I left the room without saying anything else. I heard the door close and footsteps follow me out.
"I told you where it was. You don't have to follow me." I growled.
"I-I was just trying to get to the right room. Besides, we are going the same place. Why can't we walk together?" It asked.
"Because I will be seen with you." I realized what I had said too late. Her footsteps stopped. I turned to see her face filled with deep sadness. What had I done? "Look, I-"
"I don't care. If you don't want to be seen with me, then you won't have to be seen with me. Just forget I exist." I couldn't tell if it was about to cry or explode, but I didn't want to stick around to find out. I whirled around on my heel, biting my lip. I was supposed to be showing my band how to act, I was supposed to be leading by example. Yet here I was harassing the new girl, just because I didn't know her. What kind of person was I? Kay? I shivered at the thought as I made my way down the stairs. I had stooped down to Kay's level. I was her now. And I didn't like it.
"You look upset." I almost jumped out of my skin as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I turned to see Keshi standing next to Justin. The male drum major held his trumpet in his hands, while Keshi just had his music.
"I…Its nothing." It was tempting to tell them what happened, but I didn't want them to think of me the same way I was thinking of myself.
I shifted my case from one hand to the other. Justin looked at me as if he knew I wasn't telling him something, but I just turned and continued on my way. It took only about a minute to reach the band room, and I could feel Justin's gaze on me the whole time.
"We're back, and our errand is done." I announced as we entered.
"Good. Just sit up here and relax until everyone comes." Mrs. A gave us a smile. "Keshi, you can sit in your section." She added to the only non-drum major in the room. Keshi shrugged and sat down, polishing his trumpet in boredom.
"How many new people are here this year?" Justin asked.
"about twenty freshman, and a girl who just moved her from France." Mrs. A replied. She turned to me. "I expect you have already met Iana?" I gave a nod, gulping. If I had felt terrible before, now I felt like I could curl up in a hole and die. This poor girl had moved to a whole different continent, and I had treated her like a pile of crap. What a great first impression of American society.
"You know this new girl?" Keshi asked, looking up from his now shiny silver trumpet.
"She is my roommate." I replied, trying to sound like nothing was bothering me.
"I did that on purpose. I figured you would be kinder to her then most of the other students." Mrs. A smiled. Now, I felt sick to the stomach. I had been trusted to make this girl feel welcome, and instead I made her feel like an outcast. I pretended to read through my music, conducting with my finger in an attempt to memorize our opener. To tell the truth, I was more distracted then I let on. I wasn't Kay. I was worse. I was Kay if she had been thrown into a hole full of radioactive waste and kidnapped by a madman who brainwashed her into attempting to destroy the world. And that was an understatement.
As students slowly entered the room, a low roar filled my ears. Excited talking, discussing room numbers and buddies, and preparing for band camp. To my distress, my roommate sat alone, like most of the freshman, but at least the freshman were talking amongst themselves. She was silent, her eyes wide and scared.
"Alright, as you know, we will be starting with introductions. Now I will assign you rooms to get to know each other." The group was immediately silent as Mrs. A spoke. "Flutes, you will be in the choir room. Clarinets, since you are our largest section, you will be in the cafeteria. Trumpets, you will join them since you are large as well, but I want you on separate halves of the cafeteria. Saxophones, you will be in the dance room. Low brass in the auditorium. Percussion, on stage. You can close the stage curtains for privacy. Guard, you can hang out in here. And yes, mellophones, you are considered low brass for now." a freshman boy slowly lowered his hand, which had shot up. "If we don't have any questions, then disperse to your rooms. Section leaders, come see me before you go."
"Do drum majors count as section leaders?" Toka asked.
"I have already told you three what to do, Tokamya. So no, you don't need to stick around. Just head off to your sections and try to keep it as close to calm as you can." Mrs. A replied. Toka nodded, her face contorting at the use of her full name. All of the triplets hated being called their excruciatingly long names. Unfortunately for them, Mrs. A rarely called anybody by their nicknames.
"Mrs. A, do you want the guard captains as well?" Kay came up from where the guard had been seated.
"Yes I do Kaylinn." Mrs. A replied, gesturing for the other guard captain, Josie, to join them. We didn't stick around much longer. Justin was the first of the drum majors to leave, followed by me and then Toka. As I left, I took a quick glance at the corner where the new girl had been sitting. She was gone.
Mrs. A wasn't over exaggerating when she said you do our best to keep our sections calm. Justin and I walked into the cafeteria to find an argument about which was better, trumpets or clarinets. Did I mention the second reason I could never ask Keshi out? Oh, yeah, well, our two sections had it out for each other. Inter-dating between the trumpet section and clarinet section were highly forbidden.
"Tree suckers!" A trumpet boy cried.
"Your mouths probably taste like metal!" A clarinet girl countered.
"Better then getting splinters on my lips!"
"Cold as ice, that's what your lips are!"
"Was that a mouse I heard? Oh wait, just a clarinet player."
"At least we won't go deaf."
"Might make your ears bleed though!"
"Band, Ten-Hut!" Justin and I called together. Every student in the cafeteria snapped to attention.
"What is going on in here?" I snapped. Nobody dared to reply. "We leave two sections alone for a minute and we come in to fight them ready to slit each other's throats! That isn't how we should treat our fellow band members, section rivalry or not!" I knew my words wouldn't reach them, but it would at least quell the bickering long enough to have our introductions.
"Trumpets, you are better then this. Mrs. A told us to stay on a different part of the cafeteria then the clarinets so this wouldn't happen. Can I not expect you to follow simple orders like that?" Now it was Justin's turn to scold his section.
"The clarinets are near us too!" One of the three female trumpets pointed out.
"Clarinets are on their half." Justin pointed out.
"But we want that half." A freshman whined.
"Neither of you should talk at attention." Justin pointed out. As the tenseness in the air died away, we allowed them all to relax. "Trumpets, to the opposite half." Justin commanded, just as the trumpet and clarinet section leaders entered the cafeteria. They looked surprised to see their sections so close without any fighting, until they saw our death glares. Pumpkin followed his section with a confused look on his face, Justin right behind him. Rose blinked at her section, who were all sharing glances. Right away, she caught my roommate, who had stayed hidden and well away from the fighting.
"Why, hello there. You look too old to be a freshman!" Rose wasn't shy. At all. She was probably the most outgoing in the clarinet section.
"I-I'm Iana. I just moved here from France, and I'm a junior, not a freshman." For the first time I realized the girl had a thick French accent. Her English was surprisingly fluent.
"Foreign exchange or permanent?" Rose asked.
"Permanent. We moved here with my grandmother, since she needs some assistance but is to independent for a senior home." The girl replied, blushing. Rose smiled.
"I think you will like it here." She laughed. Iana didn't look convinced. I hoped she wouldn't explain why she didn't believe Rose. What would my section do if they knew I treated someone like I did?
Okay, night and day difference in length. I didn't mention Iana's French accent because, well, I didn't think of making her French until this chapter. I quite enjoyed writing the whole arguement between trumpets and clarinetsXD
I Hate Myself for Losing You: It is only the fourth chapter and it is already excruciatingly difficult to think up song titles to match my story. This one took about half an hour, with the help of my sister. Finally, I came up with this. Because the chapter is about Rini beating herself up for being mean to the new girl.