Ashley adjusted her chair strap yet again, trying to get the height of her instrument right. She brought the reed back to her mouth, and Yes! Finally! it was right.
She leaned forward to talk to the oboe, Sara.
"Doesn't it feel weird to be arranged like this? I mean seriously, why would he flip everyone's seats?"
"OH, I know! I guess he's just trying to keep us on our toes, but it seriously sucks that we have to do this. Oh hey! I started reading this new book last night, its about this girl with a magical voice and its really cool! It's got a lot of music in it, I bet you would like it!"
Suddenly Ashley felt a jerk on her instrument. Her head whipped around, as Sara's eyes widened. There stood one of the percussion ,Jass, and he was just reaching out to poke her precious, real rosewood bassoon a second time.
Ashley inhaled in horror, her eyes getting wide. She pushed herself off of the chair and swung her bassoon around out of his reach. With her free hand she reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, stepping forward and slamming him into the wall. Suddenly she was glad that they were sitting in reverse order, 'cause normally she wouldn't have had anything to slam him against. She made sure that her fingernails dug into his skin, and said in her most threatening voice, "Don't you ever dare to touch my instrument again, you little creep! If you do, you will truly regret it." She paused, pleased at the terrified expression on his face. "You never touch someone's instrument without their express permission. Especially mine. Do. You. Understand. Me." He nodded stiffly, not making a sound. After a few more seconds she released him, rather forcefully, and he darted back to his section.
Suddenly it occurred to Ashley, that what she had just done was seriously against the rules. She looked back at Sara, a concerned expression on her face, and found almost all the winds staring at her in awe and glee, someone had finally given that jerk Jass his due!
As she sat back down, she received a lot of thumbs up, nods and "way to go!" She looked over at the director, who was busy studying his score. Phew! Apparently she hadn't been caught. Band went well, they made progress, especially with the percussion, who seemed to be a little less ADD than usual.
After class, the director came up to her and quietly said "If it was my twenty thousand dollar bassoon he was poking, I would have done exactly the same thing. Just don't take this as a license to misbehave, alright?" He winked at her and turned back toward his office.
Ashley's mouth dropped wide open. Well, at least someone understood the sanctity of the instrument. Especially since her mom had gone out and bought her a proffessional quality instrument. She shuddered to think what Helen would have done to Jass if he had actually damaged her delicate instrument.
A/N I hope to go back and write a prequel about Ashley's first days in High School band, but this story probably won't be added to.
Also, thanks to Resa-J for the story that gave me this idea. This is my first fan-fic, and is un-beta-ed.