your dad only cares about your dual major status?” she asked me. Not this conversation again.
“Because he was one, as I explained to you in the past,” I snapped back, annoyed that she would bring this up again.
“So what? My father was a violinist and he didn’t push me to become one as well.” she debated.
“Yet you’re a violinist, just how he was,” I added, looking at Sophie. “Don’t you see that we started doing these things and fell in love with these things because our parents forced them on us?” Sophie looked confused.
“Do you not love what you do? Sophie asked. “Do you feel like your dad forced you into it?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” I fought back, trying my best to clarify what I mean. “I love music, and that’s never going to change, but music is also my entire being. I’m allowed to be human and do things that go against my passion for music.”
“Like what?” Sophie asked.
“Like kissing you when we’re suppose to be rehearsing,” I smiled, teasing Sophie. Her face immediately gets red from blushing. Sophie starts to walk down the block once more; of course, I follow right back her. “Like spending time with you at the pizza place after school without talking about music.” I added as Sophie rolled her eyes and smiled, which made me feel relieved.
“I’m serious, Milo,” Sophie said, going back to the subject. “Not to sound like your dad, but being a dual major is a pristine status. Do you know that the majority of incoming students at Julliard are the dual major students at Waverly?” Julliard? Where did that come from? I scrunched my eyebrows slightly, wondering how this became a part of the conversation. We are only freshmen; why are we talking about colleges?
I know academics were an important part of Sophie’s school life; she’s easily one of the smartest people in our grade. It wasn’t surprising that she’s already thinking about colleges, but I didn’t think she was actually thinking about the college we were just performing at. Only those interested in attending Julliard looks up their requirements so early in the process.
“That might be true, but I don’t want my dual major status to consume me,” I admitted. “I still want to be a regular teenager and feel regular teenager things–“
“Like what?” Sophie asked again; this time in a more playful way.
“Like… liking this cute little violinist in our class,” I flirted, looking at Sophie. This time, she was ready for it.
“Bummer,” Sophie began to say. “She must be a really lucky girl.” I couldn’t help but smile and kiss her. It was short lived, and nothing would prepare me for what would come next.
“Soojin!” I hear an older woman call out. For a slight moment, I was confused; Sophie’s change in demeanor said everything that I needed to know. I turned around and saw Sophie’s mom walking down the steps of the stoop, grabbing her by her instrument case.
“Whoa, wait!” I shouted, feeling protective over Sophie. “You can’t just–“
“Leave,” Mrs. Lee said in a cold tone. “Now!”
“Mum–” Sophie tried to intervene.
“Ya! Get inside of the house now!” she said at Sophie, and Sophie doesn’t fight back. Mrs. Lee turns around and looks at me straight in the face. If looks can kill.
“Mrs. Lee, it’s not her fault that she’s late,” I tried to ease the conversation, but there was no use in trying. Her mom already had her mind made.
“Stay away from my daughter,” she spat out. “You have been nothing but a bad influence to her.” I didn’t know what else to say to Sophie’s mom. All I could see is Sophie panicking near her front door. Her mom turned around and walked back towards the house.
“Mum–” Sophie tried to say once again, but her mom dismissed her thought.
“Inside! Now!” Mrs. Lee said as she pointed at the house. I didn’t know She turned around to face me once more. “Get out!” she shouted one last time before slamming the gate in front of me shut.
Letters From Liz. 