Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
5:00 am. Morticia climbed out of her bed and stalked over to her alarm clock, groaning as she punched the button to turn off the alarm. Stretching, she turned on her light and sat back on her bed, squinting in the brightness. She was tired... maybe going to bed at 11:30 last night wasn't the brightest idea...
She sat there, wondering why on earth she had gotten up so early. Her gaze landed on her clarinet in its case, and she remembered: Only one event would pull her out of her nocturnal summer lifestyle. Only one day would ruin her routine for the next nine months... Tuesday, August 21: The first day of her high school sophomore year. "Aw, crap," she muttered. She got up, crossed to her dresser, and began pulling clothes out.
It took her a while to get dressed, but finally, she was wearing her black sweater over a navy blue three-quarter-sleeve shirt, dark denim pants, and black sneakers. By now she was mostly awake, and she suddenly remembered her schedule.
"Damn it... bleeding honors classes," she said. Five of her classes this year were honors classes... everything except band, Cisco Networking, and lunch. She hadn't wanted to take any honors except English 10 and Italian II... but, typical of her mother, she hadn't been listened to, and she'd been forced into the others... even geometry. Morticia was horrid at math... she'd had to take algebra I twice, once in eighth grade and once last year, and she'd barely passed both with low D's. She had always had issues in math... it was like there was a wall there, preventing her from understanding any of it.
She suddenly broke away from her thoughts and looked at her clock. It displayed 6:01 am, and she stood up. She'd been sitting there thinking for a half-hour! She slung her backpack on her back, picked up her clarinet, and picked up her black mp3 player from her desk. The thing was a piece of crap, but it'd work.
"Morticia Hawkeye," she said, putting in her earbuds and turning the player on, "time to conquer sophomore year." She pushed play, and Evanescence began blaring in her ears. The song was Lacrymosa, from the band's sophomore album, The Open Door. Morticia enjoyed the irony of the situation. She softly began singing as she left the house. She hopped off the bus, withdrawing her schedule from her jacket pocket and reading it. First class of the day: concert band. This should be fun.
"Yo! Hawkeye!" called a voice behind her. Morticia turned to see a girl clad in a dark blue T-shirt and baggy goth pants walking up to her. She was twirling a drumstick in her hand... and looking quite proud of herself.
"Hey, Katrina," Morticia replied. Katrina Bukater: Sixteen years old, one of only two girls on the drumline, and a freshman. They had met at band camp during the last week of summer, and Katrina had said that she was supposed to be a sophomore, but got held back in third grade because she had missed over half the year and failed every subject.
"What'd you think of the routine we learned?" Katrina asked her.
"I liked it; it's a little complicated, but I'll get it," Morticia answered.
"You are so lucky to have band first hour," said Katrina.
"Why, what's your first class?" asked Morticia.
"English 9." Katrina grimaced. "I hate English. I don't have drumline until fourth hour. Once pep band season starts, I'm switching first and fourth hours so I can play the drum set."
"Nice," said Morticia. "You love the drum set, don't you?"
"You bet!" Katrina exclaimed. "Drummer for life, girl!" She was silent a moment as they walked into the main building. "Okay, I'm going to go find my crew. See ya, Hawkeye!"
"Later," said Morticia. Katrina wandered away, still twirling her drumsticks. Morticia stepped into a hallway, and when she reached a plain white door, went into the room.
A cloud of cacophony met her ears as she shut the door of the band room. Everyone had their instruments out already and were all playing; some were playing the drill music they'd all been given at band camp, others were either tuning or playing random songs. Morticia smiled. Now she was home. She had been in JROTC last year, because of her mother, but this year she had gone back to band. She had felt so alienated and stupid in JROTC, because of her personality... but as she listened to the chaos, she felt as if she was part of a massive, dedicated army. An army of band geeks. An army of dedicated band geeks, and she was proud to be a part of it.
As she walked towards the clarinet section, she surveyed the room. A senior, Leilani Featherflame, was sitting with the saxophones, although she was technically orchestra. She was going to carry the banner during marching season. Senior Takenaga Yamaguchi was sitting in the back with his section, playing various scales on his trombone. Senior Caitlin Lavandeira, the head and only female drum major, was talking to the band director, Mr. Kyran, outside of his office. Junior Demetra Symbrasia was sitting at the piano, playing a few bars of Beethoven.
Morticia took her seat in the clarinets, and proceeded to assemble her instrument. Sticking the reed in her mouth to moisten it, she put the mouthpiece on the body of her clarinet.
"Morticia!" said a voice. Morticia looked up into the vivid emerald green eyes of her section's field assistant, seventeen-year-old Kaolin Riverwing.
"Yeah?" Morticia asked, her speech slurred by the reed. "What's up?"
"Glad to see you joined the band this year!" said Kaolin. "I saw you at band camp last year, but I got a little confused when I didn't see you in the actual class!"
"Yep," said Morticia. "I've come back to my band geekiness ways!" Kaolin smiled.
"I'm happy for you!" she said.
"Where's Amarante?" Morticia asked, naming their section leader.
"Amarante's not going to be here until the week after next," Kaolin replied. "She's in Louisiana and got held up there. So, I'm going to be section leader until she gets back!" Morticia nodded and fitted the reed to her mouthpiece. She then played the B flat major scale in both octaves, finishing with a trill in the higher octave. Kaolin smiled again.
"Good sound," she said. "Just a tiny bit flat, though. Play a G for me." Morticia did as told, and Kaolin said, "Okay... push the barrel all the way in." The sophomore pulled the barrel down as far as it would go and played another G. Kaolin listened for a bit and then gave her the thumbs-up. She then returned to her seat at the end of the row and picked up her alto clarinet.
A few minutes later, Caitlin Lavandeira stepped in front of the class. She wasn't that tall, maybe five-foot-two at most, but she had an air of authority. She suddenly clapped her hands and yelled, "Band, atten-hut!"
"Go!" the members cried as they silenced and snapped their instruments to the attention position. Mr. Kyran, a tall man with dark brown hair, stood behind the director's stand.
"Welcome to band," he said. "You've all made yourselves a part of a wonderful group. Be prepared to work your butts off this year, but have fun at the same time. Just remember... if it was easy, everyone would do it. Caitlin, start with Maximum Strength Warmup."

She nodded. "Come on, Demetra," she said. "I know you don't want to, but you have to play your piccolo." Demetra scowled, returned to the flutes, and quickly assembled her piccolo. Caitlin said, "Okay, since almost all of you were at band camp, there shouldn't be too many people without the music. If you don't have it, look off your neighbor's. Let's go!" Morticia dug in her backpack for her flip book, and when she found it, she placed it on the music stand in front of her. Caitlin raised her hands, and everyone lifted their instruments. She snapped her fingers. "One! Two! One, two, ready, and!"
One of the other drum majors hummed the drum introduction for two measures, and then the band began to play. Morticia concentrated on the notes. Half note, half note, quarter note... now a set of chromatic eighth notes! This song was rather fun...
The song ended several moments later, on a high G for the clarinets. Caitlin signaled the cutoff, and the room silenced.
"That was a good cutoff," said Mr. Kyran. "Section leaders, see who needs music in your section. Daniel..." He turned to a redhaired drum major. "Hand out the music. At ease!"
"Okay, who all needs music?" Kaolin called, standing up and looking down the row. Three hands shot up, and she said, "Hey, Daniel! We need two second clarinets and a first!"
"All right," said Daniel, thumbing through the copies of music. The theme for this year's field show was Danny Elfman, so they were playing different pieces by him. They had one long piece of music, called Music for a Darkened Theater, made of different excerpts from movies he had written music for. Morticia's favorite and best-played piece was This is Halloween, from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was the second song in Music for a Darkened Theater, and she loved it to death. She hadn't seen Nightmare Before Christmas yet, though.
"Okay, everyone, let's run through Insects," said Caitlin suddenly. "That's all we've got time for, so make it good!" Morticia flipped to the song. The clarinets had six measures of rest at the beginning, then a joined eighth-sixteenth note. This song was so easy... she could almost roll her eyes at the simplicity.
Caitlin counted it off and started conducting, and the band began playing. The clarinets soon began to play at the right measure for once, and the song was finished in a couple of minutes. Caitlin signaled another cutoff, and Mr. Kyran said, "Pretty good, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done on that. Prepare to be on the field tomorrow! Okay, clean up, have a good day!"
Talking filled the room as everyone began to put their instruments away. Morticia reached under her chair for her clarinet case and began dismantling her instrument.
"Hey, Morticia!" said a voice. She looked behind her, shutting her case, and saw tall junior Edward Sarukian looking at her, his alto saxophone still together.
"Edward," she said.
"Have I ever told you you have a weird name?" asked Edward. "Morticia? I mean, what kind of a name is that? You really want to be like Morticia Addams?"
"What kind of name is Edward Hohenheim?" Morticia countered, smiling. "It's just like Edward Elric! Alphonse's like Alphonse Elric!"
"What about me?" Edward's younger brother, Alphonse, looked up from his seat where he was quickly polishing his tuba.
"I was just talking about how you guys are like the Elric brothers," said Morticia. "You two are the Fullmetal Alchemist brothers of band!"
"I'll take that as a compliment," Alphonse said. He smiled and placed his tuba on the cabinet. "Though I don't know what Ed thinks. He hates Fullmetal Alchemist."
"It's stupid," Edward confirmed. "It's even worse because you're obsessed with it, Al." He strode back to his seat and took apart his saxophone. Morticia, her backpack on her back, put her clarinet in the cabinet and walked to the door with Alphonse.
"Oh, you know you love it, Fullmetal," she said teasingly. He looked up.
"Hey!" he said. "Don't call me Fullmetal!" Morticia smiled and giggled, then left the band room. Off to honors geometry!