Author's Note: The following story is about the trauma experienced by a
high school band forced to spend the weekend locked in the bandhall with no
food, showers, or light most of the time. Yeah, I know, kinda silly.but
band is, too, right? Right. A lot of the jokes would only be understood
by a select group from the LCHS band, but hey, I thought I might write them
down anyway.
A List of Characters:
Katie: flute/picc player, freshman, SHORT
Allison: clarinet, freshman, band director's daughter
Gillian: clarinet, freshman, really really *unique*.
Jenny: flute player, freshman
Sandy: flute player, sophmore
Mr. Bachelor: assistant director of the LCHS band
Mr. McAdow: head director, though some people refer to him as Hitler, that shall not be featured in this story
Ken: Drum major (aka Dumb Major)
Certain Trumpet/"Clayton": trumpet, sophmore, and that's all I'm gonna say
Chapter One: The Lights Go Out!
Katie stomped down the athletics hallway, her backpack slung over one shoulder, her face pulled down into an obvious sign of grumpy rage. Another bad day. When would they end? Katie rammed the door to the Bandhall Hall open, causing it to "BANG!" the facing wall loudly. She began to rampage through the doorway.and promptly ran smack into the doorbar seperating the frames. Great. If she wasn't tripping all over everything, she was running into everything.
She rubbed her aching head and continued briskly toward the bandhall door, ignoring everything in the hallway. Including Allison, one of her best friends.
"What happened THIS time, Katie?!" Allison asked in a concerned tone, practically jogging to keep up with Katie.
Katie sighed and stopped. "Just another bad day, Allison, and theater didn't help today. Hey, let's go see who's in the bandhall, maybe we can just goof-off this afternoon," Katie suggested, calming down with considerable effort.
"You mean like we do everyday?" Allison asked in an amused voice.
"Yeah, like we do everyday," Katie replied with a smirk. Katie never liked to do homework at the bandhall while waiting for her mother to come pick her up from school. She also didn't like riding the bus.there was never any room for her and never anyone to sit with. That had never made sense to Katie.she was really short! Allison was always in the bandhall after school.her mother worked as well and her dad was the band director!
Katie and Allison walked through the open bandhall door and checked out the terrain. The bandhall was pretty packed, there wouldn't be any problem finding people to talk to today. Slinging her backpack down on the ground, Katie whirled around to follow Allison to her shelf. At Allison's shelf in the clarinet "cubbies" she found Gillian, another freshman clarinet player and also one of Katie's best friends.
"I gotta go or I'm gonna miss the bus!" Gillian panted as she reached for her shelf. It was just a liiiiiiiiiiittle too high for her. She jumped and tried to grab hold of her clarinet case, but it alluded her fingers by a mere inch. "AHHHH I HATE THIS SHELF, IT'S TOO HIGH!!!! Where's my band binder?!" Gillian complained loudly. She had found her clarinet.well, she had found it when it had come toppling out of the shelf because the bouncing of the shelf Gillian caused when she jumped and held on to it had dislodged it. Gillian, with a determined look on her face, grabbed her shelf, climbed up on top of another shelf a couple up from the ground, and stretched her arm as far as it would go.
"Gillian, what are you doing?!" an authoritive voice rang out above the noise of talking band nerds. Mr. Bachelor had decided to do something about the safety hazard being committed in an effort to reach Gillian's band binder.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" Gillian "honked" (as she has a habit of doing) and the shelf that was supporting her weight became uncapable of supporting it.
CRASH!!! Clarinets, band binders, and Gillian were all over the floor. Although Gillian was in one piece, and thankfully the clarinets in their cases were, too, the band binders were not. Music was fluttering to the floor in a five foot radius around the stack of clarinet shelves.
Allison and Katie, giggling behind their hands (they were attempting to stifle, or at least postpone, the roars of laughter they were tempted to release), ran for the door back out to the Bandhall Hall. As they were running, they narrowly avoided smacking into Jenny and Sandy, two other flute players and good friends of Katie's (yes, I'm sure you've noticed that so far every good friend and mentioned character in this story has been a flute or a clarinet. That's because they're the only ones smart enough for each other.) Allison and Katie each took a flute player and jerked them out into the Bandhall Hall.
"What are you doing?" Jenny asked in her characterisic high-pitched voice.
"Uh, yeah, why did you guys drag us out HERE when we want to be in THERE?" Sandy asked, though not in a mean way.
The two witnesses ran through the entire story of Gillian breaking a clarinet shelf as Mr. Bachelor watched. Soon all four woodwinds were in hysterics. They got quite a few strange looks from brass players who were straggling into the bandhall, even though the bell had long since rung.
As they smiled their last few smiles and giggled their last few giggles, the four girls re-entered the bandhall. They figured Gillian and Mr. Bachelor had finished, and they should help clean all that music up before the loading crew got a hold of it. Ever since junior high certain trombone players had been fond of ripping music they found lying around into pieces and disposing of the ruined sheets.
As they were about to go into the bandhall, the door to the Bandhall Hall opened, and someone walked in. This someone happened to be a trumpet player.one Katie had had a run-in with earlier. The details of the run-in shall not be related.
"AGH!" Katie sighed disgustedly. Even though the trumpet and she were starting to talk again, she still didn't want to seem like she wanted to be best friends or anything. "Let's lose him."
The woodwinds ran into the bandhall and quickly shut the door. When the trumpet saw what they were doing, he ran to catch the door, but he was too late. Mr. McAdow walked up behind him.
"Mr. Clayton, why is the door shut?"
"Uh.I don't know. I'm trying to get it open."
Mr. McAdow and "Clayton" then proceeded to tug at the door with all their might. Allison, Katie, Jenny, and Sandy, however, were much too strong for the two trumpet players (Mr. McAdow had originally played trumpet). Perhaps if they had known that McAdow was on the other side of the door as well, none of the mess they were about to get into would have happened.
Suddenly, as the woodwinds were barricading themselves into the bandhall and keeping the trumpet in the Bandhall Hall.the lights went out! A panic immeadiately broke out in the bandhall among those who were left.
Ken's voice could be heard shouting over the screaming trumpets. (Some trumpets would later claim it had been the FLUTES making such a noise, but the extremely mature flutes knew the truth.and so did the rest of the band.)
"QUIET! EVERYONE SHUT-UP AND STAY CALM UNTIL THE LIGHTS COME BACK ON! DON'T MOVE, YOU MIGHT HURT SOMEONE!" Ken, the former drum major (also called the "Dumb Major" by his trombone section) shouted at the top of his drum major lungs.
The band had been trained to respond to that drum major voice (and the trumpets were feeling really stupid for screaming like girls) so everyone stopped talking and stopped moving. Everyone waited breathlessly for the electricity to come back on.
An hour later, it was still pitch-black in the bandhall of LCHS.
A List of Characters:
Katie: flute/picc player, freshman, SHORT
Allison: clarinet, freshman, band director's daughter
Gillian: clarinet, freshman, really really *unique*.
Jenny: flute player, freshman
Sandy: flute player, sophmore
Mr. Bachelor: assistant director of the LCHS band
Mr. McAdow: head director, though some people refer to him as Hitler, that shall not be featured in this story
Ken: Drum major (aka Dumb Major)
Certain Trumpet/"Clayton": trumpet, sophmore, and that's all I'm gonna say
Chapter One: The Lights Go Out!
Katie stomped down the athletics hallway, her backpack slung over one shoulder, her face pulled down into an obvious sign of grumpy rage. Another bad day. When would they end? Katie rammed the door to the Bandhall Hall open, causing it to "BANG!" the facing wall loudly. She began to rampage through the doorway.and promptly ran smack into the doorbar seperating the frames. Great. If she wasn't tripping all over everything, she was running into everything.
She rubbed her aching head and continued briskly toward the bandhall door, ignoring everything in the hallway. Including Allison, one of her best friends.
"What happened THIS time, Katie?!" Allison asked in a concerned tone, practically jogging to keep up with Katie.
Katie sighed and stopped. "Just another bad day, Allison, and theater didn't help today. Hey, let's go see who's in the bandhall, maybe we can just goof-off this afternoon," Katie suggested, calming down with considerable effort.
"You mean like we do everyday?" Allison asked in an amused voice.
"Yeah, like we do everyday," Katie replied with a smirk. Katie never liked to do homework at the bandhall while waiting for her mother to come pick her up from school. She also didn't like riding the bus.there was never any room for her and never anyone to sit with. That had never made sense to Katie.she was really short! Allison was always in the bandhall after school.her mother worked as well and her dad was the band director!
Katie and Allison walked through the open bandhall door and checked out the terrain. The bandhall was pretty packed, there wouldn't be any problem finding people to talk to today. Slinging her backpack down on the ground, Katie whirled around to follow Allison to her shelf. At Allison's shelf in the clarinet "cubbies" she found Gillian, another freshman clarinet player and also one of Katie's best friends.
"I gotta go or I'm gonna miss the bus!" Gillian panted as she reached for her shelf. It was just a liiiiiiiiiiittle too high for her. She jumped and tried to grab hold of her clarinet case, but it alluded her fingers by a mere inch. "AHHHH I HATE THIS SHELF, IT'S TOO HIGH!!!! Where's my band binder?!" Gillian complained loudly. She had found her clarinet.well, she had found it when it had come toppling out of the shelf because the bouncing of the shelf Gillian caused when she jumped and held on to it had dislodged it. Gillian, with a determined look on her face, grabbed her shelf, climbed up on top of another shelf a couple up from the ground, and stretched her arm as far as it would go.
"Gillian, what are you doing?!" an authoritive voice rang out above the noise of talking band nerds. Mr. Bachelor had decided to do something about the safety hazard being committed in an effort to reach Gillian's band binder.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" Gillian "honked" (as she has a habit of doing) and the shelf that was supporting her weight became uncapable of supporting it.
CRASH!!! Clarinets, band binders, and Gillian were all over the floor. Although Gillian was in one piece, and thankfully the clarinets in their cases were, too, the band binders were not. Music was fluttering to the floor in a five foot radius around the stack of clarinet shelves.
Allison and Katie, giggling behind their hands (they were attempting to stifle, or at least postpone, the roars of laughter they were tempted to release), ran for the door back out to the Bandhall Hall. As they were running, they narrowly avoided smacking into Jenny and Sandy, two other flute players and good friends of Katie's (yes, I'm sure you've noticed that so far every good friend and mentioned character in this story has been a flute or a clarinet. That's because they're the only ones smart enough for each other.) Allison and Katie each took a flute player and jerked them out into the Bandhall Hall.
"What are you doing?" Jenny asked in her characterisic high-pitched voice.
"Uh, yeah, why did you guys drag us out HERE when we want to be in THERE?" Sandy asked, though not in a mean way.
The two witnesses ran through the entire story of Gillian breaking a clarinet shelf as Mr. Bachelor watched. Soon all four woodwinds were in hysterics. They got quite a few strange looks from brass players who were straggling into the bandhall, even though the bell had long since rung.
As they smiled their last few smiles and giggled their last few giggles, the four girls re-entered the bandhall. They figured Gillian and Mr. Bachelor had finished, and they should help clean all that music up before the loading crew got a hold of it. Ever since junior high certain trombone players had been fond of ripping music they found lying around into pieces and disposing of the ruined sheets.
As they were about to go into the bandhall, the door to the Bandhall Hall opened, and someone walked in. This someone happened to be a trumpet player.one Katie had had a run-in with earlier. The details of the run-in shall not be related.
"AGH!" Katie sighed disgustedly. Even though the trumpet and she were starting to talk again, she still didn't want to seem like she wanted to be best friends or anything. "Let's lose him."
The woodwinds ran into the bandhall and quickly shut the door. When the trumpet saw what they were doing, he ran to catch the door, but he was too late. Mr. McAdow walked up behind him.
"Mr. Clayton, why is the door shut?"
"Uh.I don't know. I'm trying to get it open."
Mr. McAdow and "Clayton" then proceeded to tug at the door with all their might. Allison, Katie, Jenny, and Sandy, however, were much too strong for the two trumpet players (Mr. McAdow had originally played trumpet). Perhaps if they had known that McAdow was on the other side of the door as well, none of the mess they were about to get into would have happened.
Suddenly, as the woodwinds were barricading themselves into the bandhall and keeping the trumpet in the Bandhall Hall.the lights went out! A panic immeadiately broke out in the bandhall among those who were left.
Ken's voice could be heard shouting over the screaming trumpets. (Some trumpets would later claim it had been the FLUTES making such a noise, but the extremely mature flutes knew the truth.and so did the rest of the band.)
"QUIET! EVERYONE SHUT-UP AND STAY CALM UNTIL THE LIGHTS COME BACK ON! DON'T MOVE, YOU MIGHT HURT SOMEONE!" Ken, the former drum major (also called the "Dumb Major" by his trombone section) shouted at the top of his drum major lungs.
The band had been trained to respond to that drum major voice (and the trumpets were feeling really stupid for screaming like girls) so everyone stopped talking and stopped moving. Everyone waited breathlessly for the electricity to come back on.
An hour later, it was still pitch-black in the bandhall of LCHS.