The time of the play was here. Right now. The seats in the auditorium were
filled, and the lights started to dim.
"Good luck," Zoe told Michelle.
"You too," Michelle replied.
The curtains opened... Chad was at drums, sticks in hand. Zack had his guitar in the perfect spot. Tomika, Ashley, and Alicia had their places next to microphones. Katie was at bass, Robert with his keyboard. Michelle, Emma, Eleni, and Zoe were decked out in School of Rock gear, ready to dance (or ready to try to dance) to the music. Everyone else, was running up and down the aisles trying to get the people up and clappin'!
The band was awesome. Beyond awesome. Last night they rehearsed over a million times; Rock Got No Reason was chosen as their song. Even the Stan Grey kids clicked on the song fast. Every person was up outta their seats, totally pumped for the School of Rock experience!
The audience were dumb-stuck; they were expecting some play about finding true love with lame humor and yadda yadda yadda. This was way better.
Every note, every new dance move, the band became closer and closer, the teams un-cliquing. And as the curtain closed at the end of the song, Summer whispered to Zoe, "Welcome to the band." She was even sincere; it wasn't about their team winning anymore.
Epilogue
It was graduation day at Horace Grey (yep, they re-named the school for "unity" throughout the students), and everyone was pumped! It was the end of middle school; they've been there together since sixth grade. Since the first walk through the halls, since the first couple times of opening lockers (and trying to), first detention slips, first laughs in homeroom...
Eleni and Emma sat cross-legged on the floor, backstage, waiting for it to start.
"I remember when all of the Stan Grey kids first came here," Eleni said.
"And how it was the Barbies against the Sweets," started Emma.
"And soon it became a war," Eleni stated.
"Yeah, but we didn't do anything too bad! Just steal a hottie from your team," laughed Emma. It was true, Freddy definitely had been hottie!
"And maybe a couple insults here and there," Eleni finished.
"Yeah, maybe," Emma agreed as Summer ran in from the hallway.
"Five minutes! FIVE! Get on stage! NOW! Get on stage.. stage stage.. NOW!" she exclaimed rounding up everyone.
"Sloow down, Sum. We have a whole fiiive minutes, fiiiiiiive" Chad said, trying to calm Summer.
"He's on something again, as usual!" Emma and Eleni laughed, remembering Chad's stoned-ways of talking.
Summer didn't think it was too funny. They only had- omigosh, 4.5 minutes!
She was running around trying to get everyone when she bumped into Lawrence.
"Breathe, Sum, breathe," he said, trying to calm her down. She practically fell into is arms.
"This is so stressful," she moaned to her- yes!- boyfriend. They started going out in 7th grade (the two were teamed up for a science project and, you know Summer, she just falls for intelligence).
"Yep yep, now YOU get on stage and stop worrying about everyone else," he croaked, trying to get Summer off his rib cage. Summer nodded, got up, and started walking over to the stage, and saw Zoe.
"Hey! Want me to help 'round this bunch up? I've got my rope for herdin'," she laughed with a faux-southern twang.
"Thanks, Zoe," Summer nodded. Unfortunately, this isn't a Disney movie, and I can't tell you they ended up being best friends and everything (their was still a lot of tension with that Zack thing), but they were on speaking terms- maybe a little more than that.
Soon everyone was onstage, giggly, nervous, excited, and even sad about leaving middle school.
Tomika and Ashley had a duet for the graduation, and Dewey even had a speech!
Zack put his arm around Michelle's hip (they were going out, too- seems like Valentine's day, doesn't it?- and Freddy couldn't resist the urge of planting a wet one on Zoe's lips.
Summer squeezed Lawrence's' hand and glanced at all of her friends. She hoped things didn't change too much in high school.
The curtains opened, showing the audience to the graduates.
Mr. and Mrs. Schneebly were sitting next to their lil' tots, Robbie and Julie (hey, the play idea had flopped so why not name your kids after it?).
Zack's parents and Freddy's parents were sitting next to each other, hoping not to see their boys getting into trouble in front of hundreds of people, and Summer's, Eleni's, and Michelle's parents were near each other, knowing their kids would be perfect.
Dewey went to the podium, ready to start his speech.
"Hey. I've seen some of these kids since before they ever learned to rock-out, woah that's saying something, and look at them now. Going to the battle of the bands, starting out as a LEGAL teacher, finding out what makes some of these kids tick, aren't even a handful of the things I've done! Dude, have you seen these kids in war? Sheesh, you'd think it was Saddam against Bush!" no one laughed, "Okay and it's not luckily! Yeah, anyway, your kids rock. Literally, they rock," he finished. Not very funny for the Dewey man, maybe a little racy with the Saddam thing, but right on the dot. He'd done some pretty cool things for the kids, and vice versa.
Now it was time for the duet by Ashley and Tomika. They did a sweet job of "Lean On Me", without even adding anything upbeat or whatever (no need to ruin an already great song). After that, everyone's ears were still hoping to hear more, but it was time to hand out the diplomas.
"Now, we're not going to do this in alphabetical order, since, uh, we're just not," Mr. Finn announced.
"Zachary J. Mooneyham"
"Summer L. Hathaway"
"Michelle T. Carter"
"Eleanor A. Carter"
"Marta M. von Trap"
"Ashley K. Winston"
"Frederick D. Jones"
"Anna-May Z. Trembley"
"Emma H. Hansen"
"Lawrence G. Huang"
"Franklin A. Henderson"
"Alicia K. Allen"
"Daniel M. Andrews"
"William L. Robins"
"Katelyn J. King"
"Chadwick I. Moore"
The list went on as Freddy laughed to Zoe, "Oooh, does Anna-May need to tend to the cows? Mooo!". She shot a look at him, "Shut up Frederick!".
"Hahaha Chadwick! Haha loser!" Danny told his friend. Chad couldn't argue; Chadwick IS a funny name.
"Hey, anything's better than Franklin! I sound like that one turtle dude on TV!" Frankie whispered to Chad.
Eleni had an unhappy look on her face. "Don't worry, Eleanor is way better than Anna-May," Zoe told Eleni. Eleni giggled and nodded. Eleanor may had sounded like a 1940's name, but Anna-May was a "Little House on the Prairie" name.
After Dewey finished with everyone's name, he announced, "You may now, enter high school!".
As you've seen in many movies, the kids take off their little hat things, and throw them up in the air, that's not exactly what these kids did. Instead, they threw them all at Dewey.
Welcome to high school, kids, and say goodbye to Horace Grey.
"Good luck," Zoe told Michelle.
"You too," Michelle replied.
The curtains opened... Chad was at drums, sticks in hand. Zack had his guitar in the perfect spot. Tomika, Ashley, and Alicia had their places next to microphones. Katie was at bass, Robert with his keyboard. Michelle, Emma, Eleni, and Zoe were decked out in School of Rock gear, ready to dance (or ready to try to dance) to the music. Everyone else, was running up and down the aisles trying to get the people up and clappin'!
The band was awesome. Beyond awesome. Last night they rehearsed over a million times; Rock Got No Reason was chosen as their song. Even the Stan Grey kids clicked on the song fast. Every person was up outta their seats, totally pumped for the School of Rock experience!
The audience were dumb-stuck; they were expecting some play about finding true love with lame humor and yadda yadda yadda. This was way better.
Every note, every new dance move, the band became closer and closer, the teams un-cliquing. And as the curtain closed at the end of the song, Summer whispered to Zoe, "Welcome to the band." She was even sincere; it wasn't about their team winning anymore.
Epilogue
It was graduation day at Horace Grey (yep, they re-named the school for "unity" throughout the students), and everyone was pumped! It was the end of middle school; they've been there together since sixth grade. Since the first walk through the halls, since the first couple times of opening lockers (and trying to), first detention slips, first laughs in homeroom...
Eleni and Emma sat cross-legged on the floor, backstage, waiting for it to start.
"I remember when all of the Stan Grey kids first came here," Eleni said.
"And how it was the Barbies against the Sweets," started Emma.
"And soon it became a war," Eleni stated.
"Yeah, but we didn't do anything too bad! Just steal a hottie from your team," laughed Emma. It was true, Freddy definitely had been hottie!
"And maybe a couple insults here and there," Eleni finished.
"Yeah, maybe," Emma agreed as Summer ran in from the hallway.
"Five minutes! FIVE! Get on stage! NOW! Get on stage.. stage stage.. NOW!" she exclaimed rounding up everyone.
"Sloow down, Sum. We have a whole fiiive minutes, fiiiiiiive" Chad said, trying to calm Summer.
"He's on something again, as usual!" Emma and Eleni laughed, remembering Chad's stoned-ways of talking.
Summer didn't think it was too funny. They only had- omigosh, 4.5 minutes!
She was running around trying to get everyone when she bumped into Lawrence.
"Breathe, Sum, breathe," he said, trying to calm her down. She practically fell into is arms.
"This is so stressful," she moaned to her- yes!- boyfriend. They started going out in 7th grade (the two were teamed up for a science project and, you know Summer, she just falls for intelligence).
"Yep yep, now YOU get on stage and stop worrying about everyone else," he croaked, trying to get Summer off his rib cage. Summer nodded, got up, and started walking over to the stage, and saw Zoe.
"Hey! Want me to help 'round this bunch up? I've got my rope for herdin'," she laughed with a faux-southern twang.
"Thanks, Zoe," Summer nodded. Unfortunately, this isn't a Disney movie, and I can't tell you they ended up being best friends and everything (their was still a lot of tension with that Zack thing), but they were on speaking terms- maybe a little more than that.
Soon everyone was onstage, giggly, nervous, excited, and even sad about leaving middle school.
Tomika and Ashley had a duet for the graduation, and Dewey even had a speech!
Zack put his arm around Michelle's hip (they were going out, too- seems like Valentine's day, doesn't it?- and Freddy couldn't resist the urge of planting a wet one on Zoe's lips.
Summer squeezed Lawrence's' hand and glanced at all of her friends. She hoped things didn't change too much in high school.
The curtains opened, showing the audience to the graduates.
Mr. and Mrs. Schneebly were sitting next to their lil' tots, Robbie and Julie (hey, the play idea had flopped so why not name your kids after it?).
Zack's parents and Freddy's parents were sitting next to each other, hoping not to see their boys getting into trouble in front of hundreds of people, and Summer's, Eleni's, and Michelle's parents were near each other, knowing their kids would be perfect.
Dewey went to the podium, ready to start his speech.
"Hey. I've seen some of these kids since before they ever learned to rock-out, woah that's saying something, and look at them now. Going to the battle of the bands, starting out as a LEGAL teacher, finding out what makes some of these kids tick, aren't even a handful of the things I've done! Dude, have you seen these kids in war? Sheesh, you'd think it was Saddam against Bush!" no one laughed, "Okay and it's not luckily! Yeah, anyway, your kids rock. Literally, they rock," he finished. Not very funny for the Dewey man, maybe a little racy with the Saddam thing, but right on the dot. He'd done some pretty cool things for the kids, and vice versa.
Now it was time for the duet by Ashley and Tomika. They did a sweet job of "Lean On Me", without even adding anything upbeat or whatever (no need to ruin an already great song). After that, everyone's ears were still hoping to hear more, but it was time to hand out the diplomas.
"Now, we're not going to do this in alphabetical order, since, uh, we're just not," Mr. Finn announced.
"Zachary J. Mooneyham"
"Summer L. Hathaway"
"Michelle T. Carter"
"Eleanor A. Carter"
"Marta M. von Trap"
"Ashley K. Winston"
"Frederick D. Jones"
"Anna-May Z. Trembley"
"Emma H. Hansen"
"Lawrence G. Huang"
"Franklin A. Henderson"
"Alicia K. Allen"
"Daniel M. Andrews"
"William L. Robins"
"Katelyn J. King"
"Chadwick I. Moore"
The list went on as Freddy laughed to Zoe, "Oooh, does Anna-May need to tend to the cows? Mooo!". She shot a look at him, "Shut up Frederick!".
"Hahaha Chadwick! Haha loser!" Danny told his friend. Chad couldn't argue; Chadwick IS a funny name.
"Hey, anything's better than Franklin! I sound like that one turtle dude on TV!" Frankie whispered to Chad.
Eleni had an unhappy look on her face. "Don't worry, Eleanor is way better than Anna-May," Zoe told Eleni. Eleni giggled and nodded. Eleanor may had sounded like a 1940's name, but Anna-May was a "Little House on the Prairie" name.
After Dewey finished with everyone's name, he announced, "You may now, enter high school!".
As you've seen in many movies, the kids take off their little hat things, and throw them up in the air, that's not exactly what these kids did. Instead, they threw them all at Dewey.
Welcome to high school, kids, and say goodbye to Horace Grey.