The Best Partner

Riley stepped into the music studio and saw his music teacher waving him over. He walked towards the teacher and when he had gotten closer, he greeted the teacher with a slight bow.

"Riley, come along."

Riley followed the teacher into the teacher's office.

"Have a seat."

The teacher did as they entered. The teacher went over to a shelf and came back with a file as he also took his seat.

"You signed up for the competition, right?" The teacher asked as he put on his glasses.

"Yes sir." Riley replied with a polite smile, but he was nervous.

The teacher in front of him was all smiles, which was exactly what made him nervous. The teacher he, or rather he and all of the other students taking the piano class were more familiar with was a teacher with a stern looking face, not the gentle face he could see on the man's face.

"And you do not have a partner. That's what it says here." he said as he touched the open file.

"Yes sir."

Now, this topic was beginning to make Riley feel uncomfortable. He had always gone solo, since finding a partner had always been hard. No one wanted to be associated with him, no matter how good he played. And now that he had friends who were willing to take the risk of befriending him, unfortunately for him, none of them attended music class, he was alone in this.

He could already imagine what the teacher was going to say next.

Well, if you can't find a partner in the next two weeks, you will have to drop out of the competition.

He chuckled silently to himself, applauding himself on mimicking the teacher's attitude perfectly.

"Well, you are in luck Riley."

Riley rose his head up, as that took him by surprise. Something definitely was off with the man.

"A senior is interested in teaming up with you."

'no, no, no, no, no way.' he screamed in his mind

"But seniors are not allowed in this competition, that was what you said."

"I was not the one who made the rules boy. And also, why deny the seniors this chance to get a scholarship to study in one of the best music schools. They never got such a chance like this when they were juniors. So boy, the rules got changed, a junior now has to team up with a senior. "

Riley shifted in his chair uncomfortably. Of all the people to team up with, a senior was the last person he wanted to team up with. The seniors, no matter how good they appeared on the outside, Riley knew they always had ulterior motives.

"I can see you are worried."

He had almost forgotten he was still with his teacher. He composed himself as quickly as possible.

"Don't worry Riley, it's not just some seniors who wants to leech off you. It's the best among the seniors that wants to team up with you. Since we will be needing the best to represent our school, he assumed the best should be paired with the best. But the competition in the school will still hold, since we want to see the best in every one. So, do feel free to choose someone else, I just think you would have a better chance to be the school's representative if you team up with him."

Riley took a deep sigh. He was feeling conflicted. Was this a threat or an advice? After all, this was the best player in the whole school. If he doesn't team up with him, how will he win against him?"

He heard a knock and heard his teacher tell the person to come in. He remained sitted, looking down, fiddling with his fingers, as different questions popped in his head, but he had no answers for them.

Well, that was until he heard that voice.

"Mr Mekaly."

He looked back, the same time the music teacher looked up. And he really was surprised.

'he really meant it when he said we will soon see each other again' he thought to himself.

"Oh, Bram. Come in, we were just talking about you."

Riley was surprised to see Mr Mekaly smiling so brightly as Bram sat down.

'Hold on a second' Riley thought to himself. 'Mr Mekaly just said we were speaking about Bram. Does that mean Bram is the so-called best among the seniors? Damn it. But how come I've never heard of him before, I've never even seen him before, is he a transfer student?'

"Riley."

He did his best to focus on his teacher and not on the senior sitted beside him who made him feel uneasy.

"Yes sir."

"This is the senior I told you about. And as you can see, he's also good looking. You two on stage would make the hearts of the spectators flutter."

Riley got up abruptly

"I'll think about it and get back to you tomorrow sir."

Saying this, he dashed out of the office, leaving Bram speechless.

"Take no of fence Bram, the boy is quite reserved. It takes time before he opens up to people. And I just heard of how he got bullied by seniors. I'm sure seniors are the last people he wants to interact with. Give him some time."

"Hmm, I can wait."