Chapter Five: The Really Big Clue and the Really Small Pyramid
Katie coughed up yet another lungful of dust. Where did it all come from? As she swept another handful of concert dresses away, one slipped from her grasp and cascaded into her squinched-up face. As eddies of dust shot out of the dress upon impact, she received her answer. "Doesn't anybody ever clean up in here?! They should know by now that a bunch of infrequently washed and worn clothing attracts a ton of dust!" Katie demanded, frustrated. "I told you, it's the only room with a lock! For some reason, my dad always makes sure it's locked, even when the janitors come through the bandhall," Allison explained helplessly. Her search on the other side of the uniform room was taking her through the racks upon racks of marching pants lining the wall. It was just as fruitless and aggravating as Katie's appeared to be. As another suspender buckle swung down and caught Allison in the nose, she made an indistinct noise that sounded suspiciously like a roar. "WE'RE NEVER GOING TO FIND HIM!!!" she shouted in rage from underneath a tumble of marching pants that had become dislodged from their hangers. "Hi, guys!" "Whoa, who said that?!" Katie jumped, whirling around, her eyes wide with surprise and slight fear. A viewing of the scary mini-series Rose Red six months ago still found her skittish in small, dark places. Or big, dark places for that matter. "Not me," Allison said needlessly, narrowing her eyes as she searched the uniform room for the owner of the new voice. "I did!" the voice called loudly, a trace of irritation now detectable. "THE UNIFORM ROOM IS HAUNTED!" Katie squealed, starting to make a beeline for the door. Allison grabbed her wrist and held her back before she could run screaming into the bandhall and start up another panic. "Katie, I'm down here!" the disembodied voice called. Katie thought it was coming from behind a particularly loaded and dusty rack in the very back corner of the room. Trembling from head to toe, Katie glanced at Allison fearfully. Allison stared back for a moment, and then raised her eyebrows, jerking her head in the direction of the corner. "What?! I'm not doing it!!!" Katie squeaked resentfully. Allison sighed and then headed for the corner. Katie followed her hesitantly on tiptoe. Clearing the hanging concert dresses and marching pants, Allison's mouth fell open when she saw where the voice was coming from. "HOLY COW!" Katie shouted.
Meanwhile, in the bandhall, the tubas' hastily plotted plan was beginning to take shape. Several of the larger, upperclassmen tubas were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, looking on thickly as the smaller tubas tried to hoist up the second level of boys. "What the heck are you guys doing?!" Sandy asked as she approached the odd scene. "Getting out of here, what's it look like?" Chris retorted, a little hurt that Sandy hadn't recognized their brilliant scheme immediately. "Definitely not that," Sandy shot back, her eyebrows raised as a freshmen tuba tumbled off the stack. "Yeah, well, neither, neither does, does, YOUR MOM!" Chris floundered for a comeback. Now he was really hurt. Didn't Sandy, perfect flute that she was, realize what was transpiring before her very nose? What Chris did not know was that Sandy, perfect flute that she was, COULD see what was really transpiring: the dumbest thing anyone in the LCHS band had ever come up with.
"Guys, I'm really bored. Isn't there something better to do than read Harry Potter?" Jeff the 'Fair horn whined for the billionth time since readers had witnessed his pulverization via multiple copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Instantly, a shower of the very same books aforementioned materialized out of nowhere, having been hurled from the hands of their readers once again, and caught Jeff right on his blundering head.
"GILLIAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!" Katie shouted once she had regained full control of her voice. Gillian's head was sticking right out of the floor, a circular piece of wood covered with carpet lying beside the hole her head was currently occupying. "I'm not really sure exactly. One minute I was, er, relaxing in Mr. Bachelor's chair. The next, I had leaned back really far and I had to stick out my hand to grab the desk before I fell over, and I touched this really disgusting wad of chewed-up bubblegum on the underside of the desk, and the little mini-fridge moved over and there was this hole that opened up in the wall behind it!" Gillian exclaimed, smiling brightly. She apparently thought this was great fun. "I thought I technically wasn't 'stepping foot outside the door' like Mr. Bachelor had told me not to, and so I went through the wall and down this really fun slide and then landed in this cool little tunnel all lit up by torches in brackets on the walls. As soon as I reached the end of the tunnel, I climbed up this ladder and pushed a little red button on the wall, and, well, here I am!!!" Allison was completely and utterly speechless. "You mean to tell me there's a secret passage leading from Mr. Bachelor's office to the uniform room?!" Apparently Katie was not. "Yeah. Don't' know why, though. Seems real cool to have a secret passage in your office. You could go anywhere! But why would you want to go to the uniform room when you could just walk right across the bandhall?" Gillian answered, still smiling widely. "Hey, guys, I think I might know," Allison finally spoke up quietly. Her eyes were directed upwards toward the ceiling. Katie and Gillian slowly followed her gaze, directing their own eyes upward. There was a dangling piece of rope shut between two neighboring ceiling tiles.
"I'm so hungry!" Kevin, a trumpet wailed. "I feel like I haven't had anything to eat in DAYS!" "Me, too!" Dustin, a fellow trumpet wailed back. Erin, one of the only girl trumpet players at LCHS looked at her male counterparts in disgust. "You guys are such a disgrace. It's been four hours. Just think of it as a marching practice, only this way, you're not DOING anything." Kevin and Dustin looked at her with admiration shining in their eyes. "You're right, Erin!" Kevin declared in amazement. No matter how bad it was in here, it was better than marching practice! So far, anyway. "How can you be so smart, Erin? You're a TRUMPET!" Dustin asked eagerly, wanting to be let in on her secret. "Ah, but you forget. I'm a girl."
"OUCH!" Tim, a little freshman tuba, muttered for the millionth time as he again toppled from the top of the pitiful tuba pyramid that had been going through various attempts to construct itself this entire time.
What will Katie, Allison, and Gillian find above the uniform room should they choose to investigate the matter? Could this possibly lead them to discovering where Mr. Bachelor as gone? And will the tubas finally succeed in making it to the top of the bandhall? What will they do once they've gotten that far? Will they stop falling and coming up with desperate, lame comebacks so that they can avoid destroying the pitifully few brain cells they possess? Will Jeff the Outsider learn his lesson and become "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Smart?" (You know, like STREET SMART!) And finally, will the trumpets be able to survive any longer without food??? Marching practices can only extend so long, and then the girl trumpets will have to come up with some other analogy to get their male counterparts to shut their mouths and quit their whining. Well, tune in to the next chapter of "HELP! (We're Trapped in the Bandhall!)" to find out the answers to these extremely important, matter-of-life-and-death questions!
A/N: Okie-dokie, there's chapter five. These chapters tend to be shorter than my Harry Potter chapters, but I think that's somewhat intentional. After all, this is my OWN writing, so I have to work a lot harder to pull this stuff out of NOWHERE since I don't have anything to base it on but my brain and my band. And I think, knowing my band, I'd be better off with just my brain. Lol. But doesn't everybody think that? Anyway, I had sudden inspiration to work on this story again (thanks, Allison), so I think it might be safe to say you can come back sometime RELATIVELY soon and find another chapter. How 'bout it? No more of this three-months-at-a- time-business if you read and review. Deal? Excellent. I'll catch ya later gators. Oh, and Jeff, you can expect several more little cameos of your own. Of MY design, of course. MWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Bye- bye! ~Mitie Mouse
Katie coughed up yet another lungful of dust. Where did it all come from? As she swept another handful of concert dresses away, one slipped from her grasp and cascaded into her squinched-up face. As eddies of dust shot out of the dress upon impact, she received her answer. "Doesn't anybody ever clean up in here?! They should know by now that a bunch of infrequently washed and worn clothing attracts a ton of dust!" Katie demanded, frustrated. "I told you, it's the only room with a lock! For some reason, my dad always makes sure it's locked, even when the janitors come through the bandhall," Allison explained helplessly. Her search on the other side of the uniform room was taking her through the racks upon racks of marching pants lining the wall. It was just as fruitless and aggravating as Katie's appeared to be. As another suspender buckle swung down and caught Allison in the nose, she made an indistinct noise that sounded suspiciously like a roar. "WE'RE NEVER GOING TO FIND HIM!!!" she shouted in rage from underneath a tumble of marching pants that had become dislodged from their hangers. "Hi, guys!" "Whoa, who said that?!" Katie jumped, whirling around, her eyes wide with surprise and slight fear. A viewing of the scary mini-series Rose Red six months ago still found her skittish in small, dark places. Or big, dark places for that matter. "Not me," Allison said needlessly, narrowing her eyes as she searched the uniform room for the owner of the new voice. "I did!" the voice called loudly, a trace of irritation now detectable. "THE UNIFORM ROOM IS HAUNTED!" Katie squealed, starting to make a beeline for the door. Allison grabbed her wrist and held her back before she could run screaming into the bandhall and start up another panic. "Katie, I'm down here!" the disembodied voice called. Katie thought it was coming from behind a particularly loaded and dusty rack in the very back corner of the room. Trembling from head to toe, Katie glanced at Allison fearfully. Allison stared back for a moment, and then raised her eyebrows, jerking her head in the direction of the corner. "What?! I'm not doing it!!!" Katie squeaked resentfully. Allison sighed and then headed for the corner. Katie followed her hesitantly on tiptoe. Clearing the hanging concert dresses and marching pants, Allison's mouth fell open when she saw where the voice was coming from. "HOLY COW!" Katie shouted.
Meanwhile, in the bandhall, the tubas' hastily plotted plan was beginning to take shape. Several of the larger, upperclassmen tubas were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, looking on thickly as the smaller tubas tried to hoist up the second level of boys. "What the heck are you guys doing?!" Sandy asked as she approached the odd scene. "Getting out of here, what's it look like?" Chris retorted, a little hurt that Sandy hadn't recognized their brilliant scheme immediately. "Definitely not that," Sandy shot back, her eyebrows raised as a freshmen tuba tumbled off the stack. "Yeah, well, neither, neither does, does, YOUR MOM!" Chris floundered for a comeback. Now he was really hurt. Didn't Sandy, perfect flute that she was, realize what was transpiring before her very nose? What Chris did not know was that Sandy, perfect flute that she was, COULD see what was really transpiring: the dumbest thing anyone in the LCHS band had ever come up with.
"Guys, I'm really bored. Isn't there something better to do than read Harry Potter?" Jeff the 'Fair horn whined for the billionth time since readers had witnessed his pulverization via multiple copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Instantly, a shower of the very same books aforementioned materialized out of nowhere, having been hurled from the hands of their readers once again, and caught Jeff right on his blundering head.
"GILLIAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!" Katie shouted once she had regained full control of her voice. Gillian's head was sticking right out of the floor, a circular piece of wood covered with carpet lying beside the hole her head was currently occupying. "I'm not really sure exactly. One minute I was, er, relaxing in Mr. Bachelor's chair. The next, I had leaned back really far and I had to stick out my hand to grab the desk before I fell over, and I touched this really disgusting wad of chewed-up bubblegum on the underside of the desk, and the little mini-fridge moved over and there was this hole that opened up in the wall behind it!" Gillian exclaimed, smiling brightly. She apparently thought this was great fun. "I thought I technically wasn't 'stepping foot outside the door' like Mr. Bachelor had told me not to, and so I went through the wall and down this really fun slide and then landed in this cool little tunnel all lit up by torches in brackets on the walls. As soon as I reached the end of the tunnel, I climbed up this ladder and pushed a little red button on the wall, and, well, here I am!!!" Allison was completely and utterly speechless. "You mean to tell me there's a secret passage leading from Mr. Bachelor's office to the uniform room?!" Apparently Katie was not. "Yeah. Don't' know why, though. Seems real cool to have a secret passage in your office. You could go anywhere! But why would you want to go to the uniform room when you could just walk right across the bandhall?" Gillian answered, still smiling widely. "Hey, guys, I think I might know," Allison finally spoke up quietly. Her eyes were directed upwards toward the ceiling. Katie and Gillian slowly followed her gaze, directing their own eyes upward. There was a dangling piece of rope shut between two neighboring ceiling tiles.
"I'm so hungry!" Kevin, a trumpet wailed. "I feel like I haven't had anything to eat in DAYS!" "Me, too!" Dustin, a fellow trumpet wailed back. Erin, one of the only girl trumpet players at LCHS looked at her male counterparts in disgust. "You guys are such a disgrace. It's been four hours. Just think of it as a marching practice, only this way, you're not DOING anything." Kevin and Dustin looked at her with admiration shining in their eyes. "You're right, Erin!" Kevin declared in amazement. No matter how bad it was in here, it was better than marching practice! So far, anyway. "How can you be so smart, Erin? You're a TRUMPET!" Dustin asked eagerly, wanting to be let in on her secret. "Ah, but you forget. I'm a girl."
"OUCH!" Tim, a little freshman tuba, muttered for the millionth time as he again toppled from the top of the pitiful tuba pyramid that had been going through various attempts to construct itself this entire time.
What will Katie, Allison, and Gillian find above the uniform room should they choose to investigate the matter? Could this possibly lead them to discovering where Mr. Bachelor as gone? And will the tubas finally succeed in making it to the top of the bandhall? What will they do once they've gotten that far? Will they stop falling and coming up with desperate, lame comebacks so that they can avoid destroying the pitifully few brain cells they possess? Will Jeff the Outsider learn his lesson and become "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Smart?" (You know, like STREET SMART!) And finally, will the trumpets be able to survive any longer without food??? Marching practices can only extend so long, and then the girl trumpets will have to come up with some other analogy to get their male counterparts to shut their mouths and quit their whining. Well, tune in to the next chapter of "HELP! (We're Trapped in the Bandhall!)" to find out the answers to these extremely important, matter-of-life-and-death questions!
A/N: Okie-dokie, there's chapter five. These chapters tend to be shorter than my Harry Potter chapters, but I think that's somewhat intentional. After all, this is my OWN writing, so I have to work a lot harder to pull this stuff out of NOWHERE since I don't have anything to base it on but my brain and my band. And I think, knowing my band, I'd be better off with just my brain. Lol. But doesn't everybody think that? Anyway, I had sudden inspiration to work on this story again (thanks, Allison), so I think it might be safe to say you can come back sometime RELATIVELY soon and find another chapter. How 'bout it? No more of this three-months-at-a- time-business if you read and review. Deal? Excellent. I'll catch ya later gators. Oh, and Jeff, you can expect several more little cameos of your own. Of MY design, of course. MWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Bye- bye! ~Mitie Mouse