Hi! I know I've been working on a lot of one shots lately. Well, maybe not a lot, but more than usual, I think. I really should have updated another story or even worked on some term papers, but I decided this would be better. This is sort of tied to For The Love Of Music, so if you haven't read the other stories (they don't seem to be very popular, actually... sadness...) this might not make very much sense. Then again, I guess you'll get it either way, and it just "helps" if you have read any of the For The Love Of Music Series. I just thought of this a few days ago and thought it would be nice to post...

(I don't own Band-Aids... Johnson & Johnson do, I think. So, I insert disclaimer here...)

The Band-Aid

Arianna sat quietly in the band office, reading the latest music magazine her band director had received. Her teacher had not finished his lesson yet and she had nothing to do until drumline practice started. The yearbook editors were probably looking for her, out for another person to write captions for the marching band page. She was one of the only people who could determine who was who and who played what in those grainy black and white photos. Arianna was in the band office most of the time, or in the band room; if anyone needed to find her, they would know where she was. Even though, at the moment, she was in no mood to be found.

It had been a long day. Things went wrong, like all things do, and Arianna didn't even want to think about homework or her class projects. Before becoming a senior, she had always laughed at the make-believe condition called Senioritis. However, now that she was halfway through her senior year, the myth had become reality and Arianna didn't want to do anything more than cuddle up with a good book or, better yet, take a nap. The only thing that kept her going that day was the promise of drumline practice that night and, as Arianna glanced at the clock, it would begin in about an hour.

"See you next time," came her director's voice from the band room as the junior high boy left with his sticks and lesson book. "Next victim!"

"You don't have anyone else scheduled for tonight," Arianna called out, putting the magazine back where it was as the director entered the room. He was a young guy, the director of a wounded band, in his second year of teaching. And Arianna considered him as best of a friend and as good of a teacher she would ever meet.

"Oh, yeah," he said, scratching his head. Wordlessly, Arianna left the chair and took a spot on the floor against the desk and the director sat at his computer, humming.

"How was the lesson?"

"Great. How was your book?"

"Actually, I put that aside and read one of your magazines. That article on cuing was really helpful! I can't wait to try some of those patterns sometime, too!"

The director smiled at Arianna's exuberance.

"Don't worry, you'll get your chance."

They sat there for a few moments in the quiet, the lamp made of an old clarinet casting a warm glow across the floor, the damaged and dirty shade leaving patterns on the wall. As her director typed away on the keyboard and began to hum once more, Arianna ran a finger along the edge of a pair of cymbals leaning against the wall beside her, thoughts flashing through her mind. Would she play the snare tonight? Or the bass drum? She didn't really like the bass drum, but it was better than being stuck on keyboards. Would the drum instructor be there tonight and work on drill with them? She hoped they would start on drill and-

"Ouch!" Arianna exclaimed, looking at her finger. A streak of crimson appeared on her index finger and the blood started to flow, a large red drop nearly falling on the carpet. Looking closely at the cymbal, she realized there was a metal shaving on the edge, something that wasn't supposed to be there, but was anyway. Arianna felt slightly angry the cymbal was in such poor quality as to have sharp edges and frustrated for the fact she was now bleeding. The director leaned to the side and looked over to where his student sat, startled by the blood on her hand.

"What did you do?"

"This cymbal has a sharp edge," Arianna answered, biting her lip as she wiped away the blood on her fingers with a tissue from her pocket. The cut was deep enough for a Band-Aid, something she didn't have. The school nurse was gone at this time in the evening and the only people in the school besides the director and herself was the creepy janitor who spied on the drama department during dress rehearsal.

"Did it cut you?"

"Can the blood answer? This really stings."

"I don't have a Band-Aid in here," the director said, quickly rummaging through a few drawers. "I don't know what to do for you. Is it still bleeding?"

"Profusely. What about the uniform room? Do we still have the summer marching kits in there? I know we have medical supplies in the color guard boxes, too."

The director unclipped his keys from his belt loop and gave them to Arianna, who stood up and took them from him, trying to keep a smile on her face all the while cursing herself. Now it would be twice as hard to hold a stick and she would have to make sure to keep the wound clean until it healed. Heading to the back rooms, Arianna unlocked the uniform room and stood on several chairs until she found a box of Band-Aids on the top shelf, along with first aid cream. Turning off the lights and locking the door, Arianna headed back to the band office, taking her usual spot on the ground, a little farther away from the cymbals this time, and began bandaging her finger.

"How's it doing?" her director asked, watching her the entire time. Arianna threw the paper bits away and put the remaining package of cream in her backpack for when she would have to change her bandage again.

"It's going to be okay. Just a little scratch, but big bleed."

"I'm sorry I didn't remember where the first aid kit was."

"No problem. It's taken care of."

"Yeah, but if you wouldn't have been here and someone else would have gotten cut, would I have remembered where they were?"

"Don't beat yourself up over it. No biggie, like I said before."

"I just-"

The director sighed and Arianna could feel the mood switch. He leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and shutting his eyes.

"You've been a big help, Ari. Even though you're not the band president, or even vice president, you stick around and do things. You do more than a lot of other people; you're dedicated."

"I'm a Band-Aid?"

The director opened his eyes and gave her a curious look as Arianna rested her elbows on her knees and thought before she spoke again.

"I'm helping the band keep everything together. If I can say it without bragging, I'm strong, I'm dependable, but I'm only temporary. I'm literally a Band-Aid."

They both smiled before the director agreed.

"Ari, that's a nice way to put it. If that's true, I have a Band-Aid in here after all."

"Thanks."

There was a rare moment where everything fell into place. Everything was calm, peaceful, all was right with the world. It didn't matter that, in a few minutes, she would have to figure out how to hold a stick with a bandage on or he would get a headache from the pounding drums. It didn't matter school would begin the next day and the next practice still had to be scheduled. It didn't even matter Arianna would be graduating in a few months and she wouldn't be able to sit and talk with her director on a whim anymore.

It mattered, however, that the band was going to have to heal without her help once she was gone. Someone else would have to step in.

"Actually," Arianna told her director as she stood up to grab her drum from the next room, "You might be the Band-Aid and I'm just the first aid cream that helps the bandage work even better."

"That could be it, too, Ari," was the answer as she turned away, "That could be it."

There you are! I'm so happy for this story! I'm really looking forward to one particular part of For The Love Of Music when I go in depth about how Ari helps the band and the director keeps everything together. If I don't get any more interest in the story, however, I might just take it off and post it somewhere else. Oh, well... It's all on how many readers I get and how much I enjoy working on it in the future. I'm getting off topic...

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope to hear from a few of you! Have a comment? Let me know! Thank you all once more and Happy Reading!