This is the third installment of the For the Love of Music series! The Junior year! Thanks to all of you who have read the Sophomore and Freshman year and here is the Junior year! I'm just going to get started right away and let you all read!
Chapter One: Chances
"Come on, Arianna, you have to at least give him a chance. You can't go through the whole school year like this."
"Can and will."
"Can't and won't."
Arianna and Elissa were walking down the hallway on their first day of their junior year of high school. Elisa rolled her eyes at Arianna, who threw her long, dark hair over her shoulder. Elissa could have reached over the table and shook her.
"Look, neither Allie or Kasey are here to say this, so pretend it's not me. Stop. It. You. Are. A. Drama. Queen."
"Elissa," Arianna growled, tilting her head, hands clenching.
"I know it was tough for you when Mr. Berringer left. I know it was tough when Marah left. But you need to give Mr. Vogl a chance."
"I really don't want to. Honestly, I don't want to go down to the band room, to bring back all those memories..."
"Ari, you're being a drama queen! Did you sign up for band?"
"Yes."
"Did it say 'Concert Band' on it?"
"Yes."
"Then you have to go to the band room for class anyway! Honestly, Ari! I don't know what to do with you! It was difficult enough with Mr. Mercer leaving; I don't need to deal with you shutting out the new director."
It was true, Mr. Mercer had left. Elissa still felt betrayed. He had even written in her yearbook last year about how he looked forward to seeing her again next year as the star of the spring musical. Instead, he had packed and left, almost a week after Marah had, Elissa had heard. Mr. Mercer had a reason for leaving, though. The death of his young son had been the turning point and Elissa respected that. Mercer had a reason for leaving while Marah had none.
The two girls were sitting in the commons area, at their usual table, a large breakfast cookie laying forgotten between them. Elissa glanced at the clock. They had another ten minutes until class would start and Elissa knew she would not be able to concentrate in class unless she got through to Arianna now.
"Ari, please. This guy seems to be okay. We both thought he was going to be another Marah, but his smile... He doesn't smile like Marah. He's different! Ari, you have to give him a chance. He's different, I promise."
Arianna looked at Elissa, her hair swinging back in front of her face.
"You know how many times we've been hurt in the past, how many times both of us have been hurt? How can you just push all that away?"
"Part of it is because I know I have to go to band sooner or later. The other part is that I know I'm not going to live in fear of the band room and the band director. I'm just not going to let myself be afraid."
"But, how can you not be afraid of this guy, Elissa? How can you assume this year will be different?"
"This could be our year, Arianna! We could be commanders! I could be the color guard leader and you could finally be a majorette! Think about it, Arianna. Plus, you haven't even seen this guy yet. You don't know what he looks like and he doesn't know what you look like. You know people are going to put in a good word for you. They all saw how Mr. Berringer let you down and how awful Marah was to you and how you stuck it out until the end."
Arianna thought for a few moments.
"You really want to do color guard things, Elissa? I thought you-"
"I think being the commander would be great, Ari!"
"Well, I'll go down to the band room with you after lunch, but only with you, okay?"
"You're a wimp, Ari."
"Whatever. Are you going to finish that cookie?"
Elissa and Arianna split the cookie and laughed at themselves for being such fools. They would have to give this new director a chance, especially if they wanted to reach their goals. At that point, it didn't matter about Mr. Vogl himself: it mattered how far the girls were going to go to get what they wanted. If there was no stability in the band, there wouldn't be a band at all. As leaders, they would fix the problems that had been forming over the years.
But that wouldn't happen if they didn't get their chance.
Here we are with the end of the first chapter! I wanted almost all dialog for this chapter and I hope I did a good job of it. Yes, Arianna is a "drama queen" in this story, too, but Mr. Vogl and Elissa knock some stability into her later... Oops, just gave something away! No more of that! Anyway, please read and review! I love reviews! Thanks for reading!
