The Hero they thought was a Nerd

NBSB newbie

Leilani's POV

"You've got to decide on what you want to take as extra credit, Lei."  My friend, Carol, whined as we made our way towards the next class.  

I sighed in defeat.  I was really looking forward to my life as college student here in this university, far away from home.  Back at home, I remembered that my parents would always giving an ultimatum when they were still alive.

I had to have high grades than my older sister.

I need to be better than my mother.

I must get a degree in medicine like my older brother and my father.

I can't have a boyfriend.

I heaved again a defeated sigh.  I know that a young teen like me should be like my friends, all giddy at having a young boy as inspiration or someone to fall head over heels with.  Having too many expectations from my overachieving family was slowly drowning out my childhood even until high school it continued to shadow my every move.  Now that I am in college, I feel as though life had left me behind.

When asked, I could name the different elements in the periodic table.  I could even discuss the correlation of quadratic equations almost to the level of our professors here in Trinity University.  But, if given a group discussion with my fellow peers, I would rather lock myself inside my room. 

I don't even know half of the topics that my friend would burst out in a fit of pique like f******k, **, Twitter.  I’m not even aware of the latest What’s App or t****k fave or even the newest iPhone or iPad that's in the market.  I mean what the heck are those?

I don't know how they could even think about all those stuff.  I mean, the anatomy of the human body should be more interesting than those things or even the vast stars in the universe being converged in the galaxy.  Whenever I would come across these discussions like who is the best Korean group, Black Pink or Momoland, I would think if I was a weird one.  Maybe I should at least make the effort to understand the things that make up the present society.  Maybe by then I wouldn’t be the odd one out.  I would have more than one friend in this university.  But that would be wishful thinking.  I mean, who would want to be friends with someone who buries themselves in books?

"I don't know what to take.  Do you have any suggestions?"  I asked Carol as we entered the room.  Unlike me, Carol was the total society belle.  Ever since we were kids, she was very sociable, quite an engaging little minx.  Her effervescent attitude was very contagious and would gather a lot of teens to her like moths to a flame.  She was a little taller than me, with black raven’s wing hair and creamy white skin.  Some of the boys would be deceived into thinking she was easy.  But one sharp look from her brown eyes and turned down bow lips would send boys running to the other direction.

Carol and I were discussing what I should take as an extra credit.  An extra credit was needed in one course in order to ensure that a student can gather enough grades to get the job they would be aspiring to take.  Carol was taking Journalism as an extra credit.  As for me, I was still undecided what to take.  I mean, I was not even decided on what should be my future.  I don’t have anyone to work for since my parents have all died, my brother and sister all have their own families and had written me off from their lives.  I never wanted to hurt them and I didn’t know what I did to deserve their animosity but that is the way they think, then so be it. 

We entered the music room.  This was one of the classes that we were supposed to take and one of the choices in looking for extra credits.  Carol insisted that I try this as this could be the credit I would need.  Since I liked music during my childhood, this might be a good distraction.  Thankfully, the teacher was not yet there.  We took our respective seats and I was busy listening to Carol's ramblings about possible credits to take when the door opened and our teacher, Ms. Vale came in.  Following her footsteps was a slightly stooped young man who was holding a violin case.  He looked too young to be stooping like an old man but something in his posture alerted me that he was hiding his true self.  He was also carrying Ms. Vale's bag since she was already a day over fifty but still as witty as the young ones.  He placed the bag on the table and took his place on a chair beside it.

Oh, so he's a TA.

He was just seated there, looking at our teacher earnestly.  I was getting curious about him, as he seemed to be someone different from the other teacher assistants who would be visiting our classes but then, our teacher started talking.

"Good morning.  I am here today to at least start out our music class with something different from what we usually do.  We are graced today with a member of our university's top music ensemble.  It has been years since he graced our halls.  After this, you may select any of the musical instruments here and our visitor will be assisting you in learning the instrument.  Please welcome, Bryce Latimer.” Ms. Vale gestured for the boy to stand up in the middle of the platform and clapped her hands in glee.  The rest of the class followed.

Bryce Latimer

Carol and I exchanged puzzled looks.  Who the hell was that?

The boy nodded and slowly pulled out his violin from the case.  He shuffled forward until he was standing in the middle of the platform before assuming the stance that I've seen violinists do when playing.

I gasped at the sight.  The young boy who seemed awkward and inconspicuous suddenly straightened and his stance was almost arrogant.  He was like a bent pipe who turned into a golden staff in a blink of an eye.  His wavy golden hair was swept aside but his Coke-bottle glasses hid away the color of his eyes.  His stance exuded confidence and capability, his legs slightly parted as leverage.  He pulled the bow back and soon the strains of the Salut d'amour echoed inside the room.

To be mesmerized by the simple pull of his stance was amazing enough but his rendition of the Elgar classic was something that I did not expect to come from such an unassuming young man.  The golden strains of the violin were so haunting that immediately I was enticed me to like classical music.  I was enraptured by the music itself.

"Oh my God!  Who is that guy?"  Carol breathed beside me, her hand shaking my arm in excitement.

When he was done, the class was silent as a tomb.  Ms. Vale smirked at our reaction but started by clapping at the performance.  Soon we were all clapping at the boy, if he really was a boy.  He was all man while he played that violin.  No one would think that he would become a wonderful accomplished musician with a simple pull of the violin.

We were shaken from our stupor once again when Ms. Vale clapped to get our attention.  We were asked to choose what instrument do we want to learn to play.  Each of us scrambled to get what we want.  Most of the boys chose larger instruments like the timpani, trumpet, cello and guitar.  The girls chose the violins, of course.  Who wouldn't want to learn what the boy had demonstrated a while ago and get to be near him?

I, on the other hand, chose the piano.  After all, my mother was a pianist before she married my father and managed to teach me her skill, unbeknownst my father who thinks that learning an instrument is a waste of time.

I flipped my hand onto the keys of the grand piano.  It has been so long since I had the opportunity to take my hands on an instrument as the last time was when I was young and my dad found out I won in a music concourse from school.  He immediately had the piano dismantled before scolding me that I shouldn't play such an instrument again.  My mom didn't say anything for fear that my dad would do something more to me but she soothed me with chocolate chip ice cream.  

I chuckled.  Who would have thought that this university also offers a course in music?  My dad would surely flip in anger.

A copy of the Salut d'Amour was placed in front of us as our guide.  Ms. Vale gave directions on note reading and then we started to tune our instruments.  The girls were disappointed that Latimer did not come their way, but instructed the boys on what parts should they follow since this will be our first ensemble and some of us were newbies.  I chuckled at Carol who was trying to find out how to use the harp that she decided to play.  

"How do you play this thing?"  She asked me in a whisper.

"It's like a guitar or piano.  Do you want to change with me?  At least the piano is easier to play than a harp."  I gallantly asked.  Since Carol has been very helpful to me when I was still a small child, the least I could do was help her out.  After all, we are almost sisters so what are friends for?

Ms. Vale turned to us girls and instructed us on how to handle our chosen instruments.  I explained the use of the keyboard to Carol as she got ready in the chair.  I even gave her the notes to follow and what fingers to use.  I, on the other hand, was perplexed with the harp.  It was true that I have handled a guitar and a piano but this will be the first time that I will handle a harp.  I scratched my head but thought what should be done.

Oh well, here goes nothing.

"Need help?"  A husky voice asked me quietly and I turned to see who it was.

I was struck dumb when the boy everyone was daydreaming about was standing right in front of me.

Oh crap!