Chapter Three (1)

Terrence had arrived early.

Hagey Hall was University of Waterloo's only theatre performance venue, and being one of the oldest buildings on campus, it had developed an aged charm that had only grown through the years of Terrence's undergraduate life. It had brick walls varnished in a passionate red, and a majestic flight of stairs that ascended to its entrance, and sturdy wooden doors that required the force of both hands to open.

Terrence found Mitchell in the dressing room.

"You're early."
"Yeh man I needed to practice, I haven't looked at the music in like a week! There's like dust on my violin! Have you practiced the Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony? Oh and hey man, did you bring a stand? We have no stand again!"
"Yeh I brought a stand!"

Terrence held up the music stand with one hand like an Olympic athlete posing with a trophy.

Terrence and Mitchell were an odd selection to pair as stand partners. Terrence kept to himself during rehearsals, and in fact, largely kept his eyes to the music save for when the conductor shot glances at him as an indication for him to look up for directions. Mitchell, on the other hand, could never seem to fight back the urge to make crass remarks at any and every comment that was voiced during the course of practice. This obnoxious behaviour sometimes irritated Terrence, but all-in-all he liked the guy. And really, he needed him too. Mitchell was organized - he kept all the scores well marked and notated, counted the bars and rests, turned the pages, played loudly during the hard passages - and on a more personal assessment, Mitchell's claim to lack of practice had always made Terrence feel a little less self-conscious about his own irresponsibility.

Having completed his typical pre-performance rituals, Terrence moved into his seat in the second desk of the first violins and looked back behind him. There was Wallace and Anthony, Bill and Nancy, Edwin and Joanna...all of them characteristic and a little eccentric in the ways that violin players usually were. Wallace just got a haircut, he noticed, and it was most likely a preparation done just for the concert, which seemed to confirm that he was indeed the most committed player in the orchestra. Anthony played Warcraft and had recently been busted by the cops for making too much noise at his house party. Bill had a nerdy affection for pure mathematics. Nancy played all the notes with passionate dynamics and technical ease, which made it obvious she practiced a lot at home. Edwin was a graduate a few years ago, and now worked as a computer science programmer in town. Joanna was in first year and had a twin sister.

Maybe pairing him and Mitchell together wasn't so odd afterall, he thought. And then the concert began and he was starkly reminded that the seating arrangements were, above all else, based on playing ability.